Relationship and Community Building

My effectiveness as an educator hinges in large part on my abilities to creative positive relationships with my students and to engage them in effectively working with each other. In my current role as a staff developer, I often observe educators who, while experts in their subject areas, do not take the time to establish effective relationships with and among their students. Because these are such critical aspects for creating effective learning environments, during future professional development sessions I will model and provide strategies that educator’s can use to create more effective relationships. “Student clearly behave in ways more conducive to learning when they perceive that their teachers are willing to assist them with their schoolwork, value them as individuals, treat them respectfully, care about their learning and their personal lives, and maintain an orderly, safe classroom environment” (Jones & Jones, 2007, p.77).

This year I introduced a student e-mail system in the district. I believe that it may also be a tool that could increase effective communication between students and teachers. Because teachers also have an email account on the system, I will recommend that they use it to regularly communicate with students. Because it is separate from their regular teacher e-mail, I think educators will be more willing to use it as effective communication tool with their students.

Many educators utilize large group question and answer periods to introduce information and to check for understanding. Jones and Jones point out that, “we should try to maximize the percentage of correct responses so that students do not become confused by competing, inaccurate information” (1997, p.99). Currently I am piloting the use of Senteo voting devices so that question and answer periods can effectively engage all students and provide instant feedback from the entire class. Not only does this technology help focus on correct information but it also engages all students regardless of any unintended biases by educators.

A third area I plan to focus on to increase effective relationships between educators and students relates to the effective use of praise. I know I have a tendency to praise too much thereby risking creating what Dr. Pat Wolfe calls “praise junkies” (Laureate, 2008). I plan to work on modeling the effective use of praise by focusing on providing feedback which is specific and to also promote activities where students can practice making value judgments on their own work instead of depending on external approval from the educator.

Encouraging effective relationships between students is another key area that I have been focusing on this school year. One initiative that I have worked with educators is the use of project based learning in order to increase student achievement. Because these learning situations naturally incorporate collaborative interaction among students, I believe that it will promote a shift from the teacher centered instruction that is common in many of the schools in my district.

Another strategy that I am working on at the district level to increase collaboration among students relates to the use of video technology. In many of the schools in my district, student produced school news show are helping students share their accomplishments with each other while also improving the overall school climate. This year I also introduced some video creation software called Adobe Visual Communicator which makes it very easy for classroom teachers to create individual classroom news shows. Video production is naturally motivating for most children and it promotes collaboration and sharing. Classroom new shows accentuate the positive accomplishments and learning that is taking place in the classroom and it is a great way to share what is going on in the classroom with parents.

Recently I have also started introducing the use of web based tools such as buzzword, blogs and wikis. These tools naturally promote students interactively working together and sharing with each other. I will make a concerted effort to use these tools in my professional development trainings and I am confident that gradually they will be utilized more with students.

I believe that engaging educators in the inquiry of how to improve their relationship with and among students, will result in higher achievement for all students. I will continue to model ideas and techniques that have worked for me and encourage educators in my district to share their successes with each other.

Resources:
Jones, V., & Jones, L. (2007). Comprehensive classroom management: Creating communities of
support and solving problems (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom 8th ed.). Boston: Allyn &
Bacon.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program 2: Prevention and Planning [Motion picture]. Classroom management to promote student learning. Baltimore: Author.

