Author Archives: shayla mangat

Problem Solving

The definition of technology provided by Roblyer (2012) resonated with me the most. Technology is defined as “us- our tools, our methods, and our creative attempts to solve problems in our environment”. It is the tools that we use to engage our students and enhance their learning experiences. Technology is more than just a computer, ipad or other digital tools; it is also a pencil, blocks and other tangible items that students use to solve a problem. At times, these methods and the necessary tool are obvious (a calculator for a math problem) and other times it requires the imagination of our students (creating a raft out of pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks and clay).

As educators, our role is to provide students with the tools and background knowledge necessary for them to utilize these tools. It is then the student’s responsibility to take the tool, information and connect this with their learned experiences to solve a presented problem. This is accomplished through student-centered, project based, collaborative learning opportunities where students are engaged and passionate about the learning. Furthermore, technology is best utilized when it allows students to explore questions beyond the walls of the classroom and they are able to apply real life skills to a problem.

Shayla

Failure is OK, collaboration, plan for the skills

For my interview, I interviewed Mr.H, a colleague at my current school. Mr.H and I have been colleagues for two years now and have enjoyed a few ventures exploring technology at our school. Last year, he was assigned to a grade 4/5 class and we often participated in co-teaching lessons involving technology as buddy projects. This year, he has taken on the tech teacher role at our school and is responsible for all of the digital technology. He has been teaching for the past 8 years and has spent time teaching in the States, overseas and has now settled in the lower main land.

We conducted our interview at 3pm after school on a Friday. It ran about 30 minutes with a few interruptions from other colleagues. As we conducted the interview, I was surprised and intrigued by the experiences he had with technology during his professional development program and how he uses his understanding to plan lessons with technology now. The three main themes that came to mind as I reflected on our interview were: failure is ok, collaboration throughout the school, and plan for the skill.

Failure is OK!

Research has indicated that teachers are hesitant to integrate technology into their practice due to the perceived lack of support and personal experience. How would you describe your experience in developing a sense of confidence when implementing technology into the classroom?

Quotes

Reflection

“Something that I experienced in my PDP program and the teaching experiences that I have prior to coming to Canada to teach. Was this notion of try it out and if it fails whatever at least you tried. It isn’t going to work right the first time but when it does it is going to be awesome!… It is going to take more than one time.”

“We have all had lessons that failed and it can be scary to go back there. And with technology there is such a steep learning curve and the chance of failure is higher.”

“I am ok with failing.”

“As the years have progressed I have felt more, I feel like I don’t give the primaries enough credit as they are due for their skills on this type of thing. So although I felt more hesitant with my 2/3’s than my 4/5’s, I am learning that we can work through it no matter the grade. It is about being confident with your group”

To begin our interview, I asked Mr.H to reflect on his initial experience with technology. We discussed at length his experience in the professional development program, and his experiences teaching outside of the lower main land. He said that his experience with technology could be characterized by the phrase: try it, if it fails, oh well. We both giggled but this idea of failing really resonated with me. As a young student myself, I was always told that failure was not an option, getting things wrong was just not acceptable. I believe that this has carried with me as I now begin my professional journey as the teacher.

The reality of technology is that things will almost never work the way you thought it would. Whether it be a technical issue, students understanding more or less than you expected, or many more reasons, technology can be a scary/frightening tool. It is therefore understandable why teachers can be reluctant to explore it. However, Mr.H was persistent when explaining how critical it is for teachers to make the first step and just try. As the year continues with a group of students, both the teacher and student will develop in their skills and it will only get better year to year.

COLLABORATION throughout the school

How do you think the school/district has helped or hindered your implementation of technology in the classroom?

Quote

Reflection

“These are important skills for our students to learn but where do I take the time? I would be perfectly happy taking an hour out of the day to work on these things: coding, modeling and life skills that I think they are going to need. But what is coming out?”

