My final reflections....

This is going to be a rather long post, so my apologies in advance...

What have I learned in this course to further my own technology integration?

While I’ve been introduced to various new Web 2.0 tools (Animoto might be my favorite - I really enjoyed creating the Recycling Relay video), I think that the fact that I created and maintained a blog and participated in a professional learning network are, by far, the biggest accomplishments.

While I still have some concerns about my privacy, I’ve found the experience to be helpful both personally and professionally. Maintaining a blog has helped me appreciate some of the ways I’ve already integrated technology into my classroom (and I like reading the kudos in comments).

Reading my classmates blogs and looking at their projects has influenced me. Two examples:

Andrea’s final project using The Cay started a discussion with the Grade 5 teachers about using a dusty, unused class set of the novels for next year. Since we have Grade 5 students reading at a middle school level already, they can utilize her unit as a way of integrating technology into their classrooms for Chapter 11 of the novel.

Dan’s Prezi on digital citizenship made me consider how I had designed my own Prezi, and over the summer, I’ll be modifying my own presentation as I give it “more meat.” After looking at his Prezi, even though he considered it basic, I thought mine needed more substance; however, I have no plans to drop some of the Korean cultural references in my own (since it’s important for the new teachers to be aware of these facets of culture).

How far have I come?

Part of me is pleased with what I was already doing within my classroom. When I look back to my first blog post, and I think about how I was kicking myself for not feeling as though I was doing enough, I realize that this is a gradual process. But I’m starting to appreciate the idea of maintaining a PLN, especially when I feel as though I need to do more to understand Korean culture and language, and my role as a principal.

I already give parents and my students some access to my classroom through my Weebly website, but now it’s time to take things to the next level. I need to feel comfortable with them accessing my blog as I express some of my ideas. I still won’t have a Facebook account, especially with all of the data mining going on, but if I want the students to be responsible digital citizens, then I need to model responsible blogging.

How I’m going to apply what I've learned in this course within my profession (and since I believe we should integrate technology into the classroom, this is how I plan to work with my teachers to implement enhanced integration).

As the new elementary school principal, I plan to post some questions from The Connected Educator, (from page 144) on my school blog (and office wall). When I’m having conversations with teachers and parents, I want the focus to remain on ways to answer these questions.

Nussbaum-Beach and Hall suggested that we think about:

What principled changes should we be making to our classrooms to ensure that we are developing in students the skills sets they will need as they face future challenges?

Creating more opportunities for student-centered learning is key.

Are we preparing kids for yesterday, today, or tomorrow?

The mission of KIS is to promote preparing kids for tomorrow through English education (the new global lingua franca), and through project-based learning activities utilizing Web 2.0 tools and a 1 to 1 laptop program.

Are current classroom techniques helping those we teach become future scientists, technologists, and imagineers who will solve the social ills of the society of the future?

I would say that the Service Learning component to the curriculum is one way that my school tries to help kids think more globally.

How can we collectively advocate best for needed policy changes that will enable our teachers and students to engage in connected, authentic learning?

I think forming a PLN within the elementary school will be a big step towards helping teachers advocate (and share) ideas about authentic learning.

How can we help our students be ready to learn using tools we cannot yet imagine?

I would say that if students have strong basic communication skills (reading, writing, and digital), they can adapt and teach themselves.

And so, in conclusion, I'd just like to say that it's been an interesting, and at times challenging, journey. I'm glad I took this course. I came along at the right time for me in my professional life.

My Personal Learning Network...Baby Steps

Angela Maier's blog talks about what people can do when they feel as though they are drowning in social media. And to a certain extent, during this CE5160 course, I felt like I was drowning at times. It was tough to keep up with my readings, my assignments, my blog entries, reading classmates' blogs, commenting, and trying to build a personal learning network at a moment in my career where I am making a transition from the classroom to the front office.

But as I consider the Personal Learning Network I tried to establish,  I will follow Maier's suggestions:

Find your friends. There are literally hundreds of millions of people occupying this space.  The key to your success is finding people most relevant to you. Go slow, chose these friends and fans wisely as they will become your most important asset in this new world.

Chose three (3) tools that maximize your productivity and ensure you are getting what you need from the network.There are hundreds of tools, but when building your base, less is often more.

Finally, commit to three (3) actions; steps that you will repeat and sustain every day until they become action-based habits.

Go slow, and choose wisely. Based on a suggestion from Professor Tufts, I added Connected Principals to my Feedly feed. The benefits of having this site as part of my PLN is the diverse group of contributing principals. In their own words: This blog is the shared thoughts of school administrators that want to share best practices in education. All of the authors have different experiences in education but all have the same goal; what is best for students.

And as I step into my new role as principal, I've also considered how living and working in the Global Education City has isolated me, somewhat, from Korean culture and the language. It is the point of the GEC to give students an English-only environment, but I feel that I'm missing out on Korean life and culture.

I realize that I acquired more Spanish speaking skills in the first two years I lived in south Texas than I have acquired Korean language skills in the two years I've been here. I think that as a principal, it's important that I learn to better communicate with parents and not just rely on the office staff to translate. And so I've also added two sites to my PLN that relate to Korean language and culture.

To help me learn Korean (in baby steps), I'm going to rely on Talk to Me in Korean, a blog recommended by some colleagues, and one that I've just discovered in the past couple of weeks.
And to better relate to the students, I've found Eat Your Kimchi, which should help me better navigate the world of KPop, especially since the Grade 4 and 5 students are so consumed with these groups.

Here's a sample from Eat Your Kimchi, just so that you can see that I can get a quick idea of what is going on with one of the groups the students follow...

And as for blogging, I think after this course, I'm going to make some changes to this blog (or just start another) that will focus on my role as a principal as I try to navigate between two cultures. There is a good book, Confucius Meets Piaget, by Jonathan Borden, and even a blog associated with it (although not really updated, and so not very helpful for an on-going PLN) my colleagues and I will be discussing at the new teacher orientation at the beginning of August. I think, perhaps, that this will be a new starting point for me. Perhaps I will call my blog Prugh Meets Confucius and Piaget?

Working away at my final project...

This is not my official Week 9 blog post, but rather a chance to get some feedback.

I've started on my final project, and I am considering using Go!Animate (Professor Tufts suggested this site for an Animation class I want the ES students to take during Activity time next year).

This is what I managed to create...Students will have limited time in the tech lab, so I think 90-120 seconds should be adequate time for a video as part of a collaborative effort.

Any comments from my classmates (or professor) at this stage of the lesson plan process would be appreciated.


Intro to Culture Week Project by byronprugh on GoAnimate

Watching a Webinar

I decided I wanted to watch a webinar which would be useful for my professional development, especially since we have a two day holiday for Buddha's birthday (May 17, 2013) and my school scheduled a Professional Development day on Teacher Appreciation Day (May 15th in South Korea). I also decided a prerecorded webinar made the most sense for me since I there is an eleven to fourteen hour time difference between the USA and South Korea.               

Image from https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSldLPMNXcFIkR1KpDtuGisE28FqtIoBOmvjaST-EDJ9V5FDgu5

I'd had some prior experience with a prerecorded BrainPop webinar for educators (I watched how to use the Mixer to make my own personalized quizzes, and I also shared this experience in an earlier blog post). One of my frustrations with the quiz mixer, though, was that if I wanted the students to report their results, they would either have to email me the results, take the test in my presence in the Mac lab, or print a copy of their score. But now that I've become more proficient in Google Drive, I wanted to take my tech knowledge to the next level.

And so I watched: BrainPOP and Google Apps for Education. In order to view this webinar, though, you need to be a BrainPOP educator. Rather than force people reading this blog to sign up (especially if your school does not have a BrainPOP license), I'll just have to have faith that the people reading this blog will not completely abuse my trust, and I'll let people log in using my ID and password. You'll need to email me for the info. And unless you change the password on me, I'll reset the password at the end of CE5160.

The webinar was INCREDIBLY useful! It was originally recorded in January 2013, and it was very timely. Andrew Gardner, a Senior Manager for BrainPOP Educators, guided me step by step through the process of integrating Google apps, and the lesson on directly collecting quiz scores in a spreadsheet (very useful data) was probably the best gem in the program. I can't wait to share this with my colleagues at work on Wednesday during our PD time.

BrainPOP integrates with Google docs so that a spreadsheet is generated with the names of the students, their first, second, and last scores on the quiz (since they can take the assessment multiple times), and sorts the tests by the tabs at the bottom of the page. This will save me tons of time as a teacher, and it puts all of the information in one spreadsheet rather than creating a new document for each quiz.

A key difference in this recorded webinar, as opposed to a live webinar, is my ability to stop the recording in order to actually follow through with what the presenter, in this case, Andrew, was discussing. In a live event, I'd just be taking notes. Plus I find I can become distracted by the side chats occurring simultaneously. 

I think that this webinar relates to two of the course objectives for CE5160.

• Design and implement digitally-based learning experiences with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments.

The BrainPOP Mixer quizzes are a fantastic way for me to quickly assess my students' understanding of a topic. For example, this week, as part of the Social Studies lesson, I am going to discuss citizenship (which can be a challenge). In addition to the textbook reading, I plan to use the BrainPOPJr. video which ties into citizenship, Rights and Responsibilities.

Then, when we head to the Mac lab in the afternoon, my students will take a quiz I made with the Mixer. I should know before the students leave for the Buddha's birthday break how well they understand the Social Studies concepts.

• Use knowledge of digital tools and technology applications to facilitate experiences that advance learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

Since my students will have a five day break from school, I want to be able to give them a few videos to watch. Thankfully, all of my students have access to the Internet at home (this is South Korea, after all!), and I can ask them to watch a few videos over the break which will reinforce some of the concepts we have covered in Science class relating to matter and energy, light and sound. So I don't have to be face-to-face with my students for them to take some responsibility for their learning over the break. 

Then, with just a quick check of the BrainPOP spreadsheet tabs on Sunday evening, I'll know who took the quizzes, how many times they took the quiz, and their scores. I couldn't be happier! Although a little part of me wishes I'd known about this sooner, perhaps I would not have been mentally ready to embrace the technology before now. Kudos to BrainPOP and Google!

Project Based Learning and My Role as a Teacher/Principal

Wow! Yet another example of how my Connected Educator class is timely in terms of my professional life. I'm meeting with parents on May 14th to discuss the new schedule for next year, so I had to redesign the schedule.

As luck would have it, Chapter 8 in the textbook also talked about what principals could do to improve collaboration amongst colleagues at school. I gave it a great deal of thought.

So, based on the schedule I created, a Grade 3 teacher would have a schedule that looks like this...

And it creates many opportunities for collaboration. It's not going to create a full integrated Project Based Learning environment yet, but next year is only my first year as the ES principal, and I need to take things in baby steps rather than completely trying to rock the boat in my first year. I'll save that for year two to give the veteran teachers some time to adjust, and to get the new teachers on board.

What I like about this 3rd Grade schedule is that the Language Arts block is a common time for the Grades 1, 2, and 3 teachers to create leveled classrooms (based on reading levels) as part of a  Literacy block. This Literacy block is something we've done for the past two years at my school, and most of the students see a two-grade level increase in their reading level over the course of one school year. There are two class periods a week where the Tech teacher can come into the classroom (or the students can use the Mac lab) to team-teach a lesson. I also want one of the mandatory Activity lessons to be a 9 week course called "Animation" so that students can experiment with different Web 2.0 tools in an enrichment class.

Every other week, the Music and Art teachers can teach an integrated class (something we had in the schedule two years ago, and I missed it this year). An integrated lesson in Music might tie in reading notes with fractions, or in Art, students could sculpt landforms out of play dough (one of my favorite projects). And in addition to time to meet or plan after school, there are two periods per week for the Grades 1, 2, and 3 teachers to collaborate during a planning period. As they learn to better collaborate, it should make the transition into PBL easier.

I'm really proud of this schedule, and the fact that it was my first major document I created using Google Spreadsheet. The CE 5160 coursework (again!) proved timely. I'm also optimistic that it will give teachers better opportunities to create a Project Based Learning environment since one of the fundamental tenets of PBL is collaboration (by both teachers and students).

