Digital Foot Print

What happens when you Google your own name?  Will it be positive information?  It is imperative that students understand in today's world it is important to have a positive digital footprint that they would want future employers to see.

I Googled my name and was surprised by how much showed up.  All my information was related to my job as an educator.  All the education sites I am a member of and my affiliation with my school and local colleges showed up.  My digital footprint shows that I am an educator that is interested in learning and exploring.  I would be proud for any employer to see my digital footprint. 

A golden rule to remember...Anyone at anytime time can see what you post online.  Make sure you want them to see it.  

As educators we need to help students create positive digital footprints by highlighting their achievements and success. Students should share links to any online news accounts showcasing their achievements and post information about their community service projects or extracurricular activities. They should share academic and sports awards.  They can also share news stories that interest and information that interests them.  

It is never too late to start building a positive digital footprint. 

Moving Along the Technology Matrix

As a teacher, I have just begun my journey into using technology in the classroom.  I have been using technology for years but only at the beginning levels.  I have been at the entry levels since I started teaching and I am starting to enter the adoption level.  My students have been at both the active and collaboration levels.  My goal is to move into the higher levels on the matrix.  I can see myself and my students enter the infusion and and constructive phases later this year if my school does get devices for all students. In order for my classroom to start using technology differently, I need to let go of some of the control.  My students know a lot about technology and they can help guide the process.  I also need to take time to explore all the digital tools that are available.  I need to be willing to step away from my old lessons and worksheets and try something new.  It can be an overwhelming process.  I am going to try one lesson at a time so that the process will seem doable.  

Curating Curriciulum

As the classroom starts to move into the digital age, it is very important to organize and save all of our digital tools and resources.  Soon all my students will have a device.  I want to start creating lesson plans that are based in the digital world.  There is so much available on the web that it becomes very overwhelming.  I know that I often bookmark everything that I can find and then my favorites list is a mile long.  I have to search through all the items to find what I need.  It is going to be very important for me to organize everything as I create my lesson plans.  I do not want to "recreate the wheel" each year.  

There are some great digital tools available to aid in organizing digital curriculum.  I love the idea of creating Symbaloo pages.  I teach 6 different math course.  I plan on creating a Symbaloo page for each of my math courses.  I can share these with my students.  The students and I can edit and make changes to these pages as needed.  

 Another great tool are Live Binders.  You can organize all your favorite websites into a digital binder.  I am well known for loving binders.  If you enter my classroom, I have several book cases filled with overstuffed binders.  These binders are a collection of my 16 years of teaching.  I love the idea that you can create a digital binder.  Maybe I clean off some of those bookshelves!

My goal is to find organizing tools so that anytime I find a great website, I can easily save it and organize it for my classes.  

Authentic Assessment

"When am I ever going to use this?".  This is a common question asked by many of my students.  As a math teacher, I get asked this probably more than other teachers.  Students do not see how solving algebraic equations is going to help them in their futures.  Part of our jobs as educators is to make learning useful.  Students need to feel like there is a purpose to what they are learning.  The learning needs to be meaningful and not just busy work.  However, the problem in education today is the concentration on standardized testing.  Most days my purpose is to get students to pass various tests that they must pass for graduation and that they must pass for me to get a good evaluation as the teacher.  I cannot take time to show them how logarithms are used in the real world to measure earthquakes.  Instead I must show them how to answer a multiple choice question on logarithms.  

Authentic assessment is possible in all subjects and all grades.  Teachers can always find a way to make learning significant and meaningful to the students and find a way to connect the learning to the world outside of school.  The sad part is that true authentic assessment cannot take place in schools as long as standardized testing remains at the forefront of how students, teachers, and schools are graded.  Right now teachers have to try to "squeeze in" authentic assessments when they can.  

In all my classes, I try to find time to do at least one authentic assessment throughout the year.  I don't always accomplish this goal.  I try to find ways to give the students a voice in the learning and show them a purpose along with making sure they are prepared for the standardized tests.  This is very hard to accomplish, but I keep trying to find a solution.  

Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose

Is it possible for students to be autonomous in today's classroom?  Can I design my classroom where students master concepts for which they see a purpose?   This is not an easy task as long as high stakes standardized testing remains in the forefront.  Many of the math courses I teach have a standardized test at the end.  The students are judged on the results of these tests and so am I.  I am limited on how much I can deviate from the standardized curriculum.  However, I do teach a course in which I can be a little creative and try something different.  

In my Probability and Statistics course, I have the freedom to explore a different model of teaching.  This course does not have a standardized test at the end.  Also, this course is not a pre-requisite for another course.  There are standards that I must teach, but I can approach them in a different way.

Instead of students completing worksheets and tests to show that they have learned statistical concepts such as central tendencies, measures of variation, and normal distribution, students can complete projects that interest them. 
I would love to say to my students, "Think of something that interests you. It could be an important issue in the media, a hobby, or something about school.  Design a statistical study to learn about this issue."

Students will have autonomy in their learning because they will decide how to use the information they learned in class.  In order to complete a good project, they must show mastery in the statistical concepts. They have to really understand the formulas to be able to apply them to the projects. The projects will have purpose because they will be a topics that interests them.  Students can use the data and evidence from their studies to help make changes and solve problems.  

Moving Mindsets in Education

I have come to the realization that I may become extinct.  The days of needing a teacher standing at the front of a room lecturing are coming to a close.  The days of the "sage on the stage" are gone.  Anyone can learn anything at any time thanks to technology.  There is nothing unique about my math lessons that a student could not get from a video online.  I have to think of ways to adapt or the extinction will come sooner rather than later.  
I am willing to embrace technology and become a new explorer along with my students.  Instead of me being the only person to deliver content and teach, I have to be willing to let go of the power.  The students can become the teachers.  This is huge paradigm shift for me.  Of course there will still be standards and curriculum to follow, but the students need to be given more control on how the learning develops. I need to be able to say, "Here is what we need to learn...Let's work together to learn this material".  The students need to feel ownership in the learning process and feel it is valuable for them.  We all learn best when the learning as meaning for us.  The math content needs to make since for students' lives and career goals.  
This "new" classroom is so different than my current lecture format.  I want to make changes to begin the journey so that I don't find myself extinct in a few years.