Hi all, I was hoping to have the following paragraph as the head in for this week: As you read this, I will have just completed 4 days of school visits to primary schools in Kaijado County, Kenya. This county in Kenya borders with Tanzania and is predominantly rural. The population is primarily (although not exclusively) Masai. The teachers will all speak Maa (if they are Masai) or another tribal language, English, and Swahili (the 2 official languages of Kenya and the languages of instruction in schools). Primary schools are grades 1-8. Teachers in most primary schools do not have university degrees. If I have decent access to internet before this blog goes live, I'll try to insert some pictures of what I've seen. The schools I'm visiting are part of the project I work with call Reading Kenya. The first cohort of 25 schools each received a trunk of books to start their school library as well as training for a teacher librarian. The teachers in grades K-3 in the schools are attending 3 week-long workshops taught by school leaders in the county (who worked with us for 9 months to learn the content and how to do interactive PD), the third of which is beginning on Sept. 14. They have learned about early literacy development and teaching strategies and activities to support literacy learning. What really happened is that the teachers here are on strike, and have been for 2 weeks, with no end in sight. The law mandated a raise in salary of 50% (from about $200 per month to about $300 per month) but the Ministry office that oversees teachers (the Teacher Service commission) refused. The teachers went to court and were supported all of the way to the Supreme Court but the TSC is still refusing. So as you read this, I have been able to visit 1 school and observe a kindergarten teacher (they are not part of the teacher's union---long story). As I write, I am in Nairobi and have met with my Kenyan colleagues both out in the country and here. If you read this on Saturday, I'm on my way home (but don't tell anyone!). :) I've been without internet so I'm late in reading your blogs but do look and see how I have commented. I'll also be getting back to you from the VCI early this coming week.
The readings for Week 4 focus on the planning process for integrating New Literacies/new literacies into your teaching and classrooms. Last week's readings also alluded to planning as part of describing new literacies on classrooms. I hope that as you read, even if the literal content is not about your teaching area or grade level, that you have been making connections to your own situation and in your mind, thinking about how the information could be used at your grade/age level.
Before you read, I want you to think about teh planning process that you use now in planning for instruction in your educational setting. Is there a framework you use? If so, what is it? How do you think that framework will carry over into planning for integration of new literacies? If you don't follow a framework for planning, what is your process.
As you read the BABR chapter and the articles, think about how the ideas they put forth are part of planning for instruction. How are they related to last week's readings? Compare and contrast the different frameworks? How are the readings all connected to this week's overarching topic? What is new to you about this process and what is just an expansion of what you already do?
Have a good week! I'll be back in Oklahoma by Monday so if you need me, I can Skype.
I see on our schedule that we are supposed to post to your blog and our group blog this week. Although your blog this week doesn’t have specific directions (like last week) as to which questions to respond to on each blog….I am assuming the “planning process and framework” questions are supposed to be responded to here and the BABR reading and articles are to be responded to as our Group Blogs. If I am inaccurate please accept my apologies. I will continue with that understanding in mind…
ReplyDeleteYour instructions were for us to think about the planning process that we use currently. Is there a framework? If so, what? How do you think that framework will carry over into planning for NL? If you do not follow a framework then what is your process?
I have a template for my pre-k lesson plans and incorporate the district’s time line for introduction of concepts, as well as the adopted text books recommended time line. Of course, my team and I meet regularly to plan together and we make changes to these time lines as we see fit for our classrooms. We study those frameworks and make sure that we are covering all of our standards. (My district does not use the Common Core standards. We use our district’s version of the PASS skills.) Next we plan specific activities to reach those concept goals that are activity-based and from a constructivists learning model that will fit into our half-day time limitation. We make a list of all the things we need to prep, books to find, websites to research, etc…This step helps with organization and getting everything ready for the coming week. Our assessments are usually on-going check lists, teacher observations, photos of learning, etc…If any additional types are needed—we note that during our planning session, on our lesson plans. After implementation of this lesson plan, we meet and discuss what worked and what didn’t work. How we can make it better next time, etc…
I think our framework for planning will work with integration of new literacies. If not, as a team, we will discuss, modify, and transform our framework as needed.