In this blog, I've already given a few examples of how I worked with my Grade 1 and 2 colleagues to develop a "limited PBL" with the lower ES students during Service Learning and Leading Week in March. The Grades 2 and 3 teachers collaborated with the Grade 1 colleague on Google docs since she was confined to a room at Halla Hospital; however, the week was limited, in part, because it was only a week (time) and it doesn't adequately meet all of the requirements of the the Essential Elements checklist developed by BIE. These elements include: Focus on Significant Content, Develop 21st Century Skills, Engage Students in In-Depth Inquiry, Organize Tasks Around a Driving Question, Establish a Need to Know, Encourage Voice and Choice, Incorporate Revision and Reflection, Include a Public Audience.

Our essential question asked: Why do we recycle? And as a way to guide student teams, we organized several activities both within and outside of the school.

Students researched and created lapbooks on the cycle of life and conservation.  (Significant Content)

Students raced to sort items between recyclables and contaminants. (Organize Tasks Around a Driving Question)

 Student teams created Keynotes on recycling after developing a template in their Korean Social Studies class.  (Develop 21st Century Skills)

Students designed and created recycling boxes with the Art teacher. (Encourage Voice and Choice)

We visited the Asia Climate Change Education Center on Jeju. (In-Depth Inquiry)

 

Students went with the Music teacher (and chaperones) to a play about recycling at North London Collegiate School. (Encourage a Public Audience - at least NLCS managed this).

And we established Friday as a day for revision and reflection, but again, it was too rushed and limited. We gave the students some choice about what information they could include in their lapbooks and Keynotes, but no choice in the medium. The same was true for their Recycling box images and messages. And while parents saw some of the projects the students produced when they visited on Parent/Teacher Conference Day, there was not a much larger public audience. It just happened to work out that the NLCS play, Planet Plenty (written by one of the teachers), tied into Recycling/Conservation; that wasn't planned. We were just trying to have an activity with a neighboring school.

After the week, though we did notice a change in the behavior of the students. They have fewer problems resolving issues on the playground, rarely complain when they are assigned to a mixed group (by age or sex), and display more care about their classroom environment (picking up trash, sorting recyclables).

It's not that we didn't try, but part of the problem is that we are only given a week for this part of the curriculum; I plan to rectify this next year by adding an additional week to Service Learning "Week" and giving the students an opportunity to collaborate with a group of students from, of all places, Oklahoma (Where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain)!

As I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for a final project for my CE5160 class, I received an email out of the blue from a teacher in Oklahoma asking if we could collaborate on a project for her school's culture week next year. Apparently, there is a large enough Korean minority in the school that the teachers there want to find a way to integrate some of the curriculum into their lives. Since one of the teachers spent 10 years in Japan, she just searched on the web through ISS (International School Services) for a school which might collaborate, and lo and behold, after several exchanges of email, we're on the path to a flat classroom project.

Over the next few years, I'd like to develop a broader, project based learning program for the school, but I recognize that this won't happen overnight. I'll include Eric Isselhardt's blog in the new professional learning network I am developing for my role as a principal. I'm already considering his advice from his post on Creating Schoolwide PBL Aligned to Common Core.

He says: We know that without excellent classroom management, project-based learning efforts devolve to classroom chaos. In addition, we are still grappling with how to best prepare our students to be successful in a project-based learning environment when they have difficulty working together cooperatively. As we move the school closer to a true project-based learning paradigm, we are actively working as a team to address those core issues.

I'll heed his words, and start promoting cooperative group work and strong classroom management.

Digital Citizenship at my school

It's been an interesting week at school, and I'm amazed how my (soon to be) new life as an administrator (ES Principal) is tying into this Connected Educator course. I have to say that both Frontline documentaries affected me in different ways. 

In Growing Up Online, I could only think about how sorry I felt for Cam, the high school student with an overprotective mother. I thought back to my life in high school, and how happy I was to move 1,000 miles away from home when it was time for college. 

