Discussions

Leave a comment September 5, 2012 Jeremy Hyler

Day 2 of school had its bright spots and its challenges. We are fortunate enough to have a mobile lab with 30 Dell Laptops for our students to use. After finishing some typical house keeping items, I was ready to deploy the laptops to my students. Before I assigned students to a computer, I began by asking students to help me make a list of examples of mobile devices. The list the students compiled looked like this:

laptops
cell phones
Kindles
PSP
Nintendo DS
Ipad
Ipod
Itouch
Nexus
tablets

It was clear to me, whether it was 7th or 8th grade, the students had a clear grasp on the concept of what a mobile device is. Upon completing our list on the whiteboard, I shifted their thinking to another topic that involved using mobile technologies; digital citizenship. As an educator and an advocate for the use of mobile technology in the classroom, I was disappointed when I posed the question: “Who has heard of digital citizenship?” Out of all three of my 7th grade classes, not one student raised their hand. This is a problem. By 7th grade students need to be made well aware of what it means to be a responsible digital citizen. Needless to say, I felt it was necessary to discuss this topic with them. During our conversation we discussed the characteristics of being a citizen. Students knew that a good citizen participated in community activities, was respectful, followed rules/laws, and needed to be helpful to others. After students exhausted all the characteristics we talked about how they apply to being a digital citizen as well. Furthermore, I took the time to address cyber-bullying and sexting. By the end of the week, I would like to develop a handout or sheet for the students to put inside of their planners stating their responsibilities as a digital citizen. I also want to send the handout home to parents to help educate them as well. The 8th graders were much better when it came to digital citizenship and that is because I discussed it with them last year. I did revisit cyber-bullying and sexting to pound home the importance behind what NOT to do when using a mobile device.

Even though I took more time discussing digital citizenship than what I wanted, it will be worth it in the long wrong. Laptops were handed out to each student. I called up 5 students at a time and assigned them a number. The number they are assigned will be the same number laptop they will use in other classes. This helps us as the teachers and our tech guy who to talk to if the computer has been used maliciously or it gets broken. On the whiteboard the students were given written directions on what to do with the computer.

Turn on the laptop
Login to your school account
Access Internet Explorer
Go to www.schoology.com
Watch the short video on the home page

After all of the students completed the tasks on the board, I walked them through the sign-up process for Schoology. Students were given their individual course codes and then they had to fill in their names, usernames, and passwords. I directed students to use their last name and first initial of their first name for their username. For example, mine would by hylerj. I asked them to make their passwords something easy to remember or use the same password they use for Facebook. Schoology has an excellent feature available to teachers where they can reset a student’s password if they happen to forget it. Now, I did run into a few glitches today with students not being able to log in to their school accounts meaning they couldn’t use the laptop that was in front of them. Such is life when it comes to technology. I had these students look on with other students who didn’t have difficulty logging in.

Despite the typical issues that came about today, I was able to get everyone signed into their courses I created. We then walked through the files/links tab and the discussion tab. We focused more of our attention on the discussion tab. It is here where we will be collaborating as a class. I will have the students post discussion questions for socratic discussions we will have in class. It will be a place I may post reading questions after the students finish a reading homework assignment, and it is a space where students can ask me questions about homework or other assignments. Today, I simply posted the question, what is your favorite music, music artist and why? I instructed the students to post their reply and respond to 2 other members in the class. Prior to releasing them to work on their own, I modeled for them what a quality response is to another member. Responses like nice, wow, I agree, I like that, and great are not accessible. I want my students to actually have a discussion, so I direct them to ask questions, be thoughtful and to put some time into their responses. This conversation and modeling is worth it because students really start to have quality discussions. Below is an example of what a discussion page looks like.

Once students got started, there weren’t any issues with them operating the site. A lot of students were shocked how much it is like Facebook. Even though it appears my students may not have done a lot in class today, they did complete at least one of the Common Core Standards.

Standards W.7.6 and W.8.6 – Use technology, including the internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

Students were able to identify technology (Schoology) and collaborated with peers and their teacher through technology to enhance their writing.

By the time the end of the day came, I felt like I had been holding my breath all day long. It never seems like there is enough time to cover what needs to be done. Tomorrow brings us to Narrative reading.

Cheers!

