Learn not be engaged in technology

I would  like to ban the words “engage”, “engagement”, “engaging” from education.   Many educational articles, company ads, and conference presentations use the this concept with titles such as “Engage your students through…”, “Highly engagement by….”, or “Engaging Students ….”.  Teachers will comment “My students were so engaged in the lesson.”  I would like much more than mere engagement, I want learning.

In a Social Studies class, students can be “engaged” in creating a PowerPoint of a country for many class periods but they  may not have  learned the critical country information.  Also, an “engaging” activity may be for students to create a video showing an understanding of a play  in their English  class. The students  can be fully attentive to the project but if they focus on sword play instead of the plot of the play, their engagement does not end up in learning.  Likewise, in Science, students can fully participate in a twitter conversation about the impact  of development on the local environment with every student tweeting.  Does each tweet add more information (depth or breadth of learning)?  Modern Language students can be “engaged” in using their Smartphones to collect pictures  for their teacher but do they talk in the target language about the pictures?

When we use essential questions, backward design, or problem based learning, students immerse themselves in learning. They improve in their learning through technology.

Do your student focus on learning?

I have  nine + Spanish spontaneous speaking activities at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook

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Formative Feedback Through Technology

Some ways to for teachers to give formative feedback as part of formative assessment  to students through technology. The feedback has to lead to the students’ direct and immediate improvement on the specific goal. Within the formative assessment process, students need “personalized” feedback which focus on their specific learning gaps.

– Orally with audio/screen capture programs

– Add in comments in digital word processed documents

– Refer to YouTube etc. video made by teacher, peers, or others

– Suggest a specific website that explains it in another way

– Provide an exemplar to re-examine from class website, wiki

– Develop “PowerPoint” quizzes that explain the wrong answers to understand the right ones.

You can view some other ideas at

http://formativeassessmenttechnology.pbworks.com

and add your own by joining the wiki at

https://formativeassessmenttechnology.pbworks.com

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Also, my  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

Really Effective Technology or Not?

This semester I decided to try something different in my writing class.  After giving them a pre-assessment (writing an in-class essay), I determined that this  class was at the same level as last semester’s students.  My change for this semester was that  I taught the whole semester without using a single PowerPoint.

In all the previous semesters, I have had a PowerPoint presentation  each night that had illustrations,  certain words in different colors,  many visuals, etc.   I had noticed that my night class often went to sleep when I turned down the lights and used the PowerPoint.  Even though I asked them many questions and did interactive things, the class seemed lulled.  This semester it was just me and the whiteboard with the lights on.  I did have different colored markers. I did full up the board and erase it several times during the class.   I felt that I had more eye contact (could see their reactions better)  and more interactivity with the students (could show other  strategies when they encountered a problem)  rather than being the button-pusher for the next PowerPoint Slide.

The informal results  based on this semester’s last in-class essay  compared to the previous semester’s was that this semester’s students did just as well (really slightly better)  than last semester’s students.  The lack of PowerPoint did not negatively impact the students; in fact, they did better without it.  Teacher methodology (focusing on students’ present learning status)  matters more than technology!

How do you know if technology is a truly effective tool in your class?

My  book,  Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, is available through Eye on Education.

My book,  Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students, is available through Eye on Education.

Having Students Go from Proficient to Above Proficient Through Improvements

In my Oral presentations (speech) class, I’m grading their final speeches on how much they have improved from when they originally gave the speech. They have to show me their original speech, the rubric in which I indicated their strengths and gaps, and a sheet which explains how they are overcoming their gaps. Their final (two speeches that they select from those they have done) are graded on improvement.  If they show the three  improvements, they get an A. For each learning gap that is not changed into a strength, they loose ten points.  So far students have shown drastic improvements, their speeches have gone from being below proficient or being proficient to being above proficient. They have learned to support their speeches with image-based PowerPoints that drive home their messages. When we raise the bar and prove ways for students to improve, they go over the bar!

