Wicked Project Final

The problem I found in my classroom was that students found it difficult to listen to my lectures, take notes, look at visuals and comprehend the pertinent material all at the same time

The solution I explored was to use Google Docs as an online forum for students to take notes AFTER my in class lecture by listening and watching the lecture I gave in class.

TC-Using Google Docs as the technology for online note taking will go hand in hand with the pedagogy of expecting students to listen to lectures, take notes and look at visuals simultaneously.  Students who need a longer amount of time to process information can take notes at their own pace, using the stop and start feature of my online lectures. This will ensure they have the time to write down every piece of information they think is important in my lecture. This will also allow visual learners the opportunity to look closely at the visual examples provided during my lectures, and not simply focus on taking notes.

TC- Using Google Docs is a great technology for students to learn how to deduct information from a lecture. By providing inductive reasoning in my lectures, students have the opportunity to use deductive reasoning and apply what they heard in class and take notes AFTER the lecture. This allows students to learn how to reflect and infer what they think the most important ideas and concepts were in the lecture. By using Google Docs, students can they share their notes with classmates and reflect and learn from each other by collaborating on content notes. Also having access to the revision history of documents through Google docs, allows the teacher to see how students share information.
The sharing and collaborating feature of Google Docs is the feature of this technology that makes my content in my class more accessible. Students are allowed to share notes, compare notes, and collaborate on content outside of the classroom. Google Docs also gives students who are absent or not in school the chance to read other peers notes and watch and take notes on the content missed. This can be crucial for High School students because they tend to miss classes often.

 PC- The Pedagogy used for content knowledge in my solution is using inductive and deductive strategies through Google Docs. This way a student will be able to learn and grow to be expert note takers. They will be able to visualize the content inductively, and also deductively. This will build note taking skills by learning how to extract pertinent information from lectures.

 Wicked Part 1

Wicked Part 2

Wicked Part 3

Professional Learning Plan

Check out my Professional Learning Plan here.

Group Leadership Project

The High School group chose to present Weebly as our PD. Weebly is a user friendly free website building application that can be implemented easily, regardless if you are a technology person or not. Our group chose Weebly because we all felt that having a resource for our students to access videos, notes, homework assignments, and discussion outside of our classroom will allow everyone to stay on the same page. Many times High School students miss classes for various reasons, and reviewing and explaining to one or two students what the class did while they were absent seems like a waste of precious class time.
During the development of our final product, I learned that not all free programs online work well (conferencing on WebHuddle was disappointing), that even teachers need to stay organized and have clear directions of what they are trying to complete, and that never giving up through the struggles of technology based group work pays off.
If I had to develop a similar product again, what I would do differently would be have a specific portion or component of Weebly to focus on, instead of a complete overview. Maybe I would show how Weebly is used for a classroom website, and how students can benefit from having an online resource. This was definitely a learning experience, and has helped me to grow as a person both in my professional and personal life.  
Check out our tutorial all about Weebly for Education

Part B- Storyboard and Script

Our project is coming along well, and everybody is chipping in to do their part. I created a Document for our script and a Presentation so that we could all collaborate in one area. I wrote and created the slides for the presentation for the introduction to our technology, and then my portion on how to create content and links.
For the final presentation, we plan to record all of our specific areas of concentration using Jing, and include the audio of the script. We then are going to upload all the videos on a Weebly site that I created so that we can incorporate the actual technology into our presentation. I will also be recording the introduction and including it in my Jing upload of my portion. Then one group member is going to write and create slides for our conclusion, another will jazz up the actual Weebly site, and finally another will record and upload the conclusion using Jing and add it to our Weebly site. I have volunteered for the introduction portion of the presentation, and the other parts will be decided tomorrow at our online chat at 4pm on our Google Script document. The project is coming along well, and soon will be ready to share with the class!

