Chapter 9: Strategies for Creating Successful Corporate Partnerships

Chapter 9
Schools are designed to help promote higher thinking skills that prepare students for the real world. Business's will partnership with schools for several reasons including: businesses whose products are used for educational purposes, businesses who conduct research, businesses with a financial interest in the educational market, businesses that use education for ostensibly prosocial reasons, and business that use schools for mark (Richards, 2001). Businesses use science, math, and language arts in an interdisciplinary way (Richards, 2001). Many people believe that since schools need money and businesses have it that only good will result in partnerships. However, this is not always the case due to financial disagreements and ethics (Richards, 2001). Richards (2001) discusses several problems that result from partnerships: commercialism and marketing, divergent perception of time, buy-ins, mutually recognized need, ignorance or the education profession or business (Richards, 2001).
BBN and the Co_Nect design is a good example of how partnerships can fail. Instead of allowing time in implementing the new design. Drive can not be finances and a lot of support is needed. Cable in the classroom is a network that act as partners with teachers and partents that provide a free cable connection and commercial-free educational programming. This helps schools with having supplementary classroom materials (Richards, 2001). CNN student Bureau gives older students a chance to publish their work and be recognized on CNN. This is a real world application.
At my school we are partners with a couple businesses such as Harcourt and Breakthrough to Literacy. They provide us with great resources and assistance in furthering our students education.

Richards, J. (2001). Technology in its place: Successful technology infusion in schools. Strategies for creating successful corporate partnerships. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 5: Technology in it's Place

Chapter 5: Staff Development for Technology Integration in the Classroom

In order to have an effective and successful technology program in a school it is important to have staff developments for the teachers. Many teachers are unaware and overwhelmed with integrating technology into their classroom. I know it is overwhelming for me. I would love to use technology a lot more than I do but my students get hyper, the computer's are not working, we are testing, or I do not know what to do. The following chapter discusses four different approaches to staff development for technology: Technology mentors, student involvement, Teacher leadership and student technology competencies, and inquiry and action research for technology integration.
Technology mentors may be master teachers, or new teachers who bring a lot of technology knowledge into the school (Collier, 2001). Many districts intertwine these teachers to get a balance of technology and curriculum. Technology mentors help other teachers become familiar with technology tools. We all have someone we go to when we are having technological difficulties. The point is you work together and balance each other out.
Student involvement is a more simplified approach. Many students are far more advanced in using technology than we (teachers) are. In this time period it is basically all students are exposed to. Teachers can use their students to help them solve technology problems (Collier, 2001). Often times students will be able to fix simple problems that we can not. This is a good approach because it gives students a sense of importance and responsiblilty. This also creates an excepting environment. I have students that help me sometimes. I teach second grade and they will say Mrs. Harding click here.
A third approach is teacher leadership and student technology competencies. In this approach specific teachers and students are selected to work together (Collier, 2001). Teachers are trained in using technology and then they teach the technology to a couple students to get better at it. Then the teacher does a whole class lesson (Collier, 2001). I think this is a neat approach because it is very hands on. Instead of being thrown into a classroom teachers are able to teach a small group. This is a very hands-on approach that will help them resolve glitches in the teaching method. I think this is a good stepping stone approach to integrating technology. We teach students so why not "teach students" in our practicing.
The final approach is inquiry and action research for technology integration. Teachers research technology integration together and formulate a plan based on research. This method forces teachers to learn information and methods of teaching and integration technology in schools (Collier, 2001). Also I think it is neet because Collier (2001) stated that teachers found out areas that needed to be strengthened such as: keyboarding, guided research, and note-taking skills on the computer. A big problem at my school is a lot of students do not have computers or do not know how to use one. It is hard to jump into using it all the time if they do not know how to use it.
A final component that goes with either for of these staff development techniques is a strong administration. Administration must set expectations and standards, adjust priorities, provide incentives, and develop own sense of awareness using technology (Collier, 2001).

Collier, C. (2001). Technology in it's place. Staff development for technology integration in the classroom. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 3: Technology for Urban Schools, Gaps and Challenges

A major problem discussed in Chapter 3 is the difficulty of incorporating technology into older schools (Gallagher, 2001). Urban schools particularly are difficult to integrate technology. Each school must have a local-area network system (LAN) with in the schools and also be connected to the district-level wide area network (WAN). In urban schools with hundreds of schools in each district this can be difficult to achieve. School systems that have a high amount of students below the poverty line can receive up to 90 percent of government funding towards these technology costs (Gallagher, 2001). This funding does not cover upgrades, repair, equipment, curriculum redesign, or professional development (Gallagher, 2001). In the school I work at it almost seems like this. We have the computers but many teachers do not have the knowledge to use technology in the classrooms. In urban school settings the need for teachers is so high that they are not always the most qualified (Gallagher, 2001). This chapter more specifically explains Chicago Public schools. Many of their schools are so old that they have a very difficult time wiring the buildings using LAN and hooking them up to a WAN (Gallagher, 2001). Chicago Public schools have a Technology Resource Network (TRN) which may seem large with 28-teachers and one-administer however, this is for 765 school buildings (Gallagher, 2001). Technology is a big project to implement into a school district. It takes a lot of time, money, cooperation, and effort.

