680 Artifact #2

Hello Class,

For my second artifact I chose to display my Module 5 Assignment where I had to utilize a student engagement with technology feedback form that I made in a previous module.  It allowed me to visit two classrooms and learn how teachers I work with are using technology in their classrooms. 

Not only did I learn about their use of tech, collaboration, and engagement strategies... but I also learned 2 new tech tools that I am going to use in class.  EdPuzzle is applicable to any classroom, and in my Anatomy class I can use the program Poke-a muscle next year!

This project made me realize how valuable it is visiting other educators and how we can all grow as professionals if we put down the walls and learn from one another.  It also made me realize that although this tool will be useful to use as an educator, I never want to go in to administration.  This class as a whole helped me to finalize that decision!  I want to be in the classroom with students, not improving faculty meetings or making decisions on what to purchase for an entire school or district.  That may be one of the most valuable lessons I learned from this class.

Thank you,
Jim Nielsen

Here is my artifact below:

680 Module 5 WalkThrough:

Student Engagement with Technology Learning Walk

The purpose of the learning walk is for you to visit classrooms and observe student engagement with technology.  Each visit should last about 20 minutes.  Please remember the visits are non-evaluative and is designed to begin conversations with your peers about the use of technology in the classroom. 

Observe:

Using the table below: Specifically, what are the students doing?  How were the students engaged with technology within the lesson and where does it fit on the SAMR model for technology integration?  

Classroom Subject Visited	Technology used in the classroom (what was used and how)	Overall Student Engagement	Using the SAMR model, what level of technology integration is observed and explain your rationale:
Chemistry (Willis)	EdPuzzle: interactive videos, screencast/ youtube that have followup questions	Strong, all were involved	Modification: tasks are changed to improve delivery using technology.
Anatomy and Physiology (Donahue)	Poke-a-muscle :  Program allowing kids to interact with a quiz based website that assesses their knowledge of the muscular system.	Pretty good, some students not taking a turn were doing other projects	Augmentation: Definite improvement to the delivery and engagement of the lesson

Reflect:

How can you incorporate the technology strategies you observed in your classroom?  

I enjoyed both classroom visits this week.  I have already thought of ways to incorporate both pieces of technology observed.

EdPuzzle: Going to make one for biology for the students that are left behind (60 kids) for when I take the top academic achievers to the Brookfield Zoo.  This will allow me to teach a lesson, assess, and collect an electronic product while away from the building.

Poke-a muscle: Although I am past the muscular system unit, I will be using this next year as a formative assessment tool to gauge how the class is doing.  I will also use it as a review and prep tool for students to utilize outside of class.

What are some takeaways you gained from this learning walk? Is technology being used in the classroom as an authentic learning tool or more as a way to keep the students busy?

It was great to see the students engage with technology and engage/enrich the students and lesson.  I am excited to take away two pieces of technology to add to my curriculum in both classes I teach.  With EdPuzzle, the choices are endless for application: For days absent, change of pace, flipping a classroom,etc.  Poke-a-muscle is a little more specific, but useful during my muscular system unit.

Overview:

Using the feedback form I created in an earlier lesson I visited two classrooms in our department last week that I knew were utilizing technology for their lessons.  I filled out the learning walk sheet above, and am now reflecting on the experience for this Module 5 Assignment. 

Poke-a-Muscle Dual Credit Anatomy and Physiology (Mr. James Donahue)

Mr. Donahue is a 20+ year veteran teacher here at Waubonsie Valley High School.  He is considered by students and peers alike to be one of the best and most influential teachers in the school.  He mainly teaches Anatomy, and our dual credit Anatomy classes.  He also teaches at COD in the Nursing School.  Overall, he is one of the best sources for anatomical questions, and I consider him a role model for teaching Anatomy. 

For my first visit I stopped in one of my peer’s classroom to watch him use a website called “Poke-a muscle” .  As the name suggests, students move their mouse cursor over the human body, click a muscle and learn.  There is also a quiz function, and an interactive game that can be used during a class period.  I see myself using this in the future both in class as a fun activity, as well as a formative assessment.  Students will also have access at home to practice for their upcoming test and as a tech tool study guide.

Students were engaged with the activity when they were put on the spot or quizzed in front of the class.  Mr. Donahue did an amazing job of keeping the whole classroom engaged, even when it wasn’t their turn.  Students were also allowed to form smaller groups and quiz each other.  This provide multiple ways for students to accomplish the same goal-learn the muscles.

Interview:

I sat down with Mr. Donahue and discussed the following questions:

What is your favorite aspect of this technology tool?

Mr. Donahue mentioned that this is the most engaged his kids get the entire unit.  He compared the tool to Angry Birds.  Kids compete to get the best score, or better than their friend.  Even though they beat the level, they want to get all the points or stars.  Poke-a-Muscle allows competition, which is one of the best strategies for engagement in his classroom.  I told him I couldn’t agree more as I feel making up real or fictitious competition with an activity always increases engagement overall.

