Technology is a big part of our everyday lives and has become a vital tool in education for learning and engagement with our students. As part of the class EDU 777 that I am taking at Dominican University, we have been asked to look deeply into our classrooms and schools and find a problem/area that technology could help meet, solve and enhance the learning of students and/or teachers. In this blog post, I am going to share with you my reflection of the planning process and hope it inspires you.
Step 1: Getting Started, finding a need- This step you are searching and finding a problem/need in your classroom or building and find a way that technology can help solve it.
At the start of this proposal process, I was a little overwhelmed and unsure of what to do. I am lucky that my district provides a lot of tech tools for both us as teachers and also for my students. So often because of our little time together (I am an elementary art teacher, I see my student every 5 days), our class activities typically are more focused on hands-on art building and less use of technology. While I try to incorporate technology into my curriculum, it isn’t always hands-on for student use.
Finding a problem was the hardest part of this process for me because of my feeling of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to begin. To help me focus and find a need, I started to think about what my room or school lacked and was there a way technology could help solve it. I often incorporate a book at the start of a lesson. I sometimes read it aloud to my students, or if our library doesn’t have it (which is more often than not), I play a recorded read-aloud or get the book outside of our school library. (buying it or getting it at my local library) . This made me aware that my school lacked having a wide range of art books in the library for myself and for students to check out. To help address this problem, I decided my plan would be to create a choice board for my Schoology page that would feature read-aloud links to a variety of different art books.
Step 2: Assessing the Need and Creating the Plan - This part of the plan addresses why your plan is needed and what resources are needed.
Once I had found the need, I had to find a solution and a way technology could help solve it. I found this step much easier than the first. Since my problem was the lack of access to art books, I knew I wanted to create a digital art library that would allow my students to have a diverse group of art books to access and allow multiple students to access a book at a time. Incorporating more independent reading into my own curriculum would help students build their reading skills outside of their homerooms and tie into helping our district increase reading test scores.
So I looked at what technology my students and I already had access to and tried to figure out if it would work for my idea.. As I mentioned earlier, my school is 1:1 and each student has a Chromebook; therefore,I knew I wanted to have this be one of my main components to my plan. Also, we use Schoology as a platform for communicating and learning within our classrooms. Using these together seemed like a good choice because not only did it utilize existing tech,, but students were already familiar with them.
Image Source: Clip Art Library
Step 3: Supportive Research & Learn Theories - In this part of the process you find research and learning theories to support your plan.
While researching isn’t my favorite thing to do, I did find the information that I researched showed me that my activity, while designed to be an enjoyable enrichment activity for early finishers, would be a valid learning tool and help improve their reading through them listening to read-alouds. I found that my technology plan would promote the theory of emergent learning. This theory combines the skills, knowledge, and attitude a child develops throughout their childhood in relation to reading/writing. This relationship can start as early as birth.
The research showed that having students participate in read-alouds would have a positive impact and be a way to teach literacy skills like comprehension, language, and decoding when modeled. It showed that technology in the classroom can be beneficial to literacy instruction. I was able to find research that supported the use of technology and a read-aloud would not hinder the benefits of reading. It would promote engagement and imagination while students gain knowledge.
Every project comes with challenges. During this step in the technology plan, I was also able to address challenges that I was having and address them. My biggest challenge and main reason for my project was that my school lacked a wide range of books that feature artists, art history and art concepts. To address this challenge I plan on using my local libraries and bookstores to gather a wide selection. Another challenge that could arise is finding that some books might be out of print. To address this challenge, I plan on finding a pre-recorded version online. Younger grades, mainly those who are ELL, might struggle with the navigation of the board at first, but I believe that after using it with some guidance, they will be able to navigate on their own.
Step 4: Step by Step Planning- this part of the process you map the order of your steps and how long each one will take.
I viewed this step like writing a lesson plan. This helped me think of how to plan out the time frame for each step. This step I found useful because it allowed me to really map out and see how long it would be before I would be able to implement this project into my classroom. This stage also let me look at each step and break down all I would need to do in detail. The planning on this end let me see what my active role would be and if I would need any training. Since I utilized programs and technology we already use, I will not need any additional training; which I saw a plus. It also let me see whose help I would need in order to accomplish my plan—our school and local librarians. (whom I have already reached out to and are helping me find books to give me a diverse set of books. And lastly, it let me see the role the students would play in the plan. This thinking ahead let me see that I would need a plan for showing my younger grades how to navigate and access the board. Overall, I found this part of the planning process very important to the overall project design. I found it similar to when I make a sample to feel out/predict issues that could arise when my students are creating. My hope is that this step helped me see any issues that could arise, and hopefully, I am able to alleviate them so things run smoothly for them.
Step 5: Peer Review - This is the part of the process where you either pilot tested your plan with students or presented it to other staff to gather data on what worked best and what could use improvements.
This step of the technology plan process was my favorite! I enjoyed talking to my fellow colleagues (whose background is in literacy education and art) and getting their feedback. Their opinions and suggestions helped validate that my project would be a good resource that would not only help expand my students' knowledge about artists, art history and art theories but also help students build their reading comprehension, fluency, and hopefully, help them develop a love for reading. Their insight also gave some ideas of how to better layout my choice board. They also provided me with resources/people that would help me gather a list of books, and translate my videos so that my younger ELL students can understand.
Conclusion…..
As specials teachers, we were always encouraged to find ways to help support and be part of improving our district data and test scores of the core subjects. I am excited that I am able to create a tool that can be used in my classroom to help build my students' content in art as well as help be a vital tool to reading and help them grow to be lifelong learners and readers. In this technology plan process, the biggest positive take-away is that we shouldn’t be afraid of trying something new, and that we can find ways to have technology enhance and add engagement to learning. As learning specialists, we are able to not only help our own classes succeed with the utilization of technology but help other educators learn how to do the same by sharing our knowledge.
References:
Collection of books computer cliparts (50). Free Books Computer Cliparts, Download Free Books Computer Cliparts png images, Free ClipArts on Clipart Library. (n.d.). Retrieved December 15, 2022, from http://clipart-library.com/books-computer-cliparts.html
Giphy. (2019, December 28). Sesame street fainting GIF - find & share on giphy. GIPHY. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://giphy.com/gifs/celebs-muppets-elmo-oubM1tKqnLW5G
James, R. (2022, June 6). Pei 300: Tech begins to wobble after strong year. Private Equity International. Retrieved December 15, 2022, from https://www.privateequityinternational.com/pei-300-tech-begins-to-wobble-after-strong-year/
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