Wicked Problem Project

The Problem

As a middle school language arts teacher, I have a wide variety of learners at many different skill levels.  We have spent quite a bit if time focusing on the lower students and the higher students, but not as much time on the students in the middle. Unfortunately, often these middle students slip through school with Cs and Ds.  They tend to be less motivated, and unexcited about school.  I see the boredom seeping through their eyes as I try to cram new vocabulary into them. Therein lies my problem: How do I motivate my mid to low level language arts students?

The Solution

The solution I chose was the Senteo Smart Response clickers.  As I got out these new learning tools, my students’ eyes began to light up.  Excitement filled the room, almost too much, but after calming them down by explaining the importance having immediate feedback, we began our first lesson. I presented ten 6^th grade common vocabulary words using an interactive Smart file with questions embedded throughout for which the students used the clickers to answer.  I was hoping that this would keep the students engaged, and it did.

What is the TP knowledge for the solution?

This technology supports my teaching strategies and methods by allowing for immediate response and feedback, hands on learning opportunities, visually appealing presentation methods, and collaborative tools.  First, I had the students use the clickers to identify their previous amount of knowledge of each word.  This served two purposes: Number one, it provided me with a starting point for creating my presentation of the words.  Second, it exposed them to and got them thinking about the ten new words.

What is the TC knowledge for the solution?

Next, as I presented the content, ten common vocabulary terms, using an interactive Smart file.  I randomly called students up to the board to move objects, pop virtual balloons, and spin cubes as we explored the grade level vocabulary. The technology made the content more accessible by allowing for various means of representation of the terms.  Using several different creative Smart tools to display the content made it more visually appealing.  The students had the opportunity to come to the Smart Board and draw their own pictures and symbols for each word. 

What is the PC knowledge for the solution?

*Unfortunately, I cannot embed this screencast into this blog.  I tried many times.  I was able to embed it in my wiki page, so it must have to do with this blog.  Please use the link to view my screencast.  Thanks.

Because the problem with which I am dealing is students who lack motivation and focus, I was able to keep my students engaged by using a variety of interactive tools.  As I mentioned above, using cool Smart tools combined with the Senteo Response questions, and getting students out of their seats throughout the lesson were all pedagogical methods much-needed for the middle to low level learners I targeted.  Activating prior knowledge was another pedagogical strategy aimed at processing the content and supporting memory of the definitions.  Finally, by using the clickers to answer questions throughout the lesson, students were able to monitor and manage their own comprehension. The ability to assess students' knowledge and receive immediate feedback (thanks to the clickers), allowed for review of misunderstood information. The questions embedded in the presentation of the words required higher order thinking skills by requiring application of the words.  On a side note, this type of practice also reinforces much-needed test-taking skills as well.

Using SMART Response Clickers to Motivate Mid to Low Level Language Arts Learners

Group Leadership Project

Our group originally decided to create our tutorial in Camtasia becase I was advised that it was en easy program that works well with Powerpoint.  I downloaded Camtasia and began working on my section.  In the meantime, Jeannine was the first to complete her section using Camtasia.  Through email, she communicated that she was finished, but she was having trouble transferring it to us because of the size of the file.  Because of these difficulties, Jeannine suggested we use PowerPoint and Audacity instead.  At that point, I created my PowerPoint and script with no problems.  Then it was time to record the audacity file.  Having a script did help, but various stimuli interrupted my recordings.  From someone eating cereal in the other room (beyond a closed door) to my kids constantly needing something in the middle of my three minute recording to my own stumbling on a word or two, it took several tries before I produced a near perfect recording.  Next it was time to insert it into my PowerPoint which was supposed to be simple.  In fact, when I listened to the final project, it was great.

Unfortunately, when I sent it to Jeannine and Gary, they could not hear my audio.  It turns out it wasn't "in" the PowerPoint for some reason.  I could hear it because the audacity file was on my computer.  So...after advice from Jeannine through emails filled with steps and even a screenshot, and Dr. Plair over the phone, I finally was able to insert my audacity into my PowerPoint.  To be honest, I am not sure how I finally got it to work.  I had so many copies of the file on my desktop and on my external drive.  Dr. Plair thought that maybe the fact that I was trying to pull the mp3 file from my external drive instead of my computer might be causing the problem, so I moved both files to my C drive. 

From all of this, I learned a few lessons.  First, I can not record when there is anyone else in the house.  Second, I am much more familiar with PowerPoint and audacity.  Third, I really should write down instructions when I learn knew technological applications(i.e. putting audacity into PowerPoint and sharing it all on the web).  And, last, the more I use these technologies, the better I get.  I must force myself to go back through the new tools I have been exposed to in 811 and 812 in order to remember how to use them in the future.

