Essential Elements of my TPCK 

PROBLEM: The problem I have chosen to address is that students don’t know how to find reliable online resources and need guidance in making appropriate choices to guide their research for projects. Right now in the grade 4 curriculum we are giving students a topic, teaching them note-taking skills and expecting them to just find credible and reliable resources. We need to teach them the skills in order to recognize what is credible and reliable and what is not.

SOLUTION: I will teach students how to find reliable resources online and research the deep-thinking question they have chosen. I will do this through the use of a Google Docs presentation, the development and active participation in a Diigo group to share resources, and by providing students with an extension menu activity in which they can chose a presentation format that best suits their own learning styles and needs. In doing this I hope to teach students an important skill of determining sources which sources are credible and reliable and why they are reliable.

CONTENT: In the grade 4 curriculum we currently do a lot of lessons and teaching points on note-taking skills through the use of programs such as Sling Note on iPads. I will be working with our benchmark on effectively employing research skills and will be developing teaching objectives to help set new standards to teach my students this essential 21st century skill of being media literate and being able to find reliable and credible resources. I will be using the Matter unit in our Science program as the foundation for this research and project in which students will be given the opportunity to research a question, concept or idea that they had throughout the Matter unit that we may not have had enough time to explore thoroughly in class. Students may initially have problems with this project, as they have not been taught previously how to find reliable resources online. They all know how to use various search engines to find resources but have trouble determining which ones are unreliable and why they are unreliable.  By the end of this lesson and their research work periods I want my students to be able to identify a reliable resource from an unreliable one. I want them to be able to provide sound reasoning as to why a source is reliable and give their peers feedback on the resources they too are finding and utilizing. This is a skill they will be able to use for the rest of their lives.

Benchmark: Employs Research Skills

Teaching Objective: How to find a reliable and credible website/resource online.

Standards: There are currently no specific standards and lessons that have been developed to address this issue as the focus in the past has been on note-taking skills. I hope that through the development of this TPCK I will be able to develop a program in which we will be able to establish standards and teaching points into our curriculum, as this is an essential skill that students will need throughout the rest of their lives.

CONTEXT: I will be working in my classroom with laptops and/or iPads or in a computer lab at the school (depending on availability of these technology resources). These technology resources are essential to learning the skill of searching for reliable sources online. I will be using a Google Docs presentation to teach my students how to find reliable resources and will be creating a 4B Matter Resources group on Diigo to organize resources and allow students to review each other’s sources. This context has some limitations that could impact the flow and effectiveness of these lessons. When looking at the classroom context we are limited in that we have iPads/computers available to use but they are not always available so we need to make the best use of our time with them. But due to the fact that we have access to computer labs, laptop carts (including a new one in the upcoming school year), and an iPad cart, I think that this should not be a big problem.

This context impacts students, as they need to be focused and engaged throughout these in-class lessons so that they can practice at school and receive teacher feedback on their progress. This context could be limiting to students as they need to be able to take these research skills to continue work at home, but thanks to the Diigo group students can readily receive feedback on resources from their classmates and myself both during and after school hours. Finally, this context also impacts the instructor, as it requires planning appropriately to guarantee access to the technological resources needed. It also requires some work before the lesson in developing the Diigo group and bookmarking resources for students to use, but this time is well worth the benefits it will have on student learning. This context really supports the instructor as it allows for them to monitor student progress and give feedback on a daily basis. Having all of this information organized into one group can really help the instructor with assessment, anecdotal notes and feedback.

Overall, I feel that the shared Google Doc presentation helps to guide student thinking (during and after class) and the Diigo group provides regular feedback to help guide their thinking and research.  The context of these lessons, modeling, practice and independent work is fluid as it begins in the classroom at school and is easily transferable to home where students can continue to work on their research.

TECHNOLOGY: The technology that is best suited for my program, includes the following programs and tools: Google Docs presentation, Diigo, laptops/desktop computers, iPads and the Screen-o-Matic program to upload “how to” videos on YouTube to further assist my students in their learning. These forms of technology are the best options for my lesson objectives because they all enhance the overall learning experience of my students and the benefits are well worth the time invested.

