Language Sensei

A Language Teacher's Journey

#forgetthefluff – My Most Important Classroom “Tech Piece”? Still The Pencil…

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ytpBK2ScYes.  After all this…the pencil. First up I am a big fan of technology use in classes – technology not for tech’s sake (honestly for many of us initially the LCD projector/computer combo was just a fancier overhead) but technology that integrates, and propels, learning. But there is  also a reality, one I live with everyday in my school. We lack great access to WiFi. My district isn’t a BYOD one and my school leadership (unlike others in the district) hasn’t decided to ‘go for it’ and do it anyway. It is tough to get access to the web for all via the computer labs (yes we still have these..) and mobile carts of Chromebooks are more than a wish away. Despite my district going all in with Microsoft and Office 360 they are still rolling out wireless web capacity and this is more than 2 years away. Compounding that is the issue of equality of access – as I don’t want to ask students to use parent-paid data to get information off the web via their phones. I allow students to use any kind of tech they want to record/produce notes and in my class I have a myriad of laptops, phones and paper/binders…they have the choice but as a teacher I feel incredibly limited in what I can compel students to do.

But really this is all unimportant when I look at what continues to be a valuable tool for me and my students. The pencil…here’s 3 examples why…

It Records Changing Progress/Mastery of Concepts – I’ve gone all in for grading moving from numbers to descriptors. And as such have moved on to way more formative assessments. Not as many ”for mark” quizzes but way more formative assessment such as the “pop check-in“. So I need the pencil – because students’ achievement, their mastery of things, their proficiency can be a moving target. When I am checking for mastery I always start with a ‘dot’ in the corner of the box. This says to me “I’ve seen something but it’s not quite there yet”. The student see’s either a dot or a circled part on their piece. Often I refer them to me for review, sometimes I send them to see a follow-up video and many times a student looks at it and says “I know what I wasn’t getting/missed”. When I see the piece in the mastered form I erase the dot and put in the “C” (complete) or the “M” for meets. So the pencil allows me to easily record these changes in progress…

It Allows Students To Create Their Own Practice – Yes I do worksheets – but my worksheets are mostly ‘student chooses example’ to show learning practice. From the ‘Oral Worksheet‘ to the “Sketch and Share” students are using a quick visual, linked to the concept in use, to demonstrate learning. Some students choose to use ‘clip art’ (it’s always an option) but most use an 11×17′ piece of paper and a pencil. I set the criteria I want “I need to see you show me you know the difference between the X, Y and Z use of…” and they prep a drawing on the front with matching caption on the back. The key for this is the quick use of the pencil leads to great targeted practice between students. Practice that is relevant to them because they chose what they wrote. They interact/use/talk for about 20 minutes. I get to see the writing after and it is marked for ‘completion and correctness’ – some students are great the first time, others have small changes to make. The pencil let’s them create to interact…

It Allows Students to Record What They Learn & Use That Information Later – I am very big on interactive orals – and the key to these is that students record (in English) what they learn during whatever style of fair they may be doing. This requires them to focus on clearly understanding meaning and negotiate with someone when they don’t. The pencil is used to record the information that they get. In our Yr4 Travel Fair it records details of the areas that they learn about. In the Yr 1 Club Day they are learning about possible school activities. The Yr3 School Fair replicates what actually occurs in Japan when students opt to attend different high schools. Students use a pencil to record information and, key for me, then use this information gathered in some form for their summative write. In Yr 4 the Travel Fair info becomes a long moaning complaint to a friend about a ‘boring’ tour they were dragged on. The Club Day for Yr 1 is an in-class open book write about themselves and why certain clubs appeal. The School Fair asks students to past tap knowledge on which school they want to attend because of how it relates to them. Throughout the pencil serves as both a tool to record and inform…

I’m dedicated to removing the ‘fluff’ – the non-essential – from my classes and teaching. I’ve eased back on some tech options because I realized that’s what they were – a nifty thing that had nothing to do with language learning & use. Oh I dream of the day that technology is so accessible to my students that I am not using paper and graphite…when I can truly use technology accessible for all. But until then I’m happy to sharpen my students’ knowledge via the pencil.

Colleen

 

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