Week 3: In Which Nothing Happens

I don't want to be a bore on my blog, but literally, nothing has happened. #FrownyFace


Description 

I ordered a book to help me with my planning -Lessons From Virtual Classrooms by Pallof and Pratt.  It arrived on Thursday, so I haven't had a chance to dig around in it yet. But I read another book by them last year where they talk about building community in an online course. There is so much to think about in terms of how to make participants feel they are part of a group and not flailing out all alone in the Interwebs. I learned a lot from that book, so I know this one will be just as informative. 

With the start of a new semester of teens, my time was taken up with learning names and beginning our routines. Plus my yearbook class is under a hot deadline for the next two weeks. I'm stressed out that I didn't get as much finished on this project as I planned. 

Feelings 

Even though I'm stressed I don't feel like I'm behind. I've made a checklist of Things To Do, so that has been helpful. 

Action Plan 

My work with an online Mythology class this semester is helpful, too, as I'm planning what to do for teachers. I think it would be helpful if I made a double-entry journal-type document when I'm planning for that class where one side has the plans and the other has my thought process for how I'm incorporating various pieces of technology. 

As a matter of fact (now that I'm writing and thinking!), today I assigned my F2F students a Get To Know Me slideshow (Google Slides with introductory tidbits about themselves). There were a few minutes where I struggled with how to give them the assignment and how they would turn it in. So, if I bring the process journal idea to those classes as well, I'll bet I'd have some insight into how I made the decisions. That could translate into activities for my modules. 

Week 2: I Made A Thing

I've had exams this week at work, so I haven't read as much as I had planned. However, I did email my district's technology director and our high school director. Neither of them was too enthusiastic about me messing with their (nonexistent) professional development for technology integration. In fact, the high school director basically ignored me Wednesday night when I spoke directly to her at a county meeting.

Unfortunately, I've gotten pretty used to working "alone" when I'm trying to work with technology in my district. I find the workarounds. 

One part of my project that I did finish is the Canvas course where I want to house my project: https://canvas.instructure.com/enroll/HFBMP3

I have the course open for anyone with a link; but if you look and need a code, use the HFBMP3. I have the Front Page and pages set up, so I'd love feedback on how I have planned the course. My work for the coming week is to add the learning outcomes and introduction to Blended Learning.

Although I haven't gotten as much completed this week as I would have liked, knowing I have a blog post due each week has helped me keep this practicum in the front of my scattered brain! It's all I've thought about this week (a good thing). My issue will be pacing out what I need to do each week. I probably need to have the course finished by my spring break in April. I'd like at least a few teachers who I work with to try out the course. 

Week 1: Learning To Be Blended

Practicum Description

This semester, I plan to design a course for high school teachers who are interested in learning to blend their face-to-face courses with technology. For the last several years, I've worked personally to be mindful of the types of assignments I've given my English/Language Arts students, specifically making sure I'm not simply substituting paper/pencil and computers. While I probably fail more often than not, I'm pretty happy with how my students are growing, both with their work and their ability to collaborate with each other online. 

This past semester, as I designed a truly blended unit for a novel my students read, I kept getting bogged down with questions: what did my students need to do to show me they understood the book; what technology would be the best tool; what should be online, and what should be face-to-face; how do I integrate all this "stuff" in a logical manner; how in the world do I assess my student's work?

The more I thought, wrote, and worked through with my students, the better I felt about the unit. It's not perfect, but it's so much better than just my face-to-face assignments. 

Envisioning the Product

This project is meant to be helpful for ELA teachers who want to up their technology game. In my experience with my colleagues, not all ELA teachers see technology's usefulness in our courses. I know, I know...we are supposed to be the in the Information Game and open to all possibilities. Unfortunately, I work with teachers who will assign a research paper, tell students to use Google Docs, and who then expect said students to print out the work. And if it's not printed, ready to turn in at the beginning of class, the student is penalized with late work. This practice is not only a misuse of technology in 2019, but it is impractical for what teens will be expected to do in college. We need to do a better job of getting students ready for their world, not stay stuck in ours. 

What I propose to do in my design is to hopefully help teachers rethink their practices that keep students from seeing technology as a tool for learning rather than a point-and-click, scroll-through, time-waster.  Plus, I'm one of those teachers who learn more when I try to teach someone else, so even if other teachers never use my project, it will actually help me be a better instructor. 

There are a few books I want to read to begin my journey (okay, a couple of them are re-reads): 

     Blended Learning by Catlin Tucker  -- specifically for ELA teachers

     Teaching Online in K-12 -- Sarah Bryans-Bongey & Kevin J. Graziano

     Lessons from the Virtual Classroom: The Realities of Online Teaching -Rena Palloff & Keith Pratt

     The Tech-Savvy Classroom -- Sara Kajder

I'm not sure of each module yet, however, I do know that I'll incorporate badges -- everyone loves a sticker!! :-)