New Tech Standards and Requirements

This week we were introduced to educational technology standards. As it turns out, Oregon has its own set of standards, aptly called the Oregon Educational Technology Standards, or OETS. The OETS have six primary categories:

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

I will spend the rest of this post discussing categories 2, 3, and 4.

Communication and Collaboration

There are a variety of ways to incorporate technology in the high school English classroom to foster communication and collaboration. One specific activity could be a group project where students presented the project by making a short YouTube video which would then be shared with the class. Students could also use Google Docs to collaborate on a group assignment. A teacher could pair up students to edit and provide feedback to one another on a draft of an essay, and then have the students use Google Docs to share their work with one another. Another idea is a class blog--each student could be assigned one week during which he/she would be expected to contribute to the blog. Students could also perform scenes from plays and make YouTube videos; students could make Yodio postings about readings and have to respond to one another; and students could record book reports as YouTube videos. These last three ideas would provide students the opportunity to practice their communication and revise it before having to turn it in; they might also help those students who are more shy or dislike public speaking find their voice and build their confidence for future public speaking.

Research and Information Fluency

This category also seems to be quite relevant to the high school English classroom. I like the idea of having students subscribe to blogs (literary blogs, blogs about grammar, anything they want that relates to the class) and use Google Reader to filter them. I could also have students do research projects on authors and use the internet to do their research. I also like the idea of having students search the internet for scholarly writing/critiques on a text we are reading in our class (e.g. To Kill a Mockingbird) and write a short paper about what they learned from the critique as well as what they agree and disagree with in the writing they found. Especially with a text with such historical significance as To Kill a Mockingbird, I could have students research context and history and prepare a power point presentation for the class regarding how context and history influenced the text. Teachers could also post assignments to a course website to help with information fluency.

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

Many of the ideas mentioned above relate to Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. In all honesty, I think all six of these categories are interrelated, and any activity will probably address skills relevant to every category. For example, using the internet to conduct research about the context and history around To Kill a Mockingbird and then analyzing how the text was influenced certainly involves critical thinking.

Another idea: if I were teaching a course on Gothic literature/Romanticism, I could post link to clips from films (such as Rebecca or something more contemporary like Silence of the Lambs) and ask my students to look for Gothic themes present in the films and then discuss them (or post them to a course website).

If I were teaching a course on the Odyssey or the Iliad, I think it would be really important to give students a sense of the Greek landscape. The internet provides a great opportunity to find photos of the landscape and the scale of the Greek countryside. After sharing photos, I could have students write about how they think the landscape affected the epics (especially the Odyssey) and the use of the natural world as monsters and such (such as Scylla and Charybdis...).

Challenges We Could Face When Trying to Implement These Ideas

The biggest challenge we face when it comes to using technology in the classroom is accessibility. To me, this means a lot of things. Students might not have computers at home. There might be filters in place on school computers (e.g. no facebook access, no YouTube access) that would be a huge obstacle if I required my students to create and post YouTube videos and they did not have a computer at home. There might not be enough computers or enough time to use them at school. Budget cuts and other financial issues make it difficult for every student to have a computer at their beck and call at school. Too bad money doesn't grow on trees...

Possible solutions to these problems:
By employing group activities, it is possible I might be able to make sure each group has at least one person with a home computer. Then students could create their YouTube presentations, and email them to me. I could then put them in my DropBox to make sure I could still access the presentations at school. I could also set aside class time to use school computers and also encourage students to use computers at the Public Libraries. Students would probably be fairly unfamiliar with Google Docs, Google Reader, and possibly even how to post on YouTube. I could create Screenr presentations to show them how to use these tools.

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Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet: Or "My First Foray into the Terrifying World of Excel"

This week we used spreadsheets and raw data from student tests to analyze trends in testing. I have to admit I have no background with spreadsheets or using the formulas to understand data, and I found this task incredibly daunting.

Ahhhh is it a mountain or a molehill???

Fortunately, we had some great tutorials to teach us about some of the basic calculations we could do in a spreadsheet, and the mountain was definitely surmountable. Not only did I become more comfortable with the idea of using spreadsheets (thank goodness! Especially because they seem essential when it comes to tracking student assignments and tests), but I am actually really looking forward to using them when I teach. AND we calculated students' averages, the percent of their growth, and created graphs--all of which are immensely helpful when it comes to analyzing student performance.

Here is a link to the spreadsheet. You will see there are four different "sheets" at the bottom. You can select the spreadsheet with all of my calculations; the graph of pre-test v post-test percentages; the graph of the percentages on Formatives 1 through 3; the graph of percent of growth; and a sheet with the raw data itself.

Our assignment required us to copy raw data from a table and insert it into our own spreadsheet. After that, I formatted my table (making some columns narrower and such). Then I calculated the pre-test percentage, the post-test percentage, and the percent of growth. The calculations themselves were quite simple, and the handy trick of selecting the little blue square in the bottom of the cell and dragging it to the remaining cells in the same column for which I wanted the same calculations (e.g. the pre-test percentage for each student) made completing the calculations much breezier than expected.

After calculating the three percentages mentioned above for each student, I used simple formulas in the spreadsheet program to calculate the class averages in each of those categories, as well as the median and the mode.

