I seem to be a day behind everything this week as I build my presentation for the Classroom Research class.  The process of locating art, creativity (creation & design), along with self-actualization within the Fairbanks School District has been a very useful practice.  It allowed me to go over the smaller details within the plan for technology integration that would benefit the emotional and creative growth of the student.  I found there was two part to the plan.  There was the actual plan and then there was scope and sequence.  Scope and sequence seemed to lay the specific standards that would be applied to the classroom.  There were multiple occasions where digital citizenship was brought up and I didn't really touch on this enough.  Once I read Thomas' blog I realized that the digital citizenship classes I've been teaching should also add vocabulary such as inspire, acheive, support, compassion, etc. I also enjoyed the discussion.  I also thuroughly enjoyed Andrea's & Colin discussion of the pros and cons of instant messaging.  It touches on how important it is to include cyber ethics in a tech plan. 

The next slides represents evidence of student or staff creation, collaboration, and/or self actualization.  Within the Tech Plan are Standards in the form of "Technology Guidelines".  These are integral to the Tech Plan but were not evaluated as I decided to categorize these as specific tech standards.  They do incorporate the three attributes I'm focusing on.  For this evaluation, I'm specifically looking at the plan's goals.

I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment as it got me thinking about redesigning a school around technology and it's transformative nature.  I have included a reflective video using some of Tiffany's youtube video of Ethan Young laying down the hammer on CommonCore.  Thanks Tiffany!  I need to get some sleep!  For Colin, I wish for all the bandwidth in the world.  

Inspiration App & Reflector for iPad Mirroring*

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My apologies for missing this week's posting.
As you will see, I had some difficulty with this new presentation App.  The concept of add virtual apps into the presentation is great but it didn't seem like there was enough room to run both video and full screen vApps.  vApps are what they called online web elements.  I used one photo and the others were web pages.  
My apologies for the choppy video.  Without further delay... 

When I was nine or ten, I met with the principal about my grades.  She said I was going to be pulled from band (I play the Trombone) because my math grades were too low.  I didn't say anything except, "So you're going to take away the only thing I'm good at?"  I didn't have any defense.  She was right, my grades were low but I was good at playing the trombone.  I could read music and understand how to apply my hand to the slide and my lips to the mouthpiece to make music out of notes.  I even wrote music.  I was given this device with little instruction and began experimenting.  I also learned from other trombone players.  I eventually joined a ska band in Oregon and played music professionally for four years.  I graduated from college with an applied economics degree.  I always think back to what would have happened to my life if the principal didn't change her mind.  I wasn't removed from band.  I can't say my grades improved.  I struggled all through elementary school.  I couldn't remember enough for the tests.  I did okay in high school and excelled in College.   I was proud that I never asked a student to leave my classroom but it was still terribly hard reaching these kids in the environment designed around us. 

Why wouldn’t it be reasonable?  Everyday I support teachers and administration with technology.  I can’t tell you how often I’m beckoned to fix a printer and everytime this comes, I sense a hint of futility rising up through my morale.  Here we have amazing tools that allow us to create media rich content and apply it to real problems but most of us just want to be able to print something and hand it out.  I compare the printers in our school to an assembly line.  We create an original and then mass produce it through print.  More often than not, our laptops, and iPods become a really expensive typewriter.  It is rare that I observe teachers connecting knowledge, imagination, and creative works to other learning communities. Ken Robinson points out that, “Conventional academic programs are not designed to develop them and often value the opposite approach; encouraging solo research rather than collaboration, preferring data to be presented in an accepted format, measuring success according to academic merit.” (2011) I think I know why we are still not connecting with our peers in a new way because we are not provided with a supportive environment.  The new tools allow us to build content in ways only the most experienced digital editors could.  An eight year old can create a movie trailer or a video tutorial about the use of fractions in music.  Yet, our Standardized tests mandate we teach to a curriculum that is based on rote learning.  I am encouraged with the new State Standards but we have not kept pace with how we learn and we learn in ways that are so different to the ways I learned in school.  

Some believe that our system is not ready to allow mobile devices in the classroom and I understand there concern.  Digital ethics is a concept lost on some but not most.  Those ethically impaired will make adverse choices whether they’re using a smartphone or a dodgeball.  I hope I can one day hand over the keys of my car to my son even though I know there are those in the community that are negligent because he is equipped with defensive tactics.  We might be holding back with offering the freedom of digital creativity not because we worry about how it might under-mind the growth of our students but how it might effect our place in the classroom.  Students are learning in a way that is difficult for us to filter.  They are mining for new ideas and connecting in ways in which we fear.  Ken Robinson points out a historical pattern which we should ponder when we decide how technology should be used in the classroom.

“Some skeptics argued that it was waste of public resources to attempt to educate the children of the working  classes: such children were essentially uneducable and would not benefit from these efforts.  They were wrong about that.  Others feared the social and political consequences: educating the working classes would give them ideas above their station and lead to a social revolution.  They were not wrong about that.”(2011)

Creative Tech Plan Appendix A:
Student Supply List - K Through 12
iPad
Stylus
Skype Headset
headphones.
Google Account

Here is a story developing as we speak showing the inherent value of transformation.

“Educational researcher Dr. Sugata Mitra’s “Hole in the Wall” experiments have shown that, in the absence of supervision or formal teaching, children can teach themselves and each other, if they’re motivated by curiosity and peer interest. In 1999, Mitra and his colleagues dug a hole in a wall bordering an urban slum in New Delhi, installed an Internet-connected PC, and left it there (with a hidden camera filming the area). What they saw was kids from the slum playing around with the computer and in the process learning how to use it and how to go online, and then teaching each other.” (TED, 2013)

The struggle is not with our students but with ourselves. Students would adjust to the new world because they already have.  They do not fear apps or touchscreens.  They are native to this new world.  We are the immigrants that continue to speak our old native language and dress in the way we are accustomed to.  How many teachers would have to adjust to a new life as an instructional technology teacher.  Its a mouthful for sure but it is a scary endeavor to many of us.  However, if we were to visit our teaching philosophy we would all certainly find an overarching similarity.  We are in this to help students succeed.

Click Here -> Girl dubbed 'The Next Steve Jobs' captivates Mexico
By:  Carola Sole

There is a human connection to learning and memories.  Does the absence of learning from those who we love create a hollow definition of knowledge.