If I develop a similar product again, I will definitely create a script and storyboard.  I will do my recordings at school after everyone is gone. Also, I might try to use Camtasia because of the great things I have heard about it from classmates and instructors.

Here is a link to our tutorial:

Livebinders Tutorial

Professional Learning Plan

As my journey through the certificate courses comes to an end, it is important for me to reflect on the great technological tools and teaching strategies to which I have been exposed.  Three things stand out as I reflect: my STAIR project, my WPP - Clicker Lessons, and my new Live Binders site for organization.  I will continue to use all three as I teach and learn.

Specifically from this course came the use of the clickers and livebinders.  I feel like I still have a lot to learn in regards to the Smart Response system.  Every time I use them, I take notes and write down my students' comments.  Secondly, I am enjoying FINALLY organizing my resources in my live binder. I have much more to learn and explore with it as well.  In both cases, I plan to sift through the many response lessons and livebinders already in use. 

At this point, I honestly do not want to connect with any other literature or theory.  I feel as though I an full to the brim with new technological resources.  I MUST take some time to sort through and organize all of the knowledge I have gained from the three certificate courses. I have already set up a weekly babysitter so I will have time this summer to delve into these materials.  I have pages and pages of notes including websites, directions, and possible uses.  One of the ways I plan to organize my material is by using Live Binders, which was the topic of my group's tutorial.  Over the course of the past year I have created a wiki, a website, and a blog.  I can include all of these in livebinders as well as important documents, files, and links. 

Between now and the end of the year, I plan to continue working with and exploring files for the Senteo Response Clickers, which were my solutions for my WPP.  I am in the process of creating a pronoun lesson.  Teaching grammar is a challenge with any level of learning, so using the interactive clickers may "spice it up" a bit. I will need help getting more creative with the actual smart lessons that go along with the clickers.  Luckily, we have a clicker training day coming up on May 10 - perfect timing.

Again, to me the most important next step I have to take is organizing this new information and putting it to use as quickly as possible.  I'm afraid that several wonderful resources have already disappeared because I did not document them correctly or save them in a logical place. Using my gloggster account, I created a visiual representation  of my tecnological journey below.

Educational Journey Glog

Part D - Findings and Implications

I was able to implement my WPP, Motivating Middle Level Learners using Clickers, as planned.  For my first lesson using the clickers, I did a review assessment of the first 20 sixth grade common vocabulary words.  The students learned ten words each of the first two trimesters this year.  I taught the words using PowerPoint and packets which the students created.  The class average was 60%.  Besides becoming aware of the low percentage of students who understand the words, I also learned which words were more of a challenge.  I have been working on finding additional resources and examples to use for reteaching the misunderstood words. 
For the last ten common vocabulary words, I created an interactive Smart file with questions throughout for which the students will be using the clickers to answer.  I was hoping that this would keep the students engaged.  Unfortunately, the clickers turned out to be a bit of a distraction the first time I used them.  However, the next day I was much more prepared and proactive about the importance of being quiet while waiting for others to answer the questions.  It definitely went smoother.

I do not have enough data yet to check for growth, but I will take an assessment after we finish studying the words using the interactive smart files and clickers.  This assessment will be equivalent to the review assessment I mentioned above.  If the class average is significantly higher than 60%, my project will have been a success.  Regardless of the results, I will continue to improve my Smart Response lessons.  I am confident that they will enhance my students' learning.  I have already seen qualitative results in my lowest few students.  They usually do not voluntarily take part in the lessons, but they were excited and involved in the lessons using the clickers.

As a person who is constantly having internal dialogues regarding problems in education, I am glad that I was "forced" to take action in the form of my WPP.  The process makes sense and is conducive to finding solutions.  Over the summer, I plan to choose another wicked problem to solve.  I am thinking I may focus on the other end of the spectrum, finding ways to challenge my advanced students on an individual basis depending on their own strengths and weaknesses.  A second wicked problem option we are currently dealing with at my school, and most Michigan middle schools, is weak writing scores on the MEAP.  Both of these are challenging possibilities for projects to tackle this summer.

