Reflective:
I approached the question quickfire process by starting with the guiding question: "Why is remote learning so much more difficult than in-person instruction?" Along this line of questioning for a continuous five-minutes, contextual inquiry led to significantly better questions (Berger, 2014, p. 97).
At the beginning of the exercise, I attempted to have completely different questions. However, as I began struggling, I started using "smart recombinations" of previous questions (Berger, 2014, p. 104). I began following a line of questioning regarding the different people that support remote learning, leading me to how the community could impact remote learning. Thinking about people within the community, opening up physical space or wi-fi access to help through remote learning led me down a different line of inquiry. Overall, the question quickfire process was a great exercise that I look forward to putting into practice in the future.
Technical: It was my first time creating a sketch note style video and is now another tool in my toolbox. I had the advantage of previously using iMovie software for video editing, allowing me to create a recorded screencast of Padlet question organization. Then I edited the speed of the question organization and overlaid my narration. Initially, I thought this was going to be much more complicated then it ended up being. The ease of creation makes this a viable option for me to use going forward. ReferencesBerger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA.
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To question is to be human. Paul Harris explains in A More Beautiful Question, “Unlike other primates, we humans are designed so that the young look to the old for cultural information” (Berger, 2014, p. 16). Questioning is part of human nature and is essential throughout our developmental process. Pre-school aged students begin asking questions to make sense of the world around them and seeking an answer that they are satisfied with (Berger, 2014, p. 42). As we gain access to technological resources, we find that the knowledge at our fingertips is immeasurable. What’s more important now is what it means to question. “There’s never been a better time to be a questioner…” (Berger, 2014, p. 28). As I approached this weeks assignment to write down continuous questions for five minutes on the topic of my professional practice. I centered my questions around, “Why is remote learning so much harder than in-person learning?" Today’s current climate in education and my experiences over the last three months of the school year, this question has been weighing heavily on me as Fall is quickly approaching. When considering questioning myself for five minutes straight, I thought it was going to be much more difficult than it actually was. In practice, my probing question gave me much to think about. This question of remote learning in the age of Covid-19 has been an issue that I have been concerned about for some time now. After reviewing my questions and how they developed, it is apparent that towards the end of the five minutes is when I made progress in my questioning. Most of what came out at first was top of mind for me, but it was as I kept digging that I found my questioning the most insightful. I began following a “How can [fill in the blank] support remote learning?” line of questioning. It was the question of, “How can the community support remote learning?” that shifted my thinking. It’s not a line of questioning that I’ve given much thought to. But as Berger explained, “You don’t learn unless you question” (Berger, 2014, p. 24). The conversation that has dominated the news cycle lately is putting such an onus on parents and schools. But, what about the community? What could the community do to help support these students? Could neighbors or local stores share wifi login for students that don’t have access? Could we take a community center approach more seriously to fill the void of food and health services that students so desperately need? I found this line of questioning lent itself to a more divergent way of thinking. As I was preparing to do this, I initially was going to use paper and pen. However, I felt that this would be a great opportunity to try a different piece of educational technology that I’ve heard about but never tried. I steered away from Padlet in the past because it is a paid platform and, not wanting to like it too much, stuck with free technology tools (Padlet, 2008). The free trial allowed me to test out some of its features without requiring me to pay. I found the amount of formatting features and ease of navigation to be clear affordances of this technology. A few constraints were its inability to quickly create a new note, requiring either to double click on the screen or click the plus button at the bottom of the screen. It’s a small thing but I wish there was a shortcut for this when attempting to stream consciousness. Another clear constraint is the price of using this service, which seems very high for what you are actually getting. Unless there are features that I am completely missing, it seems like most of these features can be found in free software.
References Padlet [Online Software]. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.padlet.com. Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. Bloomsbury. pg. 1-70. Link to Google Document
Nearly 85% of the school community identifies as Latinx. Seeing every student in the school as a computer science specials teacher poses many language challenges in my day-to-day instruction. Emergent Bilingual Learners (EBL) is a student population that I don’t feel my pre-service teacher preparation program spent enough time preparing me for. After reading “It’s Not Really My Job”: A Mixed Methods Framework for Language Ideologies, Monolingualism, and Teaching Emergent Bilingual Learners by Chris Bacon (2020) highlights how, especially pre-service teacher preparation programs, hold “[English] monolingualism as a language ideology in U.S. educational contexts.” I often felt inadequate in my ability and available resources to address issues that would arise in my classroom, especially with younger students.
From grades K-2nd, one classroom from each grade level was designated as a bilingual classroom but when students would come to my room they did not have the same language supports, in part because I do not know Spanish. While I was able to pick up certain words and phrases, it was not at all sufficient. There is also the added challenge of many students being pre-readers and not just simply being able to provide them with a text translation of my instruction. Both of these factors contributed to a significant challenge in my teaching. Using Google Translate on an iPad, could give my students the tool they need to better understand my instruction. While somewhat anecdotal evidence, research from Benjamin Van Praag and Hugo Santiago Sanchez (2015) illustrates a general educators negative outlook on the individual student’s use of mobile devices in classrooms. Their findings are consistent with my experiences in the classroom but the Google Translates capability of conversational translation could significantly change the classroom. For this to be done successfully it will require a great degree of scaffolding and targeted interventions for students that need it. However, I can foresee many teachers and parents arguing for full language immersion as the only way to get EBL students up to speed. I caution this argument on the basis of a productive struggle. As an educator, we are tasked with providing our students with what they need to be successful. Some students may benefit from a full language immersion approach but, there will be students that need added supports that Google Translate use in the classroom can provide. References Bacon, C. K. (2020). “It’s Not Really My Job”: A Mixed Methods Framework for Language Ideologies, Monolingualism, and Teaching Emergent Bilingual Learners. Journal of Teacher Education, 71(2), 172–187. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487118783188 Google Inc. (2016). Google Translate Logo [png]. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Google_Translate_Icon.png Van Praag, B., & Sanchez, H. S. (2015). Mobile technology in second language classrooms: Insights into its uses, pedagogical implications, and teacher beliefs. ReCALL : The Journal of EUROCALL,27(3),288-303. doi: http://dx.doi.org.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/10.1017/S0958344015000075 |
AuthorMy name is Ryan MacLeod and I live in Seattle, WA. I am currently a K-8 Lab Coordinator. I have a passion for educational technology integration and curriculum design, especially when it comes to the social sciences. Archives
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