Mrs. Mess’s Blog

written by Stephanie Messinger

Social Studies Teacher at the Charter School of Wilmington

July 15, 2008

As a college student in the mid 1990s there were no classes offered on technology integration in the classroom setting.  I began my teaching career, as most, just getting by.  I had no idea that teachers were supposed to be using technology in their classrooms.  This notion was primarily derived from the fact that there was so little technology available in the schools I was teaching in. On top of that we never had any in-service days or training sessions on using technology to enhance classroom teaching.  I had no idea what LoTi was or that I should have a LoTi score. We have never taken this test at Charter. Technology was and is just not a priority at my school!   This all changed for me in 2006 when I started my Master’s degree full time at the University of Delaware.  In addition to taking classes, I was working with the Office of Educational Technology as a graduate assistant.  Through this experience my eyes were opened to the endless possibilities technology offered teachers and students.   My mentor, Pat Sine, literally rejuvenated my passion for teaching.   After taking a year off from classroom teaching, I went back geared up and ready to try all the new tips and tricks I had learned over the past year.  I was going to use technology every day! 

 

Upon returning to the classroom I realized how difficult it was going to be for me to actually fulfill my goal of using technology everyday!  Not only did I not have student computers, I did not even have a classroom; I was going to be one of those teachers who roves around on a cart all day.   I did however have a teacher laptop and an LCD projector.  This was at least a start. 

 

My first objective was to set up a Blog.  I began using Edublogs.org as a way to communicate with my students and their parents.  Blogging has opened up several possibilities for me.  Initially it started just as an organization tool, but now that I am more comfortable using it; I can see the potential it has.  As a teacher of International Relations and World Studies, this tool provides a forum for debate and discussion that can carry on past the classroom walls.  It gives the students the ability to express their opinions and provide feedback on other student or teacher comments.  I am trying to make the transition from being a professional teacher blogger to an instructional teacher blogger. (Warlick)  Because I am willing to take my blogging to the next level by including my students in the discussion, I do see the need to establish some ground rules.  Dan McDowell points out that blogging can create “a greater sense of community within a class that will more deeply permeate into their personal lives.” (McDowell)   I want my students to have a sense of ownership over the blog, which hopefully will result in professional use and respect for others opinions.  As long as my expectations and consequences are clearly laid out, I believe that my students are capable of respectfully participating on the class blog.

 

Another tool that I learned while under Pat’s tutelage was Wikispaces.  I did not however have as much success integrating this into my teaching.  During my year as a graduate assistant I had spent a lot of time teaching other teachers how to use Wikispaces, but not much time thinking about how I would use it in my own classroom.  Having used Wikispaces in EDUC 632 on a daily basis, I feel much more comfortable with it and have had time to generate ideas of how to use it my class.  I would like to see it as a place where my students can collaborate on group projects.  Wikis will allow me to see who is contributing what to the project. Vicki Davis, a computer science teacher at Westwood School in Georgia, uses wikis for collaboration and has commented on ability of teachers to see what each student is contributing.  Davis made the following observation: 

“Your team may have created the greatest wiki in the world, but if your user ID hasn’t contributed, then you get a zero. It eliminates the bottom-feeders of projects—the student who kicks back and lets all the other kids do the work.” (Davis) 

Teachers can set up wikis to be public or confined to a certain set of users.  This feature helps teachers when it comes to CIPA and COPPA legalities.  Wikispaces also allows teachers to set up the wiki so that when an edit is made to a page, it first comes to the teacher to be previewed.  This helps the teacher ensure that content is appropriate.  Of course, like the blog, I expect my students to use a sense of professionalism.   But for whatever reason this expectation is not met by an individual, I still have the ability to “sensor” content. Wikispaces also now allows the use of widgets, which opens up endless possibilities for students.  They can embed audio and video along with text and images.  Having learned how to use Sketchcast, GCast, and Voice Thread in EDUC 632, I can now tell my students about these tools and they can then embed them on their wikis.   

                                  

I have also entertained the idea of having a student note taker each day.  This person would be responsible for putting the class discussion notes on the wiki.  I specify class discussion notes because most of my notes are on power point and available on my blog.   What I have found is that students tend to write down only what they see on a power point or the white board, which is typically an outline or bulleted list, not the whole story.   I am trying to get my high school students to see the value in connecting these notes with examples or anecdotes that are discussed in class, hence discussion notes.  With the discussion notes on the wiki, students will be able to go and compare their own notes to see if they got the same ideas out of the day’s discussion.  If for whatever reason the daily blogger missed some of the connections, ideas, or examples, other students can help fill in those gaps by editing the wiki themselves. 

