Week 6 - Essential Question

What does it mean to differentiate the process (content, strategies for instruction) in the classroom?

To differentiate the process, very simply means to use the rich technology resources we have at the ready that will easily help us to give students choice, independence, motivation, the ability to exert some control over their learning, and to spark new interest.  For the first time in the history of education, we have the opportunity and the ability to easily personalize the learning experience for our students like never before.  The ability to deliver this (differentiating content) naturally leads to new strategies.  In my opinion, I think that due to the ease of differentiating and personalizing content, we as teachers have far more time available to us to use better strategies in our classrooms.

At this point, I'll take some good advice and channel my ASTE 2013 experiences to partly answer this question.  The theme at ASTE this year was "Mobile Me, Mobile You, Mobile Us".  Naturally, there was much emphasis on how the proliferation of mobile devices in our schools is playing out in our pedagogy.  And naturally, with the governor's new 1:1 iPad initiative on the horizon, those who have not yet seriously considered mobile devices and iPads are definitely taking them quite seriously now.

I learned how Nome schools are using the iPads in their elementary school to build reading speed and fluency by using simple tools such as iTalk and the timer.  This is such a simple use of a technology tool, but it helps students to personalize their learning, self-assess their learning, and become more independent in their pursuit of their goals. The teachers used the technology and implemented some very simple strategies to make it an engaging and meaningful activity for their students.

I learned about how some fantastic Alaska-themed apps are already built, and more are being developed, that support and teach Alaska Native languages within language arts - what a great way to engage interest and support local cultures as part of the learning process! This can capture interest, and the app itself allows students to explore the language at their own pace.

I learned more about how the new State Standards directly address technology, and it's integration into language arts and math specifically.  Many districts are already doing innovative projects such as developing new reading and publishing performance tasks, as well as developing some really great math and physics units that incorporate technology in ways that bring the subjects to life.

I learned about how the Consortium for Digital Learning is doing some very forward thinking, and is publishing lots of materials (and more to come) that address the management of 1:1 and also offer a guidebook full of ideas for proven successful best practices in a 1:1 setting. A great road map that helps teachers look realistically at best practices for differentiating process and content.

It was great to hear all of these ideas and support for 1:1 and for our shift to mobile learning.  It was also exciting to hear the enthusiasm from districts, schools, and teachers who, although new to this, have taken the leap and are excited about their progress and results.

Week 5 - Essential Question

What are your overall take-aways from the methods/tools that you might use to differentiate the classroom environment (for teacher productivity and student progression)? Which of these may you use in your classroom in the future?

Tools:
I'll start with tools, since that is more concrete.  What everyone in our #diffimooc seems to be discovering to some degree is that the more flexible a tool is in terms of how it can be used, the better it is for differentiating the classroom environment.  Here are some examples of multi-use tools that people seem to really be talking about most:

Blogs - this type of webpage is great for hosting class content, communicating with parents, having students post content, or a combination of those things.  It can host all different kinds of digital media quite easily, as well as links.

Wikis - another basic webpage that is great for hosting just about any type of content you want to share or collaborate on, and it can be revised quickly.  It can also host digital media and links. 

Evernote - Notes - all kinds of notes for anything.  Can be added to any time, any where, with any device. Can be shared. Can include many kinds of media and links.  Keeps notes organized. Gather notes about kids, projects, ILP's, IEP's, you name it. 

Edmodo - like Facebook, but for school.  It can manage your courses, store and deliver your content, and serve as a networking and discussion forum for things you are really interested in. 

Diigo - primarily a web-based bookmarking tool, which is a handy enough function.  Diigo lets you easily follow others and find related bookmarks, to join discussion groups, and to create your own groups for peers, colleagues, or students. 

There are lots of other multi-use tools that I am fond of, such as YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo, SlideShare, VoiceThread, and Skype. But for this particular MOOC, the tools listed above really seem to be striking a chord which means people have found them relatively easy to use, and have found an immediate, working use for them. 