Part D- Findings and Implications

My Wicked project of having students use Google Notebook as an alternate way to take notes outside of the classroom has continued to change along the way. I attempted to implement the two major components that are crucial for this to be a success 1. Have students register and open their school gmail accounts and 2. Have students learn how to create, and share a Google Doc (I was hoping that this would make the transition to using Google Notebook easier). Both of these components were implemented successfully to the majority of the 70 sophomores that took part in my project implementation. However this implementation did not have its bumps in the road. Many had difficulties using Google Docs (understanding and remembering how to share and who to share with) This lead me to the executive decision to abandon my original plan of using Google Notebook as the online note taking forum, to simply just using Google Docs. After realizing that it would be a lot less confusing to my students considering I had introduced them to using Google Docs. Trying to justify why I would have them use Google Notebook instead just did not seem like the most logical thing.

The problem of practice that I was addressing in my Wicked project, was that students were not able to listen to my lectures, take notes, look at visuals and comprehend the content exclusively in the classroom. The idea of giving my students access to my lectures (audio and video) online, and have them take notes through an online application was one way that I decided would aid in my problem of practice. I was very unsure of how my students would react to this. I was pleasantly surprised at their feedback and input during our in class discussion after I implemented the two major components of the project. Students responded positively to the idea of using an online journal. They even began to suggest other ways to use the online notebook that I hadn’t even thought of! Students were really excited to try this, and explained that if they were allowed to take notes online, after the lecture in class, that they would be able to participate in class discussions more. They indicated that using an online notebook would allow them to focus more on what I was saying in the lecture rather than what to write down. Also they told me that using an online notebook would be a great way to review the material outside of class. They also like that having my lectures online to listen and watch would be helpful if they were absent or out of class for the day. In my World History class, a lot of time, the lecture and discussions are the bulk of the content I give. We do not use a textbook, so having access to lectures they said would help them not fall behind.

If I were to start another project of this type, there is one major thing that I would do differently. I would start by asking my students for their input on a problem THEY feel needs to be addressed in my class. As teachers, we often think that we know what is best for our students, and that we have the “big picture” in mind when it comes to practice. After discussing my Wicked project with my students, and hearing their input and ideas, and struggles I had not even considered, I realized that THEY know what does and does not work for them. So by getting students ideas and input before I began to try to fix a problem of practice, I would ensure that what I was trying to fix would actually benefit my students.

Through this endeavor I have learned that you must be flexible and able to realize what is not working, and what is. For instance, I began this project wanting to use Google Notebook as the online note taking application. After implementing the project, and seeing student’s successes and difficulties, I came to the conclusion, that maybe Google Notebook was not the way to go. By allowing evolution as my project unfolded, I believe led me to a better solution in the end.

I will continue to have students use Google Docs in my class, not just for note taking purposes. I think if I were to try to implement this project again, I would first start off implementing a more simple idea or concept in my class. For example, I began this project wanting students to have an online forum to take notes outside the classroom. If I were to approach this project again, I would build up to this, implementing small steps towards the final goal. By starting small (simply creating a Google Doc) and continuing to build, I believe I can give my students a better understanding of the technology and all of its facets.

Overall this Wicked project allowed me to learn and grow as an educator, and has opened my eyes to what my students see in my classroom. It has also made me realize that trying to implement a specific technology in my class may not always go as planned, and being flexible is key!

Mobile Learning

I found it very interesting that teachers are actually embracing student’s cell phones and using them to their advantage. Some high schools that I have taught in actually had signal blockers that prevented students from even being able to use their cell phone at all. Others allowed students to use cell phones ONLY during passing time and lunch. I really like the idea of using cell phones in my classroom. I created an account on Poll Everywhere to see how I could implement cell phone use in my classroom for review games. I am really fascinated to try it out. The only problem that I might run into is maybe a student who doesn’t have a cell phone. I don’t want to isolate them or make them feel bad about not having one. Another issue I see as being a challenge is parents getting upset about cell phones being used in the classroom. Parents often do not see the big picture and or the reason behind what we do as teachers, so I see that it potentially could be an issue. Also, going against district policy or building policy might me tricky as well. I would definitely want to clear using cell phones in my classroom with administration before I started implementation. Classroom 2.0 is an awesome resource! I love reading about how other educators use cell phones in their classrooms, the more ideas the better! All and all, I am really excited to try using Poll Everywhere and cell phones in my classroom!

Part C- Implementation

Check out my Podcast!
Implementation