Sugata Mitra Hole in the Wall TED Talk

I recently watched Sugata Mitra's TED Talk on his ideas about the future of learning and his hole in the wall experiments.  If you have not seen this video I strongly urge you to watch it.

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In his award winning talk, Sugata describes his hole in the wall experiments where he gave computers to non-English speaking students in rural parts of India with no instruction or explanation of how they work.  And what happened was pretty unbelievable... they taught themselves not only how to work the computers but other things such as computer programming and the biotechnology of DNA replication!

So what does this mean?  How can this change the current and future classrooms that we are teaching in?  If the children in rural India could teach themselves, do we even need teachers?

I think the main point of Sugatra's talk is that our goal as teachers is not to MAKE learning happen but to LET learning happen and encourage students as it happens.  Sugatra talks about the use of Grannies in his experiments.  Grannies are your stereotypical grandmother that is extremely patient and willing to sit with you while you figure something out for nearly ever.  He used volunteers to skype with struggling students to offer encouragement and admiration.  And guess what, this helped!  Giving students a question, letting them figure it out on their own and offering encouragement and admiration proved to be a successful method for getting students to learn.

After watching this video I felt inspired to rethink how a typical classroom works.  Instead of lecturing for hours while students quietly take down notes, why not ask students the big question and let them do the work of figuring it out.  This makes students more invested and interested in what they are learning and allows the teacher more time to offer help and encouragement to those students who need it.

Class Web Site!

I've got a class website!  It is definitely a work in progress (seeing as how I don't actually have a class yet) but I am really excited to use this as a tool for my future students and their parents.  I think class websites are a great way to keep your class organized and a great resource for students in case they missed something or need clarification on a assignment.

Check it out!
http://mrspsmathclass.weebly.com/

Flipped Learning

As I learn about new classroom methods and models, I like to think about how they could fit into my future classroom.  One method that I have been particularly interested in is the flipped classroom.  For those of you who do not know, the flipped classroom is where what is traditionally done in the classroom and what is traditionally done as homework is flipped or switched.  

For example, students watch lectures outside of class either for homework or during the day if they have free time.  This work prepares them for the next days class where the teacher addresses any questions about the topic students have and goes over practice with the students.

As a math teacher, I think the flipped classroom would really work for the subject area and would help students who struggle with math progress and expand their learning capabilities.  When I was in high school I struggled with math.  Often times I would need to look over my notes again and again and would run into questions while doing my homework.  In a flipped classroom, the lectures are all prerecorded so students can watch them as many times as needed.  They can pause the video while taking notes or rewind and re-watch if they miss something.  Doing what is traditionally homework in the classroom with the teacher allows students to get real time feedback on their work.  If they run into a question, the teacher is there to help and offer encouragement which would prevent students from giving up or forgetting their question the next day,

I am excited to learn more about the flipped classroom model and see more examples of how this is being used in classrooms today to transform student learning.

Cooking with TPACK

For my Technology in the Classroom class, we were given an assignment to cook with TPACK (not to be confused with Tupac ).  Anyways, we had a friend pick a bowl, a plate and a utensil from the kitchen and then draw a number out of a hat to tell us what we then had to "cook" with those three kitchen items.  I was given a standard plate  and a standard bowl but for my utensil, I got a potato masher ... My friend choose the number four which was to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

To begin, I gathered the ingredients and then contemplated how I would get the peanut butter out of the jar with my potato masher.  Using the "masher" part wouldn't work so I had to turn it around and use the handle.  Although this wasn't the most efficient way to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it did work.  There was also one pro of using the potato masher as opposed to a knife, it stands up on its end and doesn't get peanut butter all over your table or plate.
So like the TPACK model, just because you know how to use a certain tool, doesn't mean it is appropriate for all tasks.  I can use a potato masher but it doesn't really work to make a PB&J sandwich.  So just because you know how to use a certain technology and you can make it work for most tasks, doesn't mean it is the most effective and efficient tool for all tasks.
 Here is a link showing my TPACK cooking skills in action.

