Field Experience Report

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For my field experience report, I was fortunate enough to interview Patti Sullivan. Patti Sullivan is a dedicated educator who has vast experience teaching technology to university and middle school students. She has a M.ed at Plymouth State University and served as a director of their technology program. She currently teaches students at the Derry Cooperative School District and at Southern New Hampshire University. Please find below a list of questions that I asked Patti about her experience. Her response is recorded after each question.

 

 1. How long have you been teaching technology to students for?
In a perfect world, everyone would use technology to enhance student learning.  I am fortunate enough to combine Technology Standards on a daily basis in my Computer Technology Classroom (grades 6-8 and in undergraduate and graduate teachings at Southern NH University). 

 

 

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2. Do you do a diagnosis of students' knowledge and ability to use technology in your first class with them? Do you think conducting such an assessment can be useful? Why or why not?
When you can use a pre-assessment in teaching it clarifies the learning path.  I often explain to students, "If your share what we know right now, we can move forward in a more direct manner."  Specifically I've used Google Forms and the Google Add-On called Flubaroo to share the pretest, Flubaroo grades the pre assessment for me and the students receive an email of their results immediately (as long as you ask for the email within the survey).  Another tool to use would be Roobric and Doctopus.
 

 

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3. Do you find it necessary to devote class time to ethical and social issues such as digital citizenship or digital foot printing? Why or why not?
Teaching is centered on student growth, and that means not just within your content area.  Particularly in Middle School when students are learning to apply their elementary grade knowledge, students must prepare to apply safety to their digital lives.  Simply in my classroom my students make their own Class Rules (they meet some standards while standing up and getting total buy-in from their fellow students and then they have to follow the Class Rules they've created).  My added rule is usually, "Use the Grandmother's Friend filter"  This means every piece of work (email, project etc.) has to receive insight or joy from their so-called grandmother's friend!  Hopefully this points them away from some of the dark and stormy things using social media.  Of course, I'm of the age that I could be their grandmother's friend so it seems to work out.

 

  

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4. Do you find students eager, intimidated, or indifferent about using technology in class? How do you deal with these different "attitudes"?
Using technology uses skills yet also takes lots of time to figure things out.   I'm certain my students feel they are skilled however haven't used much time to learn more.  It's refreshing when I show students Bloom Taxonomy (see attachments and http://julietovar.edublogs.org/files/2011/05/blooms-taxonomy-1k4snjn.JPG)  and let them know I expect them not to reside in the base level of "recall."  Strategies come in to play when students begin applying what they know.  Interestingly, it is often the student with learning disabilities who thrive here as often your Special Education are comfortable using different methods they've learned throughout their whole young lives.  These students are not afraid to fail, and will keep trying.  Something all of my students learn from (an Ah-Hah moment for everyone). 

 

 

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5. Do you have a list of favorite technology tools to teach students? If so, what are they? Do feel comfortable about changing the list of the tools you teach?

I have a couple of tools I use to track my favorites.  One is for my students at www.portaportal.com, guest access code: dcsd

The portal has a listing of all kinds of tools.  It's seems a bit lengthy and unruly and students often use the "find" command to quickly key in on what they are searching for.  The items on this portal follow the "Click 6" rule of thumb.  I've opened the site, clicked in every link 6 times in from the HomePage.  Students can ask me to add sites, and I do on a routine manner.

My second listing is in diigo.com.   Lots of great tools and following a guru (such as Professor Tufts), can really add to your learning and teaching possibilities.  I don't introduce diigo on a middle school level as I can't be sure who might follow the student (and who they might follow).  This tool is terrific to use with a PLC\PLN. 

 

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6. What advice would you give to teachers in other disciplines who are trying to implement technology in their lessons?
Wow!  Get started!  It will take longer than you think, however the engagement of your students is key.  It's okay not to know everything about technology (any content area teacher will say this is not okay to know in their classrooms, and it's hard for them to be okay with not knowing everything). 

