Diving in headfirstSheila CoopermanJohn FalinoCara Stepanian

Twitter Friendly Workshop

We encourage all participants to “backchannel”during this workshop at

#NCTETech

Essential Questions

How can teachers of English best achieve effective integration of technology into their classrooms?

• What is digital literacy?

• Why “edtech”?

• What are barriers to implementation?

• What practical advice exists for getting started?

Overview of Presentation

EQ: How can teachers best achieve effective integration into their classrooms?

Part I: Establishing the Focus

Part II: School in Focus (DFHS)

Part III: Advice for Overcoming Barriers to EdTech

Part IV: Twitter and Building a PLN

Part V: Google Docs & Google Forms

Part VI: Moodle in the Classroom

Part VII: Q & A

Audience & Assumptions

What is Digital Literacy?

• Implementing digital tools into the classroom curriculum to support, enhance and drive literacy beyond “traditional” reading and writing by supporting composition in digital spaces (such as social media sites or classroom blogs).  

EdTech in the ELA CCSS

❖ The Common Core ELA standards focus on college and career readiness

❖ Shared expectation that students will:

➢ use technology to produce, publish, interact and collaborate

➢ develop ability to evaluate sources in different media/formats

➢ produce presentations with digital media including web based tools

 

EdTech in the CCSS

To apply technology effectively students must be able to:

• Use technology as a tool to research, organize, evaluate and communicate information

• Use digital technologies, communication/networking tools and social networks appropriately to access, manage, integrate, evaluate and create information

• Apply a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding access to and use of information technologies

 

EdTech in the CCSS

● Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums

● Use technology, including the internet, to produce, publish and update individual and shared writing products, taking advantage of technology’s capacity to link to other information

● Gather relevant information from multiple authoritative print and digital sources

 

EdTech in the CCSS

● Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of finding, reasoning and evidence, and to add interest

● Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats, evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source

● Integrate quantitative or technical analysis with qualitative analysis in print and digital texts

 

DFHS: A 21st Century School

Dobbs Ferry High SchoolSchool Profile•Westchester County, NY •IB World School: 445 students, grades 9-12•Economically diverse

School Focus•21st Century Learning Skills: Independence, Interdependence, Adaptability, Application, Critical Thinking, Communication

•Curriculum & Instruction: • Interdisciplinary philosophy (UBD, Atlas, CCSS, IB)• All students have access to curriculum • Differentiation for students• Differentiation for teachers• “Something for Everyone”

DFHS: A 21st Century School

Questions That Guide Our Thinking

•Who are our students?•How has the world changed in the past ten years? In the past year?•What does it mean to be a student in the 21st century?•How do students learn best?•How will students be expected to learn in college, the workforce, and beyond?

Are we truly preparing students for success in the 21st century?

DFHS: How We Responded

If you walked into DFHS tomorrow, you would see…

Social Media• Facebook (School Page, Teacher Pages)• Twitter (PD, Student Engagement, Communication)• Blogs (Student blogs, Principal’s Blog)• Online Interactive School Newspaper• HS APP (coming in 2014!)

EdTech• BYOD environment• 1:1 Chromebook Initiative:• Google Environment: Drive, Apps, Gmail • SMARTBoards (every classroom—”old” technology)• Flipped Classroom (Khan)

DFHS: How We Responded

If you walked into DFHS tomorrow, you would NOT see…

Teacher interviews

We interviewed SIX teachers from DFHS and asked them…

Experience (Big Picture)1.What types of digital tools and/or social media do you use in your classroom?2.What is your rationale for using these tools? What do you and your students get out of it? 3.Describe the thought process behind choosing one digital tool over another. What role have they played in furthering student learning and understanding?  

Barriers1.What (if any) kinds of push-back or barriers that you have encountered (from students or parents)?2.How do you handle these situations?3.What advice would you give to teachers who are “stuck”?

The Teachers at DFHS

We aimed to interview and observe teachers with a range of experience who are all “new adopters”…

1)Sarah: History/ELL, 11 years experience

2)Frank: Science, 7 years experience

3)Mike: History, 10 years experience

4)Meaghan: English, 2 years experience

5)Megan: Spanish, 2 years experience

6)Connor: History: 3 years experience

Why are they doing it?

Rationale for integrating (or beginning to integrate) into their existing curriculum:

•Communication

•Student engagement and assessment

•Meeting students where they are

•Differentiation

•Ability to bring the world into the classroom

•Attention to digital literacy needs beyond K-12

Overcoming Barriers

Barrier #1: We don’t have the resources OR not all students have a device.