How do you have your students improve and become above proficient?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Fixed or Flexible Learning

I recently talked to someone who teaches an online course.  She says that the college has supplied the lectures for each class.  I questioned how a college could think that the fixed lectures would fit the needs of the class. Then the person reminded me that high school textbooks,  textbook websites, textbook DVDs,  textbook PowerPointsand content websites present the material  in a fixed manner.  I think it is good for a teacher to see an exemplary lesson and then to modify the lesson for the class or  for the teacher to use the fixed  lesson as a jumping off point  but I do feel that teachers should not follow a book lesson blindly. Based on our students’  intellectual, physical and emotional needs, we, as instructional leaders, need to decide how to teach the selected goal.  We need to modify the lesson to meet various learning styles and learning levels in our class. We need to know when to abandon a lesson to teach a missing skill or a complimentary skill. We are the ones to show the students the connections between what they are learning and the big picture, to bring in our life experiences in that learning.

How do you teach your course?  Do you strictly follow the textbook (fixed) or do you modify the learning in a flexible manner based on your students’ needs?

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Pre-checking for Student Engagement Through PowerPoint

Like many teachers, I use PowerPoint to guide the lesson. I like that I can have all the images, videos, quotes, essential questions, class activities, etc. in one place for the lesson.  Lately, I have been thinking more about student engagement during class. I’ve come up with a simple way to verify that students will be engaged.  I use a distinct color such as dark blue  in the PowerPoint to indicate  all the  student activities  such as questions to be answered, small group discussions, and  comparison charts to be done. Before I teach a lesson, Iscan my PowerPoint slides to see how often I am engaging the students- I simply look for the dark blue text.  Since I’ve begun doing this, I find myself  wondering how I could be talking/showing for so long without students being asked to think through the topic.  I find myself adding more opportunities for students to  become engaged with the material.

Go dark blue and see what happens in your class.

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Giving Students’ learning Choices Through Technology

I like to rent Redbox movies, those red kiosco in grocery stores and McDonalds. I can preview the available titles from the comfort of my home; I can take my time to decide which movie I want. I can even rent the movie online so that it is ready for me when I get to the store. I can return it to any Redbox.

I wonder what school would be like if we could have more options and choices available to students. Sure all students have to learn the same basic standards. How much choice do we give the students in how they go about doing it? Do we provide lectures, demonstrations, guided instructions, interactive activities, group activities, and self-tests in various digital formats for them? By using technology we can have many different forms of learning the standard available to the students. What, if instead of lock stepping the class in terms of the students’ learning, we freed up the class to make their own choices? They can select in what order or format to see/hear/experience the learning.

We can start small with podcasts, emovies, and interactive Power Points as we build up our library. Imagine if a department (all English teachers in 9th grade) worked together to create these resources. Then we as teachers could really be guides on the side instead of the sage on the stage. We can spend time in providing formative feedback to students in one-on-one and small groups instead of being infront of the room “teaching”. When students experience a learning gap, we can refer them to a specific technology application that focuses on that learning gap. We can give more help to those who need one-on-one feedback.

Let’s use technology to help us better guide students in their learning.

Excitement or Content in Learning

I recently attended a conference. In the first session I went to the person was enthusiastic, excited, and full of personal stories that had very little to do with the content. We got through about 1/4 of the content and then very superficially. The next session was a very methodical person who went step by step through a process and showed examples. I wonder how we are when we teach. Do we focus on content as the second person did or do we focus on being interesting & friendly as the first person? Yes, we can combine both but usually we focus more on one than the other. I spent time last year in visiting many schools and I find most teachers were trying hard to make the class exciting. They tried so hard that they spent less time on content and more on “fun and games”. One of the teachers had PowerPoints that made weird sounds and had flying things. The PowerPoint become more like a circus show than a learning environment.

How do you teach and how do you use technology to support your teaching?

