Saturday, April 5, 2014

EDUC 7726 Week 1 - Aligning Technology With Classroom Standards

Each time I begin a new class through the IT&DML program, I often wonder what new information I will learn.  The first assignment for the EDUC 7726 class has provided me with an opportunity to take my prior knowledge of classroom strategies and standards and align them with technology that will enhance the learning experience for my students.

My fellow classmates provided exceptional examples of how they use technology to support high yield teaching and learning in their classes.  The following is a link to the examples:  Using Technology EDUC 7726 Examples.  I wanted to include these examples in my post because they could be used by a variety of teachers.  In addition, they also demonstrate high yield teaching strategies created by Robert Marzano and John Hattie.

As a teacher, I have sat in plenty of professional developments where the names Marzano and Hattie were  mentioned multiple times as people to reference when providing better instructional strategies in classrooms.  I was familiar with both Marzano and Hattie, but I never actually spent a lot of time aligning their strategies with the use of technology.  In case you are not familiar with both of their strategies, let me give you an overview of what both of these gentlemen use to educate teachers on high yield instructional strategies.

Robert Marzano has nine strategies for high yield instruction strategies.  These nine strategies include:
-  Similarities and Differences
-  Summarizing and Note Taking
-  Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition
-  Homework and Practice
-  Non linguistic Representation
-  Cooperative Learning
-  Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback
-  Generating and Testing Hypothesis
-  Cues, Questions and Advance Organizers

John Hattie tested a variety of strategies to determine the effectiveness of each one.  As part of my class, I was asked to view the following presentation about Hattie's findings:  Hattie - Visible Learning Presentation.  In order to better understand the slide show, I decided to view one of Hattie's presentations from a TEDx Talks:

With the slide show and presentation, Hattie describes 130 different factors that could contribute to high yield learning in schools.  I was surprised of the ranking of a few of the influences, but did notice a trend in the top 20 that align very well with Marzano's nine strategies.  Student feedback and providing formative evaluation are two in particular that coincide with Marzano's setting objectives and providing feedback.  We see in today's schools a lot of this type of strategy with the use of online grading systems that allow students to view their current grades, assessment scores and missing homework assignments.  Teachers can even put in comments for students and parents to view.

To further my own education on the topic, I found the following link for a website created by the Manatee County Public Schools in Bradenton, Florida: Manatee School District - Marzano Information.  What I particularly like about this site is that there are links for five of the strategies that direct teachers to online resources.  These resources can be used in a variety of grade and content level classes to help with high yield instruction.

While researching Marzano more, I also found the following wikispace dedicated to the instructional strategies and aligning with the Common Core:  Marzano Strategies - Common Core.  These are more excellent resources that teachers can use to not only provide high-yield instruction, but also align their instruction with Common Core standards.  I do believe that the more technologically advanced are students are becoming, the more creative we as teachers need to be with our instruction.  These resources could help teachers tap into what 21st century learners need in order to succeed.

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