EDU352 Week Four Reflective Journal

This week's journal prompt for my Foundations of Educational Technology class, asks me to describe a time when I have used specific data to make an instructional decision.  Because I am not yet a classroom instructor, I am instead supposed to choose any time I have made a learning-related decision.  So I have been sitting here racking my brain trying to think of what I should write about.  Maybe it is a matter of good timing, but as luck would have it, I have recently began a new venture as a substitute teacher at my daughter's elementary school.  This past week, I was in the same first grade class three days in a row. Each day after lunch, the teacher had asked me to help administer the end-of-year math assessment to the students.

The children all had individual dividers they erected on their desks to prevent their eyes from wandering to their neighbors paper, and there was to be no talking.  The teacher also left specific instructions to read each question multiple times to the students to make sure they understood what was being asked of them, and to not let the students work ahead. Every student was to be working on the same problem at the same time.  The first day I administered the test went okay.  The students were all quiet enough, but the whole time I wondered if I was giving them enough time to complete each question... or on the other hand, too much time.  It seemed distracting to continually walk around the classroom checking each student's paper to see if they had written down an answer.  At some point during the second day, it hit me.... I remembered reading about a simple assessment tool in one of my previous classes and I decided to put it into practice.  "Thumbs up if you are done with this question, or thumbs down if you need more time," I told the class.  The students all looked at me and raised their hands, quietly displaying either a "thumbs up" or a "thumbs down".  In a manner of seconds, I was able to take a quick glance around the room to see which students were still in need of more time.  No walking around the classroom, peering over students shoulders.  Just a simple hand signal.  That's it.  Assessment complete.

This particular journal prompt has stumped me a bit this week for a few different reasons.  The first reason being that unless you are or have been a classroom instructor, I am not sure every aspect of the prompt can be fully answered.  And the other big part of the prompt that has me flustered is this: 

How might technology have enhanced the gathering and use of that data? 

Well, if you take the experience and example that I have written about, what would you say?  How would you use technology to enhance the gathering and use of data, which in this instance is determining when students have completed a question and are ready to move on to the next.  Is technology even necessary in this instance?  Throughout this class, I have been learning the various ways to integrate technology into the classroom.  Yet, I (and the rest of my classmates) have been repeatedly told and referred to articles, blogs, and videos, where it is emphasized that technology should only be used if it can enhance the lesson or the learning experience. It should not be used as a replacement, and the lesson should not be built around technology, rather the standards and the lesson should be considered and developed first and then, if necessary AND applicable, technology can and should be integrated.

I recently came across this little picture on the website edudemic.com and thought it was a perfect fit for both my current class, as well as for this journal prompt.

While giving the students the end of year math assessment, I needed to find a way to quickly and efficiently assess whether the students needed more time to complete the current math problem before moving on to the next.  I suppose if some sort of "clickers" were available, I could have set that up somehow so that students could push a button to indicate they had completed the problem.  However,  not only do I see something like that being more of a distraction to the students than anything else (not even taking into consideration the pleas of "Oops!  I didn't mean to push the button! I need more time!), but I do not feel that by integrating that sort of technology, or any other type of technology into this particular circumstance would satisfy or "check the box" of any of the bullets depicted on the "Technology Should" graphic above.  With that being said, and with everything I have learned thus far in EDU352, I am going to have to take a stand then and say that technology would not enhance the gathering and use of data in this particular learning-related experience.  

EDU 352 Technology Integration Journal (Week 3)

It is undeniable that technology has become a part of our daily lives.  As educators, an ever-increasing array of technological tools has become available to utilize in the classroom with our students to help enhance their educational experience.   When I think of myself as an educator, I have always envisioned myself in an elementary school classroom, specifically with Kindergarten or first grade children.  Because of this, I feel that I look at and identify with a different level of the Technology Integration Matrix (TIM) when compared with an educator at the middle or high school level.  Therefore, based on both my own capabilities and comfort levels with varying forms of technology in an educational setting, and my personal experience with technology in a classroom, I most identify with the Active Adaptation level of the TIM.

The Active Adaptation level of the TIM states that “students work independently with technology tools in conventional ways” and that “students are developing a conceptual understanding of technology tools and begin to engage with these tools” (Florida Center for Instructional Technology, n.d.).   Thus far, my experiences in a classroom have all taken place with first grade students, all of whom are still learning to utilize computers for an educational purpose.   While students may be completely familiar and confident in their ability to manipulate forms of technology such as mp3s, video games systems, computers, and personal tablets, navigating through Microsoft Word, typing on a computer keyboard and using a mouse, and even using a SmartBoard might all be foreign experiences for students. 

Therefore, as an educator in a lower grade classroom, I feel it will be my responsibility to direct and guide the students, specifically when it comes to integrating technology in the classroom.  I think it will be my job to choose the appropriate tools for each lesson and to monitor the students as they learn to use the tools and work towards completing their lessons, which is stated as a responsibility of the teacher in the description for the Active Adaptation level of the TIM (Florida Center for Instructional Technology, n.d.).   For example, I can have all of the links to the websites that I want my students to utilize already listed and bookmarked on our classroom computers.  Click on this link, Active Adaptation in a First Grade Classroom, to watch a short video that shows a great example of a first grade teacher utilizing technology at the Active Adaptation level. 

There are so many fun and educational websites available for teachers and students that I plan to take full advantage of, but I also plan to help my students become better prepared for education, as well as life, in the 21^st century by introducing and exposing them to things like word processing programs and using a computer to create simple bar or pie graphs. I would hope that I would be able to provide a variety of technological tools in my classroom, as well as multiple opportunities throughout the school year for my students to use the various forms of technology, to gain confidence in their capabilities using these tools, and to learn to use these tools in a way that engages them and gets them excited about learning. 

Reference

Florida Center for Instructional Technology. (n.d.). Technology Integration Matrix. Retrieved from http://fcit.usf.edu/matrix/