Quickly Find Power Points for a Learning Topic

I do like to visually guide my students through a learning goal by creating Power Points but it takes me a long time to create them.  I’ve been using another method, finding an existing Power Point on that learning goal and then adding my own Power Point  for any missing points or things I want to emphasize.  An easy way to find Power Points is to put the category such as narrative writing in quotations “narrative writing” and add .ppt (the ending for Power Point files) so the search would look like “narrative writing” +.ptt.  A search for a Civil War Power Point would look like “Civil War” +.ppt while a search for a Power Point on the Three Little Pigs would appear as “The Three Little Pigs” +.ppt.

I found that within a few minutes of searching I can usually find a Power Point that captures much of what I want the students to learn. Then I create a mini-Power Point to add any additional information and I call it the topic plus “more” such as “NarrativeMore”.  I have cut my creation down drastically and often have a learning tool that is much better than I had thought of.

The Role of Technology in Your Class: Purposeful or Wasteful?

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney

I recently had a discussion with a Social Studies teacher who was telling me about the great project her students were doing.

She told that the students researched their famous person, spent several days to put it in PowerPoint and a day to present it. I asked her what a project contained. She said it had the person, his/her birthday and place, what his/her accomplishment was, and the impact of the accomplishment. I really liked the accomplishment and impact aspect of the project. However, when she told me that this project took “only” a week to do (one day to get the information, three days to do the PowerPoint, and one day to present); I realized that it was a technology project and not an academic learning project. The students spent one out of five days or 20% in learning the academic information. This information is readily available in most encyclopedias or websites such as Wikipedia so student could find it in little time. They spent most of their time in decorating their PowerPoint statements about the person such as finding a map of the state he or she was born. They could have found the information, found a critical picture that illustrates the accomplishment or impact, and presented in one period. When students have a clear learning purpose (the accomplishments of people), they can thoroughly accomplish the task through meaningful and effective uses of technology. I wonder why the teacher allowed her students to waste four valuable learning days.

Do you focus on student learning or technology in your students’ technology-infused learning?

PowerPoint: Transformed or Simply Electronic Version

Yesterday Tv was so bad that I finally end up at one of the music stations.  I realized that there was an older technology that I could have used – a radio.

I wonder how different the learning from our PowerPoints is  if we compare PowerPoint use to older ways of teaching.  Teachers have used chalkboards to present information. Teachers have used pictures to aid in the learning.  Teachers have shown movies (yes, we used to have movie projectors).  PowerPoint makes it easier to those things.  However, by itself PowerPoint does not increase student learning. What do you use PowerPoint for other than  agendas, notes, showing pictures, jumping to resources?

Do you use PowerPoint to help students to focus on the standard for the unit and to see their progress in the standard?  Do you use PowerPoint to scaffold information in a step by step process for the students so all can be successful?  Do you use PowerPoint to show exemplars? Do you use PowerPoint to provide practice exercises for them to assess how well they are doing in the standard? Do you use PowerPoint to celebrate their learning successes?  If you do those uses, then PowerPoint truly becomes a powerful learning tool for our students. PowerPoint aids you in transforming learning to success.

Formative Assessment and PowerPoint

When you respond to student work (oral or written) with feedback that helps them to improve academically, you are using formative assessment.

I’ll share some ways to use PowerPoint for implementing formative assessment in your classroom.

Share your daily learning goals with your students as the first screen of your lesson PowerPoint. A business teacher might write “Write a direct request order letter.” Make sure it is a language that they can understand it.

Share your assessments with your students. Make sure they understand the checklist or rubric. Make sure that the checklist or rubric really tells them what is expected so that they will specifically know what to do to improve.

Give them a pre-test with a few questions. Select two or three critical questions or those which usually show student confusion about the topic.

Show them the answer to a homework problem with an exemplar.

Give them a structured scaffolded way to think through a problem or activity. You can go step-by-step (screen by screen) through the process that takes them from the lowest level of thinking (Knowledge) up to the highest levels (Synthesis and Evaluation).