Advice:

• Think BYOD (@johnfalino1)

• Identify students who have devices! (@ms_sardinia)

• Pre-plan & flexibly group

• Provide alternatives (Ms_Molloy)

Overcoming Barriers

Barrier #2: There are so many places to start. It is overwhelming!

Advice:• Start small—Don’t Shoot for the Stars (@sarahhmstern)• Work out the kinks with a small population of students

first.• Identify “low stakes” options• Gradually move to full implementation

Overcoming Barriers

Barrier #3: Administration and Parents are not on board!

Advice:

• Communicate early and often (@sarahhmstern)

• Provide a clear rationale!

• Explain security and privacy measures

• Develop a plan for misbehavior

• Provide “neutral” access to social media

• Begin with “low stakes” approaches (@carastepanian)

Barrier #3: “Neutral” access to social media.

Overcoming Barriers

Barrier #4: Too much EdTech will diminish students’ reading and writing skills.

Advice:

•Support digital literacy instruction and emphasize the role of audience, purpose and voice• “teachable moment” are you writing in a Tuxedo or

Pajamas? (Turner)

Abbreviations and Logograms: LOL / TTYL / BTW / gr8 / b4

Overcoming Barriers

Barrier #5: Technology is a distraction and will detract from learning inside of the classroom.

Advice:

• 21st century learning!

• Teacher responsibility

• Provide clear policies for acceptable use

• Provide clear time frames for classroom use

• Circulate and monitor

• Hold students accountable!

Overcoming Barriers

Barrier #6: My school does not provide Professional Development in EdTech.

Advice:

• Establish a Professional Learning Network (PLN) on Twitter.

Building A PLN

Why Twitter for Professional Development?

•Connect with teachers, school leaders, and researchers from around the world (literally)

•Receive up to the minute articles, blog posts, and research

•Interact, connect, and network with professionals in your area of interest via sharing, hashtags, & “tweetchats”

Why Twitter? (2 Examples)

Building A PLN

Who to Follow? Here’s some good ones…• @NMHS_Principal

• @bcurrie5

• @Willrich45

• @ski626

• @DavidHochheiser

• @Edudemic

• @mssackstein

\

• @careim2

• @gcouros

• @mcleod

• @justintarte

• @Toddwhitaker

• @tonysinanis

• @dianeravitch

Building A PLN

Publications & Places to Tweetchat• @NCTE

• @ASCD

• @EdWeekTeacher

• @TeachThought

• @HuffPostEdu

• @Edutopia

• @Educationweek

• #satchat (Saturday, 7:30 am)

• #engchat (Monday, 7:00 )

• #ntchat (Wednesday, 8:00)

• #21stedchat (Sunday, 8:00)

• #ptchat (Wednesday, 9:00)

• #edtechchat (Monday, 8:00)

• #edchat (Tuesday, 7:00)

Diving in…in the classroom: Google Drive

What is Google Drive?

A “Low Stakes” Option for Getting Started

•A web-based platform that saves all information to “the cloud.” •Has completely changed the way we think about collaboration.

•A 21st Century “Office”:• Google Docs• Google Slides• Google Spreadsheet• Google Forms & Drawing

•Many more “Google Education Apps”

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtpQfk441nc

a GREAT place to start …

• You can pace yourself – there is so much to offer – but you can start off slow

• It is a neutral place – not social media : contained within the classroom – you can maintain more control

(LOW STAKES)

GOOGLE DOCS

2 min Video Clip from www.TeachingChannel.org :

Student Collaboration using Google Docs

http://fw.to/IOXyXRU

Share and Collaborate in REAL TIME

1. Share and Comment (collaboration and feedback)

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

2. Research Tool

3. Revision History

BENEFITS:

Students can use Google Docs: •to access their files from any computer•Collaborate with multiple people (including their teacher)•Get instant feedback•Publish and share with wide audience

Teachers can use Google Docs:•Provide timely feedback •Collaborate with colleagues•Publish handouts and presentations for students and parents

LIMITATIONS:•Internet Access is necessary

•Computer (or tablet) access is necessary

Google Forms to create quizzes (self –grading)…

More “Advanced:” Google Forms

Answers automatically save into a spreadsheet…

Easily view data from spreadsheet in graph form…

Short answer quizzes too…

Forms as a grading rubric:

Resources & Contact Info

WIKIPAGE: http://reinventingrealcurriculum.wikispaces.com/

CONTACT:

1) Cara Stepanian: cstepanian@gmail.com

2) John Falino: falinoj@dfsd.org; @johnfalino1