Stepping into it: a Blog for My AP Psych Class

This week I introduced a blog I created for my AP Psych class to my students. When I unveiled the site to them, they were excited! First, I think they liked the idea that I would post information related to our class that they sent me to the blog and that they could participate by posting comments themselves; second, they liked the idea that I would provide online psych links that would facilitate their quarterly "Psych in the News" assignments and that would enrich their psychology knowledge beyond the classroom. I also talked with them about creating a class "wiki" or something similar as a class assignment when we study Social Psychology after our upcoming fall break, and as they would say, they were all over that!. I can sense that this foray into web 2.0 is going to change my teaching and may motivate students to pursue the content matter beyond school hours.

I'm a Blogging Ingenue

The response I sent to David Warlick's blog this morning is the first time I have sent a repy into a fully open forum. Kiefer's Digital Literacy Blog is the first I have created. Like an ingenue, I am excited by all the excitement "big city" has to offer and the unknown adventures ahead. With inspiration (and, let's face it, hand-holding!) from Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and an ASU class I am taking (Dr. Laura Turchi's "Information/Media Matters"), I am forging ahead. I think I will create a blog for my AP Psychology class today. I'll report on how it goes . . .

What is technology integration in eduation all about?

In response to Web English teacher creator Carla Beard's comments on this topic on her own blog (and in English Journal this month), David Warlick asked his readers if it is not about the technology "What is it about?"

This is my response to Warlick's query (and Beard) which I also posted as a reply to his blog:

In my role as a teacher, technology is about inquiry, engagement, cognitive and social development, and practicing in a particular discipline. (The latter is the classic difference between learning *about* “doing English” and actually “doing English.”) When I design instruction for my English (and Psychology) classes, I want my students to experience different access points to the learning and to think about that learning critically. Some of these methodologies are traditional - mostly to create a cognitive schema/baseline for the learning - including note-taking, reading, discussion, and lecturing, while others are intended for collaborative learning that builds on those schemas. However, lately I have found that my own use of technology has completely shifted the way I think about collaborative learning. I no longer want to use the term “group work” because it is inadequate to describe the way my students interact and construct knowledge. The availability and use of the web for productivity, communication, and research as well as the shift from designing all classwork for students to “do on their own” to collaborative learning activities is a major paradigm (sorry, I can’t think of a better word!) shift. While I do consider the technology hardware, software, and connectivity available to me when designing instruction, I find myself leaning more and more toward a collaborative pedagogy that is introduced earlier in the lesson/unit and that can be facilitated with our without the actual technology. Finally, while “Digital literacy” did not exist as a term when I started teaching 20+ years ago, it is essential to integrate those critical skills and concepts beyond the research paper into the curriculum beyond our research and persuasion units - and in fact, across the disciplines, much as we have done with reading and writing. Integrating the use of technology into our curriculum and our methodological strategies is one way for teachers to provide opportunities for students to develop critical thinking and social literacy skills that are necessary in our digital world.

An introduction

My purpose with this blog is to have a place where I not only learn, gather, and synthesize resources, but to reflect upon and share my teaching practices as they evolve with my focus on digital literacy and learning with the technology and digital tools available to me. In the district where I teach English and psychology, our high schools lagging seriously behind in classroom technologies, so this presents a challenge I must work around, but I think this is a common challenge across the nation. I look forward to learning from my students, other teachers, and technology gurus in this process.

Currently, I am participating in a professional learning community of three senior English teachers and a teacher librarian with this goal: Students will become more critical and responsible users of digital content (through the research process). In addition, I am working on an action research project with my most excellent colleague, Fran Prather (the teacher librarian referenced above) in which we introduce reading strategies into the research process with the goal of increasing student comprehension and generating stronger information literacy skills. Finally, to help me with these goals, I am also taking two courses at ASU, one online and one classroom in the area of technology integration and media literacy.