What does this tech tool accomplish in your classroom that you wouldn’t be able to accomplish with traditional methods? 

He stated that this answer was immediately obvious to him… Competition and engagement.  The kids are so competitive naturally that they engage themselves in the material.  This competition could be with themselves to beat their highest score, with a lab partner, or to be top score in the class.  I think I might try to capitalize on all three aspects of this by having extra credit attached to top score in the classroom. 

What skills, specifically with technology, do you think students are lacking that we should focus on to prepare them for college and their careers?

After thinking about his answer, Mr. Donahue stated that his biggest concern is with their research skills.  Students are great at googling… but from their they are often lost.  They don’t know what material is good research, what is a reputable source, and assume anything on the internet is true.   I really agree with him here as well.  Students google the exact question and expect an instant answer.  Often times they don’t even click on the article.  Students call me over all the time with the google search page still pulled up and say, “I don’t see the answer or I can’t find the answer.”  I giggle inside and ask them did they click on any of the articles?  The answer is almost always NO (with a question mark tone).   We always say they are tech savvy, but often with the wrong set of skills that are advantageous in the classroom.

Overall, I learned a lot from my visit and really hope to visit Mr. Donahue more in the future.  Not just because we teach the same subject, but more because he has some really good strategies for engagement.  This is probably the reason he is so respected by the student population here at WVHS.  I will definitely be utilizing Poke-a-Muscle next year during my muscle unit and look forward to picking his brain on other ideas as well!

EdPuzzle: Chemistry (Mrs. Willis)

Mrs. Willis has been teaching Chemistry and Chem Phys at Waubonsie for 5 years.  I don’t get to work with her often because we teach different subjects, but know that students enjoy her class and her peers respect her teaching strategies.  As a young teacher, she connects well with students, but also with new educational strategies especially tech driven ones. 

For this lesson I visited her 8th period Chemistry class.  I had heard a lot about his class, they are becoming famous within our department.  The class has a group of young boys that are making it their mission to be thorns in her side and disrupt the group.  I was interested to see this first hand so I visited her class a couple of times during the semester.   Direct instruction with this group wasn’t working, so as a skilled professional, Mrs. Willis changed her strategy to include days where she uses EDPuzzle.  This program allows Mrs. Willis to record presentations, youtube videos, or webquests and enhance them with guided questions, instructions, or directions for labs.  The day that I was in her room was going to be a typical lecture about balancing equations.  Knowing her students, Mrs. Willis flipped the classroom using screencastify and then used EdPuzzle to add additional guided questions throughout.  She ran the class a bit like a blended chemistry class where students had a couple of days to finish a number of tasks.  If you were present and on task, you could accomplish the goals fairly quickly and have time to work on other classes or even personal time.  If you were off task, there would be the consequence of homework. 

This seemed to motivate her classroom as the majority of the class was on task working at their own pace.  Students that weren’t would pay the price of having to do the assignments at home or turn in work that would earn them a low grade.  I also have a class this year that could benefit from this strategy.  I could see myself using EdPuzzle for multiple different applications.  Whether as an alternative for traditional lecture, sub plans, or having students possibly create their own EdPuzzle videos as a project to share with the class. 

Interview:

I sat down with Mrs. Willis and discussed the following questions:

What is your favorite aspect of this technology tool?

She stated that she was at an end of a rope with this class.  She really felt bad for the students that were behaving and getting their work done, but weren’t getting her full attention or experience in the class due to a small group of boys.  I can empathize with her there for sure… It is one thing to be disrespected, but when it impacts students that are excited to be there and working hard-that is a big problem!  Mrs. Willis mentioned that this tool allows her to keep the whole class busy, at their pace, and help students that want additional help or teach side lessons for those that want to go beyond the minimum requirements. 

What does this tech tool accomplish in your classroom that you wouldn’t be able to accomplish with traditional methods? 

Everything… I was failing the kids that were working hard, this allowed me to spend more time with them.  I guess that was the biggest accomplishment.  I could hold the all students accountable, add more for those that wanted to go further, help those that struggled, and keep kids on task.  Visiting this room felt a lot like a blended classroom.

What skills, specifically with technology, do you think students are lacking that we should focus on to prepare them for college and their careers?

Mrs. Willis thought that kids are only good with technology that they use for social media, games, and other programs outside of school. I really don’t think have the skill set that jobs and colleges are looking for.  Sure, they are good with their phones, but using software or creating projects or presentations online can be difficult for most kids.  I agreed with her and we talked about how low their research and presentation skills are.  We both mentioned how they are used to getting everything at the touch of a button, and working for information feels foreign to this generation.

Again, a great visit… I think we should do these visits more often and get the opportunity to collaborate with educators outside our professional learning groups.  I am sure I could learn a lot of strategies outside of my department from the many great educators here at WVHS.