“When we remove math, reading, science the teachers in intermediate are frustrated with what we are focusing on. So it is my personally opinion that it needs to be a complete shift as a school goal.”

“Resources and funding are important but support is more important. And not necessarily support from admin because that comes in whatever direction it will. It is support from my colleagues. It is support to be able to say ‘you know what we think that this is important’ and for people to understand that in order for this to happen, something is going to suffer.”

“Everyone be on board.”

As the interview continued, we moved the discussion from how he felt as an individual using technology, to how the school community was effecting the implementation. A common term entered the conversation was time. He truly felt that as educators we are expected to follow a check list. A list of things that need to be taught each year so that the students can progress in a linear fashion. Mr.H believes that “when it comes to being able to use computers and use programs is so very important. Those things need to be taught, explicitly taught.”. This meant that in order for teachers to spend the necessary time on teaching digital literacy, something else was going to have to give.

Now although Mr.H felt comfortable in forgoing other topics, or integrating skills like patterning (a skill typical associated with math) into coding, the concern was that other teachers would not feel the same way. For instance, teachers in the intermediate classes feeling frustrated that although the students are equipped with tech skills, they are lacking in content in other areas. It is therefore his belief, that the school needs to make a shift and collaborate on an area of focus for the entire school (technology, environmental learning, social emotional learning, etc.); as well, come to a consensus on the acceptable repercussions of time being spent on this.

Plan for the SKILL!

What tips or strategies would you suggest to teachers looking to introduce STEM into their classroom? In what ways can they introduce different subjects or topics into a joint project?

Quotes

Reflection

“I think that a big part of that, and how I have always planned my units and lessons is, what is the thing that I want them to do? What skill do I want them to develop?”

“Ok lets do research skills. Well to do that they need to know how to work a search engine. Ok well what content am I going to attach to this, ok animal life cycles, science.”

“There is a lot of flash in a lot of products. And it doesn’t necessarily take it to another level… something I have to ask myself is is this going to provide them with a skill that they are going to need in the future. I think something like coding, which is flashy, but it is functional. Using programs where you have to build something for the 3-D printer, functional.”

“What are the skills you want them to learn, so when it comes to STEM or technology portions, it is finding what skill you want to focus on and then fitting in other stuff. You need to decide though if this is a skill that you are going to develop with or without tech and then move from there.”

“Content is fluid. It is starting with the skill and how you are going to teach that skill and then broadening out. Think of it as a web.”

As a teacher ready to take the necessary steps to implement technology more effectively in my room, I was interested to know how to go about accomplishing this. His recommendations were simple and followed a linear plan. He recommended beginning by identifying the skill that you want your students to walk away with. This could be research skills, communication skills, etc. Following, we need to decide which, if any, types of technology are necessary for this skill. Meaning, that it is not always necessary to integrate technology into every lesson or unit. He believes that technology needs to be used purposefully, not as another box on a check list. Once the teacher has identified the skill and technology, then we can move to attach content. He recommended this process because he believes that content is fluid and the connections are endless.

He used the example of a research project he was working on with his grade 2/3 students.

-The skill: research

-The technology tool: Google search engines

-The content: life cycles of an owl

From here, he was able to set out lessons that began with teaching students the literacy and skills needed to maneuver Google with a wide range of topics. Then, he introduced his major project and sent students to use these skills in a practical way.

Case 2 & 8

Case 2: High school math teacher describes his experience with using technology in his grade 11 enriched math class.

Case 8: Elementary student teachers that are working on using images to create “slomation” creations.

I chose these two videos to describe the differences and similarities that became apparent to me when comparing an elementary perspective to that of high school. It is important to note as well that Teacher F (Grade 11) has 28 year of teaching experience, where the elementary student teachers are just beginning in their career.

