Online applications may be submitted online between October 1, 2015 and Noon Central, January 12, 2016.
Project Description - Innovative integration of technology into the curriculum and teaching practices.
4000 Characters and Spaces
Middle school teachers will use the Swivl (brand name) automated mobile station with an iPad Mini to record their lessons. The iPad Mini functions as the camera and together with a microphone and sensor the Swivl follows the microphone so that the teacher can teach while the camera follows him or her. That way no one has to physically record the lesson, freeing up the teacher and all the students. If the microphone is left on a table then student groups will be recorded as they work. This serves two purposes for the teacher, first the teacher can watch his or her lessons, and students working, to reflect on the lesson and how well it achieved its goals. Secondly, the video can be shared with the teacher’s Professional Learning Community (PLC) as part of a lesson study or can even be shared with the principal for evaluation purposes. Teachers can watch each other’s lessons after school without having to get subs and miss a day of teaching to be physically in each other’s rooms! The Swivl revolutionizes lesson study so that teachers can spend more time analyzing the impacts of their lessons and less time out of their classes.
Combining PLC video lesson study and video reflection with a student tech support project will allow middle school teachers to integrate technology into all their classes in ways that will best support student learning and autonomy. Technology has the potential to make learning student-centered by providing students with autonomy and choice in what they learn, how they learn it, and how they show that they’ve learned it. Without technology teachers and textbooks are the source of knowledge in a classroom. If students have access to a wifi capable device they are able to access knowledge beyond their teacher, beyond their textbooks and even beyond their classroom. The student tech support project concept is to take 12 students and provide each of them with a Chromebook Flip. We chose the Chromebook Flip because it has all the benefits of a Chromebook laptop, including synchronizing with each student’s Google Apps for Education (GAFE) accounts, while also functioning as a touch screen device and tablet. As the name implies, the Chromebook can be flipped to function as a tablet device. The Chromebook has a front facing camera that, while flipped, can allow students to take photos and record videos giving them powerful ways to learn, as well as the ability to record and share their learning.
The students in the tech support project will be responsible for using their device as a learning tool in all their classes. As students figure out ways to engage in their classes with their devices to connect, communicate, collaborate, curate, solve problems using critical thinking, and create ways to demonstrate their learning, they will share their ideas on a project wiki. The wiki will serve as a how-to website for students and staff to visit to learn ways to integrate technology into all the classes at the middle school. This student group will also serve as the tech support for teachers, as they integrate technology into their classrooms, as well as providing tech support for the other middle school students. Students who bring their own devices to school can either join the tech support project or use resources from the project, including the student members themselves, for help as needed. Our middle school has a plan for transitioning to a 1:1 student to device ratio and the tech support team will be instrumental when we pass a capital levy to implement our 1:1 plan. Our students need to learn how to use technology to do their work and share their work with those with whom they are collaborating. By having a group of dedicated students to help teachers and student transition to a 1:1 plan, technology integration will be more successful.
Expected impact on academic achievement.
4000 Characters and Spaces
Teachers will be able to reflect on their lessons by recording any lesson they want, at any time, to watch at a later time. When teachers analyze their students’ learning with their grade level or department PLC, the lesson recordings are shared with every member of the PLC team. PLC members can watch the video individually or together. When the PLC team looks at student work, they will all know the context of the lesson where the student work was collected. Looking at student work (such as formative assessments) together, teachers can see how different lessons impact student learning. PLC teams then make fine tuned adjustments the lessons they are studying to increase student learning, especially among groups of students for whom the learning did not quite meet standard. Such fine-tuning is best done by a team of teachers instead of individual teachers because individually we can miss things.
When PLC teams choose a lesson to record and collect student work the lesson selection is based on specific common core, next generation science, or ISTE technology standards. Because the lesson study is based on standards this project aligns with any state and/or national standards. The skills that teachers will develop by this continued PLC work include reflecting on lessons to adjust their lesson planning and delivery to more effectively impact student learning. As we integrate more technology, especially when our middle school implements our 1:1 tech plan, teachers will be reflecting on the different technologies that they use with their students to select tools that best fit the learning tasks and best engage students in their execution of the learning tasks.
Integrating technology requires more than learning how to use different devices and tech tools and websites; integrating technology actually requires a shift in how teachers conduct their classes. The shift teachers need to embrace is that teachers are no longer the source of all knowledge in the classroom! Students have access to all the knowledge in the world and it is the teacher’s job to help students find and use information. It also becomes the teacher’s job to empower students to learn independently and to practice solving problems. Technologies can be learned easily enough, learning how to learn takes more time and effort.