Gallagher, E. M. (2001). Technology in its place: Technology for urban schools gaps and challenges. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Chapters 2 and 4 in Technology in its Place

Chapter 2: Curriculum Planning for Technology-Rich Instruction

According to LaBaron (2001) operational and strategic planning both contribute to an effective integration of technology. The strategic plan is the overall broad plan and the operational plan is more detailed. Both plans need to be revisted and revised frequently (2001). In order to integrate technology into a curriculum successfully their is a six stage process to follow: First an overal vision that supports the curriculum is put into place. Next, internal and external conditions are estabolished, then goals, activities, and outputs are estabolished. A plan is estabolished to effectively implement the key inputs. Staff members are assigned jobs and evaluations are conducted to assess the plan (LeBaron, 2001.)
Once a plan is estabolished schools need to decide what is in their budget. According to LeBaron (2001) it is crucial to first estabolish what is needed in the school and then if the budget is low then their is adjustments to the plans. So many times schools try to only pick what they can afford instead of what they need. I think this is very unbeneficial for the students.
There are a few important philosophies associated with planning a curriculum. First is essentialism which is the belief that the curriculum should only focus on essential learning skills and should not waste money on other skills (2001). Second is cultural transmission or perennialism, which is focusing on culture across the generations in order to preserve them (2001). Third is individual fulfillment which is focused on self-actualization and optimizing the lives of individuals (2001). Finally their is social transformation which is the belief that curriculum should be designed by societal criticism and political action (2001).
I think it is very important to plan appropriately in schools. I believe if this is done effectively then the teachers will be certain of their responsibilities and what is expected of them. Also, in order for this to be done successfully their needs to be a collaborative approach. In my school we are supposed to teach using a basal. The basal covers a lot of skills that are not on the SOLs. As a new teacher when you are told to use the basal that is what you use. When Benchmarks came around I felt that a lot of the skills tested were not covered due to lack of time. Then we were told at the end of the 9-weeks to only teach the SOL skills.

LeBaron, J. F. (2001). Technology in its place: curriculum planning for technology-rich instruction. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 4 Technology and Learning: Getting the Story Out
As teachers it is important to teach students how to learn on their own (Jarvela, 2001). Understanding information requires students to pose questions about information and form hypothesis to answer these questions (Jarvela, 2001). All through school I memorized what I needed for tests and then I forgot what I had learned. When I started college I actually started to understand what I learned. I made connections to past experiences and applied my knowledge. Unfortunely today often times I see my students learning and then forgeting. We do lots of activities but for some of them I think they are so pumped with information they need to learn (SOL) that they really are not learning. We as teachers are not giving our students enough time and resources to truley understand what they are learning. Technology helps students use higher level thinking skills (Jarvela, 2001). Computers are a motivation to learn for many students (Jarvela, 2001). This is the begining of learning. Students must want to learn. My students get very excited to use the computer. They can be using star fall which is a reading program and they don't care because they are on the computer. According to Jarvela (2001) is is important to design interdisciplinary themes. These are broad themes that are interesting to your students yet incorporate several skills that are required to be taught. I really like this idea however, I find it difficult to implement because we are required to do so many different things in the classroom like use the basal, time limits, and assemblies that interupt instruction time that it is difficult to incorporate it all into a big lesson. A research project conducted by Jarvela and Salovaara (1999) used CSILE to study racism. The students began by reading a novel about racism. The teacher then guided the students from the book to more topics on racism. Students then developed their own questions on racism and researched and found their own answers (1999). Students can also work with their teachers on a research project. Instead of the teacher leading the project he/she can work with her students and they learn together (Jarvela 2001).

Jarvela, S., and Salovaara, H. "Computer Supported Collaborative Learning in a Secondary Literacy Classroom--A Quality of Students' Motivational Processes." Unpublished manuscript, 1999.

Jarvela, S. (2001) Technology in its place: Teachnology and learning getting the story out. San Francisco, Jossey-Bass.