Digital Citizenship

When learning new technologies and ways to use them in the classroom, it is important to know and understand digital citizenship.  This concept is used to teach students (and anyone using the internet) how to use technology in an appropriate and responsible way.  Since I am a visual learner, I put together this infograph to show what all proper digital citizens must do.

There are many similarities and differences of digital citizenship to the traditional view of citizenship in our everyday lives.  For example, just like in our everyday lives, the same general rules to citizenship apply to the digital world.  You must be kind, courteous, and represent yourself in a respectable way.  Just because you are behind a computer, does not mean these rules do not apply.   You should not give out any personal information that you do not want others to find, just like you wouldn't hand your credit card and pin number to a complete stranger.  Use common sense when posting just like you do when talking to someone face to face.  Protect your reputation and the reputation of others you know which is the same as not spreading rumors or gossip about yourself or others.  People are less likely to be aggressive and bully others in "real life."  Do not think that you can hide behind your computer and act aggressively or bully others in the cyber world, this will come back to you and it can very negatively affect the others involved.
There are some differences to digital citizenship and everyday citizenship.  One big difference is time.  When you post or react to something on line, you have time to review your response and think it through before posting.  In everyday life, you may not have this luxury which can cause you to over react or respond in an irrational way.  Use this difference to your advantage!  Take time to think through what you are about to post and to go through the list of digital citizenship rules.
When teaching digital citizenship and its importance, use common analogies like the ones I used in the above paragraph.  Students understand why you would not give out your credit card information so link this back to giving out personal information online.  Also use resources like videos of how digital baggage has caught up with people.  Here is a link to one example and here is another useful video about digital baggage.
When we teach and  implement new technologies into our classroom, it is imperative that we also teach digital citizenship.  Not addressing and teaching this important subject to our students is a disservice to them and is leaving out a very important piece of any lesson involving technology. 

Creating my Personal Learning Network (PLN)

I am not a tech guru.  Facebook is the extent of my social media skills and I use that to connect with friends and family.  As I learn more about technology and its appropriate use in the classroom, it is becoming apparent that social media can be used as more than just a way to catch up with family and friends.
I have been educating myself on Personal Learning Networks and the variety of ways they can be used to help create an engaging classroom and environment for my students.  So, I logged on to my neglected Twitter account in hopes to revive it to a useful resource I can use for my classroom and teaching career.
Since I already had a Twitter account I logged in and looked over the different people and organizations I was following.  Because I want to use Twitter as a resource for teaching, I un-followed the people and organizations that were not related to education and teaching.
I then started to search for who and what to follow.  After a few Google searches I came across this WIKI  of different math educators to follow on Twitter:

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EDIT

Math Teachers Page historylast edited by stines 1 year ago Math Teachers: @TeachLoveLogic- Sara Tines: I am a middle school Math teacher. I am also working on my MET degree.   @MatthewSelinger-Matthew Selinger; I am a secondary school teacher of Geometry and Physics.  I am currently working on my MET degree.    @haselwoodmath - Scott Haselwood: I am a high school precalculus and calculus teacher using the flip model classroom in Edmond, Ok.  Subscribe to my blog athttp://haselwoodmath.wordpress.com/ or subscribe to my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/haselwoodmath   @mathtrain - Eric Marcos/Mathtrain.TV. Student Screencasts (Mathcasts), Tablet PC, & Moodle. I'm a 6 grade math teacher at a public middle school in Santa Monica, CA. Google Certified Teacher.! software akuntansi laporan keuangan terbaik @MrT_Ro - Elementary Math Facilitator interested in teaching math through problem solving/ collaboration and integrating 21st century fluencies/ web2.0 in the education. Check out my blog: rothinks.wordpress.com. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada imprägnieren @MrMathsTeacher - UK secondary school lead maths teacher. @jreulbach - Julie Reulbach -  I Speak Math (www.ispeakmath.com).  I teach 6th and 7th grade math and coach cheerleading.  I also host a weekly middle school math teachers blog!  Join us at I Speak Math!  :) danielbeylerian - HS Teacher passionate about engaging learners/inspiring teachers with Video Calling, Virtual Worlds, Mobile Learning, Educational Gaming, Social Media & Smiles. @Tonyedtechtip - I am a secondary math teacher that loves using technology. I have a website where I host a daily tech tip for teachers at http://tonystechtip.com. @yummymath - I am a secondary instructional math coach in Newton MA. I also co-run a math website called www.yummymath.com and interior design in Singapore. On this site we create and share timely math activities that go along with whatever is going on in the world. The activities are often created around popculture, sports and news events. We also create activities around holidays. Check us out and follow us on twitter and facebook! Imprägnierung @bradopfer - grade 9-12 IB Math and Business Teacher - my blog - http://sites.cdnis.edu.hk/teachers/bradopfer/ @krisreid72 - 10-12 math teacher, currently on secondment as a Mathematics Curriculum Manager for Alberta Education. www.education.alberta.ca/mathEntrepreneur stories

I searched through this list and picked out a few that sounded interesting and shared common ideas.  I also came across some good list of different hashtags for educators to follow:

  After picking out a few people/hastags to follow, I went back to Twitter and searched for each one. Once I found them, I looked through their tweets and profiles and if they looked interesting, I followed them.  After clicking follow, Twitter makes suggestions on other people or organizations to follow.  Through this process of searching for people and going through Twitters suggestions, I found 56 people/organizations to follow!

After adding to my following list, I then went to tweet deck to set up different columns to make it easier to organize the tweets I'm following.  

I also went over to tweet chat and searched different hashtags and read through different chats happening about them.

This process has really helped me set up my Twitter account to be used as a resource.  To sustain this, I plan on loging on at least once a day to read through tweets and to begin participating in different tweet chats and conversations centered around education.

Thoughts on SAMR model

A class I am taking for my Masters of Teaching has been learning about Dr. Ruben Puentedura's SAMR model of integrating technology into the classroom.  The SAMR model is, on the surface, pretty simple.  Each letter represents a different level of integration:

S- Substitution; using new technology to replace an old technology without any functional change.
Ex: using a smart board rather than a standard white board.



A- Augmentation; the new technology offers an increase in functionality.
Ex: using an interactive white board tool such as Explain Everything , that allows students to further detail their work.


M- Modification; the new technology redesigns parts of the original task.
Ex: Students add audio to their presentation and allow the presentations to be saved and available for later viewings. (You can watch only a few seconds of the below video to get the gist.)

R- Redefinition; the new technology allows for the creation of a completely new task which was unimaginable before.

Ex: Students share their presentations with their teacher and a broader audience outside of their classroom.  This would allow for new learning experiences which would have not been possible before.

As with any education model, there are pros and cons to SAMR.  A major con that sticks out to me is the general idea that each level is better than the last.  This causes educators to feel they must constantly be moving up the levels no matter what they are teaching or the learning outcome they are aiming for.  Because of this mindset, some levels are skipped or overlooked when they are in fact the best method to be used for the specific situation.

Although this is a big con, I find more pros with the SAMR model.  This model helps teachers brainstorm new ways to integrate technology into the classroom.  This brainstorming gives technology a purpose.  Instead of technology being the learning outcome, SAMR allows for educators to use technology as a tool to achieve a specific learning outcome.  

In my opinion, as long as educators determine their students learning needs first and THEN decide what level of the SAMR model is appropriate, this model is a useful tool to provide engaging and meaningful lessons.  Below is a simple flow chart I put together of how I would determine which level of the SAMR model is most appropriate for the learning outcome of a specific task.