Wave of the Future: Cellphones as Instructional Tools

While scanning over the July 15, 2009 Education Week,an education newspaper,notice for an upcoming webinar sponsored by Sprint caught my eye. The topic: Cellphones as Instructional Tools intrigued me. For those not familiar with webinar,the definition of webinar provided on the notice states: “Webinars are just like seminars, except you participate at your desk, using your computer to view and listen to the presentation (or,you can listen through your phone).”

The topic fascinated me enough that for the next several hours I was on the computer surfing the internet looking for information on the topic. Much to my surprise, what I learned was there are currently already several pilot programs in U.S. schools, North Carolina public schools being one of them, using this mobile device as an instructional tool.

In March, 2007, NC Department of Public Instruction announced “a pilot education program, Project K-Nect, using smartphones as a supplemental resource for secondary at-risk students to focus on increasing their math skills. Ninth graders in several public schools in the State of North Carolina received smartphones to access supplemental math content aligned with their teachers’ lesson plans and course objectives. Students communicate and collaborate with each other and access tutors outside of the school day to help them master math skills and knowledge. The smartphones and service are free of charge to the students and their schools due to a grant provided by Qualcomm, as part of its Wireless Reach™ initiative.”

It appears that the movement to mobile-learning is gaining attention and momentum around the world. According to the article by Katheleen Kennnedy Manzo in Education Week’s Digital Direction, “The Mobile Learning Conference this past winter drew educators and researchers from around the world, and a research conference in London this fall on hand held learning devices is expected to draw some 1,500 participants, many of them already convinced of the value of the tech tools.”

One of the proponents of using mobile technologies to engage and motivate students, Elliot Soloway, University of Michigan education and computer science professor, points out that mobile devices are already a must have piece of equipment among young people and its critical role in workplaces today. According to Soloway, “This is the knowledge-worker age, and every knowledge worker has mobile learning, mobile computing; the mobile device is their hub around which all work takes place.” Soloway argues that, “If we’re going to prepare kids for the knowledge-work marketplace, then mobile learning’s got to be what we prepare kids to use.”

Technology use is unstoppable. As educators for 21st century citizens, we need to be up on what is currently happening with technology use in the schools. Whether we agree with the use of mobile device in schools as an instructional tool or not, we better be prepared for it because “mobile-learning proponents are now working more aggressively to document the effect that small, hand-held technologies can have on learning, and to come up with evidence-based recommendations for using them.” We can either embrace the wave of the future or step off the speeding train and retire to the Island of Isolation-your choice.

For the article “Making the Case for Mobile Computing” go to http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2009/06/29/04neccmobile.h02.html.
Additional information on Project K-Nect can be found on www.projectknect.org/Project K-Nect/Home.html.

English as a Second Language Learner in the class.

How will I assist an English as a Second Language learner in my classroom?

By creating a classroom community based on inclusion, respect, and differentiation for all learners, an effective learning environment can be established for every student. To be able to benefit from their education experiences, verbal language proficiency needs to be the first goal for ESL students. Parent volunteers are invaluable resources to tap into for assistance in individual reading activity to help in language proficiency development of ESL students. One of the tried and true means of learning languages is the use of language tapes. Books on tape and music especially formatted for children are great tools to encourage listening and verbal skills. In this wonderful age of technology, many different educational sites have audio language lessons that are design to teach English to non English speaking students.

Aside from providing proper tools to help ESL students learn all the contents that have to be covered, the other important factor that we as teachers must examine is our own cultural and personal values. Empathy is a must. Teachers need to put themselves in the shoes of the student who, in addition, to having to learn content materials but must learn them in a language they are not proficient in. Teachers should ask themselves, can I be successful in any of the third grade subjects if they are presented to me in another language that I am not well verse in? If the answer is no, then help your students in the ways you would want to be helped to be successful.

Truths, facts, and lies…

Are there biases in history? Absolutely. Which collection of facts and data about specific subject matter and how they are to be recorded all depend on the point of view and perspectives of the person writing the account. Are we to take what is in print as the absolute truth? I don't believe so...

Personally, when studying events of the past, I view them from the standpoint that history involves the never ending flow of information between the present and the past. Point of view and interpretations of the past should be viewed knowing that they are subject to change based on new evidence, new perspectives gained by the passage of time. It is unavoidable for historians to not be influenced by the spirit of the times. Therefore, to avoid being influenced by subjective viewpoints based solely on another’s opinions or the pervasive sentiments of the times, history needs to be examined with an open mind and constant research.

Presentation Reflection

How sweet it is to have 25 attentive and engaging 3rd graders when presenting a lesson! Their active participation and willingness to sing along in a language they do not know clearly showed they were interested, fascinated, and receptive to learning. This teaching experience was a very positive one for me. It was the silver lining to the stress of lesson planning. I knew the students’ interest was stimulated when they started to sing along with me rather then repeating after me. What a sweet moment!

Some things I did that helped make this lesson a success: checked for student’s existing knowledge first by having them tell me what they know about tune or melody and lyrics; focused the lesson using only one song, modeled by reading the lyrics (in Chinese-PinYin) of song. Encouraged whole class participation through choral reading of the lyrics, and provided positive feedbacks and encouragements not only to the class but also to individual students.

