Goal One: Improve student reading skills
More than half of our student body, grades nine through twelve, read below grade level, according to the STAR reading test which we administer to all students. Many students in the upper grades have third or fourth grade reading levels, and these are not English Language Learners or students with documented learning disabilities. Increased literacy for all students is an important goal for my school, as students who cannot read fluently cannot be considered college or career ready. The Common Core, which guides our curriculum, specifically states that students must be able to independently read fiction and non-fiction literature on grade level. Too many students do not have the skills necessary to reach this goal.
The AR 360 program, which is a part of the STAR/Accelerated Reader program which we use, is one technology that holds promise for helping students with reading deficits. The teacher matches student reading level with available articles that come with activities geared toward remediating specific reading skills. The student independently reads the article, then completes the activities assigned by the teacher, and then takes a quiz. The teacher is able to access the student’s work online to assess whether or not the student has demonstrated mastery of a specific reading skill.
A simple data program, such as Excel, could be used to track student acquisition or failure to acquire, particular reading skills, along with articles the student has worked with. With the addition of a list of articles and reading levels, I could keep a record of student work with reading skills, then decide upon lessons to be taught to individual or small groups of students. Quiz scores could be a part of this data set, allowing me to see at a glance what reading skills each individual student needs to be taught.
For students with identified reading disabilities, a number of technologies are available for use in the classroom. We have netbooks and chromebooks for students who require writing assistance, as well as computers in the classroom. Classroom computers are equipped with “Snap Read,” a text to speech software, for students who struggle to read. I have one student who is very bright, but who struggles with dyslexia. He is capable and motivated, however, reading independently represents a great challenge for him, and one modification on his IEP is to have written text read aloud. It is far easier for me in a class of twenty-one students, to set him up with on a computer, with Snap Read; but more importantly, it allows him a greater degree of independence. He won’t always have a teacher or peer available to read material to him, however, he can access text to speech and speech to text technology if he is taught how to use them.
Goal Two: Improve student writing skills
While we do not have an instrument to assess writing skills, every teacher in the building knows that our students lack writing skills. Most of our students are accepted despite lacking the most basic of grammar skills. It would be difficult enough to remediate students if we had them all one hundred and eighty school days, as traditional high school teachers do. In a technical high school, academic teachers meet with their students only ninety days per school year.
The Common Core Standards maintain that students be fluent writers who can capably apply the rules of Standard American English in order to be considered college or career ready. Additionally, students ought to be able to write a variety of forms of essays, including narrative, persuasive, and expository.
Until recently, this seemed an unreachable goal; however, a colleague has discovered a wonderful new program that just may help our students acquire the grammar skills one expects of a high school graduate. Called “Noredink,” the program is free and quite comprehensive in the skills that it can remediate. Noredink offers pre-assessment of skills for each individual student and tailored by the instructor for each class. This program allows students to enter their own reading preferences, so that questions include character names and situations students are familiar with. Once specific skills have been identified for an individual student to work on, he or she can access a tutorial on the skill, then practice, with one hundred examples for most skills. When a student misses a question, he or she is redirected back to the tutorial, given hints, and given new chances to demonstrate mastery of the particular skill under study. And best of all, the program tracks student data, compiling useful reports that the teacher can use to evaluate student mastery of assigned skills. It is very user friendly, and I have started using it in my classroom this year.
Another technology that might encourage all teachers to address writing problems is Rubistar. The English department could use Rubistar to generate common rubrics designed to address a progression of skills; as students demonstrate mastery of one set of skills, teachers could begin to assess a more complex set of skills. The English department could be responsible for initial review and or introduction of the skills being assessed by each skill prior to the adoption of each new writing rubric. Rubrics could be shared using the P (Public Drive) or using Google Docs or Google Groups, and all teachers in the school could use the same rubric, evaluating the same skills, for a prescribed length of time. Excel, or for better sharing amongst teachers, Google Sheets, could be used to create a spreadsheet delineating student performance as a tool to drive the planning of further writing instruction.
