Misconceptions of a 1:1 Classroom

Photo Credit: Kai Schreiber 

Maybe I should have a sign that hangs outside my door: "These aren't the droids you're looking for."

In my school, I am the only one who teaches with 1:1 devices in an academic content area, and it has come to my attention that some believe my students must sit in front of their screens all period, typing away at their keyboards in silence and never talking to each other.

Perhaps this is my fault.  After all, I shared that I don't subscribe to the "sage on the stage" philosophy, that I'm a facilitator of learning, and that my students work hard every day to create content, not just consume it.  I told them that my students use their Chromebooks every day in my class.  Intensely.

To them, it means that my students are zombies, sitting in invisible cubicles, deprived of their ability to practice their social skills.

To me, it means that my classroom is a vibrant, noisy place where students are analyzing text (loudly), leading their own discussions (verbally and online), and constructing meaning among themselves (animatedly).

My students write to explain, deconstruct, reflect, and argue their viewpoints.  They use web 2.0 tools to collaborate on projects and create multimedia presentations.  They present in front of the class to share their findings.  They stand by their Chromebooks at their team tables, showcasing their Google slides while other students circulate around the room listening to their poster-style presentations.

My students blog with the world, and they're building their ePortfolios using Google Sites.  While they work, they are far from quiet, as they are regularly asked to view each other's work, give each other feedback, and compete against each other in teams.  Peer editing and peer nominations are encouraged and required in my classroom.

My students are prolific writers, intellectual thinkers, and inquisitive learners.  No, they are not droids, and using technology in my class will never turn them into robots.

My Google-Powered Classroom

Students in my class working on their Chromebooks
Copyright 2013 Alice Chen

This year we deployed Google Apps for Education for all staff and students in my district, and I was given the opportunity to pilot 1:1 Chromebooks in my classroom.  To say that I am ecstatic is to put it mildly.

Why? Because Google Apps and Chromebooks are truly a winning combination.  First of all, Google Apps for Education (GAFE) is entirely free for schools and districts.  Secondly, Chromebooks are inexpensive and with the Management Console, very easy to manage.  Paired together, it is a good solution for schools on a tight budget.  For me, it gave me the means to put a device into the hands of all my students and the ability to bring my classroom into the 21st Century.

Yes, I understand that Chromebooks are largely Internet-dependent and are not laptop equivalents.  At the same time, everything I need my students to create in an English language arts classroom could be accomplished with web applications - and the 10 seconds it takes to boot up these devices are probably less time than how long it usually takes for students to unpack their backpacks and take out their learning materials.

We've only been using Chromebooks for a couple of months, but here are some ways in which Google Apps have made my classroom more efficient, collaborative, and rigorously demanding.

My students use Google Docs to...

• Work on a project together - Its real-time, group collaboration capability is fantastic.  Students love seeing their contributions fly across the page alongside their peers.
• Brainstorm and organize ideas together - Students use one document to build on each other's ideas and knowledge.
• Peer edit each other's work - Students invite their peers into their documents, and these extra pairs of eyes are extremely helpful in pinpointing simple grammatical and mechanical errors.
• Collaboratively annotate a text together - Students read short texts in groups and insert comments as they read, asking each other for clarification and posting analytical questions to scaffold each other's understanding.
• Motivate each other - All my students' work are "public" within my classroom.  By expanding beyond a one-teacher readership, my students have learned to step up their game.  I regularly ask for peer nominations on assignments, and students love to be nominated and recognized in this way.

My students are using Google Slides and Google Drawings to...

• Create multimedia presentations
• Design their own computer graphics for projects
• Publish digital books
• Generate mind maps and organize information
• Create flow charts and understand organizational structure

My students are building Google Sites to...

• Showcase their work and share it with their friends and families
• Write to an authentic audience
• Embed multimedia on webpages
• Learn digital citizenship and create a web persona

With Google Apps, my students are far more prolific than those from previous years.  It is very motivating for students to produce work for a larger audience.  The collaborative nature of Google Apps is what sets this suite of web tools apart from the competition.  It's only been a couple of months, but my students and I are having a great time.   And this is just the beginning.

Flipped Learning Served with a Side of Fun

You’re ready to flip your classroom. You’ve seen it done with the usual tools and methods – screencasts, teacher-created videos, Khan Academy, or other curated videos. But what if you could flip your lesson in a fun and humorous way?