Methods: 
We've thrown around some methods for using these tools on our twitter#diffimooc chats (hard to do more in 140), and many members have delved into methods for using these tools for differentiation on their blogs.  

Some people are using a blog or a wiki as a home base in their classrooms, and incorporating a number of tools and resources into those sites.  This is a great method of differentiation, because it gives students two important things crucial to their learning - autonomy and choice.  When students can take some control over their own learning, they will often differentiate for themselves at an appropriate level, as well as gain some independence.

Here are some examples of how that can look:
If a student doesn't understand the directions, posting clear, step by step directions on a class website in the form of a list, a video, or even a series of pictures (or a combination), gives the student the ability to go back through them at their own pace, review where necessary, and begin to process them in a way they can understand. 

If a student is working at a different level (and who isn't?) posting a collection specific links or resources for that student on a wiki is very fast and easy for the teacher, and it allows the student to have a place where they can go on their own to review resources they may need (independence), to select from an appropriate list of activities to do (choice), and to get resources from a variety of mediums such as video, print, sound (learning styles). 

Teaching students how to use two different tools for a project (for example, VoiceThread and GooglePresentations), allows students the opportunity to explore and personalize the tools, and then gives them a choice about how they will present their content - they can choose a tool that they personally like and have a comfort level with, as opposed to being told they will use the same tool as everyone else. Posting links to both of these tools on a class website gives students the opportunity to explore the tools on their own, and then go to them as their resource when it is time to work on their assignment.

Takeaways
I have used almost all of these tools methods in my classroom already over the years, and I would say that based on the reaction of the #diffimooc members, my ideas about them as solid tools and methods for learning and differentiation have been reinforced.  I was interested to see how quickly people who had no prior experience really jumped in and saw practical uses for many of the tools, such as Diigo, blogs, and wikis.  

I'll continue to use these tools in the future.  I feel very justified in knowing that some of the tools I have believed to be the most powerful for learning still really are.  Their power lies in their flexibility, and the willingness of teachers to seek new methods for using them.

Week 4 - Essential Question

How can I use tools in "the cloud" to easily manage and deliver feedback to my students?

I decided to take the video challenge to answer this question - mostly because I was afraid if I started writing I would get waaaaayyy too strung out with this!  As it is my video is 7 minutes and I feel I still have to do a little supplemental explanation. The video explains how I use tools to manage and give students access to resources, assignments, etc.  I mention the student blogs, and my students do post assignments often on their blogs, not just for my classes but for others as well. They are an eportfolio of sorts.

One thing I neglect to mention is online collaboration.  Most of my students' small group collaboration or collaboration and feedback from me occurs on GoogleDrive (Docs).  There are times throughout the year where I will have groups of students collaborate on wikis they have set up.  These are usually found as links on student blogs.

PLNs and MOOCs

PLNs - My network actually started about 5 years ago.  I was fortunate enough to hop on the Twitter bandwagon relatively early, and also fortunate to start right off following some very savvy educators who had an idea of the power of networks.  I grew my network carefully, choosing to follow educators who were taking big risks in ed tech, and thinking about education in a very forward way.  This network also kept me linked in to cutting edge tools that helped me to take risks in my own practice, and begin to envision bigger things for my students.  Because of the connections I was making in my network, I was able to find and try many new tools, stay up on the latest research and news in my field, read about what many educators were doing, and even begin blogging about my own experiences to help teachers in my district begin to take steps with ed tech.  This aspect then allowed me to contribute my experiences, thoughts, and findings back to my network.  I learned early on that you can take take take from a PLN, but when you start giving back, and becoming a part of the conversation, your perspective and knowledge grows exponentially!

One of the great benefits of the #diffimooc is that it is giving educators this whole experience in a fairly structured way (even though I know it doesn't always feel that way to participants sometimes!). It's allowing them a safe, guided way to build networks and find the key tools to begin with, rather than leave them to find it for themselves (as I had to).  Many teachers will and do find their way into this on their own, but many more do not - and would not - if it weren't for experiences like this one.

