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Enhancing Instruction with Technology

Author: Janice Pohl

In today’s classroom, we have the responsibility of providing our students with a 21st century education.   Welcome to the digital age.  Technology has provided a new way for educators to guide our students to excellence.  No more are the days of text books and pen and paper.  We are flooded with Blackboard, prezzi, youtube, wiki and countless others that allow us to enhance instruction.   Lucky for educators, proven models in education have been adapted to meet the needs of technology today. Technology is integrated in all areas of our lives today and using it as a resource in our classrooms will help inspire and engage students as we prepare them for the future.  I often think as I am teaching that I am preparing these students for jobs that don’t even exist.  It is a responsibility to use technology in the classroom.

Blooms taxonomy was first introduced in 1956.  The first computer hard disc was produced during this year, coming in at the size of 2 refrigerators with a cost of $10,000 per megabyte. Much has changed since then but Blooms taxonomy has remained the foundation of most all educational systems. The domains have stayed the same but due to technology, the understanding and experiences have been modified. The SAMR model for teaching and Understanding by Design by  Wiggins and McTighe (1998) have provide the educators with new and relevant models for facilitating learning and creating the effective 21st century classroom.

Digital Bloom’s still moves up a hierarchy like the original but there are now modifications.  Instead of remembering, we begin with doing. This would be searching the web, highlighting, bookmarking sites and retrieving information.  This is the lowest level of thinking. Next, we connect and comprehend.   Students can tag, tweet, use advance searches and blog journal.  In a classroom, this would be beneficial for gathering information about the content.  Google earth is a common tool used for understanding. Sharing information with the group would now be applying on Digital Bloom’s.  This can be done by uploading, editing and running. Stack the States, Poetry math and Accelerated reader are examples of applying in Digital Bloom’s. Breaking apart concepts, material and information to discover how they relate and their purpose is analyzing.  Digitally, this could be conceptualized by mashing, linking and validating. Moving on with the higher order of thinking, students can evaluate content through blog commenting, posting and collaborating.  I have seen such growth from this in my classrooms when students are able to comment and post to FreshGrade and GoogleDocs.  As a music educator, I use creating in Digital Blooms for most summative assessments.  The beauty is watching the student move through the hierarchy of each level to reach this stage of higher order thinking.   It is apparent that the foundation must be strong in order to have a valid creation using videocast, video blogging and filming.  Sharing is limited to a small group due to the age of the students and privacy policies. 

Using Digital Bloom’s as a model for teaching in the classroom has opened the door to a new way of learning.   It’s not about technology, but how to use technology to facilitate learning.

The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura is a tool for teachers to take a close look at how they are incorporating technology in the classroom.   In substitution, the educator is using technology to perform the exact same task with no functional change.  Instead of pen and paper, a word processor is used such as office or google doc to complte an assignment.  Most educators find themselves at this lowest level of incorporating technology in the classroom.   The task is the same but the tools are different.   The first and second levels of SAMR correlate to Bloom’s taxonomy levels of lower order thinking; remember, understand and apply.   The Augmentation of SAMR has functional improvements such as instant feedback which can engage the student more and the educator has a better sense of student understanding.  I use educreations in class sometimes which allows for instant playback. This is augmentation.  Modification crosses the line between a traditional classroom and a 21st century classroom. This allows for significant redesign of a task that is only possible using technology. There is now a deeper collaboration. Using Evernote to tag and categorize content is an example of augmentation. The highest level of SAMR is redefinition. An educator at this level is one who sees the possibilities of technology in the classroom and discovers adapts them to serve the needs of the classroom.  Risk-taker and visionary are two profiles of this level of educator.   Technology is now the center of student learning at this redefinition level and allows for creation of task that would be impossible without technology.  Skyping a student in Belgium, presenting information on a wiki, blog, mindmapping concepts visually or YouTube would be examples of redefinition. Constant reflection about technology in the classroom is necessary to advance in the SAMR model.  I was stuck in the substitution/augmentation modes and realized I need to completely redesign my lessons using technology in a different way.   The SAMR model will help guide my planning and instruction.

There are three stages to Understanding by Design:

Stage 1: Identify Desired Results

Stage 2: Determine Acceptable Evidence of Learning

Stage 3: Design Learning Experiences & Instruction

Stage one is like beginning with the end in mind.  What do you want your students to know, what are your goals aligned with content standards. What should your students know?  Working at an International Baccalaureate school, when I introduce a new unit, we begin with essential questions.  The students ‘discover’ the central idea by discussing these leading questions, essential questions.   It emphasizes the IB learner profile open-minded and risk-taker during class discussions and also the key knowledge and skills that match the criteria.

Next we can us the acronym GRASPS to develop evidence and assessments. Here we determine the goal for each assessment and what role the student will play. The audience needs to be determined.  Will it be to just the teacher, the class or published on the web for public viewing and comments. The situation could be in group work or individual or both. The presentation or performance of the content is the P part of GRASPS. How will it be presented; video, poster board, web? The standards for which the students are graded through quizzes, observations and group work will be outlined and defined. 

Inn stage three of understanding by design, we will plan the learning experiences and instruction.   Using the acronym WHERETO, we determine what the big idea is that we want our students to take away and how are we going to interest them and hook them into the concept?  This can be done with leading questions, opening up discussions, perspectives and understandings.  An educator needs to equip the students with ways recall prior knowledge and to discover new information. This may allow the student to rethink the initial assumption of the content, swaying or concreting their perspective through discussions and evidence. How can you move the student to higher level thinking?  Evaluating the students’ knowledge would be through formative assessments observations and quizzes.  Differentiated instruction involves tailoring a plan to meet the needs of every student.  Graphic organizers will allow the process to be visible and organized for the student.  We as educators make it a goal for our big ideas that the students discovered will be enduring and remembered.

