Hello!
My name is Megan Andrews, and I am a technology addict.
Just kidding! I do, however, enjoy using technology immensely. In fact, incorporating technology in education is a passion of mine, and I am constantly looking for new and better ways to do so.
I am currently in my tenth year of teaching high school English in Palmdale, CA. I happen to teach all seniors this year, but I have spent most of my previous years of teaching with a combination of 10th and 12th grade students. I enjoy the (almost) mature seniors, but sophomores offer a special kind of insanity that I find kind of fun.
Regardless of the grade level I teach, I include technology in my classroom. My school is in the process of integrating technology into our teaching, and we have staff and students at wildly differing ability levels. We live in an area that is relatively low-income, and where the elementary schools have had computer labs shuttered for the last five years; with our students being the "iPod Generation" (as we call them around here), it is not uncommon for a student entering the ninth grade to have had only a handful of experiences working on an actual computer. Because of this, and because we do have such a wide range of experiences, incorporating technology in lessons takes some work. We have to not only plan how we use the technology in our lesson, but we also have to plan time teaching our students how to use the technology we want them using.
Regardless of the grade level I teach, I include technology in my classroom. My school is in the process of integrating technology into our teaching, and we have staff and students at wildly differing ability levels. We live in an area that is relatively low-income, and where the elementary schools have had computer labs shuttered for the last five years; with our students being the "iPod Generation" (as we call them around here), it is not uncommon for a student entering the ninth grade to have had only a handful of experiences working on an actual computer. Because of this, and because we do have such a wide range of experiences, incorporating technology in lessons takes some work. We have to not only plan how we use the technology in our lesson, but we also have to plan time teaching our students how to use the technology we want them using.
Since I teach English, and a very particular course at that, my need to seek outside teaching resources is minimal. The course I teach was designed by our state university system to prepare incoming freshmen for the rigors of college-level reading and writing, Because of that, I am required to teach a very specific set of units. I do have room to customize how I approach teaching those units, and that is where I use technology as a tool. In my explorations of other teaching resources, I have found much that I like on websites like EDSITEment. One resource I've recently discovered, thanks to my district's district-wide purchase of licenses, is Shmoop. What I love about Shmoop is that it is geared toward students, so it tackles some high-level content, but in a way that is easy and engaging for students. Shmoop offers everything from test prep, to teachers' units and lesson plans, to full online courses. This year alone, I have used Shmoop to remediate struggling students, help students prepare for tests, and even better understand Hamlet.
In addition to teaching, I spend part of my day as in instructional coach with a focus area of digital literacy and technology integration. I wear several other hats, too, but those are stories for another time.
It is in my role as an instructional coach that I spend time doing a lot of research. It does have the added benefit of being research that I can use personally, as I use it to inspire what I do in my own classroom, even as I am thinking of ways it can be used in other classes. In the last three years, I have done a lot of exploring to find ideas, emerging best practices, and places to follow the ongoing conversation that is educational technology. I have definitely developed some favorites along the way. Edutopia is one of my go-tos, because it is easy to navigate and always has relevant and thoughtful content. While I do not always agree with what I read there, it keeps me abreast of issues and research. Another one of my favorites is MindShift. I appreciate their format, in that the blog posts are thoughtful and thought-provoking, but they are nearly always accompanied by a piece of research that inspired the post to begin with. With Edutopia and MindShift as two of my mainstays, I have regular exposure to current thinking in the world of ed tech; however, sometimes I need something more formally written, and that is when I venture over to the ASCD website for some serious reading. When I need research to support an idea, ASCD is my go-to resource, and I have used what I found there to effectively argue for more than one initiative on my campus.
Some of the challenges I face as both a teacher and an instructional coach have to do with change. Neither staff nor students are really quite ready to embrace the change that widespread use of technology in our classrooms will entail.
Students who have been raised in the NCLB "there are four possible answers to any given question" era find the increased critical thinking required with the effective use of technology intimidating at first. In general, I find that they are initially resistant to lessons that require critical thinking or even using technology in a new way. I remember one student who was so uncomfortable using tools to annotate a digital text (Foxit Reader) that she begged me for paper copies of the text. I ended up compromising and easing her into the process by alternating paper and digital texts, and she eventually became more comfortable with it, but this example illustrates a larger issue: our students are not accustomed to working outside of established parameters, and they usually need some coaxing (and sometimes a solid push) to start taking the intellectual risks involved adapting to new ways of learning.
And just as students tend to balk at change, so do staff, even if they take a slightly different approach. Staff members like to point out the problem I mentioned earlier in this post: that many of our students really have no idea how to effectively use a computer even though they are digital natives. They will also point out that our students have inequality of access: Not every student has a mobile device, not every student has a computer home, and we have some students that don't have access to either.
While the problems I just mentioned are being used as excuses primarily from teachers who are resistant to finding ways to incorporate technology into their teaching, the heart of the problem is very real. At this time, we have some teachers who are using this as a shield to keep from using technology, but we have others who have adopted the "they will find a way" attitude.
We are finding that our students are finding ways to complete technology-based assignments, but it is at a cost to the students. I am hearing more and more reports from students that they stay at the computer lab at school as late as it is open, but the don't always finish their work. Our administration has talked about extending computer lab hours, but that will only partially address the problem.
