Mexico Academy and Central School District
A group of elementary students from the Mexico (NY) Academy and Central Schools studies a Peanuts cartoon by Charles Schulz. The cartoon's story is set in a movie theater, and the students--in keeping with New York State English language arts standards--must find a way to demonstrate their understanding of the elements of the story. How can they gather their thoughts, arrange the information they've gathered, and display their understanding? Enter the tools of technology.
The students in this particular class used software, including Kidspiration and Inspiration, to map out the concepts of the story and organize their ideas about the reading. The software also allowed the children to use pictures to get their points across.
"They may not have been able to spell theater," says Amy Spath, the technology integration specialist from the Oswego County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, "but they knew how to pick out a picture of a reel or a video camera."
The use of technology as a teaching and learning tool has become a hot topic in New York State. The state learning standards even incorporate the expectation that students will learn to "access, generate, process, and transfer information using appropriate technologies" and apply the knowledge gained through technology use to address real-world problems (www.nysatl.nysed.gov/standards.html). But many teachers, including those in the Mexico district, shy away from integrating the use of technology into their lesson plans.
"Most concerns that teachers share with me are centered on their comfort level of using technology and that they are hesitant to use it with students since they 'don't know everything' about the software," says Spath.
To counter this lack of confidence and encourage more teachers to take advantage of the benefits of using technology in the classroom, Spath decided to participate in an online Designing for Technology Integration (DTI) workshop sponsored by The Northeast and Islands Regional Technology Consortium (NEIRTEC). This experience provided her with some thoughts about how best to get the teachers to use technology as an everyday teaching and learning tool. She incorporated these ideas into a professional development plan for elementary teachers in her district, which would guide them through the process of effectively integrating technology into lessons that students had trouble understanding in the past.
Following the course, Spath immediately presented her workshop idea to the director of technology at Mexico Academy and Central Schools and the district's Technology Training Initiative Team. She understood that the teachers involved would have various levels of teaching experience and technology expertise. Many of the previous technology staff development offerings were optional to teachers, and staff developers did not usually model integrated lessons at these sessions. Developers had mentioned tips and suggestions for using software in the classroom, but the teachers wanted more detailed information about what was available to them. They had continually requested more software and lists of useful Web sites for kids--especially math sites.
Spath decided that the best way to begin was to have the teachers meet with her, by grade level, while a substitute teacher taught their classes. They would meet by building, by grade level, in groups of approximately four teachers. One of the benefits to working with such small groups was the ability to work with each teacher at his or her own technology comfort level. "Amy [Spath] instructs at each and every person's individual level," says one of the teachers who attended the first round of workshops. "She is gifted in recognizing where each student is in ability."
The goal of the professional development experience was for the individual teachers to be able to technologically enhance a lesson that had posed some problems for students in the past and to be able to present their lesson to their class with support from Spath. The experience consisted of two partial days. The first half-day focused on teacher learning, and the second partial day involved the presentation, with feedback from Spath. During the first half-day session, Spath modeled a lesson, appropriate to the grade level, with technology embedded in the lesson.
Teachers then discussed the ways in which technology enhanced the teaching and learning process. The teachers briefly shared stories about using technology in their past lessons and also described the lessons that they hoped to enhance. As a group, the teachers brainstormed ways to incorporate technology into each lesson in order to enhance instruction and student comprehension. Because most of the teachers have special education inclusion students in their classrooms, the teachers discussed using technology as a way to differentiate instruction for those students. They then broke up into pairs to work on the logistics of incorporating technology into their lessons. "I chose to have the teachers work in pairs to share ideas and successes with technology integration, since they seem to be more honest and comfortable working in small groups," says Spath.
Working in pairs also helped the teachers assess the information they already had in the lesson and what they needed to add or adjust. The teachers kept an eye on the New York State learning standards, including ways in which they could use Web sites or software to help students read, write, listen, and speak for understanding, artistic creation, self-expression, and critical analysis. Spath says the Kidspiration software specifically helped teachers incorporate mapping and brainstorming into their lesson plans. The teachers' new lessons expected students to listen, map out what they were hearing, gather more information if necessary, and then go on to writing and demonstration of knowledge.
When teachers were ready to present the new lessons to their students, Spath helped them set up, team-taught the lessons with them, and met with each teacher after his/her lesson to discuss how the teacher felt the lesson went. In several cases, Spath found that she could not even differentiate the special education students from others in the classroom. In fact, after completing a lesson in one classroom, she asked the teacher if there were any inclusion students in her classroom. The teacher replied, "One third of my students are special education students. They were some of your keenest participants!"
According to Spath, the flexibility inherent in certain software and learning Web sites makes technology-based lessons perfect for integrated classrooms. Technological tools that allow students to use pictures, glossaries, and interactive features help students express themselves easily and teachers understand the viewpoints and learning styles of their students.
"One of the nice things about using this software is that students can be free to try different things," says Spath. "They're not constrained to doing things this way or that way."
In developing the lessons, the teachers also took into account whether to use technology as a teaching tool with the whole group of students or break the students up into pairs and groups to complete an assignment. Spath thought the group work was important because students who were more experienced with the software or the Internet helped those with less expertise.
"If one needed help, they were close to each other," says Spath. "They were also sharing work, which helped them think of new ways to gather or present information."
Immediately following the presentation of the new lessons to their students, teachers expressed their pleasure about the high levels of student engagement they observed. When designing her workshop, Spath had incorporated this reflection time as an informal assessment of the teachers' progress. Because she wanted the teachers to feel secure throughout the process, she also built in time for teachers to share with one another and ask others for suggestions. In this way, the teachers could learn from the assessment mechanisms without feeling threatened.
Spath also asked the teachers to complete a follow-up survey a few weeks after the experience. The surveys highlighted the positive results of the workshop experience. One specific lesson using the Web site www.edheads.org drew rave reviews from the students and the presenting third-grade teacher. The lesson encouraged exploration of simple machines around the home, including a faucet, a flagpole, and an alarm clock, and students were able to access a glossary of terms to enhance their understanding. The students commented that the lesson kept them interested because "we were learning at the same time we were playing" and because "the animation was cool." The teacher wrote that at least a quarter of her students had shared the Web site with their families.
Fourth-grade teachers also noted that the Kidspiration and Inspiration software helped them address the elements of the fourth-grade state English language exam with ease. Students became comfortable with the use of graphic organizers and the task of identifying story elements. One teacher even wrote that the experience inspired her to try follow-up technology sessions with her students that went very well.
"This issue is always time," says another participant teacher. "Having the workshop forced me to make the time to integrate the technology...the kids enjoyed it and they demonstrated learning. That makes me want to keep trying to do this more. It helped ease my own uncertainty."
Now that Spath has completed her first round of the professional development experience, she is gearing up to work with more of the elementary teachers in the district. She hopes to inspire others to step out of their "comfort zones" and reap the benefits of integrating appropriate technology tools into their lessons.
"This is a little step for the teachers," she says. "They need that little step. I show them just what they need to know to show the kids what they need to know. Now their confidence level is up there."