intentional planning and collaboration
This seems like a common theme in the MAEL program, especially when implementing new change. Effective change comes from: clear vision, good leadership, strategic planning, collaboration, and shareholder buy-in.
vision for learning before jumping in
This is pertinent across the board, not just in technology usage. Wether it be implementing manipulatives in math, or a new curriculum the vision needs to be clear, concise and effective before schools take action.
Culatta
I guess I should have looked at all the required articles first rather than citing this article several times in my comments. This is a great article on overcoming the trend to fit tech into the lesson rather than using it for deeper learning.
Connect to students' outside interests:
This is so important when developing lessons involving technology. They are going to use the tools to explore their interests one way or another. If we guide them in this, then they aren't misusing the tech as a distraction to learning.
"My students in the city don't have the same opportunities as kids in the suburbs"
I noted earlier or in another article about 3d printers. As a teacher at a private school our funding for technology education is far less than in our neighbouring public schools. I can totally relate to this quote, while at the same time realize that we make do with what we have, and learning is not tied to a specific technology. There can be equity through pedagogy (as mentioned) rather than the physical devices.
technology adoptions can be powerful moments for educators to reflect on the larger questions around what students are capable of.
The hour of code activities are great for this, they have a long list of deviceless activities to teach coding. The link is here
Does the technology cause a shift in the behavior of the students, where they move from passive to active social learners?
I love to give students a new tech toy, or app and give them time to explore it. It is fascinating to watch how they individually learn the functions/features of the device or app. It is also interesting to watch them compare notes. I hear: "Hey look what i figured out" several times a class, and they build off each others learning. Exploratory learning or problem based learning is a great opportunity for active social learning, though it often creates a class that some more traditional teachers might view as off task or noisy.
How do you minimize student distraction when using technology?
When using devices all screens need to be visible. I teach from the back so I can see what they are doing. If they are using cellphones/ipads/laptops they have to be visible. When they turn their screens away or hide them, I have a pretty good indicator that they are becoming distracted. I allow students time to explore the functions of a new app or program, then try and focus on problem based learning objectives that are student driven. For example, when teaching grade 4 students how to make stop motion videos on their tablets, I give them a 20 minutes to explore the app, take pictures and try and make a simple movie. After teaching them the functions of the app, I hold a class discussion on uses for this type of movie, where have they seen it, what are some interesting ways they have seen it used. Finally we talk about how we could use it to solve a school problem. One term students made stop motion videos for pink shirt day. Another term they made them to support their heritage fair (socials) project. By putting the onus on them to find a useful way to use the tech, they have a desire to remain focused while using it.
A Bridge to the Real World
This ties in really well to concepts of problem based learning. Tech is often best used when students are using it to provide a solution to a problem. A great article on the benefits of learning through uncertainty is below. When I teach ADST I have my students build webpages and programs for problems they need to solve. One student used SQL (a programming language) to create a library to keep track of all his gaming achievements across platforms and games. While this is not necessarily knowledge I might find useful, his project showed great understanding of the programming language and an ability to make something useful/real world from a language that does not typically appear that way to grade 6 students.
Beghetto, R. A. (2017). Inviting UNCERTAINTY into the CLASSROOM: Five strategies to help students respond well to uncertainty--and foster complex problem-solving skills. Educational Leadership, 75(2), 20–25. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=125627092&site=ehost-live
Pedagogical strategies play a vital role in keeping students on task when using technology
This is exactly what I am talking about. When tech is used intentionally to provide access to new and profound knowledge, it is beneficial. When it is just thrown into the mix like another piece of stationary that must be used it is detrimental.
Disrupting Distraction
This is a great term for how technology can negatively impact the learning environment. It works well with the need for teachers to stop looking at technology as a required object that must be implemented like a new piece of curriculum and instead look at it as a tool to support learning in a new way, that overcomes the weaknesses of the teacher.
Rodberg (2019) states: "We created an elective class for all grades that unbound student learning from what the teacher knew, what the curriculum dictated, or what the rest of the students needed."
The tech should be a source of knowledge and inspiration rather than a distraction to learning. This perspective needs to be the foundation for implementing tech, rather than an afterthought of its effects.
Rodberg, S. (2019). BIG TECH, LITTLE CHANGE? Technology doesn’t change much in schools unless educators can push past convention. Educational Leadership, 76(5), 75–79. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=134555686&site=ehost-live
expensive digital equipment and applications to keep up with other schools.
I was at an ADST conference last year where one of the presenters indicated he put together a 3d printing lab by looking through computer lab closets in his district. He found 21 3d printers that had invoices from 4-5 years ago that were not being used, some not even opened/unpacked. This made me incredibly jealous because I would love to have 2 or 3 3d printers in my lab but my school cant afford to shell out $5000 for me to set it up. Many schools have great tech but no concept of how to use it or benefit from it.
What are PANDAS and PANS?
This is very helpful, I had never heard of this before. I had a student that may have suffered through this undiagnosed when they were treated for Strep. Their behaviour returned to normal after 3 weeks of antibiotics. The parents thought it was a reaction to the medicine.
Training for school staff on behavioral supports for students has outpaced training on effective strategies to respond to internalizing disorders
Because "school staff are the primary providers of mental health services for children" there is a huge need for more training in teacher education to develop effective strategies for all types of mental health. I also wonder if the reason there is more training for behavioural support is behavioural issues affect the whole class, while internalized disorders can be missed/ignored/forgotten by the staff and thus there is less drive to fix these mental health issues.
make friends
My wife's school has a "want a friend to play with bench" where students can sit at recess/lunch when they want someone to play with but don't feel comfortable asking. The first rule of sitting on the bench is that the student must play with whoever asks them and play whatever is suggested (it is observed by staff members to ensure positive interactions).
