Preservice Teacher Education & Technology

Great thread over on David Warlick's blog. He asks some tough questions about how we teach preservice teachers about contemporary literacy and other tech integration issues in ways so that they will actually use the information they gain with their future students. Some of these same questions I have struggled with in development of my technology integration courses at the College of William and Mary where I teach as an adjunct instructor and seek my PhD in Education Planning, Policy, and Leadership. I have five years of experience working with preservice teachers, almost two at W&M and three at Valdosta State University where I served as a  full time instructor. I have also taught in public and private classrooms and worked as a central office administrator.

Because I want to enable my graduate and undergrad preservice teachers to see the big picture of how you can integrate technology seamlessly as a communication and collaboration tool and still have students master state- mandated curriculum and achieve on high stake tests, I organize my course around standards and model each step of the way.

I use ISTE's NETS. (National Education Teaching Standards) as my launch pad. My goal is to model my thoughts and meta-cognitions on course development and involve the preservice teachers in the process. I do this so that they will see that there is no chasim between using technology as the canvas by which students construct meaning, and mastery  of the standards they are trying to teach. I want them to understand these are not two separate approaches but one in the same. That technology is not an enhancement or an add on-- but rather the plate upon which you serve the cognitive meal... or a canvas on which they paint their understanding of  "standard 5.2".

I believe this approach is important for a couple reasons, first it gives them a real bridge to what schools expect and what students need and it schematically makes sense for them in connection with their other courses and their pre-existing knowledge.

Each standard has  a concept web that I develop first on my own and then with them in a KWL (What do I know, What do I wonder, What do I want to know) sort of way. I do this to model concept mapping and how to create collective knowledge, as well as  give students ownership in the course, and the KWL strategy.

Each lesson I prepare with these preservice teachers is done on several levels at the same time. I want to create an awareness of what David Warlick terms "comtemporary literacy" and why that is important based on the research  that is emerging.

I want these "soon to be teachers" to make an informed choice as to if and why they should embrace these concepts-- not to  just take my word for it-- but let's go find "real" teachers online who are out there doing this. I want to get "buy-in" from them-- so they will become an 'agent of change' once they hit the schools running. I want to develop teacher leadership potential and awareness so that as Stephen Covey says, they can "begin with the end in mind" -that end being principled changes in the way their schools deliver curriculum. I want to model best practice and let them see what seamless integration of information tools in learning looks like. So we use these technologies  to master my objectives in my classroom, hoping they will make the connection to their objectives in their classroom. I want them to see I can use established objectives and assessments and that even though we are constructing knowledge as we go-- I can indeed assess to prove mastery of the objectives with pencil and paper if needed.

So-- for example-- my first class each semester is a "walk-about" helping them to see that while society has changed with each technical innovation- schools have remained virtually the same. We visit  Edutopia and look at a few clips.  They leave with a sense that the schools they went to will soon be a thing of the past and that they need to be preparing their students for the future and not the present.

Then I move on to "technology operations and concepts"--(NETS) because while I do *not* believe technology should ever be taught in isolation in a classroom, I do believe these teachers can't give away what they do not own. They need to have a basic understanding of how to use various applications and to know when they are appropriate.

I know it isnt politically correct in most tech educ circles to use the tools metaphor when discussing techology in education, but at this level, in my opinion, it is most appropriate. When building a house (or constructing knowledge) you do not focus on the tools-- but indeed you do select which tool to use for which task. It is tough to hammer in a nail with a saw. The end is to use technology as a medium--just as the end with a house is a lovely, functional learning space. But to get there you need a toolbag and an understanding of the tools in it.

