What About the Neediest Ones?

Please click on the post title to enjoy the Voice Thread I created about why some schools have more technology resources than others!

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social learning theories suggest that optimum learning takes place when social interaction among students occurs (Orey, 2001). Cooperative learning strategies are an excellent way to integrate social learning into the classroom. Cooperative learning provides students with an opportunity to share their understanding with a group. It also gives students an opportunity to learn from the perspectives, experiences, and understandings of the other students in the group. Cooperative learning promotes "positive interdependence" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007) among students, accountability among students, communication skills, decision making skills, conflict management skills, and content synthesis and reflection, through social communication and activity completion (Pitler, et.al, 2007).

When using cooperative groups, teachers need to be sure that the groups are flexible in nature and that cooperative learning opportunities are used when the activity or learning can be positively impacted by students working closely together (Pitler, et.al, 2007). It is important that groups are formed with intentionality and purpose, whether it is based on ability, interest, or skill sets (Pitler, et.al, 2007).

Technology tools offer a unique opportunity and ability for students to work cooperatively in a problem-based or project based learning situation. Word processors and concept maps help cooperative groups plan the project, take notes on information learned, and summarize the relevant information quickly. Collaborative tools, such as Voice Thread, ePals, blogs, and wikis allow students to work collaboratively on a project when they are away from school. These tools provide a place for students and groups to present their understandings, questions, and connections to the learning material, and receive feedback and suggestions from their peers, thus altering and deepening the understanding that the student or group has. They also allow for collaboration to occur between students across the country and across the world.

What makes these tools so have such a high impact is their relevance to social learning strategies. These tools allow students to share their gained information, and gain and understand new information together as a group. When students work together cooperatively, optimum learning takes place through the discussion and acceptance or rejection of material from the group as whole (Orey, 2001). The group, being made up of students from a particular community bases its overall understanding and integration of the material on past experiences and social meaning and understanding of the concepts presented (Orey, 2001). The group ultimately works together to form a unified position of understanding about the material, thus creating a common learning threat for all students in that group.

For cooperative learning to work, students have to actively participate in the group and bring their own understandings, experiences, and thoughts to the group to share them. It is an excellent strategy that can be easily infused with technology, while simultaneously deepening and broadening the meaning and understanding of content for our students.

Resources:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Constructivism in Practice

Constructivist/constructionist learning theories center themselves around the ideas that students are constructing their own learning and understanding through the creation of some type of artifact that can be viewed by others and discussed or reflected upon (Orey, 2001).

Project-based learning tools like Internet search engines, concept maps, word processors, spreadsheets, blogs, wikis, podcasting programs, and graphics programs make implementing the project-based learning strategy simple and efficient. In the first stage of project-based learning, these tools allow students to locate and organize information, and collaborate with peers through the organization and production process. Through the second phase, these tools also allow students to cooperatively create a multitude of projects and present them to their class or peers. The third and final phase of project based learning can utilize these technologies to help students reflect upon and follow up on the projects, editing them and revising the project, based on peer and self-reflection (Orey, 2001).

Project-based learning is a methodology that I am certainly much more familiar with, having used it often in my classroom. However, while contemplating Problem-based learning and thinking about it in conjunction with generating and testing hypotheses, I can see a much broader use for spreadsheets in practical applications. Problem-based learning requires students to think about and solve real life problems. This strategy could be highly effective since “learning is most meaningful and is enhanced when students face a situation in which the concept is immediately applied (Orey, 2001).” While I whole-heartedly agree with this statement, I initially had great difficulty combining this strategy with generating and testing hypotheses. I simply could not see a suitable use for my third grade students. Then, as I began thinking of how spreadsheets allow students to build tables and use formulas to manipulate and change data, I began to see how using this tool could build upon many of our classroom math lessons involving patterns. It could also be used to chart and manipulate possible data in a scientific hypothesis (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). Most importantly with this particular strategy, using a real world application or problem would have the greatest impact on my students. For example, students could use spreadsheets to chart the number of bricks needed to complete a patio that has a certain number of bricks in each square foot.

Both of these strategies encourage and require students to build some sort of artifact and construct their own understanding of the content they are learning. Because these strategies are interactive with technology and other students, they help students to create multiple connections to the material they are learning, which makes it much more lasting and meaningful to students.

Resources:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36764355@N00/324152992

Technology Tools and Cognitive Learning Theory

Technology augments and enhances classroom learning and instruction in many ways. This week, in our discussion and reading, connected to cognitive learning theories and cues, questions, advance organizers, note taking and summarizing, we saw many examples of ways that technology can be integrated into classroom instruction and learning. These examples also clearly show how well they fit into the cognitive learning theory.