NCLB

NCLB is a very touchy subject. Personally I understand the reasoning behind the law that every child is to be on the same pace and every child should pass each subject. However, the practicalitiy of it is not possible. If you think we are essentially toning down lessons so our lowest students will not be left out but I think we are boring our high students. I know that we are supposed to differentiate lessons to meet the needs of every student in our class. However, the time crunch and SOLs make this tough. Teachers seem so worried that their low students will bring down their scores and make them look bad that this becomes the focus. In the school I work at most of our funding is to help bring low readers to a higher level. I feel this is very important and helpful but, we do not have much for gifted students. They meet maybe once a month for 30 minutes. Now, I think we are hold children back from their highest potential. Also, I do not think NCLB is fair to ESL students. Could you imagine going to another country and not only learning another language but being tested on it as well. I have been learning English for 22 years and sometimes it can still be troubling. I think it is good to push students to be successful and help them be the best they can be. I strongly feel that NCLB puts a huge emphasis on scores rather than actually teaching our students to understand and demonstrate their knowledge.

Chapters 3, 4, & 5 in Teaching for Understanding

Chapter 3: Generative Topics and New Technologies

Generating a topic of study is not always an easy task. The push of SOLs and time usually deters teachers from constructing an in depth topic of study that goes deeper into the minds of students them memorization. Now you ask: Well how do I do that? According to Wiske et al (2005) it is important to choose a broad topic that is appealing to your students and can be connected to the subject matter that is required to be taught. The topic should be easy to connect to students' experiences and be approached in multiple ways.
Chapter 3 talks mostly about a case study done in math that allowed students to look at math in a way that related it to the world (2005). The teacher that was studied was Kristi Rennebohm Franz and she designed a Quilt Math project (2005). Starting the first day of school she placed a piece of fabric on the wall that was 5 by 5-inches. The students were ask what they saw. She then asked the students how could they talk about the quilt using math terms. Everyday she added another piece of fabric. She selected fabric that went along with themes and units the kids were studying in other subject areas. Each student had a paper notebook where they would note observations every morning about the quilt. A digital image was taken of the quilt and inserted in the computer. Everyday the students discussed their perceptions on the quilt and two students wrote the comments in microsoft word. Students started using advanced numbers and letters to represent the quilt. At the end of the lesson students would predict what tomorrows patch would be. The students created a math quilt photo journal in which they collected the photos and observations from everyday in one book. Students could easily see changes over time(2005).
Wiske et al (2005) discuss a lot about how important it is to really meet your students needs. Design lessons that are exciting to you as the teacher but, will also engage your students.

Wiske, M. S., Franz, K. S., & Breit, L. (2005). Teaching for understanding with technology: Generative topics and new technologiesWhat is teaching for understanding. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 4: Understanding Goals and New Technologies

I think that one of the hardest things about being a teacher is setting goals and purposes for my students. I want them to meaningful and have a lasting effect on them. If I didn't then I feel like I have wasted their time and mine. Technology is a hot topic in school systems now. It is important for teachers to teach students to learn with technology and not about it (Wiske et al, 2005). Often times teachers use technology as motivators and babysitters (Wiske et al, 2005). I do not think technology will be beneficial unless it helps them learn. When designing a lesson the way goals are stated can lead the whole lesson. It is important to let the students know what they are doing.
A main focus in Chapter 4 was the Water Habitat Project. Wiske et al (2005) found that students went to a nearby city park pond for science. Students observed plants, animals, and water quality of the pond. They took pictures each time they went and kept the information in notebooks. Over time students noticed that the water quality was deteriorating. Each year prior to this all the research was kept in a notebook with pictures(2005). Students had become scientist in their own world. They decided to further their research and project. They compared data and got resources together and presented the problem to the City Parks and Recreation Commission and had so much proof they were granted funds to restore the pond(2005).

Students used technology to their advantage. They took digital photos and corresponded through e-mail, the Washington State K-20 video conferencing network to spread their news (2005). Wiske et al (2005) comment that understanding goals focus on big ideas rather than memorization and comver multiple dimensions. The four dimensions are knowledge, methods, purpose, and forms of expression (2005). If these goals are met it will be meaningful to students. When I come up with lessons I always try to pretend I am a student learning the material. I think teachers often forget what it was like when they did not understand. Especially in the primary grades where everything seems so simple. Technology can be extremely usefull and meaningful when used appropriately such as in the water habitat project. Wiske et al (2005) state it is extremely important to use appropriate technology that will help students learn rather than entertain them. Technology opens the world to a lot of opportunities that can make learning very meaningful if used correctly.

