EDLD+5364+Team+Final+Reflection

https://sites.google.com/site/edld5364et8026/final-reflections-1

Our biggest rationales for the unit we chose and the technology products that we picked are because they blend games and hands-on activities with real life skills that students will need regardless of their future. We took the students from “old school” methods/thinking with the box wrapping through using Web 2.0 tools to make the concepts of area and perimeter their own. By having the students work in groups, I think we gave them a chance to collaborate on their learning. “Today, it’s [the Web] a thriving medium for collaboration in business, education and our personal lives” (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007, p144) so we can’t dismiss collaborative technology without taking the students out of their comfort zone; far out of their comfort zone. We almost do our students a disservice by not using all of the technological innovations that have become so much a part of their daily lives. They are used to doing things on the Web. They are used to learning on the Web, so we as educators have to get used to teaching them on the Web. We narrowed down our focus to sixth grade math. By researching the TEKS, we found that working with various measurements and applying them to solving problems was a big part of the sixth grade curriculum. We all felt that preparing a teacher in a professional development session to teach the concepts of area and perimeter would best be served by showing the teacher how she could work with various learning styles and use two of the biggest tools in the educator’s toolbox- technology and the students. Through our class readings we quickly agreed that since “Project based learning allows for alternative approaches that address students individual differences, variations in learning styles, intelligences, and abilities and disabilities” (Solomon, G., & Schrum, L., 2007, p, 39), we had to design a project for the students that would result in a real life product of their design built through using technology. Several different technology applications and learning activities were used in the creation of day/class period one to introduce key concepts and access prior learning. Using Inspiration, students will complete a KWHL chart on area and perimeter. “This is a good way to activate prior knowledge and to have students personalize their learning goals—one of the research based classroom recommendations” (Pitler 2007, p 18). This type of activity allows students to set goals and take an active part in their learning. To get students excited about area and perimeter a variety of multimedia resources would be used. Slideshare will be used to introduce key concepts and visual ideas on area and perimeter. Then the teacher can show two YouTube videos that address key terms, formulas, and important concepts through the use of music. Videos are useful in engaging students and meeting the needs of diverse learners. The hearing impaired student could use earphones or read the Closed Captioning on the videos. “Since teachers first started showing reel-to-reel films in their classrooms, countless educators have observed that movies and videos help engage students in content” (Pitler 2007, p 103). Visual and aural learners flock to this kind of presentation. As a closing activity for the lesson, a choice of learning games and simulations to reinforce student learning would be included. Pitler cited several research studies that state “bringing games and simulations into the K-12 classroom positively affects student motivation, retention, transfer, and skill level” (2007, p. 50). The second day/class period of activities would revolve around a Web 2.0 lesson using Gizmo. Since we introduced the concepts of area and perimeter previously Gizmo will be an excellent way for students to get more hands on practice with variations of these concepts. Before pairing the students and giving them an iPad to work Gizmo, the teacher will reinforce the previous day’s lesson by having the students try to estimate the amount of wrapping paper they would need to wrap a package. This will give them a concrete example to follow, especially for the blind student. The logical next step will be to get students to work with the abstract ideas behind measuring area and perimeter of spaces that they cannot really touch. In using the Gizmo lesson Fido’s Flower Bed on iPads shared between two students, the lesson will be really living up to the ideas that James Paul Gee expounded upon. Problem solving, collaboration and working through technology were some of the innovations that he felt needed to be stressed in today’s schools to teach tomorrow’s workers. “Video games put you into worlds where you have to solve problems. All a video game is is problem solving. A video game is just an assessment.” Gee said (2009). The students will be assessing themselves as they attempt to solve the problems in the game collaboratively. They have to work with perimeter and area measurements to lay out the required shape of the flower bed. If they make a mistake, the game immediately tells them so and the students have to go back and correct it. If the teacher sees that students are consistently having trouble with solving the problems in the game, she could re-teach the material before the students go on to the big assessment of measuring their rooms, areas of their school and designing their own school. The third