This particular model (Substitution-Augmentation-Modification-Redefinition) is new for me, but I had a couple of light-bulb moments reading through the steps. I am taking this year off from teaching, which in retrospect was not a bad move, all things considered, but I previously spent 11 years teaching high school social studies. I am going to focus my post this week on AP Economics, which is a specialty of mine...and my first love. Okay, that's not entirely true. My first love was a raggedy teddy bear named Gus, but that's a different story entirely.
Substitution: Having students take notes during my AP class turned out to be a HUGE waste of time, so I posted all my notes on Blackboard for them to study before we covered topics in class. (The incomprehensible textbook spurred this along as well.)
Augmentation: Realizing how difficult it is for students to review completed AP graphs and remember the process of constructing them, I started videotaping short graphing review segments, posting them on YouTube, and embedding those in Blackboard. This turned out to be a real godsend to students too busy in the afternoon to stay for help.
Modification: When Snowpocalypse hit the DC-Metro Area a few years ago, students had a group freak-out over all the school they were missing. I set up specific time blocks to be available for collaborative group hang-out sessions using Blackboard for them to talk to me and each other. This definitely helped me to address their immediate concerns and for them to cooperatively work through their questions, thereby making it a much smoother transition once we actually got back to school. Having these conversations in real time was a brand-new thing for all of us, and I got very positive feedback from my students and their parents. (A drawback was that not every student participated.)
Redefinition: I'm going to change gears here to World History I, which covers prehistory and runs through the early Renaissance for high school freshmen. A standards-driven add-on was developed at Blackboard for Fairfax County Schools which allows teachers to share materials. Students are required to take quizzes for each course unit; these are computer scored and automatically pinpoint which standards must be remediated before end-of-course testing. These quizzes can be set to give students immediate feedback on their own answers, which they prefer.
I am not yet sure how I will use these tools in my future role as school librarian, but the current unit's materials certainly have my brain percolating.
Hello Rebecca I really enjoyed reading your post. I think having Blackboard in the schools is an excellent tool for students. It does allow them to get the extra help that they need and it allows them to work together with their teacher in a different capacity. You mentioned that a lot students did not participate. Do you know the reason? Do you think it was because of no computer access?
ReplyDeleteErika, I think you hit the nail on the head with the "why" of it. In that particular situation, some parts of our county had significant power outages. My students were in one of the "old money" areas notorious for decrepit infrastructure, so many of them unfortunately were stuck with no Internet. Today, with so many more access points and wireless devices, this would not be the case. It's amazing how fast that has changed.
ReplyDeleteI love the way you were already using so much of the technology I am just starting to get a handle on. It sounds like you teach in a much different atmosphere than I do though. We just had 3 1/2 days off due to the weather and not a one of them did any reading or worked on writing that was due today. Perhaps if it had been available for them to do it on line and turn it in through Goggle Docs it would have made a difference? I have started a blog with one of my small reading groups just today, none of them had ever blogged before.
ReplyDeleteWe had this discussion as well concerning snow days. A teacher who does a lot online with his classes moaned that even though they were interacting during the snow day, it wouldn't count as instructional time. If the class were defined as online or blended, it would.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, so because in does not count as "instructional time", do we not work with our students online during "off" hours? But isn't that the beauty of online, the time that you work is up to you, whether it is 2 in the afternoon or 2 in the morning.
Delete