I was excited to begin this MOOC, and as we move through this course, I find I sometimes have conflicting attitudes.  I am always happy to work with educators who are either new to the profession, or even just new to technology - it's a part of my work that I really enjoy.  I do understand where there are frustrations, but when people let their frustrations overcome them and become disheartened and defeated, I feel disheartened too. I keep hoping that at some point they can find that spark that will help them to keep moving forward - to see that it's all worth it.

For me, that spark came the first time I tried a web tool with students.  I used VoiceThread with a 3rd grade class as part of a study on inherited traits.  We had one computer, one podcasting mic, and an overhead projector.  The project itself was relatively simple in terms of the technology, but the kids loved it!  They begged me to put it on the overhead at any opportunity.  They loved it because it was their voices and pictures of them doing silly things like rolling their tongues, but every time they watched it they had more questions about inherited traits.  From there I started doing simple things, like having them act out their spelling words. I'd take pictures of them doing that, put them in a PowerPoint, then have them watch it and guess and spell the word they were acting out in the picture.  It was such an easy thing, but it made such a difference in engagement, interest, meaning, and learning.  I was hooked.

When teachers get disheartened I hear them say things like they don't see why we can't just do things the old way.  They are struggling with the technology and it makes them feel helpless and defensive, and they ask what was wrong with the way we were doing things before.  I wish those teachers could just get to their "aha" moment.  Then they would see that it's not just about the technology - it's about the possibilities.

Week 3 - Essential Question

What technology tools can I use to manage and track differentiated student progress in my class?

In terms of tools themselves, at first glance, I would probably say that the tools I use to manage student progress have not changed much over the past few years. I use a lot of projects in my classes (English, social studies, technology), and tend to plan my year for my courses in units of study.  For each unit, I have an idea of what I will be "covering", and then I come up with a performance task that I want my students to complete.  The performance task is based on a question I ask myself at the beginning - "What could my students do that would prove they have the understandings I want them to have at the end of this unit of study?".  Asking this question takes me out of the testing mindset.  One test could never prove to me that they really have the deep understandings I am trying to move them toward.  I may give tests along the way, just to do a check-in on certain rote knowledge I'd like them to be collecting, but they are not the end result of the learning.

I spend a lot of time laying out the performance task - it can be multi-faceted. I make sure that technology will be incorporated into any creation, research, presentation, and collaboration portions of the task.  From there I work backward, asking the next question, "What will they need to know in order to complete this task?".  This really focuses my lessons - how I teach really depends on what they will really need to complete the performance task.  Sometimes it's a series of tools that will help them discover things, sometimes it's research skills, sometimes it's teaching them how to think critically about something, sometimes it's resources, sometimes it's just the technology.  Most often it is a combination of these things. 

After these things are decided, I start building a rubric for the performance task.  I leave various portions of the task (the choice of tools, and other creation portions) up to the students.  I assign some basic point values to each portion of the task and create checklists.  These things all get posted online on my course pages so that students are able to check in often and make sure they are on track.

Along the way, there are various tools the students use that make it easy for me to check in, give feedback, and help assure that they are on track.  For example, I may request blog posts along the way regarding certain aspects of what we are studying.  I link all student blogs to my main class blog so that makes it easy for me to check them (and easy for students to find them too!). I may require students work on a wiki page together (they must link their wiki pages to their blogs - still easy for me to find). A quick glance at the discussion and revision history can tell me a lot about how collaborative work is going on a wiki.  I can also give feedback easily.  I may require students to submit some things to me on GoogleDocs/Drive - I can give instant feedback and help them with revisions.  Quick quizes on GoogleForms tell me at a glance if students have a grasp of a particular concept.

Ultimately, the rubric that was set out from the beginning will be the main tool that the students and I use.  Rubrics allow lots of flexibility - if part of the project includes an online presentation, students may choose the presentation tool they wish, as long as they meet the requirements in the rubric (concepts included, developed, appropriate imagery, etc.).

Tracking progress is an important task, but many technology tools make this task much easier, more meaningful, and more clear for both students and teachers.