Week 5 Reflection on SAMR

The SAMR Model certainly provoked much thought and soul searching. Firstly because it made me reflect on how I use technology in the classroom. Is it for my own benefit to make lesson planning easier and the final product more stimulating for the students? I know that access to a much wider range of information and resources than we have had access to previously. This means we can use and adapt and transform the information in a multitude of ways using a host of different applications and multimedia methods. Or do I use technology to meet the needs of my students with their different abilities and learning styles?
To answer these questions I need to go back to where we started. I need to have a clear view of my educational beliefs about what I consider to be good pedagogy based not only on the research of educational theorists but on my personal experience as a teacher. I need to consider what has worked for students and what hasn't worked as well as I hoped. How can I best use web2.0 tools to inform my practice as a teacher in order to get the best results from students.
Working in a primary school setting with students requiring learning support usually requires me to firstly engage the students and then maintain their interest whilst trying to teach them basic skills in literacy.
 Add to the mix that many of them have very poor self esteem about their learning abilities and the limited time I have to work with them on a weekly basis. Some groups of students come to me for 2 one hour sessions per week. Others for 4 half hour sessions per week and still others for 2 half hour sessions over a two week period.
I could honestly say that at this stage majority of the use of technology would fall within the substitution, augmentation and maybe a little into the modification areas of the SAMR model. Yet these students are probably the ones that could have their attitudes to learning turned around by the use of communication technologies and maybe even their attitudes towards learning.
My challenge I guess is to tap into my educational beliefs and look for a way that the pedagogy can best be demonstrated through technology suited to influencing my students in ways that direct them to the learning goals they not only need to achieve but want to work towards because of their belief in themselves as genuine learners.
The reflections of other group members about ways they have used technology for modification has stimulated my interest into delving into some of the technologies that I am not quite as familiar with as perhaps I could be.
What a great source the Voice Thread is! Maybe I can get responses from students in their own time through this form of technology.
 Now the challenge is to investigate more of the newer technologies and how I can get the students immersed into the learning process by tapping into their personal learning styles and abilities. I've already thought of a few things to try. I'll let you know how it goes.  

Week 3 Concept Map

This is where I am currently sitting with my learning theory and how I use it within my teaching. When planning a lesson, a unit or series of lessons the Constructivist approach is predominant. I like to think of myself  as "the guide at the side" rather than "the sage on the stage", however that is not to say that Behaviourism and Cognitivism is totally behind me but rather a little further in the background. The current push towards explicit teaching and the related theories behind it are steeped in the learning theories explored in this course. By identifying components of what is considered to be good pedagogy and linking them to theorists it is clear that there is a place for each in our schools. There are aspects of every students learning that must be learnt and remembered to provide a foundation on which further learning is built .
Whether it is the learning of a young child , a teenager or an adult this basic foundation can then be used as a stepping stone to "morph" into Constructivist approaches to learning. Vygotsky's belief that when a student has reached their Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) for as specific task that with a little guidance from the teacher they will be able to achieve the task supports this belief. This scaffolding of encouragement is articulated in the practice of the explicit teaching  model as I Do, We DO and You Do or in the case of IMPACT Model , Practice and Connect. A natural progression from this scaffolding approach by teachers is to shift the responsibility to the students Group work and strategies such as Jig-saw, Think Pair Share etc provide opportunities for the collective brain of a group to develop and transform ideas in a way that offers the opportunity to expand ideas and thus learning. Add to this a non threatening environment in which mistakes are considered opportunities for further learning and where everyone's opinion is considered and you have Social Constructivism. Now the student is edging their way towards independent and lifelong learning.
Where I want to go is to jump forward and embrace the advances in technology. I want to be able to guide the students as they negotiate  the information highway. I want to interact with those that can help me move forward taking advantage  the immense opportunities within 21st century technology. I want to develop and adapt my learning and just as Connectivist theory suggests, constantly learning and evolving.
.

My Overview of Pedagogy

Like Wendy I found myself being introduced to Productive Pedagogies as the answer to providing the best possible learning to enable the best possible outcomes for all students. At this time I was in a band 5 school as a Teaching Principal with a second teacher with similar views to myself of the learning theories that I had - Social Constructivism with Cognitive Constructivist aspects included.