Mobile Devices: A Teachers Responsibility

2 Comments August 10, 2012 Jeremy Hyler

Getting closer to the school year is dangerous for me. I tend to have thought after thought going through my head and I get all of these ideas to do things in the classroom and I never make the conscious effort to write them down anywhere. Well, today, I am. Those that follow me and others who know me understand and know my passion for using cell phones and other mobile devices in the classroom. Today, I started examining and thinking about using these devices from a different angle. An angle where I honestly feel it is my responsibility to help my students use these devices in the classroom and to teach them how to use them responsibly.

I can hear teachers screaming now saying, “Not me, it isn’t my responsibility!” Yes, there are many skeptical teachers out there who believe these types of devices have no place in the classroom. Others, already feel overwhelmed with the Common Core Standards and don’t want to add one more thing to their plate. Though teaching students how to use mobile devices may have its challenges, it doesn’t add to my existing curriculum, it enhances it. My passion for using mobile devices goes deeper than just being excited about the latest and greatest flashy items that can be used in the classroom.

1. Students Learn Differently – I have mentioned before how students grow up with technology in their hands. From cell phones, Ipads, Kindles, and Nooks, it is easily accessible to students. Think for a moment if a middle schooler has a question about anything in general. Where do you think they look for that answer? You got it, the internet! In addition, according to Pew Internet Studies about 75% of students ages 12-17 possess cell phones. Those cell phones are used for texting (hmm, I smell writing opportunities here), emailing, surfing the internet and accessing social media outlets. Our language arts department adopted Schoology for the upcoming school year ( a social media site for teachers and their students). The bottom line is we can’t shove text books in front of our kids day after day or even have them do drill and kill exercises. The best teachers I ever had from elementary to college were the ones that kept the class or students engaged. Mobile devices can help me as a teacher to keep my students engaged.

2. Collaboration – One of the biggest reasons I love using mobile devices in my classroom is for collaboration. Literature circles are an easy way for teachers to expose their students to numerous novels and at the same time teach the students responsibility by assigning roles to each group member. Keeping the spirit of the Common Core in mind, I add cell phones into the mix and my students not only collaborating with technology, but now the conversation can take place beyond the walls of the classroom and students start discussing the book without any prompting by me the teacher. Social media sites like Schoology also allows the students who don’t have mobile devices, to still interact via desktop computer. In another instance, my students can collaborate on their writing via Google Docs. For the past two years my students have been amazed at how Google Docs works and what it can provide. Students instantly become connected learners when they collaborate on a piece of writing by their peers. Google Docs was awesome for the writing group my colleague and I put together this past school year. Watching students’ writing transform and go through the entire writing process is amazing. The finished product is no doubt better with Google Docs because of the collaboration amongst students.

3. Digital Citizenship – To me this one term brings everything into focus for me. Part of me almost thinks as teachers we all have a duty to discuss and model this for our students. Again, some teachers may give the proverbial eye roll and bark out, “What about the parents?” I know it may sound funny, but the parents are in just as much need to learn about digital citizenship. Last week I proposed to my principal an “Ed Tech night” where parents get to engage themselves in what their child may do during a school day with technology. In addition, I want to discuss with parents digital citizenship and what that means. I want to talk to them about how students are using their cell phones in inappropriate and why it is inappropriate. Furthermore, discussing with parents what cyber bullying looks like and what affects it can have on another student. Hopefully by engaging the parent as well as the student, some issues can be eliminated and parents will have a better grasp on why I use mobile devices in my classroom. Needless to say, my principal is embracing the idea and we are meeting about it next week.

I am not sure if my reasoning is reasonable or even understandable, but I do know I am passionate about my job, my students, and the reasons it is important to implement mobile devices into my classroom. When I hear in the hallway how much my students love my class because of how I use cell phones, I get pumped. After all, you don’t hear students say they enjoy language arts class.

Cheers!

Grammar, A Debate We Will Have Forever

1 Comment August 2, 2012 Jeremy Hyler

All summer I have been writing in some capacity. I will be the first to admit, I struggle with grammar from time to time, but who doesn’t? Grammar has been a perplexing issue for language arts/English teachers for year and years. Some teachers may argue for a constant drill and kill approach, thinking the more that students do it, the better they will get at grammar. Other educators let their student’s writing do the talking and examine where their weakness lie in their writing, then they plan and teach accordingly. A balance of both approaches is also used in classrooms. Despite how you or your district take on the daunting task of hoping your students “get it”, I am here to tell you I don’t believe there is a magic spell out there for the proverbial lightbulb to click on instantly.

