technology integration

Easing Back into the Fray

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment
Tilting at Windmills?
Monday morning back from a holiday is just as hard on the teachers as it is on the students.  As a veteran teacher, I know that it’s best to ease back into the routine.  We started a new unit today which was a perfect introduction back into a schedule ruled by bells.  The task for today was for students to analyze a secondary source and compile notes utilizing the Thinking Tools:  details and unanswered questions.  Today’s task focused on giving students the choice to work together or independently (my morning classes were half asleep) as they used their analysis skills and background knowledge to make inferences about life on the manor in feudal Europe.
I usually tweet this…but today I really should have done it…I really should have recorded their conversations because they were so interesting, thought-provoking, and in some cases, downright hysterical.  In analyzing a picture of manor life, most students struggled with an object that looked like an elephant (not likely in Europe), a rock (not a significant factor for describing a place), or a person taking off their clothes (to which they wondered…why is someone taking their clothes off in the middle of the manor?!?!).  Then there was an object in quadrant two…is it a guy doing pull-ups (seriously?), committing suicide (well, we did just finish our study on the Bushido Code), or was someone hanged for a crime (what kind of crime required hanging as a punishment? how long did they leave the guy hanging? what is that hanging thing called?!).  One of these days, I’m going to record their conversations because the pictures on Instagram only told half the story.  When students verbalize their thinking, it is truly something to behold…

Personalized Learning…It’s Possible.

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

About eight years ago, my district eliminated advanced classes for history.  This meant that gifted students were placed in the general education population which posed a problem because the question now became…how do I differentiate for all the various academic levels in the same class?

[Enter technology]

When I started my master’s program in 2008 little did I know that technology was going to be part of the solution to help differentiate learning in my classroom.  I was creating lessons that utilized a variety of technology tools that I could incorporate into my lessons that would allow me to create a learning environment that was closer to what I defined to as personalized learning.

[Flash forward to 2011]

I was graciously given a class set of iPads by my principal because through our conversations I was able to convince her that technology was going to enable me to provide learning opportunities that would help all levels of students in my mixed ability classes.

It’s a work in progress and it is by no means near completion…

But we’re happy with the results thus far.

[Backstory]

Our district brought in Robert Marzano as a guest speaker.  From there we were encouraged to utilize his idea of learning scales.  My department (true to form) took the idea and ran with it.  We created learning scales for all of our units:  world and US.  That was in 2011.

[Flash forward to today]

Each member in my department now has their own set of iPads.  Our principal purchased licenses for Haiku Learning.  We’ve changed our units so that we are offering our students opportunities to work in a blended learning environment.  With that, we’re able to create tasks that are required and optional.

[Backstory]

Level 3 tasks which fall under the describe/define category of Bloom’s are required.  It’s the bare basic concept attainment for our respective curricular areas.  Level 4 tasks are analysis and Level 5 tasks focus on evaluation and/or creation.  Levels 4 & 5 are optional. Students who complete Level 3 tasks will earn the equivalent of a C for that unit.  Students who complete Level 4 tasks have the potential to earn the equivalent of a B for that unit.  Likewise, students who complete Level 5 tasks have the potential to earn the equivalent of an A for the unit.  Level 4 does not count if students do not demonstrate mastery of Level 3.  Level 5 does not count if students do not demonstrate mastery of Levels 3 and 4.  Students choose their level of learning.  It’s just one part of the personalized learning that occurs in our classes.

[Flash forward to today]

In Haiku Learning, we’re able to create leveled tasks for students.  Not only do they have a choice in their learning level, but they also have a choice in how they want to demonstrate their learning.  Students who are interpersonal can choose to work with a partner.  Students who are artistic can choose to use creation apps like Paper 53 or Notability.  Students who are musically inclined can use Garageband or Songify.  The point being…the integration of technology into our classes has given us the means to offer our students a personalized learning experience.  We can create differentiated lessons and activities, but students also have a choice in their learning.  It’s been a crazy first month of school and I’m totally pooped but it’s been fun.  I love watching my students get excited when looking at the various options that they can choose from.  I don’t think that students often get a choice in how they learn but we’re trying our best to make that happen in our classes.  And for that…we’re super thankful that our administration believes in our vision because we’re not done yet.  =)

Where Learning Matters

/ Catherine Cabiness-Atkinson, Ed.D. / Leave a comment

Like last summer, I was brought in as part of the technology team to plan, present, and facilitate professional development for teachers in my district.  Because of the size of our team, we were able to host a variety of technology PD for all teachers in our district K12.  However, we were not able to host as many repeat sessions this year because we simply did not have the man-power or space to do so.  In fact, I was told that the sessions quickly filled to capacity when Super Week sign-ups opened at the beginning of June.  This was a good sign.

Last week was the start of Super Week (#superweek2015) for our district.  I’m not sure how other districts run their PD, but in my 20 years we’ve always had PD before school starts.  Some years it’s a full week, last year it was a week and a half (dubbed Super-Duper Week, no hashtag).  But what I really enjoyed about this year’s Super Week was the addition of K6 teachers to the mix.  Prior, we only concentrated on secondary teachers (7-12 Instruction) which made sense since we were all from the secondary level.  But this year we added a few elementary teacher presenters and facilitators which brought new insight into how technology could effectively be integrated into the curriculum.

This year, I presented on a variety of topics:

  • Presentations that Inspire – Slides, Prezi, PowToon, HaikuDeck
  • Advanced Flipped Learning – EdPuzzle, Movenote, Educreations, Camtasia, Screencastomatic
  • SAMRai – UpLeveling the Learning
  • Let’s Get Appy – Web Apps for Everyone
But what I love most about presenting is the learning that occurs on my own end.  I enjoy lively dialogue with teachers about how best to use technology with their students.  It is exciting to see the passion reignited in teachers when they see the power that technology can bring in order to transform the learning process.  But it’s not just on their end.  I always pick up several cool ideas that I could bring back to my own classroom which will not only benefit my students but my department as well.  Learning is a two-way street and delivering PD is one avenue to the process.