Using technology to cue and question student learning is a great way to introduce new content in the classroom. Word processing and spreadsheet programs allow teachers and students to create a working list of prior knowledge and understanding, as well as create a set of questions to be answered within the unit. This technology based KWL chart, if used directly by the students through their own use of the program, or with an interactive whiteboard, allows students to interact with the previously developed schema and the questions to be answered during the unit (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). In just formulating the questions, students are utilizing a higher cognitive skill and essentially planning strategies to find the answers to particular questions (Orey, 2001). PowerPoint programs and programs like Inspiration and Kidspiration allow teachers to provide students with visual cues, and advance organizers about the topic at hand. Important questions to be answered through the learning, and important vocabulary are just a couple of ways to help provide students with advance organizers to begin a unit or lesson (Pitler, et.al, 2007). The visual ability of word processors, spread sheets, concept mapping tools, and multimedia tools allow student to begin organizing their thoughts and making connections with what they already know, before they begin learning the new content of the lesson. Word processors, spread sheets, and mapping tools give students an opportunity to begin creating some way of mentally organizing the material they are about to acquire, as well as helping to provide visual cues, like graphics and pictures, that help students make more complex brain connections. Multimedia programs, such as PowerPoint, podcasts, and video clips also help students prepare and begin organizing their thoughts on the upcoming topic (Pitler, et. al. 2007 and Orey, 2001).

In many of the same ways, these tools also play an important part of the instructional strategies of summarizing and note taking. Word processors and spreadsheets can be manipulated by students as they use the note taking strategy, as can concept mapping tools. The important thing to mention about these technology tools is that they allow students to organize the information as it makes the most sense to them. Students can utilize charts and outline features, text highlighting and text change features, clip art and concept webs to help them review and organize what information is important throughout their learning, helping them to develop deep cognitive thinking skills throughout the learning of new material (Orey, 2001, and Pitler, et. al, 2007). With summarizing, students can readily utilize podcasts, blogs, wikis, and videos from online sites. Blogs and wikis become especially effective in helping students organize their thinking for summarizing. They also allow for increased interactions between students. Students can present a summary through a blog or wiki, and classmates can comment or ask questions to isolate important information from the summarizer (Pitler, et. al, 2007). Additionally, these technologies work well when combined with reciprocal teaching, where students lead an online discussion and summary, through pointed questions to highlight important information, about the topic shared by the entire class (Pitler, et. al, 2007).

Virtual field trips allow students to experience their learning. This experience provides students with visual cues and connections, possible auditory cues and connections, and helps students develop cognitive thinking skills in matching the information they see in the virtual field trip with the previously learned information. When students experience a virtual field trip, they need to think about what information is important, plan what area to look at next, and experiment with the site to find it. They also observe the visual information and cues of the field trip, reflect on how that information matches up with their plan for finding or comparing information, and then review all of the information they have acquired, both visually and textually (Orey, 2001).With these visual and textual cues and experiences of the virtual field trip, students are further able to identify and organize important information, while simultaneously making deep connections to the material and the experience of the virtual field trip.

Technology can be a powerful tool to enhance and augment cognitive learning practices. The important part for teachers to be cognizant of is how any specific tool will be used, and if a different tool will better meet the needs of the lesson or the students. Beyond that, using these technology tools can only help to deepen the understanding and recall of information by our students.

Resources:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13053707@N00/102413554

Behaviorism in Practice

Using technology to reinforce student efforts and to aid students in homework and practice is a terrific practice that impacts student learning in a significant way.

Reinforcing effort in the classroom, both academically and behaviorally is a very important instructional strategy. it allows students to gauge their own level of success, and it reinforces the positivity or negativity of their choices and level of effort. Because students don't always "realize the importance of believing in effort" (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007), it is important to be very specific about the importance of effort, and what high levels of effort look like. It is also important to involve students in the tracking of that effort (Pitler, et al., 2007). A great way to do this is the use of classroom and project rubrics. These rubrics can be created using spreadsheet programs. Having students use a same basic template to record their progress in meeting these expectations is a great use of technology to help students monitor and reinforce their own behaviors. This exemplifies the behaviorist theory that students will want to continue a behavior that gives them a positive result (Orey, 2001). If students are turning their work in on time, but receiving overall negative results, that student will soon be able to see that the effort in completing the assignment is not what is needed to get the result they want. As a result of seeing and understanding this through the use of the spreadsheet, the student will alter his or her behaviors while completing the assignment. There are also other great technology infused ways of helping students realize what their level of effort as compared to the assignment expectations. Collecting data, through the use of survey and data collection programs also helps students synthesize the specific areas where more effort is needed. Because the student gets specific feedback from these particular types of rubrics and data collections, it gives them positive reinforcement for their areas of strength, and some negative reinforcement for the areas where their effort is less than sufficient (Orey, 2001). This reinforcement is timely, if not immediate, and allows the student to make behavioral changes in their academic process (Orey, 2001).

