Teacher Professional Development Reflections
Team Teachers: Melinda Atnip & Mary Nguyen
1. Why did you choose to use the iPad application Toontastic as your Tech-Modeled Lesson for another first grade teacher?
Based on our needs analysis at the school site, first grade teachers are in need of training on how to use applications on their newly acquired iPads. Mary has experience using the iPad application in her classroom and they use the Teacher-Teacher method of professional development to train other teachers how to integrate applications for meaningful technology integration within their first grade curriculum. Mary also received a grant for the iPads and the first grade team shares them for various lessons based on the curriculum standards. The technology team at her school site also uses the Cascade Model of teaching as Mary goes to trainings to share with other instructors at the school. She serves as a mentor for the other teachers and is available for questions before, during and after her lessons. In addition, the school site technology infrastructure needs additional upgrades to improve the bandwidth for more efficient Internet use. The application, Toontastic, does not require Internet access to function until the animations are ready to be uploaded to ToonTube. Therefore, the application meets the school site's specific needs of the first grade team and the site at which the lessons are being conducted.
2. From a professional development viewpoint, how do you think the lesson worked?
The lesson was a perfect segway from the needs analysis assessment for their first grade team. During team PLC sessions, the first grade team was looking for new and improved ways to integrate the newly acquired iPads into their curriculum. The lesson was developed after many discussions on the needs of the students, first grade standards and teacher expectations. This lesson was created to engage students in their learning and to implement technology-based lessons that integrated writing and social studies into the curriculum. The other teacher learned how to plan for the lesson and also manage students using the iPads in the classroom. We all learned what worked and what didn't work for the lesson to help us improve our teaching with iPads for future lessons. According to Walker, Recker, Robertshaw, Olesen, Leary, Ye and Sellers (2011) one factor of a successful professional development was teacher modeling and step-by-step instructions. We kept this in mind when we developed the lesson. We first analyzed the needs of the school, students and teachers. We then discussed resources that would assist teacher development and implementation of the lesson. We created the scripts based on the reading level of students. We were able to access student reading levels based on district benchmarks. On the scripts, we left room for high-level readers to add additional information they gathered from the "Meet George" and "Meet Ben" presentations.
3. How do you think the other teacher felt about the lesson from a professional development viewpoint?
We felt that the other teacher feels more comfortable teaching the lesson with her first graders and the teacher now has a vision and experience watching another teacher use this tool with her students. We modeled how to write the words on the script for the students and we made a connection to actors reading a script for a part in a play. This was an important aspect to this teacher who is in her first year of teaching first grade. She has a better understanding of what students in first grade are capable of. She has a better understanding of her expectations for her class based on the interaction and writings of the students. In addition, the lesson targeted the areas that were defined by the first grade team. The lesson included resources and a step-by-step process. This lesson can be replicated in the future for other first graders.
4. An overview of what you learned from the experience from a professional development viewpoint?
We learned the valuable experience of being able to plan and share lessons with one another for technology integration. The lessons were a collective effort amongst the team members who value each other's opinion and do not feel threatened observing each other's teaching practices. We learned that through the process of PLC and Teacher-Teacher professional development, the best teaching practices could be executed. The most effective part of any professional development is that the lessons meet the needs of the teacher, specific-based to the needs of the students, and teacher modeling. Peggy Etmer (2005) signifies the best teaching practices are by vicarious learning. She defines this as "real world" applications for the teacher. Teachers need to observe lessons to gain comfort in implementing technology-based lessons.
5. What aspect of the lesson were you most satisfied with? Why?
We were most satisfied with the students' final product. After going through the steps to create the digital story, it was rewarding to see the students grasp the many concepts that were incorporated into the lesson. It was also exciting to see their enthusiasm while creating their digital stories. The students were in various places in the room while they were recording their stories, some sitting, some standing and other students were sitting on the floor. There was a productive level of noise in the room while the students were creating their animations and the lesson came to life. Our favorite part of the project was watching the students create their animation. They were motivated to do well and asked several questions on the process. Many asked, "Is this good." This tells me that students were engaged in their creation and wanted real feedback from their teachers.
