30 November: Peripherals in the Classroom

Peripherals, like laptops, are a tool in the classroom. As such, there isn't anything radically different about their use in my classroom. So, I think I'll write about the special challenges of computer use in a beginning language classroom.

Digital tools have a special place in a language class in that they allow students to express their ideas and creativity in the target language in new and different ways. They also allow the teacher to bring language into the classroom through different media (music, video, text you name it). In addition, their are tons of new tools to extend language learning online through sites such as livemocha, learnspanish and even university level coursework such as MIT.

The challenge with digital tools is the temptation they offer students to 'express' their ideas so easily. Online translation sites abound, and for a sophisticated grade 8 student who has only basic language structures and vocabulary at his/her disposal they seem like the perfect way to say what you want to say. This can undermine language learning in various ways.

Most importantly, students don't use the target language structures and vocabulary that they need to as the essential scaffolding for developing fluency. In a sense, it allows them to run before they can walk. This actually slows their mastery of core curricula. To the teacher, it is always glaringly obvious when something has been been translated by google; it contains language way beyond the student's level and/or it is a mishmash of non-sensical phrases.

Initially I dealt with this simply by explaining to my students the scoring/rubric criteria for assignments and the necessity of focusing on the core language structures related to the task. I emphasized how easy it is to recognize the results of a translation site and how I valued their experimentation with language much more than perfect phrasing. Though it worked to an extent, students continued to use the sites.

Ironically, the only thing that really worked was to go old school. With a project oriented classroom, I now generally have my students write by hand using good old paper and pen. When that step is complete, students incorporate their (and this way it truly is theirs) language into video, digital stories, slideshows etc. In some cases there are more mistakes; in some cases there are fewer. Either way, student are authentically using the target language in real ways that truly reflect their language development.

Laptop Use: 23 November 09

I have not found laptops to be problematic in class. Classroom management is classroom management, which, by its very nature, evolves with the circumstances. Laptops are another circumstance to which we, students and teachers, adjust.

Things that work for me...

1. Give time to play and explore when introducing a new tool.

2. Talk about expectations.

I try to be clear with my classes about what I want them doing/not doing during work times. This extends to work on computers. If time has expired for personalizing a blog, for example, I let my students know that they can continue on their own time. I also know that at some point, someone will use their laptop in a way that I don't want, so I explain in advance that there will be consequences for doing so.

3. I ask students to close the laptops during discussions.

I know from my own experience that it is very difficult to engage in a discussion with the temptations offered by the laptops. Often I will ask them to find what they need to participate fully in the discussion and then close the cover.

We often alternate between discussion, research, reading, writing etc. During discussion my goal is for students to focus on what other people are saying; minimizing distractions is essential. The key difference between discussion and answering a question is listening to what others say. This is the only thing that creates an opportunity for participants to build upon what others say. Part of teaching is moving students out of the paradigm of simply asking questions and getting a teacher response. It is not an easy transition because of years of practice simply answering questions.

Online discussions (using any of the tools at our disposal) is very different and really has no place in class. There is too much simultaneous input for students to 'listen' to each other and maintain the momentum of discussion. This is an excellent format for continuing discussion outside of class or for fostering discussion in students involved in distance learning.

4. It's impossible to answer every question. A teacher can quickly be run ragged trying to respond to different students' questions about HOW to do something in class. I usually insist that students ask people at their table first before asking me. This reduces the questions I am asked to the more essential ones. Also, to be brutally honest, there are certain questions that, after a few requests, I refuse to answer. I will direct students attention to the board, my blog, an online resource or to a peer if I have told the class as a whole several times. I find that for some, this is the only way to encourage technological independence.

NETs and Good Teaching (week of 15 Nov)

The NETs on teaching and administration set admirable goals and describe good teaching. There is no question of that. Congratulations to the authors.

Subtract the 'digital tools' from them (or any permutation of the term) and you are still left with good teaching. That leaves us with two big questions: 1. Do we need NETs?; and 2. Can you be a good teacher without using digital tools?

The answer to number 1? No. I have known great teachers who do not use computers etc. in their classes. Nonetheless, their classrooms resemble in every respect the environment that the NETs evoke (minus the digital tools). Creativity, originality and collaboration do not begin with any particular tools or format. Good teachers find good ways to use good tools. They find ways for students to express themselves and to work together.

