The educational context surrounding my DQ is at a national, state, district and school level. At a national level, when looking at the most recent data available from NAEP reading scores, as a nation overall, scores decreased in 8th grade for select student groups. Nationwide we have around 70% of students who are not meeting proficiency on these standardized tests. At a state level, there are about 50% of students who are not meeting proficiency. Both my school district of Fairfield, and my school, B. Gale Wilson, compare slightly less to the California average. By looking at the data, it is clear that students are not learning all the skills they need to meet proficiency. In 2010 California adopted Common Core Standards and as of March of 2013 the standards were revised (CCCSS - ELA). An emphasis on 21st century skills had been established but it is clear from the data that while our curriculum is moving toward 21st century learning, the skills are not being learned by all students in order for them to meet proficiency. Through the focus of using technology, students might build the skills needed (communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking) to allow them to have a greater depth of understanding the content.
Initially it was really difficult to try to find articles that were updated and showed how technology was being used in the classroom. I only really found a lot about what pre service teachers should be taught during their credential program to prepare them to use technology in the classroom, but as I just finished a credential program after these studies had been published, none of it applied. Another issue I found in my research is that since a lot of it was from 2012 and before then, the research was very outdated as it talked about barriers of having technology in the classroom that don't quite apply 6+ years later. I was finally able to find research that showed the application of these technological resources in the classroom and how it did benefit students. While there is still research that I need to do, this does help with coming up with the reason why I need to continue to pursue my driving question.
0 Comments
Let’s dream a little. Let’s dream about technology we could build, about a world we could enjoy" I can agree with Adora Svetik when she says we need to listen to kids and learn from them. I feel that in my own classroom, students are always teaching me new things that I would have never considered. We don't even have to get into how I used to and still know so much more about technology than a lot of adults who ask to learn from me. Education is not about the teacher standing up there and telling students what to do but as Adora said, it needs to be reciprocal since students are going to have a completely different insight than we do and we can always build on each other. Just as Dalton Sherman preaches, we need to believe in them, in their potential, in their insight, in their creativity.
One thing we cannot have is, as Ken Robinson calls it, a fast food education system where everything is standardized. It should be the complete opposite and allow for customization depending on what is needed in that area because not all kids are the same. The fast food model or an industrial model only wants everyone to learn the same thing and be the same thing. It's true, not all kids want to go to college and this is because they absolutely hate school. How can we expect them to succeed in school when they absolutely hate doing it? I encourage all to consider it for themselves but I could never expect them all to do it. I want them to follow their dreams and do what they love, that's we create a more rounder society. In my own classroom, I try to encourage all students to do what they love. If school isn't for them I still try to help them see the value in educating themselves still. I really wanted to start a Passions Project in my classroom but as it is still my first year, I'm just trying to get the hang of making sure that I am not not making robots out of students but well rounded, creative students. I like the quote "Innovation is hard because it means doing something that people don't find very easy, it means challenging what we take for granted." One of the reasons that I got into education was to change the way it was viewed. I loved English and how my teachers taught it and saw how others hated it; I wanted to create a curriculum that was customized to the individual student so that all students could learn to love English. In general, I want to challenge the old curriculum that I was taught with and make it more engaging. I feel when it comes to English, what we really need to be preparing students for is the way they think about literature. When it comes to reading, it should not be just about reading comprehension but about the different themes of the story and how we can apply what we've learned from the book to our real lives. Writing also should not be standardized but be open to creativity and trying new things. I'm sure when others started reading Post-Modernism and began seeing different types of text that it was strange at first, but now can be greatly appreciated. We need to be giving this type of thinking to our students, that it is ok to experiment and try new things. In fact, PLEASE try new things. There's still so much to learn when it comes to how to best teach our students, and I definitely think technology is the answer. My driving question is still quite broad and not focused. I know it's not just about the technology but how the technology is being used in the classroom. I've been playing around with the idea of technology helping close the achievement gap. I guess I've been wondering how I can use technology to ensure all kids are understanding the content equally. How can technology help students of low socioeconomic backgrounds achieve the same results as their peers who have had this access from the beginning? Why do some of my students know how to do so much more with technology than others? Is this giving them an advantage? So somewhere amongst these questions is my focus. So I suppose then my need to knows are related to technology and closing the achievement gap.
1. What are some varied and effective strategies that use technology to instruct diverse learners? 2. How can technology help students access content in a way that helps them build on their knowledge? 3. Can technology help keep students engaged? Will that make a difference in how they learn? 4. What students do well using technology? What has worked with them and what can I use to apply to other students? The IRB form also wants research methods and procedures. I'm not quite sure how I would go about researching how technology can help close the achievement gap. Some questions I have are: 1. What group of students can I use to focus on? 2 What criteria is needed to determine whether technology is helping students stay engaged and take in the content? 3. What kind of data will I get? Need to knows:
During my credential program I had a professor who gave us a couple pages of this reading and so some of the information I had already been thinking long and hard about. It's really hard to fathom why our society does not value education the way other nations do. The fact that they would rather put more money into prisons rather than school only makes sense to those who are benefiting from it, as we all know private prisons are a cash cow for the rich. Unfortunately, I think if things were to change it would take a long time for it to happen and only with the right people in charge. It would also take awhile for the damage that has been done to our education and to our students to be fixed. I've noticed first hand how so many of our students are not nearly to the reading or writing level that they need to be; going as far as being 5 plus grades behind.
The old model of education designed to be like a production line might have worked back when there was little innovation and technology around but I still see so many who get stuck following this mindless curriculum. I'm so glad that my school has adopted SpringBoard. It definitely is aligned to the 4 C's of common core which I am a huge fan of since I do feel that those skills are necessary in a continuously growing society. It's great that we have finally made this change to the curriculum but still a lot of our students are still so behind that they cannot even access some of the SpringBoard material that is written for the specific grade. A lot of scaffolding is needed because of that. I guess one of my biggest areas of concern when it comes to this is not having the material needed to really be able to help these students access the readings. If only education was a priority and we had more funding.... |