Highest Student Achievement with Technology

I recently completed a course titled, “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and the Society.” As a result of this course, I not only learned about new technologies but more importantly I examined ways that I can utilize technology to improve instruction and increase student achievement throughout my district.
Towards the beginning of the course, I was introduced to blogging, wikis and podcasts and learned how to use these tools to engage in professional development inquiries related to subjects of interest to me. This course allowed me to discover the value of several technology tools for myself before even considering how they could effectively be utilized with students. I believe this was an excellent model of how technology tools can be introduced to other educators and it is one method that I am currently implementing with the adult learners I work with. I am finding that once educators see value in technology for themselves, it is much easier for them to successfully utilize the technology with their students.
I have always based my teaching on a constructivist learning philosophy. I focus on providing students with situations where they can use information to construct meaning and find solutions to real problems. The technology tools I was introduced to in this course, along with the information on the critical skills and attributes that society will demand of its future workers, have strengthened my belief in a constructivist learning model. I have found that students are more motivated to learn when their studies focus on relevant issues and engage them in utilizing student centered technologies. A distinction that was particularly valuable was whether I was using technology with students to do the same old things or was I emphasizing using technology to do new things. The new technologies that are opening up worldwide collaborative networks are particularly exciting and are creating new ways of operating in many realms.
I believe one of educators’ primary responsibilities is to prepare students so that they can adapt to technology and methods of operation that have not yet been discovered. I do not believe this is supported if educators are teaching using the teacher-centered approach of the last century where the teachers held all the answers.
After 20 years of teaching, I continue to model being a life-long learner. I believe if students develop a desire and passion for continued learning, they will be able to find solutions to the complex problems that they will encounter both in their personal lives and that we face as a global society. One of the greatest aspects of being an educator is that I learn new things every day and, as an educational technologist, my particularly focus is on how technology can be utilized to maximize student achievement.
Last week I prepared an issue paper for my Superintendent about the role of the school level educational technologists in my district in an attempt to preserve these critical educational technology support positions. Here is an excerpt from that paper which outlines the general goals for myself and the educational technologists in my district:
“Educational technologists (ET’s) facilitate the appropriate use of existing technology and encourage the use of new technology. The technology tools available in our schools help teachers differentiate instruction and directly address DoDEA standards. ETs build capacity among teachers to ensure that technology is working smoothly for instruction. ETs are needed to support and encourage the transformative use of new technologies including blogs, wikis, podcasts, the extranet and other Web 2.0 tools. These tools and many others facilitate communication between the schools and the community, highlighting the achievements of students and teachers, and enable student and teacher collaboration across the globe. Becoming proficient with these new technologies is a critical component to technology and information literacy as our students enter the 21st century workplace.”
To support these goals over the next year, I am going to focus on providing training for my school level educational technologists on the latest best practices in the areas of adult learning theory, differentiated instruction, backwards design, formative and summative assessment, and coaching models. In addition, I will continue to focus on effectively training educators with the use of web 2.0 and other technology tools for both their own professional development and for integration in their classrooms in order to promote highest student achievement.

Video Production - A Powerful Learning Tool

Video production is a powerful learning tool that is inherently motivating to students. It can be utilized with all grade levels and in all subject areas. The challenge I am facing is how to motivate more teachers to use it regularly in their classrooms. When I first started using video in the classroom more than 10 years ago, it required excessive time editing with analog equipment and final products were often not very polished. Despite the technology shortcomings of that time, the process of creating videos was always interesting to my students and engaged them in exploring issues in order to effectively communicate information. Because video production also requires collaboration, planning, communication skills and problem solving, it supports curriculum standards in multiple subject areas. Over the past several years, advances in technology have made video production tools powerful, inexpensive and much less time consuming. Certainly the explosion of home video sharing on the web bears witness to the continued interest that youth have in video and it makes sense that we spend time teaching students how to communicate effectively using this medium. Tools like Visual Communicator 3 (formerly sold by Serious Magic and now owned by Adobe) have made it possible to create videos using only a computer and webcam. Despite the ease with which video production can now be accomplished, I still can only get a handful of teachers to use it as a regular learning tool in their classrooms. One of the problems is professional development time and competing with administrator’s requirement to use PD time on issues related to system wide testing and issues such as NCLB. Regrettably, at the end of the day, PD time for enhancing education through the use of technology is simply not a priority. This week my students and I are doing our first live video webcast of an important district event. I am hoping the increased exposure of the value of video with both district leadership and parents will help increase the time and resources provided for supporting video production as a valuable tool that can enhance student learning.