So for three weeks we look at tools. They draw an application or tool from a tool bag (in keeping with my metaphor) and are responsible as teams to develop an interactive presentation that will show not only how to use the tool, but how tomodel its use  in instruction. Handouts with examples are manadatory so everyone walks away with lots of ideas during this section of the course for how they would use this application with their students. PowerPoint, Spreadhseets, Blogs, Bookmarking tools, Database, Graphics and Video, etc.. are examples of the tools they choose, explore, master and then teach the class. Again, this assignment is focused at several levels. The students are mastering the use of the tech tool and constructing their own knowledge, so they will "own it and as a result can" give it away". They are experimenting with teaching 20 -25 folks who all have a computer in front of them. The management and construction of the lesson is different. This gives them an opportunity to practice within the safety net of my classroom. They are also finding ways these applications can be used to deliver standards-based content. They have to tie the application to teaching a content-based lesson. We talk about how some lessons actually work better without technology and they have to know the difference. I urge them *not* to use technology unless it truly gives meaning to accomplishing the objectives they have set. We also take computers apart, look at components, talk about how networks operate and all the "geek" issues of technology use.

Planning and Designing the Environment and the Curriculm (NETS) is my favorite. Here they begin to construct learning for students (in their field experiences or in student teaching experiences) that use technology as the medium. They develop WebQuests, lists, blogs, wikis, experiment with scientific tools, digital video etc. All of the artifacts they create individually, in pairs, and in groups will become not only part of the lesson they are teaching in the classroom, but part of the electronic portfolio they are creating to prove mastery of the student teaching compentencies. (they are also learning to speak html) I want them to have a constant awareness of how you tie project-based learning and products to standards-based mastery. My thinking is if I can do that-- then they will understand how to live in both camps when they get to school. It is when their students score high on the state mandated assessments, even though they are using all this technology nonsense <wink>, that they will get the credibility to evoke real change in their schools and be given the voice that only teacher leaders command.

Teaching and Learning and Assessment (NETS) are a part of all we do in the field (which is a part of the courses I teach) and we use our classes as a safety net to think through all the possible issues before they use the communication based strategies they have developed to teach the state standards-driven lessons in the schools. We discuss the students, the equipment, troubleshooting, placement, timing, etc. I want them successful. I do not want the tech to become the focus (by blowing up), rather I want the student engagement with the content and the thrill of seeing students excited about learning- to hook them forever in realizing the power of this teaching style. So we talk a lot about potential pitfalls and advantages.

For the Productivity and Professional Practice (NETS) standard-- my preservice teachers  are deeply emersed in an electronic mentorship. Using Tapped In, a virtual learning community, I bring nationally accomplished teacher leaders together with my preservice teachers to get "just in time" mentoring.  Imagine deep reflection and hand holding by the best the nation has to offer. These students sit up and listen.

Most  of the discussion  revolves around classroom management and other such new teacher issues, but I work in technology to the required reading and reflecting that is done in this environment. I do that  as a two-fold approach to furthering my goals. 1. Through reversed mentorship, my preservice teachers are sharing their tech knowledge with these master teachers--so the mentors are growing and learning in their interactions with the students while the students are growing from the seasoned teachers' experience. 2. By doing all this in an electronic environment everyone is seamlessly using electronic communication tools  to learn. As a result, they make the connections that if they can learn so effortlessly using this medium, their students could as well.

Social, Ethical, Human, and Legal issues (NETS) are innerwoven into all the assignments and reading.

If you would like to take a look into some of the conversations that take place within the electronic mentoring piece of my course you can see the blog that I used to share with those not in my class.

I am very excited by the Rip, Mix, Learn approach I experienced with Darren. I plan on immediately adjusting my classes to incorporate some of the strategies I "saw" modeled in his inservice.

I would welcome any of you who would like to participate as mentors online (asynchronously) or as synchronous visitors during our coverage of the communication/information tools we all have grown to use and love so much. It would be your chance to help change education at the root-- preservice education. And what a better place to start than with a university with such great name recognition- W&M. Please shoot me an email if you would like to be involved in this exciting work.

 

Comments

[Queenannelace]

Sheryl just wanted you to know that I got our library to subscribe to Eduptopia. I am very impressed with the articles and topics that were discussed in their article on the Visual Literacy Revolution.

[Darren Kuropatwa]

Count me in. Email me when you're ready to go. ;-)