Reflection Blog / Janie Klueber

When I imagine an analogy for taking this class, I picture myself walking on a bog. It is a new and unfamiliar environment, similar to some places I’ve been before, with elements that I enjoy being around or exploring—new vegetation and wildlife, the sounds of birds in the nearby brush, a possible adventure up ahead. And yet I’m walking on turf that feels a little unstable, making me feel vulnerable and unsure of myself.

The last two years have been busy ones for technology integration, both in my building at Mears Middle School and around the Anchorage School District. New equipment, software, and training are topics of discussion on a frequent and regular basis—where to put it? When will it be installed? Why doesn’t my team/department have that? When can I get training? Why won’t it work they way they said it would? Why is it not working at all?!!?

Among the discussions I’ve been in, or overheard, this school year is the notion that we’ve experienced a techno-training overload. It is true that we’ve been provided with several new, often-frustrating technology trainings on so many pieces that we have only a superficial understanding of many of them. The preference among some of my colleagues seems to be a desire to become more adept at just a few of these pieces and, when ready, add more.

I, too, have felt overwhelmed and stressed by the amount of new technology and training I’ve received, on top of the already-too-many duties of teaching. There are, though, a few, specific items that I’m determined to focus on and become more comfortable with. After all, overwhelmed and stressed is how many of us felt at the beginning of this year when trying to learn Zangle—yet look how far we’ve come! With today’s students growing up with electronics from preschool on, it is unrealistic for me to pretend I don’t need to keep up with my own training. I just need to tackle this elephant in smaller bites.

One of my first priorities for next year is to create a team website, with links to individual teachers from the main team page. My goal in doing so is to provide a user-friendly communication site for parents, possibly reducing some of the many emails or phone calls required to address the same information, allowing us teachers to work more efficiently.

The main page of our team site will have links to information pieces that are common to all of the team’s teachers—homework and makeup work policies, student supplies, parent conferences, and Zangle assistance, to name a few. (Can student photos be posted on this page? I’ll have to find out if that’s acceptable or not.) Teacher pages would have information more specific to their own classrooms and subjects—links to interactive student or research sites, assignment and project information, upcoming tests or units. I’m told that I-Web is an easy-to-use tool for creating such a website project. I’ve suggested to our building tech that several other teachers may be interested in learning about it, also.

Another training priority is to learn about Googledocs. As I understand it, students use it as word-processing software, but can store their creations in a web-linked account that can be accessed anywhere, as long as one can log into Google.

My team was given a portable cart filled with Dell Netbooks late last school year, with the specific purpose of providing our students with as many opportunities as possible to use the web-based reading and writing tools, Achieve3000/TeenBiz3000 and My Access. It is believed that regular use of these websites will increase students’ skills and test scores. My students have used TeenBiz3000 throughout the school year, reading articles that pertain to whatever unit we’re studying, but I haven’t yet learned to make full use of the reports or administrative tools that are available to me, nor have I provided feedback to students to let them know how their skills are improving, a disservice to both of us.

I’ve recently been given a newer document camera to use, but have had only a very brief demonstration of its bells and whistles, so I look forward to learning more about how useful it can be for my specific subject, materials, and classroom use.

I have a SmartBoard, which is great for showing large pictures of things to students, but I know I am not making the best use of its tools. I’ve had some Notebook training, but usually feel overwhelmed by the vast amount of information and tools demonstrated. By the time I think I’m ready to use it as part of a lesson, I’ve forgotten the steps, they don’t work as expected, or I can’t work through it in front of a classroom of students—they’re a tough audience! If possible, I would like to arrange for Stacy to assist me in its specific use in my classroom (same for the document camera).

So far, my discussion here has little, if nothing, to do with our main topic of how I will “begin to incorporate various curriculum and technology frameworks into [my] classroom instruction to give students fully aligned, content-rich, technology-infused, relevant, and high-order learning opportunities?” I guess my point in waiting to address this topic is that I need to feel more comfortable in my own space with these many new elements of technology, before I can progress to my own higher-level thinking about my core subject in relation to the use of said technology.

When ready, I will continue to use the national and state standards for 7^th grade social studies, including the essential questions and enduring understandings, and Bloom’s digital taxonomy as guidelines for my lessons. My new skills (and confidence!) with the technology tools I’ve mentioned—be it electronic piece, software, or website—will provide tremendous opportunities for enriching the teaching and learning experience for students and myself.

I’m still in the foothills of that learning curve, but as I continue to climb from the bog, I know the ground will become more stable, and the view that much more impressive. I am grateful for any and all support available to help me get there.

I very much like the example suggested under Antidote 2--Discourage "trivial pursuits," in which the author suggests having students use what they know about several cities, or research them, to select one or more as a site for a particular purpose-- "The Winter Olympics, a university degree, the building of a theme park, etc." I think students would find this an interesting assignment.

Antidote 4-- "Require and enable students to make their own answers" is another one I like. I need to provide more training in how to paraphrase information from classroom texts, without losing the essential meaning of what is said. "Writing in your own words" is a skill, but means more than changing a few nouns and phrases. Rather, it is a retelling of the information, staying true to the original message.