This week’s readings had me thinking about my own classroom, the framework I use and seem to massage continually, as well as what I believe must occur within classrooms to prepare our kids for the digital world. The article by Jill Lewis-Spector in Reading Today was very insightful. She wrote, “Technology itself doesn’t improve teaching”. I believe that is what resonates the most with me between last week’s readings and this week’s readings. Lewis-Spector adds, “Giving every student a laptop isn’t going to improve our teaching, and every student having a netbook isn’t an instructional model”. In other words, great teaching occurs with purposeful objectives and expert knowledge of the content accompanied by the pedagogy for best teaching practices. The embedding of technology is an awareness and understanding of the tools in our day-to-day digital world reality to employ and implement to prepare our kids for a future that requires an understanding and usage of these tools and multiple modes to interpret and communicate in a modern world.
ReplyDeleteThe overarching topic with these readings over the past two weeks for me is that, most importantly, the instructional purpose and objective of the content comes first, accompanied by one’s pedagogy in implementing that content, then asking if there is a digital tool or mode of text that can be used to enhance their learning of the outcome, knowing that multi-modes of literacy and communication are everywhere in our daily interactions to synthesize and interpret information. I think for me, to think of all of objective, purpose, pedagogy, content, technology component to happen simultaneously is not where I can live---I can live there through reflection, but initially, I create my framework based on my objective and purpose of a lesson, combining my content knowledge with my pedagogy, and then becoming mindful of the importance of embedding technology (when appropriate) to prepare my students for their future in interpreting, gaining meaning, and communicating globally from new literacies.
The TPACK framework helps to keep the focus on the objective of a lesson or the learning purpose, while being cognizant that technology is not an add-on, but integration, along with the content and pedagogical knowledge. For me, the paradigm shift is embedding technology to shift how content can be understood (better or differently) with the inclusion of digital tools, apps, and video (among others). The Technology Integration Planning Cycle for literacy adds a couple of components that I believe are additionally important. The implementation of how the choice of technology contributes to the instruction, the constraints, and of course the main component of reflection.
You're right, I know to post prior. I've had too much thinking going on if that can make any sense. My thinking prior to this week's readings is being more cognizant of exploring the usage of technology to further enhance understanding, engagement, and new literacies. I spent hours this week and over last weekend searching for sites and apps that I could implement in my intervention sessions that would make good usage of the limited time with my kiddos, as well as meet the objectives and goals that I have set within my framework of instruction. I think using an app such as, Wordboard, is one I'll be implementing to help my students with their sight words and weekly spelling patterns from their regular classrooms. With Wordboard, the teacher speaks the word (using the iPad) and the student then spells the word, and then checks. My constraint is I have 2 personal iPads that I use in class, and I borrow 2 from another teacher across the hall when she isn't using them at the same time. I believe this is important to embed different new literacies into the classroom, but I must make the time to explore which digital tools and methodologies are the right ones to embed in my lessons. Time is my biggest constraint. I collaborate rarely with a team within my own district, and when we do, technology is not one of importance to this team. I am finding through these readings I can find a team out there is cyberspace that I will learn from and with, that will save me time, and will have already done much of the exploring and critiquing. Old ways: working alone. New ways: collaboration through groups formed via the internet to pursue professional development.
DeleteWhen I think of the planning process for instruction coupled with a framework I immediately think of the Common Core Standards as well as the TEKS standards which I learned more about in my undergrad. Right now I do not have a framework but for the short period that I was in the classroom there was a local outline teacher’s syllabus/guide that was provided to all teachers for all subject areas. I’m thinking that a framework encompasses a structured outline of standards and objectives that help teachers plan their instruction. The local teacher’s guide that I followed provided me with this structure which gave me information on subject and lesson objectives/goals, and ideas in which I could take from to assess my students. For example, there were activity, reading, field trip, discussion, as well as questioning prompts, ideas for materials to be used, as well as extended projects and activity ideas, all of which helped to guide me, especially when preparing my lesson plans. As I used the syllabus I was able to create detailed lesson plans. I made specific learning goals, researched information and activities to incorporate into the lesson and all in all tried to deliver a well-rounded and differentiated lesson. Every day I either incorporated hands on manipulatives, technology, outdoor activities or did co-teaching sessions where both classes came together to complete literacy, math and other lessons. I do think that the syllabus that I mentioned will allow for the implementation of new literacies. As a guide it is used to point teachers in the right direction with regards to what should be taught, but it allows for flexibility in actual presentation of a lesson where teachers can incorporate new literacies where they see fit.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you would call this a frame work but for the short time that I was placed in the classroom, there were syllabi that were created by our education department for all grade levels and subject areas including literacy to plan lessons accordingly. The syllabus for Literacy included the object(s)/goal prompts, examples of materials to be used, examples of tasks to be done and homework prompts all of which would contribute to a single lesson at a time. I mentioned the word examples and prompts because with this, teachers are given the opportunity to take charge of their own lesson. It was left up to the them to know whether or not what was given was sufficient enough or not resulting in implement their own information according to their students’ abilities. I think the guide will work well for planning for integration of new literacies because having to write their own procedures for each lesson allows teachers to implement whatever new literacies they think will be appropriate for their lessons. This called for a lot of research and exploring.
