Week # 2 Lit Review: A Place for Everything

Course Objective #2: Evaluate and use a variety of current technologies to enhance content instruction and to advance students' technological literacy.

Webinar:   Classroom 2.0 SymbalooEDU Tutorial

I just know I'm forgetting something . . .

True story: Once, when my kids were little, I was standing at the register of a women's clothing store, paying for some earrings that had somehow seemed worth the Herculean effort of schlepping two toddlers around the mall, when I noticed my younger daughter wasn't in sight.

"Katie," I called. "Where'd you go, Kate? Laura, do you know where Katie went?"

I was starting to get just a teeny bit worried when I felt tiny fingers grabbing my shirt sleeve. Yup. I had been holding my daughter all along.

Now, as far as I'm concerned, mothers of young children deserve to be cut a generous amount of slack. But in my case, this was really just the latest -- and most laughable -- episode in a lifelong pattern of scatterbrained behavior. Actually, I prefer to think of my brain not as scattered but as  overactive, creative, filled with too much wanderlust to remain tethered to the pesky details of daily life at all times.

Few adults have the privilege of ignoring the pesky details altogether though, and if we're not vigilant in addressing them, they have the potential to congregate and swallow us whole. Many an excellent teacher has been rendered ineffective by his poor organizational skills. I know this because there are whole swaths of U.S. History I never learned due to my high school history teacher's inability to budget his time.
Today's teachers now have a stunning array of digital and online tools available to enhance their teaching. But using them effectively requires not just technical know-how but a good organizational strategy. Much like our closets, our kitchen drawers and -- in some cases -- our brains, our computer desktops and harddrives can become so hopelessly cluttered and haphazardly organized that we can't find what we need when we need it and find ourselves frequently "reinventing the wheel." What's more, many of us utitilize only a small portion of the programs available to us because we don't really have a handle on the technology we're already using, never mind implementing new ones into our crowded bookmark lists and hectic routines.

While school budgets remain the biggest barrier to integrating technology in the classrooms, teachers also struggle with fitting tools into their curriculum, understanding new technologies and a sense of not knowing where to begin, according to this PBS survey: National PBS Classroom Technology Survey.

SymbalooEDU ( http://www.symbalooedu.com/) is one solution to the challenge teachers face in curating their online and digital resources. I watched a tutorial webinar on the Classroom 2.0 website to learn how this free resource can assist teachers in instructing 21st century students. It can be viewed here: Symbaloo Basics Webinar .

Taught by self-described tech junkie Pam Cranford, a teacher technology tester for White Oak Intermediate School in Texas, the webinar walks newbies through the basics of setting up a Symbaloo page, creating "webmixes," using the webmixes in a variety of ways such as working on collaborative projects, storing student data, communicating with parents and involving students in their learning.
The website allows teachers to organize all of their teaching resources by storing them as visual "tiles" on their personal web page. They can color code them, add pictures, and group them into web mixes, which they can also share with other teachers, parents and students. Cranford demonstrated several of the ways she uses the site, including a webmix of online, read-aloud stories, each represented temptingly with a tiny book jacket; a webmix of e-portfolios that contains her students' work samples; and a webmix she shares with parents that contains information such as homework assignments, announcements and helpful websites personalized for their children.

A Symbaloo Tutorial on YouTube

Along with greatly enhancing content instruction by giving teachers easy access to online tools and helping them organize their resources, Symbaloo offers ways to advance students' technological literacy by creating webmixes they can use in the classroom as well as at home. Cranford demonstrated how a student could access her homework using a free app on a smart phone, visit websites selected for her by her teacher and organize her own work on the site.

"This child has ownership of her learning. Isn't that what we're trying to get them to do?" Cranford gushed.

Kindergarteners using iPads

As a future teacher, I was excited by the way Symbaloo could help me set up my online resources from the get-go. I could even now begin setting up webmixes that will aid in my work as an ESOL teacher and create templates for things like student portfolios. I think Symbaloo could be particularly effective in helping me personalize my teaching for each student, given that ESOL students come from such varied backgrounds and cultures and have such different needs.

Now if I could just find a website that could organize my brain . . .

Kids these days

An early personal computer

The joke is probably as old as the computer itself: If you're having trouble with a piece of technology, just ask your 12 year old for help.  We may chuckle at the idea that kids tend to be more tech-savvy than us adults, but it can make us uncomfortable too. We might worry that we can't effectively supervise their activities if we don't understand those activities. We might fret over the amount of time they're spending with their favorite electronic gadgets -- and the things they're missing out on because of it. And, let's face it, we might fear what their agility in the technology arena tells us about our own slowing faculties.

In the home setting, most of us have had to make some peace with the prevalance of technology in our kids' lives. But in the controlled -- and often cash-strapped -- environment of the classroom, change is happening at a slower pace. This article from Education Week explains some of the challenges schools face in effectively implementing technology: Technology in the classroom . The article also discusses the lack of good data to validate the importance of bringing schools into the digital age.

Whether or not we have hard data to back it up, we know empirically that young people "get" technology and engage with digital tools far more readily than with many traditional teaching methods.  This video, which makes ironic use of the "old-fashioned" dry-erase board, paints a picture of the modern digital learner and outlines the challenges of providing her with a quality education: A Vision of K-12 Students Today.  Creating a classroom that inspires and nurtures these digital learners should be among our country's highest priorities.

That's not to say we should overlook the dangers of integrating new technology into the classroom. A study commissioned  by the internet security company AVG and cited by Venture Beat found that more young children can use a computer mouse than tie their shoes and play computer games than ride a bike: Generation Tech. Trends such as these legitimatize our fears that technology is not just changing the way kids learn but replacing some of the real-world skills they need to be well-rounded citizens. Educators should also be concerned about the disparities that the integration of new technology opens up between wealthier and poorer school districts.

Nevertheless, we have to meet kids where they are. And increasingly "where they are" is in front of a computer screen.

Preschoolers using computers