Case 2:

In my initial post, I stated that “good” use of technology is when educators are able to push students beyond a “googled” answer. During his interview, teacher F explains that his yearly goal is to find questions that push students to greater level. He describes it as “getting at math” not just a calculated answer. He describes an example of a bonus questions provided to students that had students coming before and after school to work through this problem collectively. They were learning from one another, working with previous knowledge, and integrating other disciplines to create models to help solve their problem. He believes that by using the technology, the students felt comfortable to push their understandings and engage in the problem.

Limitations:

The largest limitation described by Teacher F was the funding required for a class set of computer. He realized that he was able to use a graphic calculator and resources from other departments to create an equally effective learning environment. This was encouraging as it was an example of a teacher with similar resources to myself, and yet did not seem defeated by it.

Case 8:

During these interviews, elementary student teachers were asked to describe their “slowmation” creations. Their goal was to move beyond the static picture in a textbook, and onto a moving animation to engage students. It seemed that students had differing opinions about the task and the reality of using it in the classroom. I believe that there are teachers that are effectively using technology in the classroom with their students; however, it seemed that these teachers felt that it was their role to create them and for the students to watch. As well, it seemed that many were still relying on print/text to preload or review the information alongside the video. I wonder if this is a “good” example of the use of technology. I had stated that “good” technology needed to have a focus and a reason being used. I get the feeling that they are doing this because they feel that they have to use technology (like a box that needs to be checked).

Limitations:

These elementary teachers identified the limitation of time. They felt that creating these videos with their young students (grade 2 and 3) would not be “worth it” as many of the roles would fall on the teachers.
One teacher also explained the lack of equipment available to them in the classroom. I compare this to the first case study (STEM Program) where students had access to building equipment, coding materials, computers, etc.

Shayla

Unpacking Assumptions

In my view, “good” use of technology is when educators are able to engage students and provide opportunities for further exploration. As 21^st century students, the realities of the classroom and workforce have ultimately changed from times of pencil-to-paper. Students and employees are able to connect to information in seconds, and explore any topic. These tools provide us with the unique opportunity to allow our students to explore any topic of interest under the umbrella of mathematics and science. For instance, if we were covering the topic of forces in grade 4, we could have students research and investigate the term forces, create wonder questions, and partake in an inquiry project on a narrow topic within that strand.

Additionally, “good” use of these tools are when we are able to provide questions to students that cannot be “googled”. If students are able to type in the question and receive an answer, we are not using these tools to their fullest potential. From the employees of today, nearly all have access to a phone, laptop or another smart device that will answer simple/factual information for them. It is my goal as an educator to have my students develop problem-solving skills and reasoning skills when faced with a question that does not have a simple answer. In these cases, questions may be posed to students and they are asked to research any related information, and articulate their own understanding and/or decision.

Furthermore, it is not the tool itself that makes it “good”, but the use of the tool. There are many educators that are utilizing these tools in fascinating, innovative ways, in which students are able to explore and become engaged in their learning. We need to mindful that technology is a learning tool, just as any other tool that we utilize in our classroom (whiteboard, pencils, blocks, etc,), it is not just a cool new thing to do because everyone is doing it. I believe that some educators can become overwhelmed by feeling the pressure to use technology in every unit, in every lesson. It would be my advice to use the tool where there is a purpose and it is providing an opportunity beyond what is available in the classroom.

Shayla

Misconceptions and The Wonder Wall

Over the summer I attended a professional development seminar centered around the concepts of student exploration. During the presentation, we were asked to collaborate with our colleagues to discuss different materials (birds nest, feathers, pictures of third world countries, new articles, etc.) and our understanding of the topic. Following, we completed a worksheet titled “I Wonder”, similar to the one below:

What we think we know	I Wonder	Yes! We were right	Misconceptions	New Information	Still Wondering

What initially caught my attention, and has proven to be effective, are the titles “What we think we know” and “misconceptions”. Teaching grade 2, I was sceptical about my students grasping it. We first discussed the chart in depth, and one of my bulletin boards was transformed into a large class wonder chart. On sticky notes, we wrote facts that we thought we knew about spiders (an intro into our spider life cycle unit last term). As the month continued, I brought out 20-30 books, computers, and artifacts related to spiders. The student’s goals were to 1. determine if their original thoughts were correct or misconceptions (the sticky note was then moved to one of the columns) 2. find new information that we had not yet discussed (answer the original I Wonder questions) 3. write down any new questions that come to mind as they do their research.