Provide them with a short peer or self-assessment to monitor their own progress.

How else do you implement formative assessment through PowerPoint?

Textbook/Class Powerpoints – Talking Points or Educationally Engaging

I am teaching several courses and for two of them, I have a CD that includes the PowerPoints for the textbook chapters. One has a few bullets per screen on a simple background and no visuals. Supposedly there is a movie in each PowerPoint but they do not seem to work. The other textbook has some cutesy graphic, block transitions, and layered bullets (each bullet shows up after pressing Return). Both of these do not supply any real information; they serve as talking points. Students looking at them cannot learn by the words or the visuals.

Furthermore, the PowerPoints do not include any interactive aspects. There are no questions asked, no visuals to react to, no examples to assess the ideas, no links to websites that visually depict the information or provide more insight into the topic, no surveys, and no organizational visuals.

How do your PowerPoints help the students to achieve the class’ standards in an engaging manner?

Textbook PowerPoint or Student Technologies

I heard about a young lady who has the graduate assistant job of creating PowerPoints for the chapters of a textbook that her prof is writing. Although I am sure that she is very good at creating PowerPoints that cover the main points in the chapter, I’m not sure that PowerPoints may be the best way to communicate the information in the textbook. Are there some YouTube videos that can demonstrate the concepts better? Would a class wiki about each chapter’s information allow the class to add other related information to the topic so that they build a class community of knowledge about the topic? Would a series of short podcasts allow the students to select which topic they needed more information about? Would a series of images from Flickr displayed on a whiteboard allow the class to interact more with the material?

These textbook PowerPoints are “teacher” created so information is being given to the students. Why not have the students generate their own information, debate issues within the topic, challenge each other’s views, and come to a greater understanding of the topic.

Is your class one with you as the teach deliver PowerPoints or one in which students create their own information through various technologies?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

Improving Reading Skills With Technology

I wrote another article on improving reading skills through technology, Ramping Up Reading With Technology. There are fourteen different easy-to-apply techniques. Try these out in your classroom so that your students can be better readers! Although the examples are in English, many of these will work in ESL and World Language classes.

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

It’s not the technology but the teaching

Technology is neutral.

I’ve seen two teachers in the same subject area on the same topic use PowerPoint very differently. One used it to display the outline about the topic. The other used is to present contrasting images about the topic for the students to analyze.

Technology does not magically transform the teaching learning process. A change in the teacher does.

Sometimes teachers see a new technology such as the Smartboard and they use it the same way as they did a chalkboard, they write on it. Sometimes when teachers see how a technology can be used, they accept the change in their teaching. A teacher who sees a Smartboard demonstration may then want her students to manipulate math shapes on the Smartboard.

How technology supports our school academic priorities will not change until we change how teachers use technology. How do you use technology? How has your teaching changed due to using technology?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

Technology and Learning: Which do you really focus on?

We all say that technology is a tool to support education.

Yet we say “We are podcasting about fractions.” In that sentence fractions is not the subject nor main action, podcasting is.

What about “We’re doing PowerPoint presentations about countries.” They are doing PowerPoint, not countries.

Let change our speech so that our words reflect that technology is not a tool, not an end to itself, and not the major focus of what we do in the classroom

“We are learning to convert fractions through podcasting.”

“We are studying the differences in countries through the use of PowerPoint.”

Let’s show others that we are focused on student learning and not technology.

 

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

 

Improve Students’ Inference Reading with PowerPoint

Here are a few ways to use PowerPoint type programs to improve students’ inference reading.

* Show students a Flickr or Google picture with the question words next to it. The question of When will probably be an inference question since they will have to figure out the season, the time of day, etc. Do for several pictures until everyone can answer the inference questions for a passage.

* Students write inference questions about a short displayed passage (a paragraph). They can start with using synonyms for the words already in the passage. The boy goes to the store. Where did the youth go?

* Students go up to the Smartboard and circle the critical words in the projected passage question and then circle the corresponding words in the passage.