Google Docs Presentation: This technology benefits the learning of my students as it provides an interactive visual to maintain their focus in class and because it is shared with them they are able to access it after school to review ideas or concepts that may have been unclear in class. It benefits the function of my classroom as it keeps students engaged and provides visual and audio resources. It streamlines my responsibilities as it includes links and sources for students to use during the activity portion of the lesson and serves as another resource for them to refer back to if they have further questions while they are researching after school.

Diigo: This social bookmarking site benefits the learning of my students because it is very user-friendly, a great organizational tool, provides them with a ton of resources, and allows them to receive daily feedback from the teacher and their peers. It benefits the function of my classroom because it allows students to easily share and evaluate resources. It greatly streamlines my responsibilities because I am able to closely monitor student progress on a daily basis and give them feedback to guide their research. It also makes assessment much easier because all the information is organized in one location, I will have many anecdotal notes, and it will be very clear if students are not reviewing different resources because there will be a lack of comments and articles posted.

Laptops/iPads: These technological devices benefit the learning of my students because they are engaging, interactive and allow them to easily access information. They benefit the function of my classroom as all students are engaged and working which allows me as the teacher to move around and assist those that are struggling knowing that the others are still consistently working. They streamline my responsibilities as they allow me to assist students who are working at different rates and help with classroom management.

Screen-O-Matic & YouTube: I used these technology tools to create “how to” videos for my students to assist them with the steps to researching reliable sources online. This will benefit student learning by allowing students to go back and watch these videos if they are confused or need clarifications on spefiic questions.

Overall, I chose to use these technological resources because they allow for consistent student engagement and participation, make students more accountable for their learning and work, allow me to provide them with daily feedback on their progress and streamline my responsibilities as the teacher. These tools enhance my teaching objectives and will transform the overall learning experience for my students.

PEDAGOGY: In this lesson I will be using the best practice of modeling the skill, allowing students to practice it (while monitoring their progress) and then letting them work independently. With this format I hope to provide students with the resources and skills to enable them to be able to work on this assignment at home and know where to look if they have forgotten how to complete a task or have an unanswered question.  My main pedagogical focus for this teaching objective is going to be on providing consistent, daily feedback to all students. The use of the Diigo website will provide constant feedback from myself and their peers in order to help them determine whether or not a source is reliable and in turn will help their research and improve the overall quality of their final presentations.

Currently, we expect our students to know how to find reliable resources online because they have grown up in such a digital age and use internet search engines on a daily basis. The grade 4 curriculum currently focuses on teaching students proper note-taking skills and not on how to find reliable resources to take these notes from. There needs to be a definite shift to focusing on these research skills to ensure that students are aware of the wide range and quality of resources that are available on the internet.

By modeling, allowing them to practice and then having them work independently on these skills I think that students will begin to see this process as something necessary to do every time they look something up online. By providing them with constant feedback, students will be able to monitor their own learning and become more accountable for their work.

INTERRELATEDNESS & REFLECTION: The 3 areas of technology, pedagogy, and content overlap in my lesson and assignment as I am utilizing the best practice (pedagogy) of teacher modeling, student guided practice and then independent work in order to teach a specific skill (of finding reliable online resources) dealing with the science matter unit content. I am doing this teaching by utilizing many technological resources such as Diigo, Google Docs presentations, YouTube videos, laptops and iDevices (iPads) that will all benefit the learning of my students, benefit the function of my classroom and streamline my responsibilities as a teacher. All of these 3 areas overlap and produce a lesson and project that will allow my students to get the strongest amount of knowledge and understanding about these concepts

Overall, I feel that my lesson and project encompass all of the areas that are required to make a complete TPCK that uses technology to enhance student learning based off of best practice teaching solutions and benchmarks in our grade 4 curriculum. These 4 areas overlap to maximize the student learning experience and technology serves as a tool to enhance student learning and allow them to better grasp the skill I am trying to teach them. The more that students are able to be creative, innovative and flexible the more likely they will be able to stand out in their careers and get ahead. Students need to be innovative in order to adjust to new technology and adjust to the ever-changing global economy that we live in.

Sources & Related Links:

http://homeworktips.about.com/od/researchandreference/a/internet.htm

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

http://groups.diigo.com/group/4_b-matter-resources

https://docs.google.com/a/asfm.edu.mx/presentation/d/133HIlYs8cscu6KI7eUEmcDIOWcMRN2chduXOa6sSP7I/edit#slide=id