Blog Junkie

Were the research questions answered?  What was the result?

I looked at three research questions:

1. What impact does the use of a computer-based graphic organzier for note-taking have on increasing student retention of factual information?
2. What does the use of a computer-based graphic organizer do to enhance skills such as developing and organizing ideas; seeing relationships and categorizing concepts?
3. How does the use of graphic organizers support cognitive learning theories such as dual-coding theory?

I created a research project on Nepal with the students for two reasons: one students enjoy learning about other countries and I felt it was a country they knew very little about. I conducted the Nepal research on two classes of gr 6/7’s – 58 students total.  To create a baseline to record prior knowledge I gave them a ten question pre-test about Nepal.  Both class averages were 1/10 demonstrating they knew little about Nepal.

Britannica On-line encyclopedia was used as our information source.  Students took notes on paper using a key-word note-taking system. They created an Inspiration web using version 7.5.  The nodes were coloured coded and linked together with some students decided to use shapes as well as colour.

Some used coloured backgrounds and linear webs.

Some students used a more clustered web, no coloured backgrounds.  Each student seemed to have his/her own preference.

I gave the students a post-test of 14 questions on Nepal based on the research subtopics.  First class average was 9/14 and the second class average was 12/14.  This supported the factual recall claim by Inspiration Software.

I repeated the process with new subtopics and made instructional changes.  I changed from on-line reading to reading on paper, added words to the links, demonstrated this on a paper web, changed note-taking to a phrase system instead of the key-word system. First class received the instructional change, second class missed a class and did not receive the instructional change. Second post-test administered.  Results: first class average dropped to 8/14 and second class average dropped to 10/14.  Most information recalled  was from information from first set of subtopics researched.  Most new information was not recalled.

After pondering on this in the usual glacier manner as well as surviving considerable stress over the entire matter and then reading more research articles I concluded that the drop in recall was due to several variables.  One: moved too quickly and hurried the students, Two: no time given for editing  the web, Three: words needed to be added to the links, Four: good instruction was lost in time crunch.

I firmly believe that had I not run out of time, kept to my modified instructional plan, recall would have increased or remained a the previous level.  I think that changing the note-taking system was a mistake. It appeared that students understood what the key words were, but did not comprehend what they read.  Now I’m not sure that is true.

The students’ abilities to use the software to organize and categorize information is apparent in the webs. The final project given to the each class involves synthesizing the information into either a formal essay or a visual poster about Nepal.  The students writing the formal report were easily able to write their paragraphs using the web clusters (rather the the outline feature).  Most interesting was working with the a student from one of the classes who is on an adapted program.  The student was able to use the web to write a topic sentence, create supporting details using the web nodes and write a “clincher” at the end without either my assistance or that of the teacher-aide who works with the class.  Impressive.  Supports the claims and research I read about Inspiration concept webs being valuable and successful with students who have learning disabilities.

Did Inspiration Software support the dual-coding theory? I believe it did, but it is too long to post.

I believe Inspiration Software holds up to its claims for recall and I think it is a valuable tool for students with learning disabilities.  If I was a classroom teacher I would most definitely be using this program consistently for Social Studies, Science and Lang. Arts.   I would absolutely be using it with all LD students/struggling students.  Its easy editing features are great.

What is the “noob Twit” up to now?

I get to do all the fun stuff.  I get to be the fun teacher!  If the students are going to come to me once a week for research, it might as well be FUN research.  So I get a brilliant idea (look out, my brilliant ideas usually end up with me asking someone to shoot me the next time I get a brilliant idea), that the next project will be Extreme Environments! HA!  How cool would that be?!  But I want a hook, something to fire up my students to my brilliant idea.  A PowerPoint!

Why a PowerPoint?  Well I spent last Friday in a seminar learning how to make one.  Now I’m not just a “noob twit” out there in Twitterland.  I happen to be a “noob” out here in techieland too.  Last year at this time I was thinking I was all that when I finished learning to use WORD! In Jan of last year I first heard about Web 2.0 and had no clue about what it was.  Its been a journey.