I learned a couple of valuable lessons as I planned and implemented this project.  An obvious lesson is that I should have tried out the clickers before using them for the first time in class.  We wasted about ten minutes of valuable class time figuring out the technicalities associated with connecting the clicker radar, logging in, and starting/stopping the class and assessment. I would suggest that a person using these for the first time have a few students come in before class and do a trial run.  Another lesson I learned was that you should make a copy of the original lessons and/or assessment.  I didn't want to lose my results so I put the pie charts into the actual question pages and saved.  Unfortunately, I had not made a copy, so when I brought it up for the following class, the answers were there.

As I continue this project in my other language arts classes, I plan to add a few things.  First, I am in the process of revising the smart files I used to introduce the words.  I am currently searching for visual representations and interactive tools in the Smart Gallery to add to my explanations of the words.  Another revision I'd like to make involves the types of questions included in my assessments.  In the lessons mentioned above, I used only multiple choice questions.  I would like to experiment with true and false and short answer questions in the future.

S3 - Mobile Learning Lab

2.0 Cell Phones in Education

After trying polleverywhere in my classroom, I have mixed feelings about cell phone use in school.  While my students were using their phones to take the poll I heard one of my students say, "Cool!  I can't wait to start using cell phones in class.  I will totally do what I am not supposed to be doing without the teacher knowing!"  I am hoping that the more we use them in educational ways, the more our students' sense of right and wrong will kick in. As they realize that this resource really does enhance their education, hopefully they will become more enthusiastic about learning with the help of their own technology.  I agree with Sandra Hines' opinion that the kids already have cell phones in school, and many of them can text secretly.  Why not let them have them out where we can see what they are doing?
*Link to discussion in Classroom 2.0 Blog

Poll Everywhere
For this assignment, I had my first hour get out their cell phones.   They were incredibly excited to be able to bring them out of hiding in a classroom.  We have a strict rule about cell phones.  (If we see them, we are supposed to take them until the end of the day.) So, this was a treat.   We are currently working on parts of an essay, so I asked the question, "What is the last sentence of the first paragraph?"  The results are provided below. 

For the next question, I tried an open-ended response, "What is your favorite color?"  It was fun to see their results "live", and the kids were able to get creative.  Although, because I let up and we were having some fun, one student got carried away and wrote, "Chicken farts."  I am wondering if there is a way to tell who wrote the responses. Regardless, this would also be a good way to let the students ask questions after a lesson.

All in all, I think there will be a place for cell phones in education, but before I do so, I have a couple of concerns that must be addressed.  How do we handle the fact that not all students have cell phones? I had students share, but those without were clearly jealous. How do I prevent inappropriate responses to open-ended questions?

Some other tools I explored were wiffiti, flip cameras, and mp3 players.  First, I liked the ability to choose cool backgrounds on wiffiti.  This could be used for sparking discussion on a topic, character, setting of a story, or political cartoon(persuasive writing).  I like that it can be accessed from anywhere so this could be assigned as homework.   Next, I checked out flip camera ideas.  With my flip camera (that I have not used yet), I can have students act out passages from text we are reading, create commercials persuading the audience to buy/believe in their products/ideas, or present booktalks.  Lastly, I checked into using mp3's in the classroom.  We could use these to search for and listen to podcasts on the topics we are studying or books we are reading.

Other Mobile Learning Tools
In addition to the concerns I already addressed regarding cell phones, there are a few challenges associated with the other tools mentioned in the previous paragraph. I only have one flip camera, so my entire class will have to share.  We will overcome this by creating a chart for usage.  With mp3 players, there is the issue of the "haves" and "have-nots".  I would have to group students so that there is at least one mp3 player per group.  I will also have to purchase mini speakers for the mp3's for multiple listeners or at least splitters so more than one set of headphones can be plugged in.

There are exciting things happening with mobile learning, and I feel lucky to be in the forefront of this technology in education movement.

Part B - Storyboard and Script

Here are the storyboard and script for my section of our group project.  I am in charge of the middle section where we show a specific example of a binder currently in use.  I chose the public binder of Brenda Knight, a 9th Grade English Teacher. She did a wonderful job of organizing material for her classes in a way that will be helpful to students, parents, and colleagues. 

Storyboard

*As for transitions, I am going to consult with my group in order to maintain consistency throughout our presentation.
Script

*I will read the notes that go along with each slide in a conversational tone using a clear voice and even tempo.

Part C: Implementation Journal

Click here to hear my Implementation Journal Podcast.

The following graph shows individual percentages on the common vocabulary review of terms 1-20.  The class average was 60%. 

This is a sample of one of the questions on the preview of terms 21-30.  Eighty-six percent of my students do not know the meaning of coherence, which means I will need to spend more time teaching and showing examples for his term. 

I have subscribed to my podcast in iTunes. 
See screenshot below: