21st Century Classroom

Teachers today are are hoping to turn their classrooms into 21st Century centers of learning. How does one know when that goal has been achieved? In our Selection and Integration course we are looking at our own lessons (or those of another teacher if we do not teach) and using a walk through form developed by Shawn Holloway Principal at Manson Northwest Webster High School.


Characteristics of Core Instruction: The following topics and items were taken from Iowa Core Curriculum sessions and reflect the Characteristics of Effective Instruction outlined by the Iowa Core.

Course/Classroom Being Analyzed: High School Social Studies (American Government)

Student-Centered Classroom

• Students at center of learning, teacher facilitating process
• Cooperative or collaborative learning taking place
• Teacher leading students to the answer not giving it out
• Students have choices
• Students are engaged in challenging work
• Teacher questions and probes
• Not visible during walkthrough
  

This instructor did an excellent job of making the students responsible for the learning. They class was broken into table groups, given the current event of Occupy Wall Street and asked what constitutional amendments were they utilizing. As groups were having difficulty, the instructor did not just give them answers but rather asked questions that guided the students to finding the answers. This was a great practical application of constitutional studies for the students.

Teaching for Understanding:

• Problem or project based learning
• Hands on, minds on
• Students think and demonstrate understanding
• Visual learning (conceptual models, graphic organizers, webs, etc.)
• Factual knowledge is transferred to usable knowledge
• Students involved in designing, problem solving, decision making, and investigating
• Summarize targeted concepts and skills
• Multiple means of presenting information
• Not visible during walkthrough

While there was no hands on activity and the only means of presenting the info was orally to the rest of the class, the students did have to look deeper into the Constitutional Amendments and really apply their meanings to this current event.

Assessment for Learning

• Formative assessment is used as a tool to adjust teaching
• Essential concept and skill is clear and evident to the students
• Teacher provides criteria of quality work
• Teacher provides examples of both high and low quality work
• Self or peer assessment is evident
• A collaborative classroom environment
• Assessment for learning takes place DURING instruction
• Variety of feeback to students (web, tapes, oral, written, video, etc)
• Not visible during walkthrough

This is one area that was not demonstrated during the walkthrough. I believe these criteria are met at other times with this instructor, this particular lesson was a little lacking in this area.

Teaching for Learner Differences

• Plans for variance in learning
• Assesses the interests and needs of individual students
• Learning goals are clearly stated
• Flexible grouping (supplemental and intensive)
• Engages students in self reflection, collaboration, and learning choices
• Works in variety of settings (large group, small group, individual)
• Engages students in self reflection
• Not visible during walkthrough

The instructor did a nice job of wrapping up the lesson by asking students to think about whether they agreed with the OWS movement or not, but then to consider that even if they were opposed to it, was the protest constitutionally protected? He further went on to point out that disagreement was not a bad thing, and asked students to reflect on their thoughts and return tomorrow with ways to counter the protest that are also constitutionally protected.

Overall, this template gives a very good 30,000 foot view of how a class is doing in terms of 21st century education. In the 25 minutes that I was there and the brief interview I had after the class with the instructor, it is clear that he is willing to keep working on lessons and getting the classes to that full 21st century level. As a "classically" trained teacher, he reminded me of how hard this transition from sage on the stage to guide on the side is. I think that a little bit of training for all staff in the desired method of instruction would be a great thing. Then when an administrator comes through the class and shows the teacher what they are looking for, the teacher can understand and show the evaluator how they meet that criteria.

TPACK

I have a confession to make. I have a bit of an intellectual crush on Punya Mishra. Iwas

introduced to the TPACK materials a little over a year ago when I attended a Community of Practice at Prairie Lakes AEA. We were working on technology integration f

or out district and Dianne Jackson asked if I had read any of the TPACK info. Up to that point, I had not.

Dr. Mishra is a professor of Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at the college of education at Michigan State University. The focus of his current research is TPACK or Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge.

TPACK is a framework to understand and describe the kinds of knowledge needed by a teacher for effective pedagogical practice in a technology enhanced learning environment. Reading his materials and getting to go to a workshop run by him have focused my energies in how best to do my job. I was fortunate to be able to see Dr. Mishra again at ITEC this year. Punya was a featured spe

aker at ITEC and had multiple sessions that were designed to cover different areas of his research. I was not able to attend all of them, but I was able to catch a few and will definitely watch the rest when they become available on iTunes.

The concept behind TPACK is summed up in this Venn Diagram. There are teachers who have vast amounts of knowledge on their topic, yet they lack the skill to be able to "teach" that to anyone. There are those who have the best pedagogical skills known but

have no content knowledge. And there are those who have skills and content, but lack technological skills to be an effective 21st century educator. It is the goal of Dr. Mishra and TPACK to offer assistance in the joining of all three areas.

Dr. Mishra spoke at 5 sessions, the topics ranged from an introduction to TPACK to creativity to taking TPACK to the next level. Not being able to go to all of his sessions was a bitter pill to swallow, but alas my duties to the board were better served in my proper place, the Vendor Hall. All in all, the research and the opportunity to see Punya in person have energized me to work harder at making my school district a more technology friendly place. I can best describe Dr. Mishra in four words "he just gets it!" I would recommend that if you ever get the opportunity to see him speak or attend one of his workshops, that you jump at the chance. Read his research and the research on his research. You will be very glad you did.

TIM

No I am not talking about Tim the Enchanter from Monte Python.

I am talking about the "Technology Integration Matrix". This tool from the University of Souther Florida, illustrates how teachers can use technology to enhance learning for K-12 students.The TIM incorporates five interdependent characteristics of meaningful learning environments: active, constructive, goal directed (i.e., reflective), authentic, and collaborative (Jonassen, Howland, Moore, & Marra, 2003). The TIM associates five levels of technology integration (i.e., entry, adoption, adaptation, infusion, and transformation) with each of the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments. Together, the five levels of technology integration and the five characteristics of meaningful learning environments create a matrix.

For one of my graduate courses, we were to find 5 lessons that integrate technology, then we were to evaluate them using the following criteria

• Identify the cell on the TIM into which it would be classified.
• Explain why it was classified in that cell. What attributes make this a good fit.
• Explain how this would fit into your world of teaching/learning. How would/could you use it in your classroom.

Then we were to take it up a notch (or as Emeril would say BAM!)

• The Characteristics are not in any sequence, so how would you take it to another characteristic
• The Technology IS in sequence so how will it be moved to the right?

So here is an example of one that I did.

Title: Digital Storytelling
Objective: Identifying major characters from history or literature
Apps Needed: SonicPics Lite (Free)
Age Group: High School
Subject: Social Studies or Literature
TIM Cell: Active-Adaption

Description:

In this lesson, the students will be given iPads to use during classtime. They are to choose three literary or historical figures and using the internet, they are to find pictures of these figures. Saving a picture from the iPad web browser is accomplished by pressing the image on the iPad and holding your finger in place until the option menu pops up. The student can then select "Save Image". The image is stored in photos in the "Saved Photos" album. The student will then import the images into SonicPics and record their explanation for selecting these people. To finish the project, they share the video by emailing it to the instructor, using the built in email capabilities of SonicPics.

Outcomes:

• Students will be able to identify key figures in history or literature.
• Students will articulate and defend their choices for historical figures.
• Students will utilize the SonicPics App to record their explanation for choosing their historical figures
  
• Students will earn how to use an iPad Application
  

The next part of the assignment was to move the lesson into a different cell on the matrix. So BAM! To move the project to the "Active-Infusion" cell, students would be allowed to choose the application that best works for them. If they want to use iMovie on the iPad and create a movie instead of the SonicPic, then they can discuss relative figures in history using that application. Giving them the choice to decide what works best for them, is letting technology work for them.

The complete list is here in this google doc. I am also attaching a walk through that I created about a year and a half ago that I was planning on using to evaluate instruction in the district. That template is available here.

ITEC 2011

Another ITEC Conference has come and gone. This conference saw many records set. We had the largest single day attendance of Any ITEC Conference (almost 1100 attendees on Monday). We had the largest attendance total for any ITEC conference. We had the most vendors to date (103) and we had (and this is purely conjecture) the fewest complaints ever.

Twitter was abuzz with a multitude of posts using the #itec11 hashtag. I am not sure what the trending had our hashtag at, but it had to be pretty darn high. Twitter was a great way for participants who were not able to make it to the conference to get in on the action.

Also new this year, EduVision broadcast the keynote and it is available here.

For the past three years, WCTV (Webster City Television) has taped the Keynotes and the vast majority of sessions. They then edit and post them on iTunes. As they get them done, they are made available for free through the iTunes store. These students do an incredible job and we cannot thank them enough. I also like to think that they have a great time providing this service for the conference too.

The three day conference is the culmination of more than a years worth of work by the board. We are already making plans for the 2013 conference. (location TBD) I am fortunate to work with some great people on the ITEC board. Many people seem to forget that ITEC is a completely volunteer board made up of educators from across the state. It is NOT just Technology Directors. We have classroom teachers, a College Professor, AEA employees, and we even have a superintendent. Each person contributes something unique to the board.

Thank you to all the the vendors, the presenters, the workshop hosts, the IEC and their staff for the wonderful job they did, and of course the attendees, without whom this woudl all be for naught.