Back to the PowerPoint. Three days later I have forgotten how the Master Slide thing works, my seminar was shown on PP 2003 and I have 2007.  Hmm, things are not starting off  great.  But perseverance pays off and I manage to get titles, animated text and pictures.  Looked for the best of the google images I could get.  I even had an explosion going off for the volcano picture!  Impressive! I added music from a sound track.  HA!  Noob managed to get that right after about 4 attempts.  All in all this 17 slide show took 4 hours to complete! Jeez!

At school I set up the laptop, projector and even have the screen down!  I have discovered there is a plug in in the floor so I don’t need the 4km extension cord any more.  Noob has a serious headache today.  Thinking is worse than usual and all noise is a major issue.  Head thinks it is a bowling ball in a 10 pin alley.  Students come in and are sweet and quiet for Noob’s headache.  Press F5 to play PP – notice I know this shortcut.  No sound!  Have absolutely no clue how to connect the sound system up to the laptop.  Good thing the students quickly point out the class techno man.  Our resident 10 year old who could work at Future Shop as a techie works at the sound problem.  We played that PP part way two times before we got the sound!  It was a hit as big as Twilight and I’m going into the movie making business!

In all seriousness, the 4 hours spent making the PP to show 4 classes was worth it.  The images really helped the kids pick an environment that had a strong appeal to them.  Who can resist images of penguins, baby polar bears, exploding volcanoes and the inside of the International Space Station?  The hydrothermal vent initiated a lot of discussion, especially the seaworms. I had images I hoped would appeal to both genders and it appeared I managed that.  They were excited to get their hands on the books and look and share the information they discovered.  It was a good day.  Next time that PP will only take 2 hours! I am learning and expanding my beliefs about technology and education as well as my skills in using the technology in a networked school environment compared to at home.

What have I learned in the Twitter challenge to-date?  What do I think of Twitter now?

It has been a week since I started this Twitter challenge so what happened out there in Twitterland?  I am now following 31 people and have 23 followers.  An improvement over the initial blog report!

I was given Dean Shareski’s blog as one to follow.  The initial post I read was about sharing.  Dean challenged people to:

Here’s an idea: put a sticky note on your desk that says, “What do you want to share today?” I’m not kidding. Then, if anything interesting comes your way: Share It!

I read his “about” page as I became very curious about a man who wrote such a post.  Surprise, surprise, he is a prairie man.  Go figure.  If you ever get lost out there, you can have a 45 min conversation with a stranger, get invited to their house for supper, then get the directions you need!  I ADORE the prairies.  So Dean, nice to meet you, I’m sharing!

I also was sent some great links:

http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/04/02/are-you-twittering-heres-how-i-use-twitter/ by Sue Waters, of course, on the value of using Twitter.

http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/11/top-ten-types-of-tweets.html from Rodd Lucier on types of communication within Twitter and also http://thecleversheep.blogspot.com/2008/07/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet.html where there is a discussion on Rodd’s blog about the value of Twitter.

I found a grade 5/6 class blog just when I needed it! http://56c2008.edublogs.org/

I have learned to use, well sort of learned to use, Twhirl.  I have used direct messages and I have managed to put a toe out into the conversations.  I find that not so easy.  It feels like barging into a conversation at a party that you may not have been invited to. I tend to learn by “lurking” and “delurking” is rather a challenge.  So that will be the new challenge for the upcoming week: send out more tweets!

Now here are the more interesting things I’ve learned this week:

This Week’s Twitter in Review…

• chocolate lava cakes are worth moaning about – well chocolate is a food group on the food pyramid ya know!
• cats should not be machine washed http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/11/18/funny-pictures-told-u-not-masheen-washabul/
• baby showers have developed some unusual games since my hosting days!
• I’m not the only one waiting to see the Twilight movie! – Was great and I always said it should have been Jacob and Bella!
• this game causes people to stay up all night, nope it isn’t WOW! http://www.casualcollective.com/games/DesktopTD No, I did not try it.  There is a limit to my new geekiness!

What do I think of Twitter now?  I’ll stick around for another week.  Lord knows what I might learn!