6. What aspect of your teaching during the lesson were you most dissatisfied with? Why? What can you do to change it?
Many of the students needed help spelling lots of words while writing their scripts, as the first grade students are emergent readers and writers. We felt that after the power point lesson on the different famous Americans, we could've incorporated a brainstorming activity so the students could list the many facts about the two characters. We could've had the students create a t-diagram and list the facts as a group activity. Then the students could put their vocabulary words into their dictionaries. If they did this, they would be able to look up their facts while they were writing their scripts. We would also have the students memorize their lines and practice reading allowed individually more than they did. The students would turn the pages of the script and it would cause the animated cartoon to pause and you could hear the paper crinkling during the recording. Also, the students needed to be reminded that all the sounds and words were being recorded like, "OK...it's your turn to talk now."
7. What is the most surprising or unexpected thing that happened during the lesson?
We realized how important it is for students to have a quiet place to record their animations. The classroom set-up is a concern of ours. There is not a place for students to record quietly. Some recordings overlapped and confused the students when they were saying their script. There was a lot of noise around the students in the classroom and the recorder picked up all of the background sounds. We had a few students record their animations outside but even then, you could hear playground noise in the background. We thought of creating a sound proof booth out of an old cardboard voting booth or using a room in the library for audio recordings. A parent could accompany students to a possible library recording room to complete their Toontastic animations. During the session, we noticed that the students were reading off the script and not moving their characters. We should have given more time for the students to memorize their script. The students relied on the script too much and the information that was written on it. I would have liked to see more ad lib.
8. What was difficult about teaching the lesson?
The difficult part about teaching the Toontastic lesson was letting the students go during the recording phase of the lesson. The students were at all different parts of their recordings and many groups needed help during this time. It might be helpful to divide the class in half and have them only use one character to practice using the recordings. We were helping lots of students with little technology problems. We thought once the students use the tools many times, the lessons will get easier. Maybe we could've scaffolded this section a little bit more before having them create a dual script with two characters. Difficulties that we encountered were overlapping of recordings and the sound of crinkling paper. A few student had a difficult time sharing the iPad. We encouraged them to set the iPad in between so that they both can access the iPad easily. Some students needed more help than others with saying the script correctly. Students who are not good readers had a hard time reciting the information. We actually drew pictures for some students to help them remember the script.
Observing First Grade Teacher:
1. What strategies of the lesson did you find helpful?
The script was a valuable and effective part of the digital creation. The script guided the students on what information they needed to include and the observing teacher pointed this out to us after the lessons.
2. What suggestions do you have in regards to classroom management?
I would suggest that students had an assigned place to record and write the script.
3. What aspects of the lessons were you most impressed with? Provide an overview of your perspective on the lesson.
I thought the PowerPoint presentation on George Washington and Ben Franklin was a key factor is allowing the students to gather information on American heritage. The visuals helped students remember the facts about George and Ben more so than reading in a textbook would. I also liked how the students were given a chance to present the information to the class after the teacher modeled the presentation. Students were able to listen to the information again and it was a good, informal assessment on retention of the information.
Teacher modeling is key when teaching writing with first graders. First graders who needed more assistance in writing had the template to guide them. The script left room for higher leveler first graders to add additional information.
A new technique I learned was using ToonTube to present students' work to parents and students. Students were excited that their work would be viewed on the web. ToonTube is a safe place for students to access other animations, which in turn will give them additional ideas. Mary and Melinda helped me set up the program for students to upload their animations. I will receive an email asking for approval. Students' work will only be displayed online when I have approved it. This was valuable information in regards to accessing a safe online network for my students. ToonTube allows me to control online presentations. I do not need to view every iPad individually. All students will send their animations on ToonTube and wait for my approval. This online management style saves me time and I may view the lessons from my laptop.
Step-by-step instructions on the process of using Toonstastic were necessary for first graders to understand how to use the application. First graders were able to follow along and the application was very user friendly. I feel that being able to view this lesson was invaluable to me and I would like to incorporate Toontastic into my first grade curriculum. Thank you Mary and Melinda for showing me how to use this tool!