Chapter 2

TPCK - Chapter 2 Reflection

A statement made in the text really stood out to me. M.A. Kelly states, “Whether technology helps to increase achievement for all, or merely exacerbates existing inequities, is largely dependent on how it is used in the schools.” This statement sums up an internal struggle I have been wrestling with this year.
I mentioned previously that I was the K-3 Technology Integrator for MSAD9 these last six years. Most of my time in this role was at Mallett School, as it had both the largest population and the largest number of teachers interested in technology. Now that my position has been cut, and I am back in the classroom, I see a dramatic decrease in the use of technology. I’ve heard comments such as, “ I haven’t taken my students to the lab yet this year. I know that I should go at least once before the year’s end.” or “ Now that I don’t have support I’m not planning on doing anything.” Chapter 2 discussed inequities in technology but an additional one is within the school itself. Students, at least in the MSAD9 district, and I would presume to generalize this issue to other districts, have an inequitable experience depending on their classroom placement.
I had hoped, thought, that I had done a better job of helping teachers to see the benefits of technology integration; how technology, curricular content and pedagogy interrelated and supported learning for all. I knew that there would be a decrease in use once my position was eliminated but I had thought it wouldn’t be quite so drastic.
In my second grade unit, of four classrooms, I am the only one that integrates technology on a regular basis. I am very fortunate that a laptop cart is housed in an extra room across the hall. My students can often be seen traveling across the hall to get a laptop for word processing stories for our classroom wiki, researching, dictionary use, e book libraries, spelling practice, math practice, project use, or to get the projector cart or Smartboard. I feel that one of my strengths is using technology to support and transform learning. Our classroom wiki has provided my students with outside comments on their writing pieces and growth. We created a historical calendar of area inventors, as a fund raiser, as part of our local history and invention unit. Students digitized artifacts and photographs for this. As we study the founding of the Sandy River Valley we are preparing to create a claymation video of Stephen Titcomb’s arrival in the Farmington area and his family’s settlement. Both of these experiences are to help make history alive and understandable for young students who developmentally have a difficult time with the concept of time. Making scenery, dressing characters and reenacting the story will help young students compare and contrast time “then and now.” The video will be uploaded to Maine Memory Network for global viewing. The technology supports this process. The learning of the tools and applications are embedded in the greater work of recording history.
While I feel good about what I am doing I know I have much to do. I feel that I have a democratic classroom and that children have a voice in decision making and in their learning. I feel that I am working to have a technologically equitable classroom but I am not “ all the way” there yet. I think that the gap between my students with access at home and those without is narrowing. Learning in the classroom is for all whether technology is included or not. I think that daily incorporation of technology tools is helping to take the “ novelty” of using a digital camera, a scanner or a laptop away. All of my kids set up and put away projectors and the Smartboard. I still am working to make sure that all of my students have feedback on their wiki entries. I am searching out college and high school classes that will give my students an audience for writing. At parent conferences students without access showed their parents our wiki. I have encouraged public access through the public library but know that that has not been taken advantage of. I know that MSAD9 had a once a week lab open to parents and students but stopped this practice last year due to poor attendance.
I feel that I have made a start in building a TPCK foundation in my classroom. I know I have much work to do. I am excited by the potential of this course and the discussions and sharing we will have and the growth I can make.

Chapter 1

UMF EDU 583 Reflections and Assignments

Handbook of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge

TPCK - Chapter 1 Reflection

I believe that I come to reading and reflecting on this book from a unique perspective. I was a classroom teacher, of grades Pre-First to 3, for twenty-four years before accepting a K-3 Technology Integrator position. Due to budget constraints I am now back in the classroom teaching second grade. Having a “ foot in both worlds” triggered many thoughts as I read this chapter.
I was originally hired, by MSAD9, because I was an early elementary teacher who was attempting to integrate technology use into my first grade classroom. They wanted an educator in this role to better encourage and support other elementary teachers in technology integration. The department’s philosophy, at this time, was that the teachers were the content specials. The Technology Integrator’s job was to provide them with technology tools for their application. At this time I also served as a Learning Leader for SEED. This, grant supported, group offered training, awards and celebration to Maine educators integrating technology into their curriculum. SEED’s philosophy was very similar to the authors of TPCK. Teacher training opportunities were designed combining technological tools, content, and pedagogy. Understanding By Design elements were infused in these sessions. Often we had discussions about the difficulties we experienced from teachers who complained that they had “come to learn technology ... they didn’t need to know how to teach.” This same conversation replayed often in MSAD9 department meetings. A new technology manager was hired and a philosophical shift was made to supporting teachers in connecting technological tools, content, and pedagogy. Even with this shift, discussions of how to connect technology to teaching, still occurred.
As Technology Integrators we often met to create continuums of integration, rubrics, training materials and to express our concern over budget, and our time spent as technicians rather than as integrators. Our greatest dilemma was our conflicting empathy for overwhelmed teachers (overwhelmed with all the demands that are being placed on teachers) and the perception that technology integration was one more of these demands that we were enforcing. I often was met, by teachers, with the comment: “ I don’t have time for this. Why can’t you just teach my kids if I drop them off?”
Now that I have returned to classroom teaching I am struggling with the balance of content, pedagogy, and use of appropriate technological tools. I recognize myself as a teacher with a constructivist philosophy. Possibly this is why I have felt that it is essential that technology play a central role in my classroom. I have identified three goals for myself this year.

The first is to use technology equipment as everyday tools rather than novelty items or once a week “to do technology.”

The second is to integrate technology across a spectrum from supporting curriculum to enhancing and transforming learning.

Lastly, to use web tools for student communication of learning to a variety of audiences; promoting individual and collaborative growth.

I believe in the importance of technology integration, not for its own sake, but as a vital part of “good” teaching. Recognizing and maintaining the TPCK balance is difficult, especially as support services to teachers are being increasingly cut. I believe that there are many ways that teachers can support each other in this struggle, both formally and informally, but it is not a priority item at this time; at least not at the elementary level and not, I feel, at the administrative level. I wish that this book had been part of the Technology Department’s reading when I served in that role.