Creating a Haiku Deck for my visual representation of Where I am From had brought multitude of emotions. Nostalgia, homesickness, anger, pride—just to name a few. But, what stood out the most during this activity was the power of a simple image and a few words can make a simple activity to be very meaningful. This is what I learned from this activity.
I felt that this activity was challenging and expanded my skills on how to use WordPress, Haiku Deck, and Youtube. Most importantly, this activity had meaning which made more memorable to me as students completing this project. This activity gives me a chance to also to get to know my classmates better. Thinking of how I might use technology in my teaching placement has been a challenge, because of the demographic of students I serve at Open School.
Last summer during my Dimension of Education I learned that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to have rigorous learning opportunities with technology (Boser, 2013). Also, students may not have accessibility to use technology at home. Many students at Open their only access to technology is their cellphone. I would have to be intentional when using technology in my classroom . It needs to be accessible in different mediums, or that there is enough time to finish activity at school. I don’t want students to worry about accomplishing their homework when they don’t have access to technology at home. I would also like to learn more on how to create video tutorials for activities or lessons to give students a verity of ways to learn. This will give me more time in the classroom to assist students, like Dr. Pappa’s demonstrated in class.
Where I’m From: – Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires;
Your Haiku Deck was powerful. The images and wording used evoked a great deal of emotion. You brought up a great point related to using technology in the classroom- it is often not accessible to everyone. It’s important to think about that before assigning it as an activity to complete outside of class. My placement just moved to providing Chromebooks to all students. However, they have to pay a $20 fee, which is barrier for many families. The district also assumes that you have wifi at home, which is not the case for all households. It’s important for us as educators to provide a fair and equitable opportunity for all students to be successful, not just some.
That’s good news about the Chromebooks, Anna. There is a setting which allows the apps to run off line.
I agree with all the points that Anna made in her comment, and I was also moved by the words and pictures you used in your Haiku Deck! After getting to read your Critical Response Papers last term, I am glad I have another opportunity in this class to see your work and hear more about your experiences with Open School.
In your reflection you also talked about learning how to create YouTube videos to accompany lessons, I was thinking the same thing! They were helpful to me, and I imagine would be to our students as well, in that I had a visual to follow when completing a process on the computer.
Karina,
Your Haiku Deck was very thought-provoking, both visually and linguistically. I think some of the power came from the juxtaposition of the single image and only a few words, which you obviously chose very intentionally. I found the interplay of tradition and innovation in your presentation very powerful as well. Out of curiosity is “Chicanx” the gender neutral form of Chicano/a?
I think your point is well taken about access to educational technologies. I think they can be very powerful, but they also have to be relevant to the situation of your students. Very few of the students I am teaching at RHS have access to technology other than their phones, like the situation at Open School, and even fewer of them have access to WiFi. I love being exposed to these methods, but unfortunately they will be incredibly difficult to implement. From your experience at Open School do you have any ideas about how to make cell phones useful educational technology? I would be curious to know if there is a way to use smart phones that could make them more of a help to the educational process than a hindrance.
I agree with the prior comments about the powerful juxtaposition of words and images. Likewise you harness the energy of dual languages and cultures.
Regarding the digital divide. It’s a very real issue and it would be unfair to expect students to complete assignments at home where they lack tech tools or internet access. But I think the lack of home access is all the more reason to provide opportunities in the classroom.
Last month I did a training in a Houston-area school in a high poverty area. So many of the 9th graders lacked even basic keyboarding skills. For me that’s not a reason not to integrating tech, but a clarion call that these students can’t be left behind in the digital age.
We also need to think ahead – over time tech tools will become ever more affordable and Internet access more ubiquitous. We need to make sure these kids are ready.
I really enjoyed your deck. The images and language were all very powerful and complementary. I also liked that you switched back and forth to express yourself in the words/language you found most appropriate.
Two of your items triggered particular thoughts in me that went back to childhood family and childhood.
The Monarch butterfly migration is one of my earliest memories of school. We took an impromptu trip to a wooded lot near the class and were amazed at how they seemed to cover everything!
My grandmother first moved to Southern Oregon during the dust bowl and worked picking blueberries. She eventually was able to return to her mother when she found steady work on the farms near Fresno, California.
Finally, incorporating these opportunities to use technology is going to be a challenge at OGMS and I’m sorry to hear that this holds true for Open School, too.
While there is a certain hopefulness that can be found in the idea that these technologies will become more affordable and accessible over time, it seems that many children are never in a place to interact with the level of technology that is going to be relevant to their future. It seems like many schools get technologies like projectors just as other locations are moving to VR headsets and tablets. I will be shocked if much of the technology regularly available to my students is in common use in 3 years (when they start high school) and flabbergasted if any of it is part of their college education or careers.
Anyway, thanks again for sharing and sorry for the late post.
I agree with the thinking in this thread about the inequity of tech-poor schools.
But I want to be sure we stay focused on the real goal, which is creating engaging learning experiences with or without tech integration.
Students working at all levels of Bloom, solving problems and sharing their thinking, exercising choice in how they acccomplish learning goals can all be achieved with paper and pencil (another, more readily available technology). You might like a short podcast I did with UP TechTalk “What’s the least amount of technology you could use to get the job done?”