If I had to, instead of purchasing notebooks, clipboards and pencils for my classroom, I would invest in a LCD projector , set of speakers and computer device (Chromebook, laptop) to use in any classroom.  The ease of familiarity with technology is something you learn from doing.  Students can help a teacher through the hard parts and in doing so, the classroom becomes a whole learning community versus one where direct instruction is the name of the game.

Latest trick:  When using your computer\lcd projector, find the remote that goes with your projector.  Press the "Freeze" button and the screen freezes for your classroom viewers.

 

 At first, I was a little intimidated about doing this project. Even though I thought it would be great to talk to a professional in the technology/education field, I was not sure how appropriate and relevant my questions were to the subject matter at hand. Also, since this was not going to be a face to face interview, I came to the realization that my questions had to be both specific and general. Patti was very courteous to me and even complimented me on the questions I asked her. She wrote back to me the next day and I thought she gave a great deal of thought to her answers. I could tell from her e-mail that she is very passionate about teaching. I think her students are very fortunate to have her as a teacher.

I really enjoyed interviewing Patti and believe that I learned a great deal of information on how to implement technology in the classroom. In the article Education Technology for Our Children, Wendy Sheard writes that it is important to pretest school children's ability to use technology because their skills differ from one another. If teachers are not aware of their students' different abilities with regard to teaching technology, they run the risk of teaching them information they already know or more advanced information that they are not yet prepared to learn. This seems to support Patti's belief that it is necessary to pretest students' technology abilities before teaching them. I also agree with Patti and Sheard because teachers need to know students abilities before they start teaching them because the class would be pointless if they learn skills that they already know or are too advanced for them. Since students' skills vary, a pretest is a sound approach to figure out where they are and what would be the most effective lessons to help them learn new technology skills.

     I believe it is important to teach students digital citizenship and digital footprinting. As Patti says, teachers are responsible for their students' growth. I think it would be hard to find articles against teaching digital citizenship or digital footprinting, as the dangers of such issues as cyberbullying and identity theft is very apparent in our society. Since school children are young and vulnereable, they are the ones who would be most affected by these issues. Fortunately, web articles such as Digital Citizenship Using Technology Appropriately are available for educators to help teach their students about the dangers and responsibilities everyone should follow in order to make the internet a safe and secure place to communicate in. In a report called Maine Learning Technology Inititative, a study was conducted about student and teacher interaction regarding technology when  eigth grade students were given wireless laptops. In the report, it was noted that students and teachers developed interactions with each other, as a result of the  new technology being implemented in the classrooms. In many ways, this report re-echoed the responses that Patti gave to my last three questions. Patti says that students need to be aware that learning technology is a skill that takes a great deal of time and effort (response to question number three),  and that interaction between teacher and student can help with students learning more educational tools (response to question number four) and can help educators new to the field teach technology effectively (response to question number five). I agree with Patti's response. I think developing student/teacher interaction is the ultimate determing factor when judging how effective technology is being implemented in the classroom.
     I believe my field experience interview with Patti met the following course objectives for EDU 533:
Course Objective Number Two: Learn ways to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding 
EXPLANATION-I believe this course objective was met because Patti explained to me that she uses a website in which her students can list and provide information of their favorite technology tools. I believe this creates a wonderful environment in which students can reflect on technology tools that they were recently introduced to.
Course Objective Number Three-Demonstrate an understanding of safe, ethical, legal and moral practices related to digital information and technology 
Explanation-I believe this course objective was met because Patti explained to me that she has students write down their own rules for digital citizenship and that she uses the "Grandmother Rule" to ensure that her students follow ethical policies for internet use.
Course Objective Number Six-Evaluate and reflect on emerging tools and trends by reviewing current research and professional literature
Explanation-I believe this course objective was met because Patti told me that she uses websites such as www.diigo.com to be sure that she keeps up to date with the latest technology developments. 
     I believe technology is continuing to develop and every year it is playing a more prominent role in our daily lives. I believe social media and social bookmarking websites give us the opportunity to share with each other new developments in technology.