NLP Update- Shirts are FINALLY cut!

After a long day of cutting and laying out shirts and editing videos I finally have my NLP #4 post complete. I have all the shirts trimmed, I have approved my final layout, and plan to being pinning and sewing in the next week. Another difficult week but I am very pleased with my progress.

Personal Learning Networks- Staying Connected

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Incorporating Online Reading Comprehension in a Social Studies Classroom

I was very interested in this weeks reading on Online Reading Comprehension, particularly the Reading Digitally Like a Historian, by Michael Manderino.  I realize that although I have tried to be very “with-it” when it comes to incorporating technology in the classroom for reading exercises, I absolutely have room to learn and grow. What really struck me was the section about assembling digital text sets. The author refers to the difference between students, who often get one text or article at a time to analyze, and historians and researchers, who often look at multiple texts and articles to analyze them together. By providing students with multiple sources through the online tools we have, such as google classroom, google drive, or a class website, students can read through the articles at their own pace and connect to different themes. “The ability of students to navigate texts independently was seen by the students as advantageous.” (Manderino 2012)

DBQ’s (Document Based Questions) are a big deal in the district in which I work. They are benchmark assessments for students throughout the year and are also incorporated into my curriculum in order to teach the skills of argumentative writing. I really liked the idea of incorporating “Digital DBQ’s” into my classroom. Although the district assessment DBQ’s are not yet digital, I really believe that using them in my classroom curriculum would give students an advantage, not only on the DBQs in my class, but also with online reading comprehension as a whole. I really think that giving the students the ability to look at multiple online sources, rather than a small collection of printed maps and writings will help with their understanding and analysis of primary sources. I liked the example of the Tonkin Project that was discussed in the article. We do a big DBQ in the beginning of the year about King Hammurabi and I would like to mimic the way that this webpage was set up.

Now with this changeover I know that there will be new skills that I will need to teach, and I feel as though I am ready to do that. By scaffolding their learning, starting out by providing them with specific texts and teaching them how to look for validity and reliability, throughout the year I can step back and begin allowing the students to source their own materials. This is markedly different from just providing them with a packet of documents and not allowing them to look for additional information, as I have had to do in the past. I look forward to creating a lesson that will explicitly teach the students how to source online media (Manderino 2012). Yes, students may know how to read and look for articles, but they need to be taught how to analyze them, especially formats that may be new to them, such as videos.

This weeks reading really lit a fire under me. I am beginning to see how I can incorporate these ideas we have been learning into my classroom. I was excited about the blogging and some other tools we have already discussed, but the idea of being able to teach my students skills about reading and researching online that will benefit them in their future has gotten me very excited!

NLP- Harder week than I expected.....

This week for my NLP project (T-Shirt Quilt) I had wanted to get all of the T-Shirts cut to the right size and laid out so that I could see what the pattern was going to look like. This did not happen. I worked this week on making my final decisions of what shirts would go in the quilt as well as the size piece that they would be. My pattern calls for 9 different size block pieces, and based on the size of the shirts logo, I put them into the right categories. As I was separating them into piles I realized that I was going to run out of shirts, so the pieces I picked for the 4x4 blocks I might not use in the final product. Instead, I may try to incorporate some of the fabric I intend to use for the back of the quilt.

                                             (Pattern)                               (T-shirts in size piles)

The place that I ran into trouble this week was in cutting the templates for the pattern. I found some old cardstock paper in my basement and decided that would be the best to use because it was pretty heavy. I started by cutting the largest size (16 ½ x 16 ½) making sure to take into account the seam allowance (¼ on each side, ½ total). While I was measuring I became extremely frustrated. Because the paper was old, and had a little water damage, it was not completely square. So I would measure out one side but when I went to measure the opposite the line was not straight.  My mom gave me a tutorial on how to hold the ruler and the straight edge, but it was still very slow going. Even as I was holding the ruler straight and cutting, the straight edge would nudge the ruler over and the line would not be perfectly straight. It took me over an hour just to get all of the templates cut, and because of my frustration, I decided that the templates would be the end for me today.  
                       
                                (Tools for quilt)                              (Template paper and ruler)

For my next post I plan to have most, if not all, of the shirts cut. I know it will be difficult, but because the templates are already made, I think it will go a bit quicker than having to create the templates from scratch. I do have to make sure to take my time because I do not have any scrap shirts that I can use.

(Finished Templates....Finally!!)

Cooking with TPACK

This week I completed the Cooking with TPACK challenge for my EDU 7714 class. The assignment called for someone to pick a utensil, plate, and bowl, as well as a task for me to complete. I asked my dad for help and he picked a regular bowl, plate, and a chopping knife. He also selected #5 out of the bowl which corresponded to chopping veggies for a veggie tray. Based on my tasked, I was extremely pleased with his choice of a chopping knife because it made cutting through the hard veggies very easy. Had he selected a different utensil it would have made for a much more difficult task. The plate ended up working better than I had expected, but I still would have preferred to have cutting board. The bowl also worked, but it would have been too small had I been planning to cut a larger amount of veggies. The only tool I would have added would have been a peeler, because I feel that I lost a lot of the cucumber when I was trying to peel it with the large chopping knife.