The success of this project will be measured by the amount of time teachers spend analyzing and adjusting their recorded lessons both individually and in their PLCs. Increased time reflecting on, and analyzing and adjusting lessons as well as increased integration of technology in all classes are expected outcomes. For students, success will be measured first by the methods employed by the tech support group to connect, communicate, collaborate, curate and solve problems using critical thinking as well as increases in student-centered tasks to learn. We will be looking for an increase in student work that is project-based where students are solving real world problems.
In order to help teachers integrate more technology into their lessons and in order to help teachers prepare for having all of their students using Chromebooks, the student tech support project will be established. The students in the tech support group will develop their skills at using Chromebooks to learn and to share their learning with various groups with the support of their coach. The group will meet after school regularly to share what they are learning, how they are using the tools, and what are the best practices that the group will share with the rest of the school. The power of 21st century learning comes from students being able to connect, communicate and collaborate with experts in the field as well as with other students all over the world. The student tech support group will explore all of this and help the rest of the school!
Scope of Impact: How will this project change instructional practice and result in 21st century learning (relevant, real world problem solving and critical thinking)?
4000 Characters and Spaces
Having grade level and departmental PLC teacher teams share videos of their lessons with each other makes lesson study possible even when substitute teaches are hard to find and even with shrinking school budgets. PLC teams will be more effective at analyzing students’ work to make the best possible adjustments to improve student learning for all students by sharing videos of lessons from which the student work is collected. The best way to assess the effectiveness of project-based and problem-based learning is to evaluate the student work in teacher PLC teams.
Grade level teams can focus on the same group of students and see how students are performing and learning the different content when engaging in integrated projects. For example, our 6th graders prepare for an museum exhibit project where parents are invited by studying ancient cultures in their Humanities class. In Science class they learn about the simple machines and other technologies those ancient peoples used to build their civilizations and in Math class students learn what kinds of maths ancient cultures developed and used to solve problems. By viewing the same groups of students performing in other classes we can target the learning needs of specific groups in different lessons we each teach!
Departmental teams can see how conceptual understanding changes from one grade level to the next since they teach all three grade levels. For example, the Science team can focus on how students use evidence to support claims by analyzing students’ lab conclusions. We may all teach different sciences to different students but we all do labs! By recording the students doing their labs we can all see what students did so that when we read their conclusions we can focus on their ability to support their claims with the evidence they observed or the data they collected!
Implementing new styles of teaching, such as project-based learning, and integrating technology to empower students can be a daunting task. In order to support teachers to create 21st century classrooms for all of our students, PLC work is going to be essential. Using a Swivl with an iPad Mini to record lessons will provide teachers a safe way to incorporate technology into their practice. Incorporating more technology into our practice is a great way to ease the fears of using technology with students.
Having students help teachers integrate technology is another fantastic way to support teachers towards creating 21st century classrooms, and that is exactly what our student tech support group will do. Teachers will have their PLC teams to provide support in making the shift to more student-centered learning as well as in integrating technology into their classroom and teachers will also have 12 middle school students they can call upon to help them decide which technologies work best for different learning activities. Teachers can also access the student tech support wiki to see what technologies the student tech support group is using.
In order to select the students who will participate in this project an online application form will be shared with all students who want to apply. Questions about the students’ use of technology and willingness to participate in this project and provide tech support services to their teachers and fellow students will be asked. Selection of the 12 students who will get the Chromebook Flips will be based on many factors so that this project does not favor students who already have access to technology at home or students who are already tech savvy. The students in the tech support group will be using their Chromebook Flips regularly in all their classes. To support those students in learning how to use their devices to learn, the tech support group will meet after school regularly to share ways to use the devices. The student tech support coach will guide students in using their devices responsibly and putting together a support wiki for the rest of the school.
Budget Narrative 1500 characters and spaces
In order to have teachers record their lessons to reflect and share we will purchase the Swivl Present Anywhere Bundle for $650 along with an iPad Mini 2 for $260. We will make sure to buy additional cabling and sound equipment to run the recording effectively in all of our classrooms. A tripod will allow the Swivl to be placed anywhere in any classroom to ensure the best possible camera angle.
Each of the 12 students who are selected for the tech support group will receive a Chromebook Flip to use at school in all their classes, which will cost approximately $300 each, and with shipping and tax (WA state schools pay sales tax) will total the $5,000 requested in this grant proposal budget.