Homework and practice are also areas in which behaviorism is often put into practice in education. Homework should have a purpose that is clearly articulated to students, and it should vary for students as they advance from elementary school through high school (Pitler, et al., 2007). Perhaps the most important aspect of homework and practice, as it pertains to Behaviorism, is the timeliness and level of feedback from teachers. If homework is given, then feedback should be given to the student quickly (Pitler, et al., 2007). Word processing software helps students in this area, even if they are working at home. The word processor has the ability to give a writer immediate feedback about spelling and word usage. it also has the ability to help students search for the meanings of words they do not know or fully understand, through the use of the dictionary feature. Online skills practice activities also give students immediate feedback as they practice skills like keyboarding and letter/sound matching. This immediate feedback serves as a reinforcement to students as they practice a specific skill, thus changing the behavior and developing learning and understanding (Orey, 2001). Other interactive technologies, like blogs and wikis, also gives students that timely feedback, which reinforces their behavior and efforts.

So, while Behaviorism alone is often seen in the educational community as less than desirable practice, it is certainly present in many parts of a student's learning. Even through the use of technology, behaviorism becomes a part of the learning process through the timely feedback and data tracking that it allows students to access.

References:

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behavior Interventions

The first year of teaching is one of the toughest things I have ever done. I was completing a Teacher-in-Residency program through Milwaukee Public Schools and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and I was placed into a 2nd/3rd grade classroom while completing my teacher education training at night. There was no cooperating or supervising teacher to guide me or to help me. I was completely on my own. I was absolutely petrified at facing my 2nd and 3rd graders, but there was very little that could have possibly prepared me for the behavior nightmare I was about to face. Hindsight is always 20/20, but if I had understood and known about the strategy of escalating interventions (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) or how to develop individual behavior change plans (Jones & Jones, 2008), I would have known not only how to address the problems I faced, but also how to improve them and help one of the most memorable students in my career.

Bob (not really his name) was one of my second grade students. He was a troubled and angry young man who, along with his three other siblings, lived with his maternal grandmother. He and his siblings had been abandoned by their drug addicted mother, whom Bob had not personally seen in over a year. He was also a young man who, when happy, had an infectious, if not slightly goofy, smile.

When Bob first entered my classroom, he seemed almost painfully shy and quiet. I soon found out, however, that there was a restlessness and rage boiling beneath his surface. I soon found that Bob was argumentative with his classmates and me, called and yelled out during class instruction and discussion, and often refused to do the work that we were doing in class. When I would correct this behavior, he would become obstinate, and begin arguing and yelling at me. When I issued consequences for this behavior, he would swing at me and hit me, and then run out of the room and sit in the hallway, yelling loudly and disturbing the rest of the building. Ultimately, I would have to involve other staff members to come remove him from the hallway, or to find him because he had run off from outside of my classroom. I was in contact with Bob’s grandmother almost daily because of his behavior, and she was initially responsive and supportive of what I was doing to control Bob’s behavior in class. Once Bob began hitting me and making repeated physical contact, I was trained, at the suggestion of the Emotional Behavior Disorder teacher, in physical restraint techniques. As the year progressed, I was forced to physically restrain Bob several times, usually only for 1-2 minutes before he became calm enough to relinquish. There was one situation, however, where I needed to restrain this child for a total of 40 minutes. He had punched me three times before I could restrain him. I began with minimal restraint, while I waited for my administrator to bring the crisis team to my room. During that time, several students tried to approach me for support on a project they were working on, but Bob took swings at each of those students, narrowly missing a connection with their faces. While I waited for my administrator to bring the crisis team to my room (she was quite busy eating her lunch in her locked office), I had to require my other students, for their own safety, to stay over 4 feet away from me and from Bob, who was yelling and screaming at me and the other students. Unfortunately this incident set the tone for the rest of the year, and I had to simply let Bob leave the classroom, notifying the office on a daily basis every time that he left my classroom in anger. The crisis team would search for Bob, and would, inevitably have to physically restrain him or move him from the place where he was found. These tactics and solutions did not alter or improve Bob’s behavior in my classroom.

