Terri
MOWP

In addition, I let students muck around in technology so that their
skills develop, BUT there is never enough time to feel like I have
given them enough time to master what they need, and then I often feel
guilty that we didn’t get to a CLE that we should have. It’s a fine
line I can never fell good about. Next year, there is a chance we
might go one-to-one, which excites me because then I feel like the
classroom will expand beyond the classroom.

This is the first year students have had conversations about writing
and technology and that is sad. In the past, we just used the
technology and used it in tandem with an assignment. As students
haven’t gotten more comfortable with technology, though, more
conversations have become necessary because the kids are making errors
in judgment and that’s because they don’t know what they are doing and/
or why they are doing something. This year, I’ve become much more
aware of the need for discussing delivery methods and the way
materials are delivered and discussing with students why a facebook
status isn’t the best way to break up with someone or why emailing
your principal and using text language in that email might not be
wise. In addition, I’ve become more cognizant of purpose and audience
because of this. In the past, it felt like a hoop students jumped
through because in all reality I was their only audience and I set
their purpose for writing. Now, I let them choose because they need
more authentic audiences and purposes, but because of that they have
to be more aware of the writing that goes with.

I’m glad to see there are technology standards in place and in
discussions for students and teachers. I think it’s critical that each
school understands the expectations for students and teachers. I fell
very comfortable with my school’s attempt to give us professional
development. Our administration has seen the need to introduce us to
the complexities of technology before we completely immerse our
students in it. We’ve have the luxury of “mucking” around in
technology the last three years, and that has proven to be the most
beneficial thing for me. I can play with it, am encouraged to play
with it at school with my students and I’m encouraged to take risks
and fail knowing that with that comes true learning.

Some of you who use MYAccess (or another AES), is there an upside?
Are there positives?

In our building the AUP is in with our student handbook that parents
and students have to sign. Our Science and Comm Arts departments use
blogs, wikis, and other digital publishing tools, next year Social
Studies is going to try it too. The leadership team in our building
is in support of the technology and has our technology coordinator
(who happens to be our media specialist/librarian) come in to our
department time every other week to show us some new programs to use
with our kids, websites to share, or to solve any problems that we’re
having. It has become the most valuable professional development that
I’ve had all year.

When it comes to technology problems in my classroom, I take a very
Socratic approach to the problem and begin with “What have you done to
fix the problem?” And my questioning goes from there. Once a student
really nails a concept or problem or finds a new way to do something,
I get permission to share their knowledge and have them be the new
expert. It is great because then I don’t have to answer questions all
of the time.

In thinking about becoming a “technology activist/steward” I am
reminded how Ellin Keene advocates creating teacher reading groups
when first introducing the comprehension strategies and how to teach
them to a staff. In her own PD, Ellin starts with handing out a short
piece of reading–something a little cryptic–and she asks teachers to
read it and then discuss what they think it means and how they came to
those conclusions. By doing this, she gets teachers to actively
reflect and analyze what they are doing in their own minds to
comprehend some text, and it is a great introduction to the comp
strategies. In this same way, I wish we had the opportunity to have
groups of teachers who would start by just creating some things
together using digital tools. For fun. To get comfortable with the
tools and to reflect on the process they used to learn about them and
decide how to incorporate them into a finished product. That would be
some cool PD, but I don’t think it would be immediately measurable
enough to qualify as PD for many schools.

For example, my students post on our school’s Web CT their summaries
of and responses to the essays they are assigned. They then comment
on at least two of their classmates’ posts. Then I have them post
their essays online as well. This gives them all an opportunity to
see other writing styles and to have a voice in the revision process.
I agree with Anne Moege that “They can learn a little bit more from
each other” (44). Another statement she made hit home with me as
well. She said, “Trust them. Even if you are not entirely
comfortable with the technology, allow your students to teach you
throughout the process” (45). Those few students who are
technologically adept always seem more than willing, even eager to
showcase their skills. Last semester when a student expressed a
concern about headers and citations on his final essay, another
student came up and gave an impromptu lesson to the class on how to
operate the header and citation options on Microsoft Word. Needless
to say, I was both grateful and relieved. We all learned

I have also created a closed Face Book page under Organizations for my
English 100 classes. I wanted an instant way to communicate with my
students, and I surmised correctly that most of them were checking
their Face Book pages at least once daily. Since they were there
anyway, it would pretty simple for them to visit our page. So I post
a brief summary of what we did in class as well as the assignment for
the next class period. Then I post a discussion prompt over their
assigned reading pages from The Glass Castle. I am excited by the
positive responses I have had thus far. Out of 66 students, 60 have
viewed the page and I initiated this on Friday. Even my less adept
students are participating enthusiastically albeit somewhat
timorously. I can empathize with them.

Now to the discouraging part. There are so many new resources
mentioned that I am not familiar with such as “pathfinders,”
Pageflakes, and i Google pages to name a few. And speaking of
discouragement… This one showcases my own ineptness with technology.
(I wish I had Tia’s fearlessness and Kelly’s expertise. I posted a
reply to Kate last week during my “snowed in” days and now I cannot
find it. Has anyone seen it? Did I put it in the wrong spot or flub
it completely. After posting, I received the message that my time was
up so I clicked “post” again. That method worked the last time. Then
the message said my post was successful. Where is it? Help! Shall I
repost?

Nudge #2 – SJSD took a huge step and purchased new MacBooks for all
teachers in the district…these machines are awesome and are really
going to change the way we teach and collaborate, but our buildings
aren’t equipped to handle the technology. My understanding is that
all secondary buildings have wireless, while elementary buildings are
lucky to have an internet connection in the classrooms let along
wireless. I know hey are working to improve this, so hopefully when
school starts in the fall all buildings will be fully equipped to
support the heavy computer traffic.

My kids are considered digital natives but that doesn’t mean they are
fluent with computers, we are fortunate because this age group is
willing to learn how to use the technology, especially for class
work. For starters we work on publishing in Google Docs and from
there we introduce peer editing/revising where kids can not only type
on the document simultaneously, but they can also chat live about the
work they are doing. Our district is ahead of the curve because at
the secondary level and they are really working hard to have kids use
the computers and access their work at home – every student has their
own district Google account. Sadly that hasn’t caught on at the
elementary level. Mya mentioned that they are bombarded with PD and
none of it connects to technology or how we can utilize what we have
to improve student learning. I understand your frustration Mya, I was
there for three years and I feel it now in middle school because there
is no time to collaborate on how we can use the technology in our
classrooms to improve student learning. That would be great PD that
would benefit all teachers. And if we could get students comfortable
with technology at the primary level, just think of all the great
things they could do at the secondary level.

The only way we are going to get into the middle of the TPACK Venn
Diagram is use it ourselves. We need the time to explore it and feel
comfortable using it along with time to share and collaborate with
others. I’m not sure where we are going to find the time with our
already full schedules, but if we make it a priority it can happen.

My students, college freshmen, traditional and nontraditional, follow
the “digital divide” mentioned in chapter one, and the “divide” is not
necessarily along age lines. My “fresh out of high school” students
are not all as technologically savvy as I had expected.