Apr 2013
www.amle.org
A membership benefit of the Association for Middle Level Education
Engaging Middle Grades Students The Importance of Effort Flipping the Classroom Cell Phones as Learning Tools
spotlight on: School-Parent Partnerships
By Nancy Stone Penchev In Rabbi Wex’s classroom at Hillel Community Day School, you won’t see him sitting or standing in the front of the room imparting information to students sitting in lines of desks. Instead, students are strewn around the media center. Some are sitting on couches using their own laptops, several are at circular tables using the school’s Chrome Books, and others are using desktop computers on tables against the wall. Several students finish writing a poem about truthfulness and start creating a Prezi presentation for the poem. Other students access Edmodo, download their lesson, read a chapter about Rosh Hashanah, and answer questions using Google Docs. Students in this Rabinics class work individually and together to complete assignments. They help their peers find information on Edmodo, demonstrate Prezi, give each other hints for using Google Docs, and help each other improve their multi-tasking skills. Although this is most students’ first time using Edmodo and Google Docs in a classroom setting, they are excited and determined to make everything work. Students appear confident and excited to explore the new technology. Most do not want to ask for help, wishing instead to make their discoveries alone. When they do ask for help, they look to their peers who are technology experts to help them out. This is a good example of a student-centered classroom where students create the learning, support their peers, and direct the follow-up. After students complete their assigned reading and questions, they participate in an online discussion board. They summarize their learning and respond to other students’ postings. The discussion broadens the learning by increasing student participation and takes it to a higher level by allowing students to discuss and share without doing so in front of others, which makes young adolescents less self-conscious. Nancy Stone Penchev has been a classroom teacher for 15 years and now is the media and instructional technology director for the Lower School at Scheck Hillel Community Day School in Florida. E-mail: penchev@ehillel.org
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Association for Middle Level Education www.amle.org
As students share the technical aspects of using technology, Rabbi Wex is free to roam the room, assess understanding, redirect student focus, and answer content questions. Making students responsible for learning to use the technology and encouraging their collaboration gives him a clear role as a supporter. He supports students by asking questions that lead to a deeper understanding; by asking students if they are on task and, if not, what could be done to remedy off-task behavior; and by troubleshooting problems beyond the students’ knowledge base.
Introducing ICOT Educators like Rabbi Wex may be using technology in their classrooms, but are they using it effectively? The International Society for Technology Education (ISTE) Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT) allows observers to identify how teachers and students use technology in the classroom and what educational technology standards they address. ICOT is a free tool that can be downloaded at www.iste.org/learn/research-and-evaluation/icot. It consists of checklists, pull-down menus, and comment areas directed at the classroom environment and the teachers’ and students’ use of technology. Classroom observers can record a variety of classroom characteristics, such as the student groupings (e.g, pairs, small groups), teacher’s role (e.g., lecturer or facilitator), learning activities (e.g., give presentation, perform research), and technologies used (e.g., whiteboard, digital camera, computer). ICOT automatically aggregates the data into a table for analysis and presentation. The ICOT tool also includes a checklist of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) that were created to provide teachers with a basic and clear understanding of what they should be able to do and how they should be using technology in the classroom. The checklist allows observers and teachers to identify which standards are being addressed and allows them to determine what still needs to be covered. This easy-tofollow checklist
Students in Rabbi Wex’s class work together to learn and share content and to learn how to use technology effectively.
t Helps administrators and coaches understand classroom and teacher needs concerning the use of technology. t Is informative for teachers as a reflection tool. t Can be used to lead a discussion with teachers and observers concerning the technology integration and thus can be a platform for improvement. Let’s use ICOT to evaluate technology use in Rabbi Wex’s classroom.
Evaluating Rabbi Wex According to the ICOT tool, the student groupings in Rabbi Wex’s classrooms were individual, student pairs, and small groups. The teacher’s role was that of interactive direction and facilitating/coaching. Rabbi Wex moved to every person and group at least 10 times throughout the lesson, assisting, redirecting, and giving rewards for good work on the Edmodo site. The learning activities students participated in were researching, information analysis, writing, and figuring out how to use the technology correctly. Technology was an essential part of the teaching and learning. Had the students not used technology, the specific lessons could not have taken place because the research, writing, and discussions were all facilitated via the Internet. This particular class has no printed textbooks and relies on teacher-created or found materials. Had the lesson taken place using printed materials and vocal discussion, students would not have been able to explore new formats of technology, no one would have needed to step up as technology expert, and not everyone would have been included in the discussions.
Rabbi Wex himself used no technology, never touched a computer or piece of equipment, and never accessed a student’s computer. He instead moved around the room and carried on conversations with the students who were in charge of the technology. Students used desktop computers, Chrome Books, iPads, laptops, and tablets. They accessed multiple platforms via the Internet, including Edmodo, Google Email, Google Docs, and Prezi. The entire hour-long lesson revolved around students using technology.
So What? In Rabbi Wex’s classroom, the students located and downloaded information, read and discussed the lesson, created presentations to demonstrate understanding and to teach others their concepts, and helped each other troubleshoot technology issues. Rabbi Wex’s lesson encompassed the best practices of technology-enhanced education. Technology was not an extra piece of the lesson, it was the crux of a lesson in which students not only learned about their Judaic holidays, but also about working with new programs and troubleshooting technology. Putting students first and creating lessons where technology carries the student through knowledgegathering is vital in today’s classrooms. Putting the learning in the hands of the students makes them responsible for the learning and puts them in control of the classroom. MG
Middle Ground April 2013
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