Overall, I felt pretty successful with the process and I felt it definitely connected to what we do as teachers in the classroom. It became pretty clear to me that I could repurpose some of the technology (knife to peeler) but it did not come out as well as if I had been prepared with the right stuff. In the classroom, especially when using more advanced technology, we need to make sure that we as educators are prepared with the right materials and the students are also prepared with the correct materials. This video shows that a task can be completed without being fully prepared with the right tools, but it is definitely much harder and can get frustrating. Allowing students to try new things, but also being prepared with the right tools, technology, and materials, will allow them the best chance for success.

ORMS- Online Collaborative Learning

Online collaborative inquiry is the “collaboration and co-construction of a body of information by a group of local or global learners,” (ORMS Chapter, O’byrne & McVerry).

Although online collaborative inquiry may seem relatively straight forward, I think that there are many skills and strategies that the teacher would have to cover before jumping into this type of lesson. First, as a 6th grade teacher, many students do not know how to ask appropriate questions. I find that many students will ask “yes or no” questions or something very factual. So as an educator, I would need to first set my expectations of what constitutes an appropriate question. They would also need to learn how to actually research that question using online search engines and sourcing.

The other major skill that would need to be pre-taught is how to work in groups. When I assign group work in my classroom I often find that the students will assign each other parts of the project, and then they will complete them by themselves. If something is missing, I am apt to get the excuse “well, that wasn’t MY part.” I want to create an environment where everyone is accountable for each part of the project so that they will discuss and really work together.

Being a social studies teacher I can really see myself using this model within my classroom. Allowing students to create their own group projects based on a broad topic would allow them to really get invested in the learning. They could also use different online tools like wikispaces and blogs. Eventually, it would be beneficial to try and connect with other schools that are studying similar topics and potentially create something together.

NLP #2- The t-shirt quilt begins...

After much deliberation I finally settled on the pattern for my t-shirt quilt. While doing research this past week I came across many patterns that I liked and it was very hard to decide. I knew that I did not want to have all of the squares equal size, but there were still so many options to choose from. Below is an image of the pattern I will be using with the measurements. I may add another row to the bottom so that it is not a perfect square (right now the quilt would measure 60in x 60 in). After doing some research I found that a full/queen size quilt should be 60in x 80in and that is the size I am shooting for (or close to it). I also intend to add a border with a fun pattern.

(I may try to add an extra row at the bottom, we'll see how my sewing skills progress)

The other step I took this week was to begin sorting the t-shirts. I put them in piles based on the size of the square they would be cut into. This was extremely helpful because it gave me an idea of what the finished pattern will look like. I intend to have all of the t-shirts cut and laid out in a finalized pattern by the end of the week so that next week I can focus on sewing them together. I am also going to have to start looking for a fabric for the backing and for my border.

                        

                                (#t-shirts for days.....)        (Chart of the blocks I need for the pattern above)

This week I viewed endless youtube videos, but pinterest was my biggest help. Someone had uploaded the pattern I intend to use and they also had pictures of the final product uploaded so that I could look and make sure that is what I wanted to use. I also took some time to look at the user manual for the sewing machine I will be using. I am worried because my mom (it’s her machine) has experienced some problems in the past, mainly having difficulty sewing through a large volume of fabric. In preparation for this I contacted my neighbor who does a lot of quilting and she told me that if my machine does not work, I can go to her house once everything is cut and laid out to use the machine to attach the different blocks.

This will be a busy week for me with this project, but I hope to have all pieces cut by my post on Sunday and laid out with a particular pattern so I can upload a picture!

Unpacking TPACK

As education continues to transform and technology becomes more integrated into the classroom, we as educators need to make sure that we are using the technology to enhance our teaching and content rather than replacing it.

Koehler and Mishra (2009) developed the TPACK framework. This framework describes how teachers integrate technology into their teaching. Content knowledge consists of knowledge about a certain subject area that is taught, such as social studies. Pedagogical knowledge consists of the understanding about educational processes and operations or methods of teaching and learning. Technological knowledge refers to the understanding of what types of technologies are available, understand how they work and how they can be implemented in the classroom to make teaching more effective.

Although using technology in the classroom can be tricky, it is wholly beneficial to the students. I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity for each student in my middle school social studies class to have access to their own computer. This allowed me to use the technology almost on a daily basis. Admittedly, it is a hard balance to strike, figuring out when the technology enhances a lesson vs having little to no impact, and it is something that I know I will continue to deal with as my teaching career progresses.

Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org

I am drawn to the TPACK model because it simplifies the process of integrating technology. I also like that it can be broken down into its many parts:

Technological Pedagogical Knowledge- Understanding how to support your teaching style with technology

Pedagogical Content Knowledge- Understanding how to effectively teach your specific content

Technological Content Knowledge- Understanding how to support your content with the use of classroom technology.

I have worked hard to integrate technology into my classroom and set an example to other teachers that it is not scary. Yes it takes some extra work to integrate the technology into the lessons or come up with a way to use the technology to enhance the lesson. Yes, it may be a little scary the first time you look out at 25 faces and they have the blue light glowing as they boot up the computer. But most importantly, you must be confident with your knowledge of your teaching ability and content.

The students we teach are extremely adaptable and are willing to try new things all the time. As educators, we should take a page out of their book and try to integrate these new technologies into lessons that will allow the students more creativity and the ability to grow in ways previously not known. As the prices of these technologies drop and teachers become more familiar with the concept of students having devices in class, more and more teachers will see the benefits, both to their teaching style and the students learning abilities.

The 5 C's of Change in Education

This week for my IT&DML class we are looking at the concept of change in this new world of educational technology. After reading the article and watching the assigned video a well known quote came to mind, “Life is a journey, not a destination.”- Ralph Waldo Emerson. To me, this applies directly for education; it is not always about the final product, but rather the process by which the students got there.

In the article “Navigating the Cs of Change,” by J. Gregory McVerry, Lisa Zawiliniski, and W. Ian O’Byrne, the authors discuss the idea of “Internet Reciprocal Teaching.” This allows for the content to be integrated into the skills of critical thinking, creativity, comprehension, communication, and collaboration. Allowing the students to direct their own learning at their pace, by choosing appropriate online texts, gives them ownership of their learning. Hopefully it will motivate them to continue to grow and take risks in their learning. I want to create an environment within my own class that promotes students to embrace challenges and persist despite obstacles they might face.

I have noticed in my classes that students have a hard time with failure. If they do not get something right the first time, they are apt to give up or give the infamous answer “IDK” (I don’t know) just so they can be done. This is frustrating for me as an educator because the students need to learn to persevere. In John Seely Brown’s Youtube Video he states, “You’ve got to learn that not everything works.” I would love to post this quote up in my classroom. I would prefer for a student to try something new and innovative and have it fail then have a student take the easy route for the grade. My big goal for this year is to attempt to create a classroom environment where students are not graded on each and every attempt but rather the process they went through to get there.

NLP- T-shirt Quilt

As a high school student I was very involved in school athletics. I played on both my high school's girls soccer and lacrosse teams. As a result of four years of two sports I have a TON of t-shirts that are collecting dust in my closet. When I graduated high school my mom told me to throw out all of my t-shirts so I could start fresh in college. I couldn’t do it; the shirts held too much sentimental value. I argued with her, “... but mom, I wore this one when we went to states!” and “this one is from that summer season game where I broke my wrist!” I just could not bear to part with them, so I stuffed them in the back of my closet figuring I would do something with them later.

Well later is now. And the number of shirts has grown to include my college and post-grad events as well. I have been doing some research about what to do with them and have come across the idea of a t-shirt quilt. I will cut up the shirts and give them new life as a quilt that I can keep. This will also allow me to share my fond memories with future family members and kids.

In my research I have found that there are numerous companies to whom you can send your old shirts and they will design and create the quilt for you. Now, seeing that I have no sewing experience, this would appear to be the route to take. All I would have to do is box up the shirts and ship them off. As much as I would prefer to do that, I think that learning the skills associated with sewing and quilting will benefit me in the future. I plan to use my shirts, research, and other materials to craft an AMAZING quilt that I can enjoy for years to come.

Here are some images of different styles of t-shirt quilts. Many of these are basic, equal squares, but I am going to try and "funkify" my quilt to make it a bit more unique. I guess we’ll see how it goes...

Teaching Philosophy- Under Construction

Hello World

Never did I imagine I would catch the travel bug, but I did, and once you do, its impossible to shake.

I start here because my passion for teaching came from an initial passion for travel. At 21 years old, fresh out of college and only having travelled out of the country with my immediate family, I found myself with the opportunity to travel and study in Greece. I never imagined falling in love with the experience as I did and, little did I know, it would set me on a further path of learning in eventually becoming a teacher.

My travel in Greece taught me so much about life. I learned patience, appreciation, spontaneity, and the advantages of trying anything once. (More on what travel teaches you later..) These are the things I try to instill in my students each day I spend with them.

In this blog you will find personal information relating to traveling, teaching, and my students continuous learning. These three things are very close to my heart as I am a 6th grade social studies teacher that covers Geography and Ancient Civilizations. Currently entering my 3rd year of teaching, I have had the privilege of incorporating personal stories and anecdotes I learned on this trip into my content and life lessons for my students.

Until next time...