Decided to accept Betty’s challenge to try Twitter for one month.  So now I am following 16 people (who I sniped from Betty and Claire), 3 are following me and I’m still trying to figure out what I am doing!  I still do not understand why I want to do this.  It is suppose to be a great way to develop a PLE (personal learning environment), but I’m still lost in the fog!  Nothing new there:  think at glacial speed and all. It seems I am a new “twit”! HA! The truth is out!  I should probably figure this out in a month or more and have no followers!

Well, well, I managed to add Twitter to this blog!  It’s getting rather cluttered on those sidebars as I learn about and add new widgets!  Impressive!    Hmm, I guess I will have to keep posting about this new little side journey as well as the TLITE journey.  Hop on and join me if you wish!

I have just spent an amazing week at Knowschools taking an on-line class on blogging and blogging with students.  It was engaging, informative, supportive and, as usual with Knowschools, I came away with a great deal more knowledge than I came in with.

What I liked most from the session were the readings on blogging and the forums on issues around blogging that came up.  The resources provided in this class were practical and useful.  Some of my favorites are:

http://lorelle.wordpress.com/2005/08/29/learning-about-blogging-and-how-to-blog/

http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/nbReader.asp?ArticleId=18945

http://lorelle.wordpress.com/books/blogging-tips/

http://knowledgetree.flexiblelearning.net.au/edition04/pdf/Blogging_to_Learn.pdf

These readings enhanced my knowledge of my own blogging, especially reinforcing the idea that the reason I blog is for critical reflection and any comments provide concrete feedback.

What I gained from the class is much needed information, mostly positive, but some negative, about using blogs with students.  I have yet to embark on that endeavor although I certain have plans to!  The forums were both eye-opening (I hate surprises when I am involved in something new) and encouraging.

I came away from the class with a much stronger sense of the educational value of blogging with students and the need to use blogs to teach students the skills needed for on-line social relationships. This just happens to be an important issue to me. I also discovered the strong sense of community that blogging creates which surprised me. I picked up a few skills regarding working within Edublogs.  I believe I finally have the issue of screen shots solved!  Many thanks!

So now what? Well, I have approached a colleague about creating a joint blog.  I am both excited and absolutely terrified to begin this journey with the students, but working with someone else who is more tech savvy than me and an administrator who is currently supportive this should make this an interesting adventure!  As well I’m becoming curious about Twitter.  I know very little about it, except that maybe it involves a cell phone?  My hatred of cell phones is well known so I’m not sure about me and this Twitter thing!

Could I have found a better blog post?!

After stressing about my responsibilities for report card marks for the research classes I teach, I finally went to my principal for some clarification.  She managed to relieve my 2 weeks of stress in five minutes and gave me hope beyond hope that there are some administrators out there who actively seek to destroy the “martyrdom” syndrome in their staff while still maintaining high expectations of “good” teaching.  AND I had a colleague come to me to ask for help for several of her students because “the kids connect really well with you.”  Thank you for making my day.

All of this got me obsessing on this topic again.  Bopped back to Dan Meyer’s blog and re-read the comments on his post about this issue.  I came across Chris Lehmann’s post here .  On Chris’s blog I find this great post by another seemingly amazing principal.  On this blog I am reading about “making Faustian bargains” (don’t even want to know how many of those I’ve made), working 10 – 12 hrs/day (I actually drove 200km/day to teach and spent around 14 hrs/day working/commuting for 10 months!), “reducing authentic assessment to its simplest form” and “teaching from textbooks…” (all I ever did).

In my former school system teaching was considered a “calling”.  That was used to reinforce the insane notion of martyrdom and minimal pay.  Now I work for a principal with similar thinking to Chris Lehmann.  I can go to work without having to constantly challenge the notion that I chose to teach because I was called to it by God.  Oh yeah, Dan, I received one hell of a pay hike over this system change and it is awesome.

What is the professional funk?  How is it possible to help teachers through this?

A number of things have brought this topic up.  I have had a wicked two weeks of stress. I’ve read a blog by another teacher who also had a bad week,  and I was remembering what happened to me this time last year.

The “professional funk” is when teachers, usually teachers in their first five to seven years of teaching, hit the skids full tilt as the impact of this “noble” profession sweeps them off their feet.  They are overwhelmed, overworked, struggling with various teaching issues – from instructional practices, classroom management to dealing with the damn paperwork.  They are ready to quit.  Many do.  I almost did, last November after eleven years in the trenches.