It did take time, and a lot of preloading of instruction; however, once students became engaged it was all they wanted to do. As a teacher, it also demonstrated to me where my student’s misconceptions were coming from and what I needed to directly teach or questions I could propose to have them investigate and answer. By using sticky notes, students were also able to visually see whether they were on the right track with the previous thoughts, and also build on the understandings of their peers. I had students walk up to the board throughout the day and read all the new stickys and then go home to their parents and explain what they had learned (whether they were the ones to find the information or not).

Studies have also demonstrated that using these inquiry based approaches are more effective in identifying student misconceptions, and increase student performance (Prince, Vigeant & Nottis, 2012). They found that student understanding and overall performance improved from 46.6% to 65.7%, where minimal gains were made using instructional methods. Windmann, Self and Prince (2014) also summarize the defining features of these inquiry based learning activities, which support their effectiveness. These include: using peer instruction and collaborative work, using the physical world and materials, evaluating student understanding, making appropriate use of technology (in this case for research purposes), and beginning with the specific and moving to the general.

For anyone who would like to know more, Sandra Ball is an amazing resource and can be found on Twittter or email for those of you in the Surrey School District.

Shayla

Prince, M., Vigeant, M. & Nottis, K. (2012) Using inquiry-based activities to repair student misconceptions related to heat, energy and temperature. Frontiers in Education Conference Proceedings. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stamp/stamp.jsp?arnumber=6462344

Widmann, J., Self, B. & Prince, M. (2014). Mini-Workshop – inquiry based learning activities: hands on activities to improve conceptual understanding. IEEE Frontiers in educational conference (FIE) Proceedings. Retrieved from http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=7044165

My Earliest Memory

My earliest memory of technology takes me back to about the fifth grade. We had a large computer lab adjacent to the library filled with large, bulky Macintosh computers. Our assignments back then (as related to technology) were to create “good copies” of our written assignments. I can still recall the doors opening and each of us running for the “new” computers that allowed your mouse to click and edit any part of the assignment. Those forced to use the “older” computers, immediately became anxious as the only way to edit was the delete all of the following characters. Once we finished our written assignment, we would spend the remaining time working through All the Right Type; if we were really lucky, we would play Snake.

Shayla

Hi from Surrey, BC

Hi Everyone!

Hi Everyone! My name is Shayla and I currently live in Surrey, B.C. I have worked as a grade 2 teacher in the Surrey school district for two years now. Prior to that I was completing my Bachelors of Art in Psychology and my Bachelors of Education. I work at an inner city school where most of my students come from low-economic backgrounds. As a result, the use of technology at home is scarce; however, I am so lucky to have administrators that are pushing for more technology in the school and classroom.

This is my fourth term (7^th and 8^th course) of the MET program and am excited to be approaching the finish line. Thus far, this program has been extremely beneficial in my development as an educator and shaping my pedagogy. Moving away from only PowerPoints and word documents to include video creation and websites. As a student I was always drawn to courses and areas of study that focused on mathematics and science. Admittedly, sometimes I struggle to provide effective learning opportunities to my students who do not feel the same motivation for these areas. So I am hoping that by the end of this course I will be able to develop new learning strategies and resources to help foster a sense of enjoyment in my students.

When I am not teaching I still live a pretty crazy life style. My fiancé and I are planning for our wedding which between the consolations and online searches feels like a full time job. I enjoy fitness and nutrition (although difficult this past month). I also love to travel and will be spending a week this term in Mexico (super excited and made sure the resort had Wi-Fi to stay up to date on assignments and discussions).

I look forward to spending this term with each of you! Talk soon,

Shayla