ReplyDeleteI feel like planning instruction can be a very complex process. When I am teaching a new group of students, I first like to so some formative assessments to see their strengths and weaknesses. One example of a formative assessment that I did this year in my class, was a spelling inventory. I teach second grade, and this gave me some insight into the student’s phonics skills and reading ability. I use the information from formative assessments along with the standards for my grade level. For my district we are using PASS+. This means PASS is to be taught, but we are to teach higher level thinking beyond PASS. One way I accomplish this is to ensure that authentic opportunities for reading and writing are occurring in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteRegarding a framework in instruction, I can’t say I have a set one right now. Over the summer, I spent some time reading about the Daily Five. The Daily Five focusses on guided reading, word work, independent reading, writing, and partner reading. I want to move to this type of framework but with the integration of a fluency piece. I am in the process of making this transition. Pointers to help with this transition would be happily accepted!
As I plan the gradual implementation of this and think about new literacies, I can see that one important element is for the student to be able to read ibooks. There is a great app called ERIC. It is free to classroom teachers. I am going to use this as one tool my students use in self-selected reading. Also, I want the students to use some word building apps to use during the word work portion of the Daily Five. I also just familiarized myself with the Book Creator app. I am going to implement this as one piece of the writing part of the curriculum. This is a process!! I have to take small steps to make change manageable especially while in grad. school.
In OKCPS we also use PASS+ standards to teach content, and are expected to use the pacing guides provided b our district. I have to admit that though we say we're using them, we typically don't follow what we are supposed to - whoops! Following both summative and formative assessments I give my students, I identify areas for growth and usually use a mix of PASS+ and CCSS to teach and assess skills taught. For my literacy block, I mainly use the Daily5 as it allows for a lot of small group instruction and practice of each component of literacy for students. For math I do something similar and call it Math Workshop, which again gives me a lot of small group instruction time and students time to practice facts, play center games, and interact with our First in Math program. As I read last week's chapter and articles, I began thinking of ways to use the technology as a way for students to show learning, or explain thinking/new knowledge. So far, My kids have created a blog and will take turns writing about what was learned for the week on Fridays. We are going to start completing book reports, which will eventually look like commercials or news reports of some sort using technology - for now, we will be creating posters based on our first novel study, but we're working up to it!
ReplyDeleteFor me, considering I have no class to plan for, taking new literacies into account means that I need to plan ahead to give the best multimodal experience possible for sharing information or for telling a story; and planning for that sort of thing, at its most basic, isn't much different from planning to teach a class in new literacies. We're all dealing with audiences from varied backgrounds with varied access to technology and various understanding of that technology, and we must all find the best way to convey information to that audience (under a budget). So this week's readings are very interesting to me as far as comparing our planning processes goes and what teachers may take into account that journalists and writers do not and vice versa.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am in a coaching position, I work with new teachers to help them develop effective practices and habits as educators. Rather than providing them with "my way", I find it to be better received if I share with them strategies that I have seen other teachers use effectively and/or research that provides suggestions as to best practices. As a result of this, the framework that I provide is very similar to the framework suggested in the BABR text. The first thing I ask them to identify is the skill that they want their students to be able to demonstrate at the end of the lesson/unit, which is typically closely related to the OAS standard. Once they have identified the skill, I ask them to identify the manner in which they want their students to demonstrate mastery of that skill. From there I encourage them to think and plan backwards in order to identify what they will need to do as the teacher to move their students from where they are now to where they want to get them. Many 1st year teachers are unable to readily identify what sort of background or prior knowledge that their students will be bringing into the lesson, so we also discuss the value of a pre-assessment of some sort to provide helpful information. We then break down the tasks into student friendly learning goals that will support the lessons and make a list of important vocabulary. We also identify the materials that they will need and resources that will be used and/or need to be collected before the lessons are taught. Finally, we determine several HOT questions to be used during the lesson (or each lesson of the unit).