Instead of filming myself explaining a concept, I prefer to use the colorful and unique characters from GoAnimate for Schools to do it for me. For example, when reading Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” my students encounter quite a bit of irony in the story. I can make a presentation slideshow and add a voiceover, but that’s just not my style. I’d much rather rely on GoAnimate for Schools’ myriad of interesting characters to create a more engaging lesson.

However, if I ended my lesson with just the animated video, then I’ve only accomplished half of my goal. Where’s the inquiry, the collaboration, the discussion, or life of the lesson?

In many flipped classrooms, teachers assign a video for students to watch for homework and sometimes they include some form of teacher-driven assessment to hold students accountable. In my classroom, I teach my students to collaboratively find the answers through self-directed inquiry.

Enter GoAnimate and Schoology – a more exciting way to flip your classroom.

Schoology is my Learning Management System of choice, and it’s a perfect platform where I can seamlessly embed my GoAnimate videos. Because I want my students to discuss and question what they’re learning, I prefer to post flipped learning materials under Schoology’s discussion forum. After watching a short and funny GoAnimate clip that explains a new concept, my students can demonstrate their understanding by posting directly underneath the video. They can ask questions about what they just watched or explore ideas beyond what was covered in the video. The key is to train students to do this, and once they master this skill, they will amaze you with their answers.

With the GoAnimate for Schools app on Schoology, you’re not just flipping with videos. You’re now flipping the learning by giving students a chance to engage and explore together on a platform built for social learning.

After watching my GoAnimate video on irony, my students were astonished to discover I had created it. When I told them that they will be making some of their own animation videos, they cheered – literally. My students can’t wait to take the learning into their hands. Thanks, GoAnimate, for another successful lesson!

This post is also published on GoAnimate Educator Experiences blog.

Don't Just Flip with Videos. Flip the Learning

One of the hottest trends in education these days is the flipped classroom model. Teachers would assign instructional videos for students to watch for homework, which allows the teacher more time to work on other learning activities in the classroom the next day.  Some teachers also assign questions for students to answer to prove that the student has indeed watched the video.

Is this enough?  Is this innovation?

This is still a teacher-centered classroom, where the questions are driven by the teacher.  This is not new pedagogy.  It's simply moving the geographical location of the lesson from the classroom to the home with the help of technology.

Even Jon Bergmann, one of the first pioneers of the flipped classroom model, will argue in "The Flipped Class: Myths vs. Reality" that this method isn't just about watching the video.  He explained that it's "an environment where students take responsibility for their own learning" and that it's a "blending of direct instruction with constructivist learning."

So how can you flip the learning to the student?

Instead of the teacher providing the questions as accompaniment to the video, teach your students how to ask critical thinking questions that will drive the learning into their own hands.  Assign the video, but also embed it on a platform that will allow students to actively discuss the material they watched with each other.

If students are passively watching the video and simply answering questions that only the teacher will read, they are missing out on an opportunity to explore, question, and challenge their knowledge.  They are missing out on an opportunity to learn from each other.

There are many web tools and learning management systems that do a great job of hosting your flipped learning materials.  My platform of choice is Schoology.  To read more about why, view my post "Why I Chose Schoology Over All the Rest."

So the next time you assign a video for homework, consider creating an environment where all students can actively engage in the learning.

This post is also published on GoAnimate's Educator Experiences blog.

A Little Known Script Called formMule

If you're a Google Forms ninja, then you've probably experimented with scripts.  If you haven't, then you should definitely give them a try.

In July of 2013, I presented a session called "Let Google Sites Be Your Digital Assistant" at the Google Apps for Education Summit in Redwood City.  Here's the description of my workshop:

School websites are typically created to share information with parents and students.  But what about the teachers?  Learn how to use Google Sites to let teachers schedule their own computer lab hours or to check out mobile carts.  Sites could also be used to share professional development resources or to disseminate information to your school staff.  In this hands-on session, you’ll learn how Google Sites can be an efficient digital assistant when powered by Calendars, Forms, and the script FormMule to automate many administrative tasks.

I love FormMule (a script written by the legendary Andrew Stillman), and I use it to schedule appointment slots in Google Calendar (handy if you don't have a GAFE account) or if you want to trigger email notifications from a Google Form.  This is a great script to try in you want to venture into the world of scripts.

Is Technology Just a Tool?

Recently, I had a conversation with someone about using technology in the classroom. Though it was acknowledged that students should learn with technology, the conclusion drawn was this. Technology is just a tool.

I think this could be true, depending on what type of teacher one is describing. Teaching with technology just to be cool, modern, or hip is not good pedagogy. However, to downgrade technology to being just a tool misses the point as well.