If I could do the lesson again, I would have a more clearly defined summarization to the lesson. Perhaps if the lesson was used as the “hook” lesson for a unit focused on understanding different aspects of diverse cultures, closure and summation could be better expressed.

I will never think of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star just as another children’s song. It now has a deeper meaning for me. Whenever I hear this song from now on, the memory of those happy smiling 3rd graders’ faces will remind me why I want to teach.

Is memorization of facts and figures really "pointless"?

Scientific studies over the past few years have suggested that using our brain on a regular basis is critically important for maintaining our mental capability. Researchers have shown that most people can keep their mental capacities from declining just by doing simple things on a regular basis, such as reading the newspaper, playing chess, learning and memorizing poetry, maintaining social interactions, or attending lectures or performances. Memorizing data exercises the brain which improves cognitive functions. Perhaps, we, as soon to be educators need to look at memorization from a different angle.
From a simplistic viewpoint, it is knowledge versus understanding. I agree with Tapscott that memorizing facts and figures to satisfy testing is a waste of time. However, if committing key data to memory aids in developing meaning and clarity for understanding about historical events then it is necessary. According to Bloom, “understanding is the ability to marshal skills and facts wisely and appropriately, through effective application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.”Memorization of data is part of marshaling skills and facts wisely and appropriately. I do not agree that one should take such an absolute stand as Tapscott that “memorizing facts and figures is a waste of time”. There needs to be more thought and research based data available before I can say I agree wholly with Tapscott.

Thank goodness learning never stops.

Why bother with questions if answers are already given? Let’s start with the definition of “question”. According to Encarta Dictionary, the definition for question is "written or spoken inquiry, a request for information or for a reply". The key word here is inquiry. If the purpose is to seek information, solution, or response and they are already provided, there is no need to ask. If all have been given, inquiry is not taking place. Why bother to know how to do anything if everything is done for you? So, my response to the question, “If the textbook contains the answers, then what are the questions?" (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, pg. 125) is there will not be any questions. How very sad for all human beings where curiosity is what drives the quest for knowledge.

Like Bob James, the teacher highlighted in Understanding by Design, my education experience was very similar to his in that the content of courses I have had was not “explicitly framed around important, thought-provoking questions” (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005, pg. 125). Especially during elementary to middle school years where instructions revolved mostly around answering questions at the end of chapter units. Since I was always good at memorization, my grades were good. Now, in retrospect after having a better understanding to Backward Design planning, I have to ask myself, was there even a hint of profundity in my education? Yes, I have acquired knowledge, but could there have been more if I was provided the opportunity to go beyond the surface layers of the contents?

I arrived at my “aha” moment after further reading about Backward Design planning. For areas that I have inordinate interest and curiosity in, I have always delved deeper into those topics on my own and made it a point to develop some expertise in them, but even that is not enough without the benefits of essential questions to provoke profound reflection. What I really have in those areas of personal interest is an abundance of knowledge with superficial understanding. Good news is that I am in control of my own learning and I can affect a change to my own learning process. What a wonderful challenge! It may take time, but like everything in life, a journey requires one to take the first step. So I am taking that first step for myself and will share the process with my future students to help them achieve not just knowledge and skills but also understanding in the subject areas they will be learning.

Another level of learning…

By nature, I am a planner (no surprises there), but much to my dismay, after reading about Backward Design planning, it dawned on me the process I had been following for the majority of lessons I planned thus far were in actuality not designed following any type of plan. Instead, what I had been doing was simply filled in the blanks making sure key elements that had to be included in the lesson plan were included. My thought process was engaged and my plans were not bad, purpose, goals and objectives, process of instruction, and assessment were all there. The difference was they generally do not have much depth and I wondered now if the students learned much.

Another eye opener for me was when I read the example lesson plan for the unit on “Apples” in the Introduction of the book, I was impressed with the description of all the activities that were planned and was even thought to myself how those related activities were good examples of interdisciplinary connections. When Wiggins and McTighe noted that the lesson was an activity-oriented design that was “hands-on without being minds-on”, I went back and reread it using the 3 stages of Backward design as an evaluation criteria. Immediately, I saw that it was a lesson with a lot of fluff with very little substance to promote meaningful learning. I have to admit that I was disappointed in myself that the fluff “hooked” me.

The only time I used a process to design a lesson that was most similar to Backward Design planning was in the Science course from Summer Session I. We were required to plan a lesson using the 5 E plus lesson plan format. The planning process followed closely with the Backward Design planning stages where objectives and assessments were established first before the learning activities were planned. That plan was not easy to develop. In addition to length of time involved, a lot of research for subject content had to be conducted. I do have to say though, having to establish first the objectives and assessments made planning learning activities much easier and the research time spent was in fact very rewarding. I now have more knowledge about the Human Skeletal system than I care to admit. Science, a subject I never had much interest, now has more appeal to me because of the time I spent in boneing up my own knowledge.

The 3 planning stages of Backward Design planning makes perfect sense to me. Until the desired outcome to instruction is clearly defined and measurement of learning established to make certain what the teacher set out to teach was indeed learned through meaningful activities aligned to objectives and assessment, a lesson plan will not have much depth. I like the Backward Design planning process. Much time will be required to think through and develop the Big Idea for the lesson. However, once an end result is clearly established, I am convinced the rest of the planning will follow. It will be a challenge for me, but I look forward to developing a whole unit of lessons.