And while the video warned that some images might be inappropriate for children, I certainly felt awkward watching this documentary at Tom and Tom's (a coffee shop). South Korea censors the Internet and tries to block anything deemed pornographic, and at one point, I had to turn my computer to hide images of Autumn Edows. My concern was that a patron would see what was on the laptop and make a huge fuss.

In the Digital Nation follow up documentary, I immediately recognized the PC bongs in South Korea before the narrator even identified them. I noticed that the documentary did not cover the censorship of the Web that happens in South Korea, nor that if the Korean government really wanted to, it could try to block access to online games. And online gaming addiction is a real concern at my school. 

Since students in Grades 5 and up use MacBooks as part of the 1 to 1 laptop program, they have access to their computers all the time. During lunch, snack, and between classes, some groups of boys will just sit on the hallway floors and play League of Legends, a role-playing game (RPG) similar to World of Warcraft which was highlighted in the documentary. 

And students certainly use the computer to check their hair (also shown in the video) as well as engage in bullying online (using local social sites like Naver). These are real, everyday issues at my school. Consequences included taking away student MacBooks and cell phones, but students have tried to find ways around these restrictions. Boarding students must hand in their laptops and cell phones at 10:00 PM every night (they are locked in a cabinet in their dorm common room), but some students filled their laptop cases with paper notebooks rather than the computer itself, and others just had a second cell phone (or tablet/device to access the Internet) hidden in their bedrooms, and they'd stay up many hours after bedtime to play games or chat.

But the control has mostly been punitive, and these devices are seen as "problems" rather than tools. There has been a greater emphasis on educating students about choices they can make, but all the MacBooks now have monitoring software installed so that the IT Department can view student screens at any time.

Middle school students hated seeing me in the study hall room last year because they knew I had caught their peers trying to Skype or play RPGs during homework; moving around the room, being aware of students rapidly clicking on certain keys, and with a simple use of Command-Tab in order to see all programs running on a computer (since screens can be changed so quickly), any teacher can monitor a study hall session. But prevention isn't about just establishing a reputation, it's also about being pro-active and talking to students about your expectations for their use of the Internet/technology.

Next year, my goal for the elementary school will be to inform students how to make good choices through an Integrated Tech class period, and for teachers to make sure they are moving around their classrooms and in the tech lab while students are using school-provided iPads and computers.

In my classroom and school, I will say that just like in the video of South Korean children, students are learning to use the computer at the same time they are learning to read and write (we just don't sing the netiquette song in Korean...we are an English-medium school after all). Although we start in Grade 1 with digital etiquette rather than wait until Grade 2.

In my Digital Citizenship Prezi, I used examples from my Grade 3 class to discuss ways that my students practice the NETS (National Educational Technology Standards).

My students are learning to cite information and summarize it rather than just cutting and pasting.

My students are using gaggle.net email accounts to collaborate on a Social Studies project with their pen pals in Florida.

My students use iPad applications both individually and as teams, and one of the most memorable moments of the year was when North London Collegiate School students visited and the students used Bluster to compete with their peers from a neighboring school. 

They had tons of fun learning and challenging each other.

Using the iPads on the beanbags.

And I was also very proud of the two boys who notified me at different times during the school year when they found inappropriate images as part of a search they were conducting. Even with filters, not every possible bad image is blocked. But these boys knew that they found something wrong, and rather than bring it to the attention of the entire class, or giggle uncontrollably, they just signaled me quietly, and calmly said, "I think there is a bad image, and I know I will not use it in my Keynote."

I think this ties into the idea that we need to give kids some credit. Rather than live in fear of sexual predators trying to lure kids into danger, teach kids to make responsible choices. My 3rd graders know what is bad, and they can choose to delete it or ignore it.

So, for the new teacher orientation in August, I will need to inform the new faculty about ways students are making good and bad choices with their computers. The Prezi assignment for this week was VERY helpful because I've started considering how I want to discuss digital citizenship with the staff. I don't feel as though my Prezi is quite ready for a faculty meeting, but rather, it's a working document that I will tweak before I actually present it; I'm just excited that my classwork ties nicely into something I already need to do for work.

Prezi on Digital Citizenship