Wiske, M. S., Franz, K. S., & Breit, L. (2005). Teaching for understanding with technology: Understand goals and technologies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 5: Performances of Understanding New Technologies

According to Wiske et al (2005) in order for students to understand what they are doing they must develope and demonstrate understanding. Teachers need to spend adequate time ingaging students an not just filly their minds with knowledge (2005). Also, for teachers to use technology effictively it needs to aid in the learning process and be beneficial rather than make the work look pretty. Wiske et al (2005) outline the following stages in order for students to demonstrate performance of understanding technology. These are understanding goals, introductory performance that connect students' interests and begining levels of understanding. Next, guided inquiry lessons that guides students into thinking for themselves and finally culminating performance that allows students to demonstrate the understanding (2005). Technology can help this process by allowing investigations of new information, assisting students with special needs, making abstract concepts visible, and for personal expression (Wiske et al, 2005). The case study in Chapter 5 was A Sense of Caring through iLEARN Global Art Projects (2005). The teacher integrated social studies (caring) with English (writing) into a unit. First students discussed with each other about caring: When they were cared for and when they cared for others. Next the teacher read children's literature books and the students connected the caring themes in the book with their own experiences. The students had to illustrate an act of caring in a picture. Students went through the writing process on their artwork and then wrote a piece about their artwork. Finally, the teacher published the artwork and writings on a web-page. The students worked together using peer critiques. The students used e-mail to discuss with other students around the world about caring. The students used language translators to meet the needs of other countries so, they would understand their writings. The students shared with their school and community about the process they went through (2005). I think it was cool how they started with the picture. My class loves to draw. It is meaningful to them. I think they would have a better focus for their writing if they drew it first. Technology helped the students develop, compose, and revise their work (Wiske et al, 2005). They also, became familiar with digital images AND editing those images (Wiske et al, 2005). The process this teacher took was an ongoing process. She started little and expanded big. In using technology she first collaborated with another teacher in the school, next she collaborated through e-mails with another teacher across the state. Finally she collaborated across the world.

Wiske, M. S., Franz, K. S., & Breit, L. (2005). Teaching for understanding with technology: Performances of understanding new technologies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Using Technology Appropriately
Policy, Leadership, and Ethics

Once schools have installed their computers and are ready to start using them they need to establish a policy. This process begins by researching, evaluating, and revising an existing policy and then using the information to write a new policy (Friel, 2001). Once the policy has been written an attorney should read it and make any changes that are necessary, and then the school board will approve the policy, finally the school staff must be updated on the new policy (Friel, 2001).
An important aspect of using computers is the ability to find and use information to promote learning (American Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 1998). Students need to be taught the correct method of obtaining information. They will not just know how to do it. I teach second grade so; I can not assume they know how to use the computer. I have to model what they are supposed to do before I allow them to do it.
A major issue that is associated with computer use is copyright laws and plagiarism. It is important to assume that all information on the computer is copyrighted (Friel, 2001). The U.S. copyright law allows a fair use provision that allows copyrighted material to be used for criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research (Friel, 2001). However in using the fair use provision it important to determine the purpose and character of the use, nature of the copyrighted work, amount of information used and the effect on the work it will have (Friel, 2001). Students also need to be taught to site information. It is important to model this because students will not know how to do it. I know I was always confused in school about citing. I do not think I was taught very well how to do it. If I had I think it would have saved me a lot of stress.
We all know that information found on the internet is not always reliable. It is important for teachers to select appropriate materials for their students in a variety of formats (Friel, 2001). Also students need to be taught how to distinguish between a good and bad internet article. Children often think just because it is in writing and on the internet it is true. Schools often times purchase internet filters to block inappropriate sites (Friel, 2001). However, this can be very expensive. My school does not allow us to get on personal sites including AOL. This is to protect the schools network from viruses. An acceptable use policy is necessary to keep parents, students, teachers, and community on the same page of what is allowed and not allowed on the computer. At the beginning of the school year my students had to read the hand book with their parents and sign and return it in order to be allowed to use the computer. This makes certain that everybody knows what is expected when using the computer. Also, it is important for students to understand that nothing is private on the internet. Teachers and school officials can trace everything (Friel, 2001). Students also need to understand that on-line criminals do exist (Friel, 2001). Parents and students need to talk to their kids about this issue. It is an easy trap that many people get caught in.

American Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and Technology. Information Power: Building partnerships for Learning. Chicago: American Library Association/Washington, D.C.: Association for Educational Communications and Technology, 1998.
Friel, L. (2001). Technology in its place: Using technology appropriately, policy, leadership, and ethics. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.