My I-Search journey continues, and what a journey it has
already been! Over the past few weeks, I’ve been continuing to read articles
that have provided me with insight into techniques for implementing technology
in the classroom. Taking that a step further, I’ve been researching ways to
implement technology into literacy and writing lessons, and have actively investigated
how educators feel about the impacts that technology has on student writing
abilities. As I continue to dig my way through the National Writing Project
article, I’m finding myself more and more invested in this topic. With that
being said, some of the most useful information came to me not from articles,
but from first-hand experience of educators currently in the field.
I recently interviewed an advisor at The Met School about
technology in the classroom, specifically in relation to the teaching of
literacy and writing. Throughout the interview, the educator informed me of the
many online resources that have been implemented in recent years. Lexia,
Edmodo, Wattpad, and Newsela are just a few tools that are being utilized in
today’s education system. At this point of my I-Search journey, I think that it
would be beneficial to take some time to learn more about these individual
tools. When first beginning my research, I had only thought to investigate the
impact that social media and laptop/smartphones have on the teaching of
literacy and writing. I was unaware that these online resources even existed,
and hadn’t considered implementing anything like this in a classroom. Not only
do these resources help students to engage in writing, but many of them also
track student progress . . . ASSESSMENT, ASSESSMENT, ASSESSMENT!
Going forward, I will be taking some time to learn how these
tools work, and will be asking other educators if they are utilizing the same
or similar tools in their own classrooms. I have a feeling that this new idea
will have a great impact on my I-Search experience, or at the very least will
make for an invigorating sub-section in my final paper. While I have
interviewed some educators in the field, I have not yet had the chance to
interview any students. This week, I will be selecting students to take part in
a survey that I have created to better understand their experience with
technology and writing. I’m hoping that this addition to my research will help
to gain an “honest” perspective of technology in the classroom, as educators
may be a bit bias at times. (This is not to say that I do not believe the
educators that have been interviewed, but simply that having the “two sides of
the story” will help me to compare and better understand data.)
While
I do have a sustained interest in
learning more about the aforementioned tools (Edmoto, Lexia, Newsela, etc.), I
recognize that not all districts will have access to such resources due to lack
of funding. I’ve learned of multiple ways to implement social media and
technology into the classroom, and not all of these instances actually required
technology to be present in the classroom (i.e. table-top twitter, instagram
cards, etc.). One way that technology might be implemented to impact student
writing is to create themed lessons based around social media. For example,
having students create Facebook pages in their journals with written narratives
for the “about me” section. I want to know what educators think. Are they “using
technology” in this way? Do they even know that they can? I plan to ask
extension questions in a brief survey. The questions might look a bit like:
- How can we use technology without
having technology in the classroom?
(or)
- Is it possible for technology to
impact writing without it actually being
accessible to our classrooms?
One final question that came up stemmed from reading Leah’s blog
post about her observations. When one student was asked if her teacher allows
her to use her tablet to do a lot of writing, the student stated, "Not
really, some kids don't have an IPad so my English teacher says it's not fair.”
This makes me wonder if it is really “fair” to prevent this student from an
educational experience that involves additional technology, simply because
other students don’t have access to that same technology. Would it be possible
to include that students tablet as part of a differentiated approach to
instruction? Moving forward, I would like to broaden this question a bit to
find out if technology can be (or is already) implemented to differentiate
writing instruction.
Had this been any other project for any other class, I would
be very concerned that these new questions are arising so late in the process.
However, I feel that the kind of thinking process that the I-Search requires
can only be strengthened by these questions. I feel that my I-Search is really
taking shape, and I’m starting to see why it all actually matters, as well as
what it means for me as an educator.
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