One of my favorite units in teaching is the recorder in 3rd grade.   Nothing is better than walking into school at 7:45 and having a slew of kids eagerly awaiting you at the door with the recorder in hand, ready to play.  It is a beautiful thing.  I do have a jar of earplugs by the piano for any parent who so desires. Traditionally, the recorder is taught by rote and infusion of music theory.  Reflecting on my past teaching process, I have noticed many holes in my instruction.  I have turned to technology to help improve my instruction. 

The first digital tool that I have implemented at simply the augmentation level is the iPad for advancement of the belts.  I use a highly motivating process called recorder karate where students earn a belt for mastery of specific tunes, scored by using the student created rubric.  The students are able to record the belt they are working on and share through a dropbox file. This alleviates the pressure of public failure in the classroom setting, allows for ‘re-takes’ and is structured for differentiation. It does involve collaboration with another student who does the recording, grouped with differentiation. They receive feedback from me, it frees up classroom time and students can advance at their own pace.  I have noticed through peer collaboration that students excel at a quicker pace. 

Using SAMR, I reflect to see how I can move up to the next level.  I have reached out to colleges to observe the lesson and read through the unit with me.  One suggestion was to use interactive smart board for note reading and rhythm.  Being in a Cleveland Public School, sometimes my smart board works and sometimes it doesn’t so I am not able to rely on this  method.  However, when it is functioning, I have smartboard files that follow along, highlighting the notes and measures as the class plays, making it very visual.  This addresses the lack of theory that I have noticed in my 4th graders.  I have also begun to use Quaver, a program with interactive lessons that engage students of all levels.

Each lesson is planned with a very specific, concrete goal that is attainable using the Understanding by design model.  I follow the 3 stages and connect it to the unit of Inquiry for IB.  Since IB is student centered and inquiry based learning, the backwards design blends well with all units.  We want students to see the big picture and have an enduring learning experience. 

Adding technology to an existing lesson was a failure for me, but planning my lessons differently while using technology gave different results.  We expect our students to be lifelong learners but we must willing to learn from them as well.  Some of the highest retention of learning comes from teaching others.  I have learned many new tricks from students involving technology. As an educator, I must be able to adapt the lessons and the requirements to teach to the curriculum in imaginative ways using technology as an anchor.   


·         Overview of your project, including the setting and the problem you are solving

The unit I will focus on is teaching the recorder to third graders in a Cleveland Public School.  We are a title one school and also an authorized PYP and MYP International Baccalaureate School partnered with Cleveland State University.  Our students are from diverse backgrounds which lends to the open-minded culture of the school.  We like to say our students learn 3 languages at Campus International; English, Mandarin and Giraffe.  Each child receives 30 minutes of Mandarin daily.  We speak giraffe because a giraffe sticks his neck out for his friends, has the biggest heart of any mammal and never yells.  Our students are given an  education that is internationally minded, addressing the social, physical, emotional, cultural and academic needs of each student. Our school is a wonderful place. 

·         Explanation of your theoretical approach

The approach I use when teaching the recorder is a combination of pedagogy from Kodály and Orff.   Kodály method uses a child-developmental approach.  This includes a specific goal oriented sequence that introduces skills according to the abilities of the student. Orff, simply put is sing, say, dance, play...and more! Technology can facilitate these approaches without losing or compromising the music being made.

·         Description of the design process you used

I use Understanding by design in most all my lesson plans.   I find this approach to be very organized and blends well with the International Baccalaureate Program of Inquiry and can easily be applicable to each unit of inquiry.  Student growth has improved and the SLO scores for my district have shown progress.  Using technology in the lesson meant I had to redesign the way I taught.  I could no longer be satisfied with just substitution; I wanted to move to the next level using SAMR.   

·         Explanation of how your project was implemented

A lot of research, questioning and collaborating went into the implementation of this unit.  Since I wanted to use technology as a tool to facilitate instruction and provide the students with components of critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication.

I used power point and smart board applications to edit rhythmic pathways for rhythm and pitch exploration.  The rhythms I chose were ones that were familiar and also new information, tiki-tiki and ta--tiki for the students. When these came up, we did a short inquiry about each, asking essential questions such as “Why are they necessary to music? Why or why not are they aesthetically pleasing? I created a contextual background with rhythmic pathways and pitches.    Consistent with reading, these would start on the left.  To begin with, I would play the rhythmic measure on one pitch and the students would echo.  This is nothing more than substitution on the SAMR model.  But then after mastery and understanding of meter, students created the pathways and measures by dragging the object.  Then pitch was added and the recorder was utilized.  Extending the lesson in collaborative groupings, students created their own rhythmic pathways using educreation.  This was a great opportunity for quick formative assessment.

·         Explanation of how you demonstrated mastery of the sub-competencies and competency

Students moved beyond the effective Orff and Kodály approach to making music by mastering the skills of pitch and rhythm through interactive technology and peer collaboration.  

·         Your project findings and your reflection on those findings 

Reflecting on the lesson, I feel that educreation may not be the best technology for this project.  It is limited but I used it for the collaboration component.  As the measures become longer or two part canons come into play, there will be a need to find a different venue.  Next time I will most likely try FreshGrade or even IMovie.  It was nice to see how engaged the students were when the collaboration piece began.  They showed true leadership skills and kindness in helping each other master not only the pitch and rhythms as well.  It was a nice change from the rote method and I feel some of the holes that I see in my fourth graders will be overcome with the use of technology.  I choose to embrace technology because I know it is here to stay.  Using Understanding by design, Digital Bloom’s SAMR and essential questions I can use new ways of integrating technology that will move a lesson forward while preserving the joy of music.