Teaching Above the Line

Throughout the process of learning about ways to integrate technology in my future classroom, I have came across many frameworks. This week we focused on SAMR. SAMR is a framework for teachers to begin to integrate technology into their classroom. The final goal of SAMR is to have students be engaged in learning experiences that could not be accomplished without the use of technology. SAMR has four different levels, allowing teachers to begin where ever they need to. They then can challenge themselves to better their lesson by moving to different phases of SAMR. The phases go: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.

Here is a model that helps me remember these phases and what they mean to teachers:

(http://cdno2.gettingsmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/SAMR_model.png)

• When talking about substitution, we are talking about if you have improved your lessons by replacing older technology with newer technology. For example, instead of using a dictionary, one may use google search to find the definition. 
• When talking about augmentation, we are asking ourselves if we have improved the task that could not have been accomplished with older technology. For example, if you have students use a word document instead of writing it on paper, because word document allows for spell check and copy/paste. 
• Modification is the next level. At this level we are asking ourselves if our original task is being modified and if it is depending on the new technology. For example, having student participate in a classroom discussion online. Students could have done this in the classroom, but we are extending the walls of our classroom to our homes!
• Finally, redefinition. In this phase we have to ask if the new task is uniquely made impossible without the new technology. For example, chatting withsomeone back and forth instanstaneously from a foreign country. This could not be made possible without things like chatting online or skyping. Skype allows us to see and talk to the other instantaneously and is not possible without it. 

These phases can be met by anyone! It depends on what the teacher has previously done and what the teacher plans to do tomorrow! 

Do you believe that teachers are "teaching above the line" when using SAMR?

I do believe this! I think that teachers are able to begin the use of technology at any of these levels, but the goal is to keep challenging yourself. No matter if you start at the bottom or the top, you can challenge yourself to make your lessons better. Each day, new things are being created. We have the world at our hands with technology and can use it to better our students. I do not think it is important to begin "teaching above the line," but I do think it is important to reach for the starts and be the best you can be! A new day can bring new ideas; use them! I believe future educators can challenge themselves to prepare to use technology and teach above the line. 

(http://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/968413/helping-encourage-technology-in-the-classroom)

The SAMR model is a great way to engage your students. Your students know that they are doing to be challenged differently every day. I think that this is a great way for students and teachers to have something to strive for. No matter where you are on the spectrum, you can begin with SAMR. Those of you who are entering at higher levels, do not worry; you can continually challenge yourself to redefine learning! 

TPACK for a Future Educator

TPACK is a framework that all of us technology lovers know as Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge. This was created for teachers to be able to understand the importance of combining all three of these aspects into the classroom. TPACK is used to suggest that teachers "use curriculum-specific, technology enhanced learning activity types as the building blocks for instructional planning" (Harris, J., & Hofer, M. 2009). The diagram used to represent TPACK will help anyone in need of understanding. Here is one of my favorite diagrams to help you understand!!

(http://www.learnovationlab.org/tpack.html)

 As future educators, it is very important for us to understand TPACK. This framework is there for us technology lovers who want/have the opportunity to use technology in the classroom. Like I talked about in my previous blog, we do not want to base out lessons on the technology we have; we want to use technology as a tool to help support our lessons. TPACK can help you with this. It will help educators manage their 21st century classrooms by focusing on good learning theories that can be supported by technology. For example, I want my students to understand the importance of technology and be able to use it successfully. Once they can do that, I will know that they can handle using it and I can incorporate technology tools into my curriculum.

(http://ncltitpack.ncdpi.wikispaces.net/UnPACK+your+Discipline+TPACK)

The above image is one that I like to use to help others understand TPACK. It is a great image that has different ideas and connections to how teachers can use the TPACK framework. 

How will TPACK impact you and me as future educators?

TPACK is very important for the future success for our students. I plan to use the TPACK framework if I have access to technology tools. Using technology in a successful way will help our students be engaged and creative! If we can help our students with this, they will be more successful in their future. Technology is a key piece of our evolving world and it is going to help our students and ourselves. TPACK can help us frame our classrooms in a way that students can be involved and engaged while we are constantly differentiating. I believe that understanding TPACK will give a a niche in the education world; we will be able to help others understand and use it too! Although there are many positive things that come from TPACK, it does take work. You will have to help your students understand internet safety and how to be eithical using it. You will also have to make sure your students understand when the appropriate time to use these tools are. Finally, the teacher has to know when to use it too. Although we have the opportunity to use technology, we still have to remember, our first priority is the kids and helping them grow into young, successful learners!

Grounded Technology Integration

Welcome to my blog!

Wednesday was our first class for CI 302! We discussed many different topics that we will be going over throughout the semester. Our first task was to read an article titled Grounded Technology Integration by Judi Harris and Mark Hofer. The article went over different ways that technology is integrated into the classroom and ways that it actually should be. Harris and Hofer continue to go through a five step process to help teachers bring education to technology, not technology to education. They focus on the fact that although technology is becoming a big part of our classroom, we still need to make our student's needs the first priority.

The first step of Harris and Hofer's five step process was to choose learning goals. This is talking about picking a state curriculum standard to focus on. The second step is to make pedagogical descisions. Teachers must decide what the focus of the learning experience is, what students should be developing, what students already know, what students should gain, the amount of time the lesson will take, the best fit structure, and any other resources needed. After deciding what is best-fit for the lesson, teachers can move on to the third step: select activity types to combine. Teachers can now decide what learning activities will best help the students develop. Teachers who are interested can focus on TPACK (technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge) to help them come up with the best-fit curriculum based learning activities. The fourth steph is to select assessment strategies. The teacher must decide what will best "gauge student progress in achieving the targeted learning goal," (Harris & Hofer, 2009). Finally, the fifth step is to select tools/resources. This section explains one more time to readers that teachers should not make their classrooms "technocentric." Teachers need to focus on picking learning goals and then adding technology that can support the goal, not picking technology and forming goals around it. Harris and Hofer both agree that they want teachers to have intructional decision making power in creating a successful curriculum that focuses on student's needs.

This article was very interesting to me. It really made me think about the way that teachers use or even mis-use technology in their classrooms. Having technology in a classroom is great. Teachers do need to make sure that they are using it in a way that benefits their students. My goal as a teacher who wants to use technology is to integrate technology into my curriculum where it best fits, but not to integrate my curriculum into technology. The part of the article that sticks with me the most is this main point: that we need to intergrate technology into our lessons and not make lessons based on our technology. Harris and Hofer brought this back to perspective for me and is an article I reccommend that future educators read. There are many times that educators are making their classrooms technocentric. When visiting schools that are one to one or have different sorts of technology integration opportunities, I love to see how they incorporate it. When doing one of my practicum visits I was able to see this happen. The teacher was great with what she was doing. She used technology every day, but she used it to support her lesson. It was a math lesson she was doing. This teacher did not find the application and then center her lesson around it, she used the smartboard and ipads to complement, engage, and help her students during the lesson. This resonates with with because it was a great use of technology. I feel as if this teacher would support Harris and Hofer just like I do. I agree completely with Harris and Hofer. I do believe that sometimes it is hard to use technology in the correct forms for some people, but with the right knowledge on TPACK and combining technolgy, content knowledge, and pedagogy, educators will be well on their way to a successful classroom!