My lightbulb burns, at best, about as bright as lamp. Experts are argue time and time again that we as the writing teachers aren’t doing our job and students are falling further and further behind. Of course, these “experts” are examining standardized test scores as part of their conclusion, and I am not even going to go down that road. In addition, others believe the use of cell phone and social media is causing students to fall further and further behind because of their “text talk”. Read this post in Education Week and let me know and others what you think. I was outraged when I finished reading the post as were others that I have professional relationships with. It is one more way to blame technology for shortcomings on standardized testing. Articles such as this gives educators and districts more reason not to embrace technology. It is bad enough students aren’t getting more of a 21st century education and aren’t connected the way they should be. I am not saying technology is going to fix the grammar issues that seem to plaque our students.

What I want to say is I can remember all the way back to 8th grade when I had my orange grammar handbook. As a middle schooler, I was clueless from time to time when it came to things such as misplaced modifiers or using a semi-colon correctly. There were concepts I understood and there were some I did not fully grasp. I can also remember there were classmates that were way better at grammar than I was. Sound familiar? Yeah, the same thing we see with our students today. Are there better approaches to teaching grammar? My goodness gracious, yes! I encourage everyone to check out Jeff Anderson’s approach to grammar in his book Mechanically Inclined. I particularly like his express lane checkout approach to the writing his students do in Journals. There are other methods available too. Needless to say, our students aren’t going to be grammar experts by a long shot. Yes, they should be achieving at a certain level, but grammar takes years and years to master in my opinion. It isn’t going to happen over night and we need to stop whipping a horse that really hasn’t changed much over the years. Every year I am looking for new ways to engage my students with grammar as should anyone else. Some ideas work better than others, you just need to find what works for you and your class. Furthermore, being a writing teacher, means we need to write with our students and only then will our students start taking more of a vested interest in their writing and then maybe they will start listening to those grammar lessons we give.

Cheers!

Unconnected Learners

5 Comments August 1, 2012 Jeremy Hyler

I just finished listening in on Teachers Teaching Teachers tonight. It was the kick-off for Connected Educators Month. Check out the link here. Through many different topics and conversations that took place in the session, I decided to write my blog post tonight about connected learners and the unconnected learners that are reluctant to be connected.

Since going through the Summer Institute in 2010, I consider myself a connected learner. What does this mean? Well, it means I stay connected with other professionals through various social media sites, or other web platforms where ideas can be shared and essentially we become better teachers because we learn what is working in each other’s classroom and go forward with more learning tools in our belts. For example, I find Twitter to be a phenomenal place to get unscripted professional development. I find new websites, digital tools, and have conversations with other educators that help enrich my teaching. In addition, I may attend webinars, online book talks, or participate in subscribing to a blog. There is a cornucopia of ways to be a connected learner.

Enriching my teaching and my students as learners is what I crave and what I thrive for each and every day. The idea of “not being in teacher mode” during the summer or any other time of year, never crosses my mind. I am not cutting down educators that may have made that comment in the past. Don’t get me wrong, we all need a break. I can’t help but wonder why there are teachers out there who do not want be connected or help their students become connected learners. I understand there are districts who prevent their teachers from using technology to enhance their student’s learning. This does not mean the teacher themselves can’t become connected in some way to help their students. Also, what actually holds teachers back from becoming a connected learner and discovering the possibilities that awaits them? Is it fear of using something like Twitter, Facebook, or Google +? Perhaps it is the lack of knowledge of such technological tools and what they offer. I also wonder if there are still teachers out there who think technology is just another gimmick, bell, or whistle to bring in the classroom. Wait, it is less of a wonder and more of a “I know”; but there are teachers who believe using technology within their lessons is just an excuse to use it. Grasping and understanding the “why” has not been attained.

One specific topic that came about in the discussion tonight was “lurkers”. Lurkers are those people who in reality are connected, but never participate in what is happening. For instance, I have participated in webinars where individual participants don’t do anything to actively participate in the session. They sit and watch and are just there. What motivates these individuals to “lurk”? Are they not confident, just being good listeners, or are they just there because they have to be there as a requirement by a principal?

Connected Learning month will hopefully answer some of the questions that were brought up tonight. On the other hand, the answers may already exist. Nevertheless, connected learning can be powerful for teachers and students. Online book discussions, webinars, social media with students, Youth Voices, Digital Is, etc. are all great ways to be connected and become better teachers and help your students be better learners. Check out more resources on the National Writing Project’s Digital Is website for connected learning.

Cheers!