ReplyDelete-Mackinley
(Sorry I am working on my husband's computer & my original entry was too long, so I had to break it up!)
DeleteI believe that integrating new literacies will provide an interesting twist to this framework and process. Coming from an Arts Integration perspective, when incorporating arts into lessons/units, teachers have to be careful to truly integrate and not just hitch the arts activity to the lesson. A true integration lesson involves teaching and developing skills in both areas, the academic and the art. Truthfully, this is difficult and time consuming, and it is also fairly unrealistic to do with all instruction. As a result, teachers pick and choose when and which lessons to integrate. Based on what we have read thus far about integrating digital technology, I believe that it will present many of the same challenges as arts integration. However I do believe that when done effectively it will be just as effective and powerful as a true arts integration lesson can be.
I really feel like this week's readings expanded last week's readings and brought them to the next level. I felt like last week built a foundation of understanding (the "what") of digital literacies, and this week began to explain the first steps a teacher would need to take (the "how") in order to integrate them. I am struggling a little bit to identify the variances in the frameworks, as I am able to more easily see how all of this information meshes together. Perhaps my eye is fairly indiscriminate at this point because it is relatively all new to me. I feel like my sponge is rapidly absorbing all of this information, but I'm worried that it is quickly becoming saturated! ;)
DeleteMy planning process consists of a couple steps. 1) think about the theme or topic we are discussing 2) find standards to cover using PASS or CCSS 3) plan activities and lessons based on the two 4) plan assessments and differentiation. Planning for technology would come into step 3 when I'm planning activities and lessons.
ReplyDeleteAs I plan, I think about the big ideas, concepts, and skills I want students to have a strong understanding of by the end of the lesson or unit. Then I plan activities accordingly and consider how students' can show their learning. One way that I can incorporate new literacies into my planning is to think about ways in which different technologies can support students' in learning the targeted ideas, concepts, or skills. Another way that I can better support new literacies is to think about how students can demonstrate their understanding using a digital medium as part of my assessment.
ReplyDeleteWhen I plan I always think of the learning objectives, my students needs, and materials available for me to use. I usually try to jump off of things that interest my students and weave my standards into them. If I am using technology I try to use things that are actual useful in the learning process and scaffold the learning taking place in the classroom. I also want it to be exciting and engaging foe my students.
ReplyDeleteMy framework for instruction follows the concepts of inductive teaching, curiosity-based discussion, and facilitation-oriented approach. For example, I intentionally hide the core content for each class by using diverse ways, such as writing a dotted blank on the whiteboard for a key word of the day. For example, I write “a_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _” for a new word “ameliorate”. Then I open a discussion by giving my students the definition of the word or a context that they can use the word based on the pre-reading homework assignment. Sometime I “hide” this type of content by using Google Docs, VoiceThread, or Engrade (a class management system) messaging system. I believe that this framework supports the planning for integration of new literacies, because I basically try to “wow” my students by giving them an opportunity to digitally explore the target content by themselves or through discussions – which could be the “ah-ha moments” that eventually help their meaning-making. Also, at the end of my class sessions, I use technology tools to help my students’ reflection on the target contents by having them revisiting the digital discussion board and critique their performances and understandings.
ReplyDeleteThis week’s readings seem to re-emphasize the importance of becoming a thoughtful “designer,” not a mere technician, when integrating technology into our classroom. Particularly, the technology integration planning cycle (TIPC) that BABR and Hutchison discussed was a very meaningful guide, which expands last week’s reading. Among the six steps, “constraints”, involved in students’ use of tools, is resonating with me. Lewis-Spector also denoted this point by mentioning, “technology itself doesn’t improve teaching” (p. 13). Wrong assumptions about the teaching setting or student background matters. Frankly, I personally had encountered this aspect through a pilot study I conducted 2 years ago about using VoiceThread as an assessment tool. One teacher participant among six answered that his student failed a course because of the student’s lack of digital literacy although the student was very intelligent and promising.