One thing that may help students with both reading and writing skills lies, I think, in creating assignments that allow students to meaningful apply their reading and writing skills. We have recently adopted Google Classroom, which allows students to communicate with one another via e-mail and shared projects. Students can comment on one another’s work, as well as chat with one another online. By designing projects that make use of this feature, teachers give students the opportunity to communicate via the written word, similar to social media, but with the added stipulation that they employ correct grammar rules.
We have also recently acquired a large number of chrome books, which teachers can borrow from the Media Center. Using student pairs or small groups, and supplementing the chrome books with classroom computers, teachers now have unprecedented access to technology as an educational tool in my building. What is missing, not surprisingly, is timely training in the use of this technology as a teaching and learning tool. The student population in my school, which is 99% minority and economically disadvantaged, is the population most likely to experience the integration of technology in ways that are not conducive to the advancement of critical thinking skills (Gorski, p. 5) . Using the technology to assign more challenging, problem-based activities that require students to develop those higher order thinking skills, could motivate students to build reading and writing skills as they work to solve problems or to create a project.
Goal Three: Technology Integration
The majority of students who attend my school are economically disadvantaged Latino or African American, the population least likely to have access to the internet (Gorski, p. 4). The Common Core Standards call for all students to be well-versed in computer technology as well as communication using the internet. This last part, the ability to communicate using the internet, is an integral skill for today’s high school graduate. Additionally, students benefit from using internet technology for inquiry, research, and problem solving. Unfortunately, many teachers lack the training to deliver this type of instruction using internet based technology, and resort instead to activities that use lower level thinking skills.
As we roll out the new chrome books, assigning one to every grade nine student, teachers are expected to begin working in Google Classroom after only minimal training, and with absolutely zero time to make the necessary changes to take their lessons digital. The math teachers have quickly adopted the Alex program, which is a skill and drill remedial program, and useful for remediation, but it should not replace math instruction, particularly math instruction based in problem solving. I do, however, believe that there is a place for remedial skill and drill programs such as Noredink and Alex, as long as teachers have been trained that these are supplemental programs, they are not the curriculum, and should not supplant good instructional practices.
Probably a good place to begin would be to survey instructors about their technology needs, and then to create a database which would allow targeted professional development geared toward each individual instructor’s needs. This information could also be used to ask for and justify additional professional development time allowed to our staff. We are preparing for a NEASC decennial visit in the fall of 2016, therefore most of our currently scheduled professional development time is slotted for NEASC preparations. That is necessary; however, our staff do have other pressing needs that should not be neglected during a pivotal year in technology integration.
As for curricular goals, teaching students to use technology to conduct research is one goal I have been pursuing for perhaps three years now. I have taught students how to use online databases such as iCONN, as well as online bibliographic assists, for example, Bibme.org. Another digital resource for students conducting research is the Purdue Online Writing Lab, which is updated regularly and keeps up with the changes in MLA and APA formatting. I have also discovered many student friendly videos and video series, along with other types of digital resources that have helped to guide my students away from plagiarism and into the world of ethical research.
Interview One: The Library Media Specialist
I could not have completed much of this research teaching if not for the assistance of our Library Media Specialist, the first person I interviewed for this assignment. She firmly believes that teaching online research skills using technology is the most important goal for our school. She regularly visits classrooms to teach students about iCONN, evaluating digital resources, and such tools as Bibme.org.
Our Specialist also believes that our school would do well to invest in a program similar to the one at her son’s school. They use a program which allows teachers to post homework and communicate with individual parents; this program also allows students to share information and have access to classroom resources while also communicating with one another electronically.
One of her own goals is to create a web page for our web site which she would use to post student generated book reviews. This page would be available to parents and students, and help other students make their own book choices.
I asked our Specialist if the chrome books have any types of data collection features; to her knowledge, teachers can use Google Classroom and similar platforms to keep track of students turning assignments in on time, and that sort of data. She has not yet created a formal system for checking out the chrome books that the library loans out to individual teachers on a daily basis, though she has an informal list that she keeps.
