Research Qustions

After posting my possible research questions on the db, I have gotten a lot of feedback on more questions that I can probe when trying to solve my problem statement.

My problem statement is " I plan to determine the impact of standardized tests for students whose districts are cutting technology funding vs. those in districts that are maintaining or increasing their funding."

Research Questions:

1. If given technology funding in some school districts and not in others, will the schools with technology funding score higher than the schools who do not have the funding?

2. Did districts that reduced technology funding see a decline in standardized test scores?

3. Did districts that reduced technology funding, see technology use drift mainly towards remedial technology use?

4. Is there a difference in test scores from the previous year with technology funding vs. this year without technology funding?

Most of my questions use the quantative methodology and use difference questions. I am trying to find out the difference in test scores with technology funding vs. no technology funding.

EDUC 6653-EDUC Research Topic

I have chosen to research the topic of school districts that are cutting funding for technology equipment vs. those school districts that still have funding for tech equipment and the impact each has on students when taking the standardized tests.

Who: school districts

What: funding for technology equipment

Why: impact on students when taking the standardized tests.

Reflection: Personal Theory of Learning

After reviewing my Personal Theory of Learning, I still stand firm with and feel strongly about creating differentiated instruction for each child. Every child has a different learning style and technique. Some need small group instruction or one on one instruction. Some need visuals and pictures, and others are auditory learning. One thing I would like to include or add into my theory of learning is technology.

After taking this course and getting more familiarized with different technology tools, I have noticed that technology could be another form of differentiated instruction. In addition to pictures, repetition, and hands-on manipulatives, I believe that concept mapping, blogging, and taking virtual field trips are all other great tools to help in differentiating instruction for the students. Concept mapping I find to be a very important skill. The students can not only break down information and pull important parts, but they can then add pictures to go with the text to help them to remember the information.

My long terms goals in incorporating technology into my classroom are creating a classroom blog that my students have to participate in daily. After creating my own classroom blog for EDUC 6711 I have found them to be a very fun and interactive way to discuss and comment on different classroom topics. The other long term goal I have is to let go a little bit and give more responsibility to my students when letting them use technology. For example: after giving a tutorial on how to use a concept mapping program, let the students go and "play" and figure out how to use the program. Once they are given a little free time to explore the program, they will have a better understanding of how to use it. I hope to continue to learn about more technology tools as my MS in Technology continues.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is a key component in having a successful classroom. "When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others." (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000) Students learn from each other and gain confidence in themselves when put in cooperative learning groups. In my classroom I incorporate math centers as well as literacy centers every other day. I have put the students into groups that I know they will work well together with confidence and collobaration. I do have the one or two students who work better alone and I let them do that most of the time, but I am a firm believer that those "loner" students need to learn how to work in groups and be successful just like the other students.

Another idea that was talked about again was using student rubrics. "Rubrics help students understand what is expected of them and how their participation will be evaluated." Pitler,Hubbell,Kuhn & Malenoski (2007) Giving students self evaluated rubrics makes them aware of what is expected of them and how to succeed in cooperative group assignments and projects. Letting the students know what is expected, leaves less of a chance of misbehavior and failure than letting the students just "go" with no instruction or guidance. I found "Cooperative Learning" to be very interesting and full of information to help with successful collaborative groups.

VoiceThread:
voicethread.com/share/892833/

Constructivism in Practice

"Generating and Testing Hypotheses" reminds me of teaching science and figuring out what's going to happen in each experiment. I'm not really sure how I could use hypotheses in other subjects. Using technology when generating and testing hypotheses is a great idea and very twenty first century, but I am not sure how as a 2nd grade teacher I would incorporate using hypotheses with my students. "Using technology to maximize instructional time and meet learning objectives" is a great concept. It's just a matter of modifying and differentiating for each grade level and each student.

I beleive that "Generating and Testing Hypotheses" relates closely with constructivism/constructionism with the whole role reversal mentality. Instead of the teachers teaching the students and having templates prepared for the students, the students are creating and building their own templates and own learning style.

If anyone has suggestions on how I can incorporate "generating and testing hypotheses" with 2nd graders in more than just Science, it would be greatly appreciated.

Cognitivism in Practice

Cues, Questions, and Advance organizers gave a lot of great ideas when introducing a topic or lesson. They talked about using a KWL chart when introducting a key concept. What do the student's already know? What do the students want to know? and what did the students learn? Of course adding to those questions would be my EQ (essential question). Probing the students with the EQ can really pull out information that the students didn't even know they knew about a certain topic. Another great idea was using a graphic organize or advance organizer. Starting out with a picture and the essential question get's the students mind running with questions and answers based on that lesson or topic. Using cues, questions, and advance organizers can help students get prepared and want to go further into the topic than what the original EQ asks.

Summarizing and Note taking is another key component in understanding and learning a skill. Summarizing is very important when reading a large amount of information. Finding the key points in a reading and then writing them in your own words helps the brain to remember the information in ways that work best for the reader. One of the ideas that they mentioned in the book was taking notes in a word document and write them not verbatim, but in your own words so that you can understand them. My school was given projectors last year in every classroom. We can hook up our lap tops to the projector and whatever we have on our lap tops is then on the big screen for the students to see. With my class, we read our weekly story together and the students will stop throughout the story and tell me the key components they think I should type in my word document. By the end of the story the students either tell me to add more or they tell me to delete some of the notes that aren't very important pieces. It has been a huge success with helping the students to undertstand how to summarize a story and how to write or note take the important ideas.

As I continue to learn different ideas that involve technology, I hope to use them more frequently in the classroom and feel comfortable doing so.

Behaviorism in Practice

I found "Reinforcing Effort" to be a very important tool in the classroom. Students need to see their progress and be able to chart their scores or efforts on their own. If they are held responsible for grading their own effort based off of a rubric they will be more apt to try harder. Some students can do really well in school naturally, but yet put no effort into their work. I beleive that if they had to chart their effort and achievement, their scores would sky rocket. If students were responsible for their own success I think it would cut down on behavior problems, because they would be more concerned about learning rather than being disruptive. Granted, I do understand that there will always be some form of a behavior issue.

Homework and Practice is another crucial part in students being successful. In Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works they stated that "Mastering a skill or process requires a fair amount of focused practice." I think the homework that is sent home weekly should closely relate to the standards or concepts being taught that week. The more practice and repetition they have, the better chance of them learning the skill. I differentiate my students homework depending on which students are grasping the concepts and which students need a little more help. I will send home either remediation work or enrichment work depending on each student. Sometimes I send home both, in hopes that after a few nights of remediation homework they can then do the enrichment homework.