For example, a number of cognitive-behavioral interventions for anxiety discourage avoidance/escape and instead aim to support youth in developing adaptive coping skills to use while confronting their anxiety through graduated exposure practices (Pincus & Friedman, 2004; Silverman, Pina, & Viswesvaran, 2008).
Roleplaying difficult situations and providing students with tangible strategies to overcome their anxiety is far more affective than putting them in the hall when they feel worried. Avoidance/escape does not help students overcome the anxious thoughts and can in fact further them as they feel unwanted, abnormal, crazy, etc. especially in men/boys.
Anxiety Canada. (2016, December 08). Men and Anxiety. Retrieved from https://www.anxietycanada.com/resources/article/men-and-anxiety
More than half of the students (58.0%) and mothers (66.7%) reported the receipt of at least one accommodation or service at school. There were no significant differences in the number of accommodations reported by children as compared with their mothers, or by children and mothers in elementary as compared with middle/high school. However, there were differences in the types of accommodations reported by children and mothers. For example, as presented in Table 6, children most frequently indicated that they had permission to leave class and were provided extended time on tests and assignments. Mothers most frequently reported their children received individual or group counseling at school and a safe place to go when upset. There were no significant differences in reports of individual accommodations by elementary, as compared with middle/high school students. However, mothers of middle/high schoolers were more likely than mothers of elementary school students to report their child received extended time on tests and assignments.
This would benefit from a school perspective on the actual support given. Do mothers report about counselling/safe spaces accurately or is it a hope that this support is available? It appears that if the students feel they are provided extended time on tests and permission to leave, they might not actually be receiving as much support as the mothers believe.
Figure 1.
Note "Between class or in the hallways" is only for middle school. I wonder if this might have something to do with a lack of adult presence or supervision in these times. Where as in elementary school when students are in the hallways there is a teacher present
most often speaking in front of the class (40.4%) or taking tests (30.4%). Many children also reported feeling anxious on the way to, or when being dropped off at, school (16.3% and 12.8%, respectively) and when asking their teachers a question (12.2%). Children’s reported anxiety was generally lower during school activities taking place outside of the classroom; only a few children reported that they usually or always felt anxious on the playground, in specials (e.g., art, music), and in hallways or locker rooms.
This is interesting, much of the situational anxiety relates to performance. Being dropped off seems like anxiety caused by unknown expectations. The fear of asking teachers questions is a difficult challenge to overcome. I had 2 students with anxiety about asking me questions and it was hard to work through.
Although mothers and children were asked about school experiences, schools were not involved in study recruitment or as data collection sites.
It seems like schools would need to be included to properly evaluate hypothesis 2a, as students might not realize what services are outlined in their IEP, and might think they are receiving more or less than they actually are.
Children who experience significant anxiety-related academic or social impairment at school may be eligible to receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA; 2004) or Section 504 of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Sulkowski, Joyce, & Storch, 2012).
In BC education it looks like there is little funding for mental health. Mental illness is considered an "R" with no supplemental funding.
BCTF. (2017). PRIORITIES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION. Retrieved from https://bctf.ca/publications/BriefSection.aspx?id=46986
This is very different from being a loner or preferring not to interact with others. Social Phobia is about wanting to be accepted by people, butbeing intensely afraid that other people will think poorly of them and reject them. As one organization put it, it islike being allergic to people.
This is interesting, I was wondering if being introverted was more common in Social Phobia, but it is a quite different feeling towards people and interactions. Introverts enjoy their own company and need alone time, where as social phobia causes people to obsess over pleasing others.
Downloadable Resource: OCD in Schools - What You Should Know
This is a great resource, I think I had a student last year that struggled with the "worrying about cheating/plagiarism" because when we did learning games he could answer all questions correctly, but on the test he often left questions blank or wrote obvious mistakes. I will have to make a binder of all of these great resources to refer back to.
trouble concentrating
I experienced this in very similar ways when I dealt with anxiety and when I dealt with altitude sickness. The inability to complete one thought because my mind was overwhelmed by many minor thoughts was almost identical in both anxiety attacks and extreme altitude sickness. It would be interesting to see if there is any research that explains this similarity.
nicotine
When I was much younger I experienced anxiety that caused my worries to consume my thoughts to the point where I could not function. Smoking was the only thing that would stop my out of control thinking. I think that part of it was due to the nicotine, but another affect was the controlled breathing required when smoking. There is evidence for controlled breathing as a treatment for controlling anxiety outbreaks.
Valenza, M. C., Valenza-Peña, G., Torres-Sánchez, I., González-Jiménez, E., Conde-Valero, A., & Valenza-Demet, G. (2014). Effectiveness of Controlled Breathing Techniques on Anxiety and Depression in Hospitalized Patients With COPD: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Respiratory Care, 59(2), 209. Retrieved from https://ezproxy.student.twu.ca/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edo&AN=94080525&site=eds-live
For men, the male hormone testosterone protects against anxiety
This is interesting! One of the first recommendations doctors have for people with depression or anxiety is that they get more exercise as it releases positive mood hormones.
Goodwin , R . D. ( 2003 ). Association between physical activity and mental disorders among adults in the United States . Preventive Medicine , 36 , 698 – 703 .
likely because men have half the reported rate of anxiety disorders as women,
Is this because men are less likely to report or is it because more women are afflicted by anxiety?
2015 - Men and Anxiety
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We're working on an improved
Do we just post to public or do we add a LDRS 626 tag?