I have also known lousy teachers where little of value takes place with or without a digital tool. Their students' work does not reflect analysis, collaboration or introspection. Once again, but in a not so positive way, the tool does not matter.

The NETs serve as guidelines for the kind of work students and teachers should be doing. Of that there is no question. Good teachers will find ways to work with digital tools in great ways whether or not the NETs were ever written. If the NETs serve a purpose it is to guide people to the good pedagogy WITH DIGITAL TOOLS. Shouldn't we just guide people towards good pedagogy? PERIOD - NO QUALIFIERS.

Can you be a good teacher without digital tools? Duh. Do I want to use them in my classroom? Sí. Am I constantly looking for new ways to use them? Definitivamente. Could I go to another school that didn't have a wide array of digital tools available for classroom use? Claro. I would be sad at first, but I know that, just as it always has, my pedagogical practice would adjust to the demands of my environment.

A homework precedent

An interesting article from Calgary...

Ensuring Students Learn What They Need?

Hmmm, isn't that what we always do? I thought that was my biggest source of anxiety for the last 18 years.

I don't think we can ensure (as in, make certain that (something) shall occur or be the case) that our students ever learn everything we think they need to learn. In regards to technology, that is also the case. We can, however, get as close as we possibly can to that goal with a two-pronged strategy.

With a vision for how technology is best used, we approach a point at which the majority of teachers are ready to buy in. Some teachers will always be hesitant to embrace new methods, be they technological or philosophical (or both), because of the many competing demands on time. When we develop a vision for the ways in which technology should be part of our academic lives, teachers are more more willing to jump in and take the time to integrate and master digital tools.

I emphasize the word ways to differentiate between that and specific tools. I have a(n evolving) vision of the place technology should occupy in my pedagogy. In addition to being a hugely powerful source of information, I see it as a means of expression and collaboration first and foremost and, secondarily, as a an archive/portfolio of student work. I believe the tools allow my students to express ideas in new ways to broader audiences and to collaborate with people beyond the confines of the classroom. They can and should now apply what they learn to more realistic problems and situations. Because I have a vision, I am comfortable bringing different digital tools into my pedagogy.

The second 'prong' to ensuring our students learn what they need re technology and information literacy is to weave technology into the fabric of a school. Across grade levels and across the different curricular areas, technology needs to be diffused throughout an institution rather than compartmentalized.

This is my personal philosophy, and it informs all that I do in my teaching. That said, I know that the the most important thing our students NEED to learn is HOW TO LEARN. Technology and information literacy are only part of learning how to learn. Good teaching leads to learning - content, skills and the habits of mind that create real learners. Computers, hand-helds, whatever device that may come our way are not pre-requisites for learning or success.

Irony

As we watch the very idea of political debate in the United States devolve into theatrics and anarchy, we work patiently to develop the skill here at ISB. As teachers we search out appropriate research texts, and we guide students to find additional information independently. We create opportunities for our students to work collaboratively to identify key information and synthesize that into cogent arguments. We help them develop the confidence and poise to give voice to those arguments in a reasonable but impassioned way.

Simultaneously, in the world's most influential country (whether I like it or not, it is), in the country which the largest number of our students identify as home, the Super Bowl of Freedom shapes the 'debate' on one of the most important pieces of legislation in the country's history. For the first time, I hope my students don't watch/read the news.

NETs and AASLs

Just as reading is woven into every strand of a students' education, so should the skills related to digital literacy. In our Humanities team TOG, for example, we decided to focus on developing student skills in reading non-fiction. We found, through data and observation, that our students often had difficulty identifying key information, limiting their comprehension of non-fiction texts.

In our student-led conferences Grade 6 core teachers are together. My math and science counterpart and I shared many of the same insights into student progress/future growth because the skills we discussed were not limited to our specific curricular area; they run through the curricula of each subject area.

The NETs and AASLs are similar. The standards they set out cannot become the responsibility of a specific department or grade level. They need to be interwoven not because they are specific skills but because they are means of expression of ideas and tools for analysis. We cannot compartmentalize expression of ideas as the responsibility of any particular teacher.

As a starting point for discussion, however, the question of who's job it should be does not seem to be a good starting point for discussion. We are all doing this already. The issue for all of is how we effectively teach those standards.