*Students see two side by side newspaper articles about the same topic. They circle the words that show the author’s bias – red for the left side article and green for the right side article.

How do you improve students’ inference reading with PowerPoint type programs?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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Improving Reading Comprehension Through PowerPoint

Teachers can improve their students’ literal reading through common technology such as PowerPoint like programs.

 

* Show a picture and have the students take turns asking and answering Who. Where, When, What, and Why questions about the picture.

* Haven them read a short projected passage and the orally answer Who, Where, When, What about the passage.

* Project a passage from PowerPoint on a Smartboard and have students circle the literal answers to questions about the passage.

* Have students read a short passage and then select the corresponding picture from four possible Flickr or Google choices.

How do you improve students’ reading comprehension through PowerPoint type programs?

 

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

 

Improving Reading Vocabulary Through PowerPoint

Here are a few ways in which you can improve students’ reading vocabulary skills through PowerPoint

* Have a listing of the sight words that the students are to know and read

* Show words or pictures and have students pick which one does not rhyme (bee, tree, three, moon)

* Create a class story about the school and have pictures to match each sentence. “This is Alan’s desk.”

* Show students a word and have them write all words associated with that word and group those words. For sports, students might list hockey, baseball, ticket, glove, hot dog, and hoop

* Have students identify vocabulary by topic – show them pictures of ten occupations

* Show a Flickr or Google picture with many details such as a street scene, a restaurant scene or a kitchen and have them identify all the critical words from the picture.

* Teach student root, prefixes, and suffixes through interactive PowerPoint with word groups such as bicycle, biplane bifocals

How do you improve students’ reading vocabulary through PowerPoint?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

 

 

Higher Level Thinking Team Competitive Learning Using PowerPoint

Students, in small groups, put together their information about an aspect of the major topic such as the Spanish Empire in a cumulative PowerPoint activity.

Each team gets to create two thought-provoking questions about the topic. These questions are not factual questions such as “When did it happen?”, “Who was the leader?” or “Where did it take place?” The questions are essential questions such as “How is Spain’s decline similar or different to the decline of other Empires?”, “How does Spain’s rule still have an impact on the modern world?” or”How does Spain’s rule compare to the USA’s role in the world today?” After the teacher Oks the questions, the teams post their questions so all the teams can read them. Then each team gets to select a question. A team gets first choice on one of its own question but a team may reject its own questions and then those questions are available for others. All of the question focus on slightly different aspects of the main topic.

Each team prepares its PowerPoint report. They are to include at least four historical detailed examples to prove their answer. They include at least one map, one other visual, and maybe a chart. The teams know they will receive points on how well they prove their viewpoint according to a provided rubric. In addition, they know that after each presentation, any other team can offer additional supportive evidence or contradictory evidence and that team will receive an extra point for each additional valid evidence. The teams realize that if they want to prevent any other team from getting points from their presentation that they have to have an abundance of information. They may even include a contradictory viewpoint and disprove it. Their team grade is their own presentation plus the additional points they gain from other’s presentations. Each presentation has a five minute limit.

During the presentations, the teams listen very closely to each other. They are seeking to find ways to agree or disagree with the presenters. They know that after the presentation their team will be given a minute to prepare any additional or contradictory evidence in a factual and persuasive manner. If they are successful in their challenge, the teacher will say “Point” and will add a point to their team’s cumulative score.

So how do your students engage in higher level thinking and in collaborative and competitive teams through PowerPoint?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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Students Learn More With Similarities/Differences PowerPoints

Robert Marzano in A Handbook for Classroom Instruction That Works had identified that, of all classroom activities, the students benefit most from finding similarities and differences. When the students find similarites and differences, they are using higher level thinking skills.

So how can we use this to make students’ learning more powerful?

In Social Studies, students can compare two countries in terms of their future potential as a world power in a PowerPoint. The students go beyond just copying facts to looking for the different components of a world power.

