TPCK World Languages

What teachers know about subject matter, pedagogy and technology must be interconnected in today's school settings. Unfortunately for most students, this ingegration does not happen in the classroom. I was not shocked at the findings of the survey, "Technology Counts '99: Building the Digital Curriculum." The results showed that only 29% of the teachers who participated stated that they had more than five hours of technology integration training in their schools within the past year.

Personally, I have not had even one hour of this type of training since I began teaching in my district (7 years ago). The anxiety that I feel because of this lack of support and instruction as a graduate student is overwhelming at times. I am so incredibly far behind my peers in my understanding of technology. I often feel in class that I am swimming just below the surface of the water, fighting to take a breath but completely unaware of what I must do to get to the surface. Part of me feels as if I should be taking on more personal responsibility for learning technologies so that my students aren't left behind. Most of me, however, is completely overwhelmed at the idea of trying to navigate through technologies such as hypertext or StorySpace.

TPCK- English

I so appreciate the idea expressed in the following quote: "Preparing teachers to use specific technology within the context of their content areas rather than in a separate, general technology skills course is an emerging trend in the field of education" (Dexter, Doering, & Riedel, 2006; Sprague, 2004). In my experience, teaching in isolation tends to be difficult if students are to master and utilize any new learning.
Our school has a computer lab in which classroom teachers can bring groups of students for a variety of purposes. Unfortunatley, there is no technology integrator who can help support staff develop a TPCK model so that the techonolgy can become a meaningful part of the teaching and learning process. What generally happens in the lab is very limited to playing math games or word processing. As chapter 4 illustrates, schools need to provide situations for teachers so that their knowledge of technology integration becomes solidified. Establishing formal in-sevice opportunities where educators are afforded the opportunity to take a specific area of the curriculum and learn how to support it through technology would be incredibly beneficial.
Content-focused technology instruction must become a regular component of a school's culture. Most of the teachers with whom I work are rich in content knowledge. Most have had exposure to general technologies (email, web resources, word processing). Few have been afforded the luxury of engaging in new techologies in order to improve the quality and scope of their content areas.

TPCK - math

Teaching mathematics is rather far removed from my role as a literacy interventionist. Because of this divide, I wasn't sure that I would get anything out of this chapter. It was interesting, however, to think about how much I rely on technology that is supportive of math in my real world. At school, I track my caseload using spreadsheets. Assessment data is entered into excel for all of my students. At home, I use an on-line budget program to keep my finances in order. A calculator simplifies my life when completing the order for the food coop that I manage on a monthly basis. On-line banking allows me to transfer funds quickly from savings to checking. These examples of technology have allowed me to simplify my life in a way I never thought possible. Sharing resources such as these with high school students would be an incredibly beneficial learning experience.

Leadership discussion # 2 with colleague

I met with our district's elementary art teacher this afternoon to discuss our project. The stage two goals were a bit hard to explain but relying on the text's description of the facets of knowledge was helpful. We were able to support each other as we navigated through the template. I really value the pespective from which she approaches the project. She is incredibly perceptive about what children are developmentally capable of synthesizing when it comes to art education. Some of my suggestions for integrating technology into her 'spoke' of the unit's wheel were met with enthusiasm as well as apprehension. Before this conversation, I truly believed that any art lesson could be watered down to meet the needs of any grade level of students. Clueless, huh? Talking with Tere made me so appreciative of how reflective she is about her teaching and about how impportant it is that her students' experiences be scaffolded. Teaching reading is similar to the pedagogy of art in so many ways....

TPCK - social studies

As a literacy teacher, I am always looking for ways to integrate content areas into my lessons. This has been relatively easy when using web videos, such as You Tube as there is no reading involved. However, social studies has always proven difficult for me in terms of locating developmentally appropriate on-line text. Publishers of children's books have worked very hard in the last five years to provide the market with non-fiction leveled texts that both appeal and teach young or struggling readers. However, it has been a challenge for me to help students make connections with the outside world through website research. Recently, this has changed since discovering www.scholastic.com.

Scholastic has become an incredible resource for my students and me. It provides a wealth of ideas to support readers of all levels and abilities. There is an on-line magazine geared towards lower elementary age students that allows us to find the definition of unknown words using 'Dictionary Wizard.' The site allows me to browse online activities by grade and subject. There are computer lab suggestions. There is even a writing link that teachers young authors how to compose book reviews and create news stories. Kids can even post non-fiction book reviews.

In order for technology integration to further develop my teaching, I will need to discover more sites similar to Scholastic. Web publishers will need to become more aware of the needs of a population of young readers and writers whose access to the world beyond the classroom is much more limited due to learning disabilities.

TPCK - physical ed.

I was unsure of how physical education would benefit from technology integration before reading the chapter. I was a bit skeptical - can't kids just simply be physical without the interference of technology? Although I can't say that I would incorporate much of what I read into my life as a Title I literacy teacher, I did have a small awakening.

I organize and run a walking program for 4th and 5th grade students during lunch recess in the fall and spring. Our goal is to walk the distance of a marathon before the end of school. Students earn the right to call themselves 'Marathon Kids' if the goal is attained. The organizational component (recording and tracking miles, to be specific) is mediocre at best. I have made big posters with grids. Kids mark of each 1/4 mile walked at the end of each recess under the appropriate date. Why not integrate a level one technology and create a data base where students record and track miles on their laptops? A blog could also be used for kids to write comments about their walking experiences. Just a thought....

TPCK - science

As a Title I teacher, I have recently been asked to support students in science as well as in math and reading. With limited time and resources, I have begun to rely on the web to help students understand and identify with science topics relevant to their world.

With a need to make my teaching of science real and relatively simple, I developed an 'I wonder' component to my reading lessons. As we read non-fiction texts, students would always ask questions about the topic at hand that the author did not choose to discuss. To allow for students to explore their own 'wonderings', I made up some science forms. Students would complete the form, recording their 'I wonder' question. At some point during the week, we would take time to search for their answers on the web. The responses were recorded in their science journals after their research was complete. Simple, yet very powerful...

I used You Tube for the first time with my students last week! We were reading about the survival needs of plants. We read about plants finding nutrients in the soil and sunlight (these were 2nd graders). I asked if anyone had ever seen a Venus Fly Trap and we talked about it being a carnivorous plant. We were able to head to the compute lab at that very moment (had to impose upon a class that was at the desk tops...), and watched videos of the plants eating spiders, bugs and even a frog! The kids were fascinated and even thought of a couple of 'I wonder' questions as a result - How does a Venus Fly Trap get nutrients from its prey? How does it digest it?

TPCK- conversation reflection

I spoke with a colleague (our elementary art teacher) today about TPCK and the reality of integrating the philosophy into our teaching. While we both understand the importance and relative ease (at this point in our careers) of planning lessons using content and pedagogical knowledge, the use of technology to effectively impact our teaching was a concern. We work with very antiquated computers. Most teachers have a classroom Dell with Windows 98. There are no speakers attached to the desktops which further limits their use. Second, we have no one on staff with the knowledge needed to expose and train teachers on relevant technology. Our conversation focused more on our frustration about lack of resources and district commitment to technology integration than on the actual TPCK design.

On a brighter note, I was able to share some of the level II technologies from TPCK with my colleague. She is truly enthusiastic about exploring web sites such as Albright-Knox and the Freer Gallery of Art to further enhance her curriculum. Whether or not she will make use of these sites (or others) to support our integrated unit, I am unsure.

Although much of the time spent talking focused on negative aspects of technology in my district, if felt great to share resources. My hope is that my colleague will come away from our time together with one idea of how to integrate a web site for teaching the arts into her repertoire.