What to do to help those new teachers?  A mentorship program is definitely a benefit.  Ideas on instructional methods, classroom management are all great, but what about the coping strategies?  How about not letting our newest members fall into that expected “martyrdom” trap where giving up everything “for the kids” is not just encouraged, but expected. That entire Freedom Writer’s syndrome is the height of egoism.  The selfless you.  Are we there, as experienced teachers, taking care that this idea is not brewing in our newest members?  Do we offer support to help new teachers realize how to be satisfied in this job without paying a ridiculous cost – burnout, depression, defeat?  Schools do not just need to take care of their students, they need to take care of their staff.

Did anything go right this time?  Did anything go wrong this time?

Ok Crawford, how’s that for a deck?  Too little, too much?  I’m workin’ it here!

I’ve been working this Inspiration Software Field Study thing and my frustration and stress levels are nose to nose like the running of the Kentucky Derby!  It has been the WORST two weeks!  To think I actually entertained the notion of laddering into a Master’s program!  Must have lost my mind!  Actually, I’m sure I did!

What went right? The Canucks slaughtered LA!  How good was that! Yes, if the Canucks can actually pull off a miracle I guess so can I.  There were some successes, finally.  My wonderful Super Techie Man fixed my stupid office computer so now I can actually do my job AND access my hand in folder to see what the “hellcats” have handed in or not handed in.  My hand in file that I copied to my external hard drive actually opened at home! I re-created a new note-taking system that should transfer to the Inspiration Web in a manner that makes more sense to the kids.

We brainstormed the “big ideas” we would want people from other countries to know about Canadians.  We then transferred those “big ideas” to the people of Nepal and the new note-taking sheet I had made up.  The “hell-cats” actually listened and when I left them to finish on their own, they DID!   Unbelievable!

What continues to go wrong you ask? Hmm, let’s see!  I had to use the prehistoric overhead one LAST time to teach the “hellcats”.   I’m miles behind in this research project with the kids,  I need this damn research project to stay on-track, I have to have the field study finished by the end of November. I have never had so much trouble teaching research!  I’m sure I have that Stupid Teacher of the Year Award neatly tied up with a bow! There are still three computers in the lab that are not working, Inspiration is still saving in French and I have kids who did not hand in their webs!  The stress levels are at max and the insomnia is back with a vengeance!  AND while I was creating a line graph in Word (haven’t a clue how to use Excel) it (Word) decided to have a problem, reconfigure, lose my data and I had to start all over again!  Go figure!  AND I can’t get screen shots of some of the webs to embed into this post!  Sue Waters, I need you!

What does the data show so far? It shows exactly what it said it would show, improvement in the factual recall.  The study I created was simple because I am a prep relief teacher who only has these kids for 45 minutes once a week – thank GOD!   I initially gave a pre-test to see how much the kids knew about Nepal.  The class average for both classes was 1 out of a possible 10.  The kids researched geographical landforms and plants/animals and created Inspiration webs.  The criteria is that each subtopic has a different colour and/or shape – shape is optional and that each subtopic has web bubbles with facts, these bubbles are to be the same colour as the subtopic heading.  They could choose any web format they liked, ie: webbing all around the heading “Nepal” or creating more linear forms.  They have to add pictures to the web to help with the “visual” memory theory. I then gave a post-test on geographical landforms, animals and plants.  The total possible marks were 14.  Class One’s average was 12 and Class Two’s average was 9.  (Can you guess which class are the “hell-cats”?)

I do have a significant increase in marks – from 1 to 9 or 12, but of course as this is an action field study and there is no control group so one could say the class averages would have gone up anyway just by doing the research itself.  Question would be by how much?  By looking at individual test scores compared to scores for the web, it does appear to correlate with Inspiration’s claims.  If the web scores were low, the post-test scores were low and vice-versa.  Also, my bonus question was answered correctly only by those students who had that information on their web.  Interesting.

I’m very curious to see what the test scores are like for the second post-test.  What will happen to the class averages?  Will I get an increase in the class average for Class Two?  Will the individual web scores improve this time?