In English, students can show how the same theme is in two different works of literature through a PowerPoint. They begin to analyze how each theme is presented in the different works and see the variety of ways of expressing this theme.

In Science, students can compare the health of two streams through a PowerPoint. The ph of one stream is a static fact but when it is compared to the ph of another stream, students begin to generate many questions.

In Math, students can show the similarities and differences between various geometric shapes through PowerPoint. When students put a square next to a rectangle, the differences become apparent.
In languages such as Spanish, students can compare the uses of estar and ser through a PowerPoint. By having to contrast these two, they come to see when each should be used.

Students can use the many features of PowerPoint such as arrows, text blocks, colored fonts, and shapes to accentuate the similarties and differences between two concepts. As they dramatically illustrate the similarities and differences, they demonstrate their higher level thinking.

The students’ PowerPoints are robust learning experiences that maximize their learning since the students compare and contrast.

So what similiarities/differences types of PowerPoints have your students done?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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Improving Student Learning Through PowerPoint: Madeline Hunter Style

For numerous years, I gave a presentation/workshop that had various names: “Improving Student Learning Through PowerPoint”; “Engaging Students Through PowerPoint”; and “Interactive Educational Uses of PowerPoint”. Teachers came for the PowerPoint part but what they really got was a lesson in how to teach in the Madeline Hunter Model through the use of PowerPoint.

I would start each presentation with a show of hands of how many did the various parts of the Hunter model, the number was almost always in the low single digits.

So what is your Madeline Hunter score? What is your Madeline Hunter score for technology use?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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Enlarging Students’ Vocabulary Through Technology

I’m being doing much work in showing ELA teachers how they can improve their students’ vocabulary through technology. If students do not have a good vocabulary, then they will have difficulty in reading. I’ll give examples using PowerPoint although other technologies can work as well

Each day show a picture of different topical vocabulary such as various fruits and have the students identify the fruits orally or through writing. If you cannot find pictures on Google or Flickr, then check with your Foreign Language or ESL teacher. Another solution is to take your camera to places such as the grocery store.

Have students in pairs talk about an experience such as how horrible the cafeteria food is as they look at a projected cafeteria picture and then have them list all the descriptive words (adjectives) that they used to describe the food. Have them combine their lists with at least three other groups so each group has a bigger list; the bigger group will make sure that everyone understands each word, Then have the pairs describe another picture and use even more descriptive food words. This could become a vocabulary growth game. How many words did they originally use and how many words did they use the second time?

Play “which one of these doesn’t belong” by showing them a list of four vocabulary words such as book, magazine, movie, newspaper and have them explain why. By using PowerPoint slides, you can quickly go through numerous lists. Students can create their own lists within a given vocabulary category.

You may comment that there could be more than one answer such as to the “rose, tree, weed, plant” and I agree. As long as students can give a logical reason, then it’s OK. I prefer lists in which students can think of several possibilities since then they are always looking for other connections. I prefer divergent thinking instead of convergent thinking.

So how else do you improve students’ vocabulary by using technology?

© Harry Grover Tuttle, 2007

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Improving Student Learning Through a PowerPoint Guided Lesson

Tomorrow I have been invited to do a demonstration lesson on how to improve students’ academic learning through technology.

I’ll use PowerPoint to guide the students through the lesson. I will use it to:

Keep the students focused on the topic

Show many visual examples of the topic

Link to websites that give information about the topic or that show movie clips about the topic
Emphasize particular word parts, words, or phrases

Compare and contrast items so students better understand each

Scaffold an activity going from an easy step to a very complex step through several screens in such a way that all students can do the complex step

Review the information (just duplicate an initial slide and move it to another part of the lesson)

Present quick assessments and show the answers to the assessments

Modify (re-arrange) the lesson if students are having problems

Provide instructions to the students so they know what to do during each activity

Move from one segment to another with ease.

Keep the students motivated by changing background colors and designs

And I won’t have to erase and re-erase the chalkboard 🙂

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