If I were to do everything over again with Bob, I would certainly make use of the escalation of interventions techniques (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008) and well as use the techniques described by Vern and Louise Jones, regarding creating and implementing individual behavior change plans. Initially, when Bob began his argumentative behavior with me or with his classmates, or began calling out or yelling in class, I should have had what Dr. Wolfgang referred to, in Interventions for Severe and Chronic Behavior Problems, as a “knee to knee” with Bob. This would have given me better insight as to what was causing his frustration to grow as high as to become belligerent to his classmates or me, or to yell in the middle of class, or to refuse to do the work. I could have developed a better relationship with Bob by actually hearing and listening to what was truly troubling him, like the fact that the majority of the work was far too difficult for him to complete independently. I could have created a no-lose contract with Bob that would allow him to control his behavior (which would be my “win”) and still get the attention from me or be able to complete his work without feeling like a failure (his “win”).

During my actual experience with Bob, I did give him time outs, both at level one (within the classroom), and at level two (out of the classroom). I did not, however, give these time outs as a choice to the student, as a confronting-contracting approach, or as a calm consequence to consistent rule breaking, as suggested by Dr. Wolfgang (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). If I had another opportunity to work with Bob, I would definitely use the time out option as a choice for him to help himself stay more calm and collected. I firmly believe that this approach, if done in conjunction with a knee-to-knee with Bob and a no-lose negotiation contract about Bob’s behavior, would have been very helpful in teaching Bob self control and minimizing the undesirable behavior.

I was in frequent contact with Bob’s grandmother throughout the year, and I spoke with my administrators frequently about Bob’s behavior. This next step in the escalation of interventions was one area that I unknowingly entered. Unfortunately, I did not request a meeting with Bob’s grandmother and the principal to occur at the same time. I was very quick to move to this level of intervention escalation, without thought or understanding of a relationship building knee-to-knee or use efficient use of time out. If I had used these steps and then organized a meeting with the grandmother, the principal, and myself, we may have been able to devise a better plan to support Bob in learning more appropriate behavior and social skills.

If the Bob’s behavior showed no improvement, I would contact the principal and special education staff in the building, along with the crisis team, to hold a staffing meeting to brainstorm some additional interventions that might help and support Bob in his classroom behavior. It would be at this point that I would, along with the support of the staffing team, devise an individual behavior change plan for Bob, as suggested by Vern and Louise Jones. This would be based on the data that we had all been able to collect while observing Bob. In all likelihood, I would have utilized a social, token, and activity reinforcement plan for Bob. Utilizing the staffing team, we would develop the parameters with which the plans would be implemented. We could work through together what tokens would be given for, and when they would be given. We could have also discussed and agreed upon how Bob could have used those tokens to gain activities or items that matter to him. I would hope the team would focus the behavior contract on the five main behavior concerns: calling out in class, yelling at me and his classmates, finishing his class work, not leaving the classroom without permission, and not hitting or kicking others when he became angry or frustrated. I would take the suggestions agreed upon an implemented them in my classroom.

Had that step in the escalation of interventions failed, I would have created, along with my principal and the crisis team, a severity clause, in which Bob would be immediately removed from my classroom for his safety, as well as the safety of the other students. This severity clause would have most likely taken effect if and when Bob began hitting, punching, or running out of the classroom in anger. Based on what I understand about Bob and his behavior now, it would have been most appropriate to have two difference consequences for the different behaviors of physical aggression and running away. Perhaps the physical aggression could be met with a standard consequence of an in-school suspension, one in which he could be instructed in a calmer one on one setting, or counseled thoroughly about his behavior during his time in suspension. The running away from the classroom in anger constitutes a severe and forced time out, followed by a time to discuss the frustrations that spurred the reactions and alternate choices that could be made within the safe confines of the classroom, so that Bob could learn to substitute his current behaviors with newer and more appropriate behaviors.

Having completed my teacher training in a Teacher-in Residency program, I am not sure if this type of classroom management information is more readily available through a traditional teacher training program. I am sure, however, that had I been instructed earlier in my career on these techniques and strategies, I would have not only reduced the stress and frustration that I felt as a teacher, but I also would have made a better impact upon my students. I would have surely been able to avoid so many severe behavior problems in my classroom, and I may have been able to help those students develop better skills to manage their own frustration and behavior, making them a more successful and integral part of every classroom that they entered after mine.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Interventions for Severe and Chronic Behavior Problems [Motion Picture] Boston: Author.
Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2007). Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of support and solving problems (Laureate Education, Inc., custom 8th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Rules, Goals, and Procedures

This my application assignment for week two of my Walden Classroom Management class. This was an alternative assignment. I had a great deal more fun creating this than I would have an essay! Enjoy!