I then added columns so that I would have a place on my spreadsheet for the percentages the students scored on the Formatives. I then calculated the percentages for each student, as well as the average, median, and mode for the class.

Here is what my final Spreadsheet looked like:

Finally, I used the data from the calculations in the spreadsheet to graph three different trends. This created a great visual that should be quite helpful when it comes to interpreting the data and student achievement.

The first graph represents the Students' Pre-Test Percentage versus the Post-Test Percentage.

As you can see in the above graph, 12 out of the 13 students showed improvement, some more than others. Five students even managed to get 100% on the post-test. Joel's percentage is the only one to decrease from the pre-test to the post-test, but not too drastically.


The next graph represents the students' percent of growth from the pre-test to the post-test.

As you can see in the graph above, Victor's score increased drastically between the pre-test and post-test (1800%! From 1/26 raw score to a 19/26 raw score!). Again, 12 out of the 13 students' scores clearly increased, and Joel's decreased only slightly.


The final graph depicts the percentages the students scored on Formatives 1 through 3.


As you can see in the graph above, 7 of the 13 students had the same percentage on each of their individual Formatives. Additionally, Joel scored 70% on all three of his, with no student scoring above 80% on a single Formative.

So, what does all of this data mean???

As mentioned before, 12 out of the 13 students in this class improved their scores and had a percent of growth. This is fantastic. Joel is the one exception. Why? It's hard to tell. Perhaps his attendance had an effect on his score (he has the lowest attendance out of all the students with attendance 8 out of 10 days), but it's hard to know. He is also the only student in the set in 12th grade. Maybe he had senioritis?

Why do we care about this data?

Looking at this data and these scores, I would have to say results on the Formatives are not necessarily indicative of final post-test scores, but the repetition of the Formatives may be helpful. For instance, Rut's percent of growth was about 167%, but he actually did worse on Formatives 2 and 3 than he did on Formative 1. Additionally, Joel did fairly well on all three of his Formatives (70%), but his post-test percentage went down. Finally, the class average increased between Formative 1 and 2, but was the exact same between Formative 2 and 3. I would maybe only have my students take 2.

As a classroom instructor looking at these scores, I would encourage my students to stick with it and not be discouraged. Look at Victor! I would tell them to try their best, and to make all of their classes. The class as a whole had an average percent of growth of 239%, and that is inspiring.

Screenr--TinyURL

This week we learned all about a variety of really exciting new tools. The newest one: Screenr.With Screenr, you can compose a video (with your own audio) of whatever you are doing on your computer screen. This is a great tool to create tutorials to teach/show students how to do certain things on the computer.

I created a tutorial about using tinyurl.com, a tool mentioned in my previous post. In the video, I show how easy it is to use tinyurl.com. Please check out the tutorial below. (And please forgive any sniffles--I've been sick all week.)

Personal Productivity Tools

New Tools! TinyURL, DropBox, and Teamviewer

Tiny URL:

This might be my new favorite thing. Yes, I am channeling Fraulein Maria. It's just so simple, fast, and easy. tinyurl.com allows you to paste in a lengthy URL, click "make tinyurl," and PRESTO! you can copy and paste the new "tiny" URL and link to it. This will be great for use in the classroom! If I have students blog, they can create tiny url links to articles or stories they find interesting, for example.

DropBox:

DropBox is an amazing and easy way to share and store files. Simply install DropBox onto your computer, and SNAP! you are ready to go. Your files automatically sync and are available to you on your work computer, your home computer, any computer on which DropBox is installed. This is an excellent tool for the school setting. As a teacher, I could work from both home and my office without having to email myself attachments. I could also have students work on group projects and share their files through DropBox. I could share files with students through public folders, and they could share files with me and each other. I really appreciated this short youtube video explaining DropBox.



Teamviewer:

Teamviewer is a free tool that provides remote access to any computer. I see a couple of really great applications of this tool in the educational context: (1) file sharing and (2) being able to demonstrate how to use a variety of applications. I love the idea of remote accessing a student's computer if he/she has trouble with an assignment and being able to actually show the student how to overcome obstacles, or being able to work through problems together. Check out Teamviewer.


I am really looking forward to using all three of these tools in both my professional life and my personal life!

What is Cloud Computing and Web 2.0?

Have you heard of "cloud computing" or "Web 2.0"? Do you use computers primarily for personal reasons or do you use computers and applications for business? Do you use Gmail? Facebook? Twitter?



What is Cloud Computing?

Basically, applications live in the "cloud" and you log onto your applications via the internet. These applications do not need to installed on your personal computer. Software and data can be stored in the cloud as well. From the web searches I did, it sounds like cloud computing is becoming the way of the business world.


What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 is another name for cloud computing. Again, applications live in the cloud and are accessible from any computer at any time because you log onto the applications through the internet.


I have heard the phrases "cloud computing" and "Web 2.0" before, but I didn't really know what they meant. As it turns out, I use cloud computing on a daily basis. Google docs and facebook are Web 2.0 applications. I have shared photos with Picasa and Flickr. I read my sister's blog at least once a week. I am now considering looking into transferring all of my music files to the "cloud" so that I can free up some space on my hard drive and won't have to worry as much about my computer dying or spilling orange juice on it.