At the same time the Qld Education Department had been launching new curriculum with outcomes based assessment of the Essential Learning. Being an extrovert and ready for a challenge, as a collaborative staff, the two of us set out to see if we could make the curriculum fit both the requirements of the Department and our perceived needs of the students. Considerations for all four aspects of the placemat of the productive pedagogies were embedded into the planning of units - Intellectual Quality, Connectedness, Social Support and Recognition of Difference.

All four areas were recognised and a much as possible all KLA's were integrated into units of work that were developed over a period of a term. Whilst Literacy and Numeracy were taught as stand alone subjects, using a cognitive constructivist approach, they were also integrated into the units of work covering the other KLA's and here the approach leaned more toward the social constructivist approach. Integrating ITC activities into the units became a challenge that we felt was imperative if students in our small school were going to be able to keep up with what we believed the larger schools in our area were doing.

How could we use technology as part of the learning activities without making them an ad-on but an integral part of the learning experience? I guess this is what this course is about. The difference is perhaps that the students are more familiar with many of the technologies but haven't really considered how it could be used to enhance their learning. Teachers likewise have barely tapped into the potential.

EDEL 20001 Week 3 Behaviourism vs Constructivism

My Teaching Context.
Currently I am working as a support teacher for literacy, specifically reading, with Yr 6&7 students.
Identified students are withdraw from class for either 1 or 1/2 hour sessions in small groups ranging from 5 to 8 pupils at a time, so that each group has 2 hours per week tuition. My brief is to raise the comprehension results on standardised tests and ultimately improve their English results to a passing grade. Those students who show an improvement in the use of  the identified skills are then monitored in class by the classroom teacher. Most of the students have low self esteem, lack of confidence in their ability and many behavioural issues due to their poor reading abilities and self belief.

I hear the wheels turning in the brain..."Ahaa... let's use the Behaviourist Approach in teaching."
Yes I have to some degree and that has had some positive results. I have been able to increase their active participation in lessons by rewarding them with smiley face green cards each time they actively respond to tasks set for them. These cards are cumulative and at the end of each week, the student in each group collects a small prize from me (a pencil, rubber, or trinket). Great! I can identify the task performance. It is measurable. I can set goals for the students to achieve at the beginning of each session and collect evidence of their active participation. But how do I know if they apply this and assimilate the knowledge for future use to build on their skills?

I want the students to be self motivated learners. To take responsibility for their own learning. I want to give them the tools and let them decide how best to use them to take them where they want to go.
This is where Constructivism comes into play. Gagne's Information Processing ideas - his nine steps- provides a lovely concise platform for preparing lessons. It allows for the Schema Theory to be applied building on the pre-existing knowledge of the learner with me as the teacher didactically infusing their brains with the sequential knowledge I wish to impart to reach predetermined goals.
In fact Gagne's  Nine Steps assists the learner to take the sensory information provided by me, store it in their working memory (short term memory) then through repetition, practise and adaptation assimilate it into their long term memory, where it is anticipated they will retrieve it when needed.

However it dos have its limitation. One size does not fit all. So when I plan for my group of students I must take into account that they may not in fact more likely will not all have the same starting point. They have different background experiences both socially and culturally. Their knowledge base will not necessarily be the same and their willingness to engage will vary from student to student.

Introduction

Well if I did it right I have created my first Blog or at least I am in the middle of creating one.
I live at the beach in Taranganba with hubby, two dogs,two birds and five chooks. One of my sons lives near by. The other one lives in Port Hedland WA. I am a babyboomer and hence technology is something I have to become familiar with, probably in a more painful way than most of you.

I have been teaching here in Qld for about 18 or so years. Most of that time has been as a teaching principal in one teacher schools. Most of my ITC skills have been picked up along the way in a
'just in time' fashion.
Despite attending several workshops, once I have mastered what I need to do that is about all I do. I don't ever seem to make the time to just"play" and become familiar with skills.
Shock horror I don't Facebook or Twitter. I have blogged in the Learning Place space as part of virtual classrooms I have set up or the Project 600 set up I was involved with. I have an Ipad that my eldest son set up for me and I play games on it. I don't even know how to use I Tunes yet.
A bit long winded I know, but leading to a big apology to those of you who have diligently blogged your way through the first 3 weeks of this course, when I have done nothing but read what has been given us so far and attended one tutorial.
Hopefully this will be remedied beginning this week. I promise to blog responses for Week four and gradulally work my way back through the previous threads. Please bear with me I am on a long journey that has a lot of steep hills and obstacles that I am determined to master.