Goal+2+Human+Development+-+Tracie

Reflection on framework for the tool - grade level appropriate/differentiated strategies and activities, as well as ability for teachers using the tool to meet their level and grow.

Goal Two: Human Development
 My reflection on Goal 2: Human Development, as it applies to our project (and the portfolio in general)



Tracie Weisz EDET698 Reflection 2 – Development 2/14/2014

The Alaska Toolkit is driven by the ideas in Goal 2 – Human Development. The searchable database is designed so that teachers can have a selection of ideas grounded in project-based learning as a springboard for lesson design, all aligned with the New Alaska Standards. Teachers can find ideas based on grade level, standards, and their level of comfort/skill with technology.

A cornerstone of the project are outlines and ideas for project-based lessons and activities that align with the New Alaska Standards. Well designed project-based learning meets the needs of students at all levels, through cross curricular studies, inquiry, real life application, built-in choice, autonomy, collaboration, differentiation, and engagement. Project based learning has been gaining momentum during the past few years because when well designed, it can seamlessly integrate these qualities.

One story that really resonated with me was made by Principal Tom Horn of the Kennedy School, which is a project based learning school. He describes project-based learning as, "working down Bloom's Taxonomy instead of up." The students are given a task that requires higher-order thinking skills - often to create something - and they must learn and practice lower-level skills along the way.

Author and blogger Will Richardson posted about a new school he visited called the Workshop School. As he points out, a major difference here is that the norms of the school are not created by administration - they are created by the learners - the staff and students. The school is project based, and encourages students to pursue and explore areas of personal interest. Richardson says of the school, "the vision is really clear: learning is about experience and doing and creating real, meaningful stuff together as a community." A far cry from most schools today, which look strangely like the schools of yesterday. Schools like this believe that inquiry-based learning that encourages critical thinking and creativity involves students tackling real-world issues and controversies, solving problems and creating solutions, and participating in the public creation and improvement of ideas and knowledge.

When teachers put their creativity to work in lessons, and come up with learning experiences that are not only engaging, but complex, there is the possibility for students to learn so much more than the basic facts - that's the time for really deep learning. It's when they have a challenge that pushes them, and also allows them the freedom to discover things on their own.

The Alaska Toolkit project helps meet students at their developmental levels by offering choices in project-based learning experiences. It also helps teachers in the same way by offering them choices about ways to integrate technology into their classrooms and their instructional design. Teachers can choose first based on their comfort and skill level with technology, and within those parameters choose a project that is aligned to the standards they are focusing on. The variety of standards-aligned choices also offers support in tutorials and practical suggestions about how to use the technology in varying situations (one computer classrooms, iPad classrooms, or one-to-one laptop classrooms).

The Toolkit has strong potential to build professional development by encouraging growth and learning for teachers. Once a teacher has tried a tool with a project for the first time, they then have success and experience with that tool. They will be more likely to incorporate it into future lessons, as well as use it as a springboard for more complex tech integrated projects. If we look at Robert Marzano's Dimensions of Learning framework, the first dimension is "positive attitudes and perceptions about learning". This is refers to the kind of feeling we get when we integrate technology into the learning process - we notice immediate engagement and motivation on the part of students. We know that in the learning process, when students are motivated to learn, we have a far better chance of helping them get through the second dimension, which is acquiring and integrating knowledge. Technology, skillfully employed in the classroom, helps teachers to leap that often difficult first hurdle of engagement. And noticing increased engagement is often "just a feeling", but it's more than a hunch. This is a correlation that we can infer is a “built in” aspect of the Alaska Toolkit.

In research reported in //__ The Journal __// about assessing the impact of technology on student achievement, they report on the results of a WEB challenge 5 year technology innovation challenge grant. Findings from their final surveys of all participants indicated that a connection between student motivation, metacognition, and learning processes does exist. What these findings really point to is that our "feelings" about technology are quite justified. In McREL’s article on using technology to improve student achievement, they bring out the complexity of integrating technology - it changes many things about the classroom. They state: // “Changes in classroom technologies correlate to changes in other educational factors as well. Originally the determination of student achievement was based on traditional methods of social scientific investigation: it asked whether there was a specific, causal relationship between one thing—technology—and another—student achievement. If a new technology is introduced into a classroom, other things also change. For example, teachers' perceptions of their students' capabilities can shift dramatically when technology is integrated into the classroom. (Honey, Chang, Light, Moeller, in press). Also, teachers frequently find themselves acting more as coaches and less as lecturers (Henriquez & Riconscente, 1998). Another example is that use of technology tends to foster collaboration among students, which in turn may have a positive effect on student achievement (Tinzmann, 1998). Because the technology becomes part of a complex network of changes, its impact cannot be reduced to a simple cause-and-effect model that would provide a definitive answer to how it has improved student achievement.” //

// It is these ideas that support our philosophy behind the design of the Alaska Toolkit. It offers technology-integrated, project-based learning ideas that support and encourage the professional development of teachers. //

Resources:

Heitin, L. (2012, April 18). Education Week Teacher: Flattening the School Walls. //Education Week American Education News Site of Record//. Retrieved October 08, 2012, from []

[|Richardson, W. (2013, October 1). Setting Norms. //Will Richardson//. Retrieved November 1, 2013, from http://willrichardson.com/post/62844851422/setting-norms?utm_content=buffera1280&utm_source=buff]

THE Journal. (2001, February 1). //Assessing the impact of instructional technology on student achievement.// Retrieved February 14, 2014, from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2001/02/01/Assessing-the-Impact-of-Instructional-Technology-on-Student-Achievement.aspx?Page=1

Dimensions of Learning. (1997, September). McREL Teacher Professional development. Retrieved February 14, 2014, from http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/triedandtrue/dimen.html

__**Artifact**__: I've included my presentation for EDET668 on my action research project. In this specific project I mentored another teacher in my building for technology integration during her center time. I have mentored many teachers before, as I used to be a teacher mentor for the Alaska Statewide Mentor Project. However, this was my first experience for mentoring specifically for technology integration. Although I knew and used many of the best practices for mentoring, through my action research, I learned a lot specifically about the kind of supports that are needed for successful technology integration. These ideas gained from research formed the basis for the idea of sustained and personalized professional develop that would be a necessary part of the Alaska Toolkit. media type="custom" key="25650124"