I find myself wondering: Is it reasonable to ask a student to spend an additional four or five hours at school to complete homework? We live in a community where a large percentage of our students are needed at home to take care of younger siblings and run a household while Mom and Dad are at work, and some have to go to work themselves. As more and more teachers require students to use technology to complete assignments, are we placing an unfair burden on those families who do not have access to technology at home and can least afford to have an older child gone for extended periods of time to complete school work? In order to address this issue, I am trying to start a conversation at our school, suggesting we consider starting a program that would provide technology to students who do not have any access, whether mobile or at home. While that approach would spare us the tremendous expense of implementing 1:1 devices across the school, it would have the same net effect, but at a much lower cost. I think such a solution will provide at least three immediate benefits:
In addition to teaching, I spend part of my day as in instructional coach with a focus area of digital literacy and technology integration. I wear several other hats, too, but those are stories for another time.
It is in my role as an instructional coach that I spend time doing a lot of research. It does have the added benefit of being research that I can use personally, as I use it to inspire what I do in my own classroom, even as I am thinking of ways it can be used in other classes. In the last three years, I have done a lot of exploring to find ideas, emerging best practices, and places to follow the ongoing conversation that is educational technology. I have definitely developed some favorites along the way. Edutopia is one of my go-tos, because it is easy to navigate and always has relevant and thoughtful content. While I do not always agree with what I read there, it keeps me abreast of issues and research. Another one of my favorites is MindShift. I appreciate their format, in that the blog posts are thoughtful and thought-provoking, but they are nearly always accompanied by a piece of research that inspired the post to begin with. With Edutopia and MindShift as two of my mainstays, I have regular exposure to current thinking in the world of ed tech; however, sometimes I need something more formally written, and that is when I venture over to the ASCD website for some serious reading. When I need research to support an idea, ASCD is my go-to resource, and I have used what I found there to effectively argue for more than one initiative on my campus.
Some of the challenges I face as both a teacher and an instructional coach have to do with change. Neither staff nor students are really quite ready to embrace the change that widespread use of technology in our classrooms will entail.
Students who have been raised in the NCLB "there are four possible answers to any given question" era find the increased critical thinking required with the effective use of technology intimidating at first. In general, I find that they are initially resistant to lessons that require critical thinking or even using technology in a new way. I remember one student who was so uncomfortable using tools to annotate a digital text (Foxit Reader) that she begged me for paper copies of the text. I ended up compromising and easing her into the process by alternating paper and digital texts, and she eventually became more comfortable with it, but this example illustrates a larger issue: our students are not accustomed to working outside of established parameters, and they usually need some coaxing (and sometimes a solid push) to start taking the intellectual risks involved adapting to new ways of learning.
And just as students tend to balk at change, so do staff, even if they take a slightly different approach. Staff members like to point out the problem I mentioned earlier in this post: that many of our students really have no idea how to effectively use a computer even though they are digital natives. They will also point out that our students have inequality of access: Not every student has a mobile device, not every student has a computer home, and we have some students that don't have access to either.
While the problems I just mentioned are being used as excuses primarily from teachers who are resistant to finding ways to incorporate technology into their teaching, the heart of the problem is very real. At this time, we have some teachers who are using this as a shield to keep from using technology, but we have others who have adopted the "they will find a way" attitude.
We are finding that our students are finding ways to complete technology-based assignments, but it is at a cost to the students. I am hearing more and more reports from students that they stay at the computer lab at school as late as it is open, but the don't always finish their work. Our administration has talked about extending computer lab hours, but that will only partially address the problem.
I find myself wondering: Is it reasonable to ask a student to spend an additional four or five hours at school to complete homework? We live in a community where a large percentage of our students are needed at home to take care of younger siblings and run a household while Mom and Dad are at work, and some have to go to work themselves. As more and more teachers require students to use technology to complete assignments, are we placing an unfair burden on those families who do not have access to technology at home and can least afford to have an older child gone for extended periods of time to complete school work? In order to address this issue, I am trying to start a conversation at our school, suggesting we consider starting a program that would provide technology to students who do not have any access, whether mobile or at home. While that approach would spare us the tremendous expense of implementing 1:1 devices across the school, it would have the same net effect, but at a much lower cost. I think such a solution will provide at least three immediate benefits:
- The "not everyone has access" excuse would be gone,
- Students would no longer struggle to simply have access to the technology necessary to complete work, and
- Both students and teachers can set aside worries about access and get into the really important part of integrating technology into education: improving the way students learn.
I love to hear some of your thoughts on any of what I've discussed here.
Hi Megan,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and understanding your journey to incorporate technology into your classroom. I used to teach 10th grade English, too, and I loved the way it provided lots of opportunity to use technology with the students. Because my time is so limited with students (except collaborative projects) I find I use it a lot less. We are going to 1:1 starting next year so I am thrilled to use it more consistently. We are in the beginning stages of 1:1 so I don't know that I have a lot to add to your question, but I can tell you that we are doing it in 4 phases. This year everyone who comes in contact with a 4th grade student is being trained by Apple (we are getting iPads) for several days. We are also doing three additional trainings ranging from the "why" to the parents as partners.
I am also excited to sift through the sources you linked in your post, so thank you! I look forward to learning lots from you! Seems you have a great attitude towards coaching and implementing as well as researching the best tools to use.
Sarah