The concepts of “constraints” and “reflection,” to me, make that TIPC goes one step beyond comparing TPACK, 21st Century framework, and IRT. The other three frameworks gave diverse and inspirational thoughts to educators as well; however, the constraints part is what only TIPC tackled. With that in mind, all the readings so far are backgrounding this week’s reading, and this week’s reading has added a critical thought by pointing out the sort of “easy-to-forget” aspects – constraints and reflect. Lewis-Spector also cools us down by giving the items of possible wrong assumptions about 21st century learners regarding technology use in the classroom. We should consider those assumptions.
DeleteOne new thing to me is definitely the TIPC framework, which will be very beneficial when designing. The concept of constraints, as discussed, could be an expansion of my pilot study, and the wrong assumptions were new as well. Through my current classroom practices, in fact, I have been aware of the issues of learner’s differences in using technology. For instance, for a VoiceThread project, one student uses her home country friend’s ID, my students are international students, because she does not know how to register. At the same time, it is very interesting to see how the tech-struggling students use the global network, through technology, to be digitally literate.
Lastly, BABR chapter 2 specifies the six social practices more clearly. Specifically, the point that BABA mentioned about collaboration was very insightful; the authors posits that another important purpose of collaboration is to give students “the sense of working with the tools under time and task constrains more like what they will likely encounter as they move forward with their studies and work lives” (BABR, p. 25). We educate New Literacies, not just one or two new tools.
One question that I want to discuss for this week’s reading is “time” issue when we want to “engage our students in planning their learning” (BABR, p. 30). The example was addressed through BABR book, from page 30 to 32. In the example narrated with the iChoose.com, students were asked to choose a tool among 10 tools. To do so, students should have known the details of each tool thoroughly. However, what if they have no ideas about the tools at all? Then, teachers should teach students the tools thoroughly because we want our students critically choose a tool by themselves. Should we indeed teach the “10” tools? If so, to what degree should we? Basically, we don’t want to make our class a technology class; because, we do know that technology is just a tool that helps our pedagogy. So, I’d like to discuss how to deal with the time concern for pre-equipping our students with the optional tech-tools, 10 tools in the example.
I want you to think about the planning process that you use now in planning for instruction in your educational setting. Is there a framework you use? If so, what is it?
ReplyDeleteHow do you think that framework will carry over into planning for integration of new literacies? If you don't follow a framework for planning, what is your process.
When I plan for lessons, I always know the things I need to include. I need the objective(s) and standard(s), how I will teach the students that objective, and how I will find out if they learned the objective. I also have to think about the materials I will need and what accommodations I need to make for my kiddos who may be low or high or have other needs. The first step is always the standards and the objectives. After that, I do research to think about how I want to teach the lesson and assess it. That is the fun part. :) I think that planning for new literacies is very similar. For example, if instead of reading a physical book for a read aloud, I read a book on the smart board, I have to pull it up on the smart board and make sure everything is working properly.
We don't have a framework for how we are supposed to plan lessons, but I do have a pretty routine process. First, I determine which learning goals I need to focus on, usually based on what our next common assessment will be testing. Then, I determine if I want to use our current novel (or a supplementary text) to teach it, or if I think it's best to teach it in isolation from the text first. After that, I determine introductory activities, practice activities, and assessment activities. If the assessments help me determine that I need to implement further instruction and/or practice, I decide how to do that at that point. I also factor in accommodations for particular students and figure out whether I think different classes need to approach the topics or activities slightly differently.
ReplyDeleteI think that my process will work well with the integration of new literacies. My teaching will always be standards-based, and new literacies are a tool for teaching the standards (and many standards require the use of new literacies). I am also exciting about improving my use of new literacies because I think they have great potential for introductory activities, practice activities, assessment activities, and accommodations for various students. I think I will have to add a couple of steps to my planning process to determine how to have students access the technology they need, to make sure they are using the right tools and sources for the tasks, etc.