 

Globalization is happening all around us and yet most educational systems seem to be in denial.  America’s schools are not keeping pace with our business sector. Our students are entering into a highly competitive work force where 21century skills such as internet literacy are necessary.  Bob Pearlman recognizes that students today “must be good communicators, as well as great collaborators. The new work environment requires responsibility and self-management, as well as interpersonal and project-management skills that demand teamwork and leadership.”  (Pearlman)  It is our job to expose them to the types of skills they will need in order to be successful.  For that reason I believe that students should be exposed to using the web for problem/project based learning.   Students are so used to going to Wikipedia to answer questions.  Some questions, however, do not have just one answer.  Questions like “How can the United Nations and other NGO’s help solve the crisis in Darfur?”   I want my students to become investigators.  In order to get to some solutions they will need to visit various websites, email experts or people in Sudan, analyze pictures or data from the region, etc…Teaching students to use the web to solve problems is invariably one of the most important skills we can provide them with.

 

Technology and the internet have changed so much within just the past five years. There are new Web 2.0 tools coming out on a regular basis, which make teaching and learning so much more exciting.  Just look at www.go2Web20.net  to see just how many new tools are out there.  Most teachers believe that using Microsoft Power point is considered technology integration.  I guess if we look at it from a LoTi perspective it is integration, but it is very low on the scale.  Today’s students get so much electronic stimulation outside of school that they see power point as “old school” or just plain boring.  Although I believe it has its place, I also feel that it is our job to come up with new Web 2.0 technologies that offer the stimulation kids get at home.  As Bernie Poole points out in his article What Every Teacher Should Know About Technology,  “Every teacher should be open to new ways of doing things.” (Poole)  Teachers have to be flexible and willing to change with the times.   However, the only way teachers will change is if they are given the opportunities to do so. 

 

There were several times during this last school year when I wished I was back in my technology happy place, also known as Pat Sine’s office.   I felt like a lone soldier trying to fight the technology battle! 

 

Teacher training as well as access are the two biggest hurdles I see in today’s classrooms.  Funds are constantly being cut, space to expand is nonexistent, in-services are spent discussing anything but technology integration.   It is so important to have a school that is committed to and supports technology integration. It is not enough to just put a couple of computers in a classroom (although this would be a start at my school).  Administrators have to send the message to faculty members that they are expected to use technology and then they need to provide them with the necessary training.  There are just so few people at Charter who have joined the battle.  Although individuals are responsible for improving their professional development, it is the job of the school to provide opportunities to do so. Teachers don’t know what they don’t know.  If a teacher has never been exposed to the potential of technology, then they will never know the possibilities.  There is great power in technology and it is the job of school administrations to foster an environment that encourages teachers to explore these new tools and incorporate them into daily teaching practices. Mary Hatwood Futrell, Dean of the Graduate School of Education and Human Development at George Washington University would agree.  She writes, “We must provide training to prepare teachers, counselors, administrators, and teacher-educators to become more technologically literate and to help their students achieve the same goal.” (Hatwood Futrell)

 

I am so very fortunate to teach kids who genuinely want to learn and are willing to try new things.  There is so much potential sitting in front of me everyday.  I try to maximize this potential as best I can with the resources I have.  I believe that my students could be so much more productive if we had greater access to computers and the internet.  As a teacher who understands integration and how to do it effectively, I find that access for me is the greatest hurdle.  The computer lab is shared with Cab Calloway, which means that there are approximately 60 computers for 1000 students.  Only a handful of teachers have LCD projectors.  Very few classrooms have student computers (the one’s that do are science or math classrooms).  There is no such thing as a mobile laptop lab.   I get by with my LCD projector and my wireless lap top.  If it was not for my year off of teaching I would not have either.  So I figure each year, I’ll push a little harder and maybe one day it will become a priority for the whole school.

 

Despite the hurdles, I believe that it is important to fight the battle even if all it gets me is a laptop and projector.  Technology has become the vehicle for my teaching and my students learning.  The more technology tools I add to my cache, the more I can engage my students.  The more I can engage my students, the more they learn.  It is an uphill battle, but I believe it is worth it! 

 

 

Reference List:

 

Davis, Michelle R. . “Wiki Wisdom: Lessons for Educators.” Digital Directions Vol. 0112 09 2007 16,18. 15 Jul 2008 <http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2007/09/12/02wiki.h01.html>.

 

Hatwood Futrell, Mary. “Preparing to Teach with Technology: Helping Students Reach Their Full Potential.” Edutopia 31 01 2007 15 Jul 2008 <http://www.edutopia.org/preparing-teach-technology>.

 

McDowell, Dan. “Blogging in the K12 Classroom.” Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. 2004. B. Hoffman (Ed.) . 15 Jul 2008 <http://coe.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/bloggingtech/index.htm>.

 

Pearlman, Bob. “New Skills for a New Century: Students Thrive on Cooperation and Problem Solving.” Edutopia June 200618 10 2006 15 Jul 2008 <http://www.edutopia.org/new-skills-new-century>.

 

Poole, Bernie. “What Every Teacher Should Know About Technology.” Education World 14 02 2006 15 Jul 2008 <http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/tech/tech227.shtml>.

 

Warlick, David. “Blog Rules.” EDTECH K-12 (May/June 2008) 15 Jul 2008 <http://www.edtechmag.com/k12/issues/november-december-2006/blog-rules.html>.