day/class period is to be used for manipulating the information that the students found by measuring their classroom and other rooms in the school. Math concepts are not only heavily tested but are also heavily used in the real world. However, with the technology tools available to us today, seldom do you find people performing calculations using pencil and paper. However, computers are only capable of doing what we tell them to do. By using Excel, students are required to input the data and create the formula that Excel will use to calculate the results. Students will only need to have a strong concept of the mathematical operations but the computer will speed up the process of obtaining the results. This activity was chosen to not only reinforce the students knowledge of the objectives but to be able to see how this knowledge would be used in the real world. The fourth day/class period is about the students finalizing their end product for assessment. We offered many options for students to turn in their final assessment. Offering multiple ways for the assignment and presentation to be completed benefits different learners with different abilities and allows students to work in the medium in which they are most comfortable and is most suitable for their needs (Rose & Meyer, 2002). The culmination of the learning unit with a project that uses technological media, collaboration, and interpersonal skills will help the students be successful 21st century learners. Using the math skills in a real world application will help the student to see the value of the skill and apply problem solving techniques.(Soloman & Schrum, 2007). When students are allowed to use their talents and passions to turn in a unit for assessment they will attend to the task more fully, with greater effort. They will be more likely to remember the important information due to their enjoyment of the unit and assessment. This follows much of the same logic as Barab (2009) said about learning games. When a student is engaged they will attend for long periods, put forth greater effort despite the possibility of failure and level of difficulty. “We’re in a different time. We’re in a point where it is not so much about getting information as it is about using information to accomplish particular ends” Barab (2009). With this idea in mind, the students will be using information that they gathered and put into an Excel spreadsheet of area and perimeter measurements, combining it with techniques they learned from Gizmo and other web sources about design and building a plan of a school of their own design. They will then present their product using Powerpoint, Inspiration, Animoto or another of many Web 2.0 presentation tools. To prepare the teacher to teach this unit, we recommended working with the teacher prior to the unit for many reasons. Working through the unit as a student allows the teacher to get firsthand knowledge of what the students will experience and allow them to problem solve before the unit is started. Most teachers receive professional development over topics that may or may not be something that can be used with their curriculum but this process is totally focused on supporting the unit that the teacher is teaching. “Web 2.0 should be used authentically to enable educators to understand and become comfortable with the tolls and their potential as preparation for using them in their classrooms” (Solomon & Schrum, 2007, p103). Once the teachers have lost their fear and gained experience using the tools without the frustration that they often feel when left on their own to figure things out, they will be more likely to find other ways to incorporate the technology into other lessons. In a professional development session, we would be demonstrating the lesson for the teacher, showing her how to access the technology and, hopefully, coming back at a later time to give further support. Since we planned for the lesson to take four days, we were hoping to drop into the classroom at the end of the first day to see how things went. Ideally, we would be able to see the students’ presentations on the final day and debrief them and the teacher on strengths and weaknesses of the lesson.  Project based lessons that use technology and collaborative learning will not only help college bound students, but will also help those students who will likely be going into occupations which require them to collect data and figure out how to use it. In today’s fast paced digital world, students need to learn how to work together to solve problems using a variety of technology to achieve a goal. Or, they will get left behind.

Barab, S. (n.d.). //Big Thinkers: Sasha Barab on New Media Engagement.//  Retrieved Oct. 5, 2009, from edutopia.org: [|__http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-sasha-barab-video__]

Edutopia.org (nd). //Big thinkers:James Paul Gee in grading with games.// Retrieved on Oct. 5, 2009 from [|__http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-james-gee-video__]

Pitler, H, Hubbell, E, Kuhn, M, & Malenoski, K. (2007). //Using technology with classroom instruction that works// . Denver, CO: McREL.

Rose, D., & Meyer, A. (2002). //Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning// . Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology web site, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">//Web 2.0: New tools, new schools.// <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.