Our Specialist is in charge of the library, a computer lab, as well as about fifty chrome books, an iPad cart, and a netbook cart. She is also responsible for seeing to the repair and maintenance of all of this equipment, and all of this is on top of managing students who come to the library from classes and study halls. She sees the benefits of better ways of managing all of the print and digital items that flow into and out of her library daily; however, she has not been provided with the proper training, and has virtually no time, to keep up with all of the demands upon her.
Interview Two: Two English Instructors
English Teacher One believes that having students graduate career and college ready is the number one priority of our school; however, she agrees with English Teacher Two that the way to achieve that goal is the ensure that all students read and write on or above grade level.
Both instructors have integrated new technologies into their curricula this year. Both teach grade nine students, and are struggling to find ways to use the Google Chrome books that have been provided to all grade nine students. With no time to prepare for the shift, and minimal training, both instructors are feeling overwhelmed and unsure of the best ways to integrate this new technology into their instruction.
Teacher One has been working with a program called Vocab.com, and she is pushing our school to acuire a site license for the program as she has seen much success in vocabulary acquisition in her students who are using the program. As a Kaplan trained SAT tutor, she firmly believes that the number one way to improve student scores on the new standardized tests for our system – PSAT scores for grade eleven, and SAT scores for grade twelve – is to help our students expand their vocabularies.
Teacher Two is actually the colleague who introduced me to Noredink, the program which offers tutoring and remediation in grammar skills. As an instructor in the state community college system, Teacher Two has a clear understanding of what literacy skills and levels will be required of our students following graduation from high school. She is committed to helping students improve their literacy skills with the goal of bringing them closer to acquiring the ability to use Standard English in writing, and to read independently with more understanding and fluency.
Teacher Two is something of a tech guru. She often uses different technologies in her instruction, though primarily in presenting information to students. She’s used Kahoot.it, Wordle, and Movie Maker, just to name a few, to add some fun and interaction into her lessons. Except for using Noredink, she does not frequently create ways for students to use technology in her instruction.
Teacher One tries to create more opportunities for her students to use technology; however, she limits herself to one or two classes who are more able to adapt to the different styles of teaching and learning required. She would like to do more with technology with her students, but she lacks time and training to do as much as she would like to do.
Considerations
My system, and my school, have been quick to adopt new technology; however, instruction has not always benefited due to lack of adequate training and support for instructors. This is true for both academic and shop instructors. I think that what we need is a new position, highly unlikely in our current economic climate, but truly necessary if we are to optimize the expense of all of this technology, as well as what training has been offered.
This new position would be that of an instructional or educational technology coach, and his or her job would entail supporting all instructors with the integration of technology into their instruction. From assistance with reviewing lesson plans to identify appropriate technology that would improve student learning to assistance with using new programs, to researching other programs that could enhance student learning, the educational technology coach would be responsible for ensuring that all teachers integrate technology to the best of their ability. The coach would further promote the rationale behind this integration, along with the necessity of providing my school’s student body with appropriate, safe, and educational learning opportunities which involve the use of technology.
In absence of an actual position, however, it wouldn’t be beyond my own capabilities to conduct a survey of my colleagues’ technology support needs, and to offer assistance as I am available. The faculty with whom I work is a very motivated group of people, and all are eager to learn and integrate technology into their instructiont. I could organize an informal weekly tech support group meeting, where interested teachers could meet to troubleshoot, problem solve, and support one another to integrate technology. Such a group would have the added benefit of strengthening the bonds between members of the faculty, providing a cohesiveness to our efforts to move forward in teaching with twenty-first century technology.
References
Gorski, P. (2007) Insisting on digital equity: Reframing the dominant discourses on multicultural education and technology. Original working paper downloaded October 18, 2012 from
http://www.edchange.org/publications/digital-equity.pdf.