Could I perform my job without technology? I'm not the type of teacher who teaches straight out of a book. Whenever I come across something that I think I can use in the classroom, I'm always adapting it, revising it, and trying to improve it. It's hopeless. I can't stop tinkering.

I prefer to create my own teaching materials. Even now, after teaching for over 18 years, I still constantly revise my own teaching documents and presentation files -- sometimes from one class to the next because I want to give my students the best work I can produce. So could I effectively do this part of my job without technology?  No.

What about research and learning? Without the Internet, I couldn't look for new literature, author biography, current events, or digital media with which to supplement my lessons.  For example, one year, I decided to augment my "Flowers for Algernon" unit with medical articles about disabilities to help my students appreciate the challenges of living with a disability. Prior to the invention of the Internet, I would have never thought about doing this because I didn't have the resources.

So how do my students benefit from a technology-rich curriculum?

Having access to technology has enabled my students to write for a global audience. As a result of blogging, my students are far more prolific than those from my previous years, and they also have the added advantage of being able to connect with other students around the world through Quadblogging.  This has shown them that the world is bigger than they realized, giving them glimpses of other cultures to which they previously wouldn't have been exposed.

Having access to technology has enabled my students to participate in the Mystery State Project and to have had the opportunity to Skype with a State Senator. We're finally able to bring the world into our classroom.

Having access to technology has enabled my students to create more digital media projects like video animations, live action movies, still photography, comic strips, and podcasts to name a few. These projects taught them how to be creative and collaborative. They learned the importance of revising their work and the necessity of observing copyright laws when choosing their media. They were also more engaged during the learning process.

Could my students learn without technology? Yes. But did technology elevate my students' learning to new heights? Without a doubt.

Like it or not, technology is immersed in our lives - in our homes, at our jobs, and out in the world.

Would you run a company without technology? Then why would you run a school without it?

How Common Core Will Propel Schools into the 21st Century

I have always believed that my job as an educator is to prepare my students to be successful in the world beyond high school.  To me, that meant developing critical thinkers, teaching career-transferable skills, and nurturing an appreciation for humanity in my students.

I believe that some of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects emphasize the same goals I envisioned for students when I first started teaching almost 20 years ago.  I also believe that technology is the gateway through which these goals will be met.

Here are some CCSS that recognizes the importance of technology in the classroom.

1.  "Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting."

These standard could easily be met through the use of Google Docs.  To publish their writing, students could write blogs, create websites, and collaborate on wikis.

2.  "Conduct short research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question), drawing on several sources and generating additional related, focused questions that allow for multiple avenues of exploration."

Teach students how to Google Search properly and how to discern valid sources would be perfect here.

3.  "Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following a  standard format for citation."

Students need to learn how to use the Internet for more than just social networking and gaming.  Exposing them to quality journalism, online news and other similar media are crucial in their development as critical thinkers and well-informed, responsible citizens.  Learning how to properly give attribution to not just the written text found on the Internet, but also the plethora of images published online, is just as important.

4.  "Integrate multimedia and visual displays into presentations to clarify information, strengthen claims and evidence, and add interest."

Teaching students how to use presentation software like Google Slides, Keynote, or PowerPoint not only meets Common Core Standards but is also an important career skill.  Here, they can build upon the skills gained in #3 above and incorporate that information into their presentations.

5.  "Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech."

Many online dictionaries like Merriam-Webster and Dictionary.com can easily serve this purpose.  Chances are your students already use them so this standard is easy to meet.

6.  More informational text is expected to be taught across all disciplines now which "includes the subgenres of exposition, argument, and functional text in the form of personal essays, speeches, opinion pieces, essays about art or literature, biographies, memoirs, journalism, and historical, scientific, technical, or economic accounts (including digital sources) written for a broad audience."

What better way to prepare students for life in the real world than to expose them to more nonfiction writing, which includes the various media outlets that adults access on a regular basis like CNN, The Wall Street Journal, or National Geographic?

7.  "Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table)."

By practicing #6 above, students will naturally come across the various forms of infographics that are used in the world today.

8.  "Compare and contrast the information gained from experiments, simulations, video, or multimedia sources with that gained from reading a text on the same topic."

Need an excuse to use YouTube in the classroom?  Here it is.

9.  "Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and present the relationships between information and ideas clearly and
efficiently."

Since my students blog with the world, this one is one of my favorites.  Blogging has truly motivated my students to explore their written creativity.  Read my post "For the Love of Blogging" to learn more.

I'm excited about what Common Core will bring.  I think the standards truly reflect what it means to be a 21st century learner.  Let me know what you think below.