Electronic Dialoguing: A Peer Discussion Tool to Improve Instruction

1
Electronic Dialoguing A Peer Discussion Tool to
Improve Instruction

• Mary Swanson
• Engaging Learners in Literacy
• International Reading Association
• 53rd Annual Convention
• Atlanta, Georgia
• May 8, 2008

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The Problems

• What teaching strategies or procedures could
  effectively improve the quality of lesson
  planning for graduate reading specialist
  candidates?
• What teaching strategies or procedures could
  positively affect the tutees performance?

3
Obstacles

• One class of 18 graduate students on campus with
  no permanent place to tutor.
• One class of 19 graduate students off campus
  (hybrid class).
• The professor needed to be in each of the 37
  graduate tutor/tutee pairings for each of the one
  hour of tutoring for ten sessions.

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The Reasons 74 of them
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What I know

• National Council for the
• Accreditation of Teacher Education
• Standard 1 requires evidence that Candidates
  preparing to work in schools as teachers or other
  professional school personnel know and
  demonstrate the content, pedagogical and
  professional knowledge, skill, and dispositions
  necessary to help all students learn. (NCATE,
  2006, 14.)

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What I know

• National Council for the
• Accreditation of Teacher Education
• Standard 3 requires the unit and its school
  partners design, implement, and evaluate field
  experiences and clinical practice so that teacher
  candidates and other school professionals develop
  and demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and
  professional disposition necessary to help all
  students learn. (NCATE, 2006, 14.)

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What I know

• The language teachers use in the classroom is a
  big deal.
• Words help form childrens identity.
• Words help build a sense of self-efficacy and
  motivation in children.
• Words are real and should draw children to their
  successes.
• Words emphasizes knowing and not knowledge.
  (Johnston, 2004)

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What I know

• Teachers must engage in reflection to understand
  themselves and how children feel. (Bowman, 1989)
• Technology is one methodology not to prove
  whether or not teaching and learning have taken
  place, but to improve the quality of teaching and
  learning, and to increase the likelihood that all
  members of society will acquire a full and
  critical literacy. (Strickland Strickland,
  1998)

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What I know

• Teacher education programs should teach students
  critical-thinking skills using collaborative,
  interactive teaching methods and should invest in
  new classroom technologies and in faculty
  development. (McCollum, 1999)
• Quality teacher education programs include
  characteristics such as monitoring, coaching,
  collaboration, and dialogue. (Anders, Hoffman
  Duffy, 2000)

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What I Know Theorists and Others

• Deweys Reflective Practice (1933)
• Rosenblatts Reader Response Theory (1938)
• Vygotskys Notion of Mediational Tools (1962)
• Bruce (1997) Garton Wellman (1995) Haas
  (1996)s Transactional Stance
• Egenbergers Metacognitive Problem-solving
  Behaviors (2002)
• Alvermanns quote by Ferguson at CRAs 2006 CRA
  Conference

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What I Believe Assessment

• Formative assessment is a transformational
  PROCESS.
• Formative assessment is a collaborative effort
  between instructors and students.
• Formative assessment ideally is during
  instruction.
• Formative assessment provides assessment-based
  and constructive feedback.
• Formative assessments goal is to adjust to
  improve students achievement. (Poplin, 2006,
  FAST SCASS)

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What I Believe

• The solutions have to be inexpensive and
  portable.
• Blackboard had options
• MY COURSES gt MIDDLE/HIGH SCH READ READ5223
  (MONDAY 430, SPRING 2008) 1422 gt
  COMMUNICATIONS gt COLLABORATION
• Lecture Hall Virtual Classroom      
• Office Hours Chat      

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Solution 1

• Blackboard and/or e-mail
• A communication device to record, save, and
  retrieve information.
• Strengths
• Availability, free to university students
• Whole group and individual e-mails
• Collaborative possibilities synchronously and
  asychronously
• Weaknesses
• No audio possibilities
• No video possibilities

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What did I want to see?

• Opportunities to affirm, probe, provide explicit
  instruction, and clarify.
• Opportunities to share and appreciate ideas,
  experiences, and resources.
• Opportunities to make meaningful connections and
  incorporate feedback into professional practice.
• Opportunities for transformation from theory into
  practice.
• Opportunities for informative and transformative
  assessment.

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Most importantly, I wanted to see

• Opportunities for metacognition focusing on the
  importance of inquiry, or systematic
  investigation of a specific context, situation,
  or problem.
• Evaluation of task
• Evaluation of communication
• Evaluation of performance
• Evaluation of ones current profile of strengths
  and weaknesses.

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Solution 2

• School Based Blog
• Podcast is a digital broadcast that anyone can
  produce using a computer, a microphone and audio
  editing device and/or software. It is uploaded
  on a blog.
• Weaknesses
• School server is unable to save most of the
  video because of space problems.
• Must be secure
• Difficult to transfer information from pod to
  blog.
• Strengths
• Free
• Supervisor can visit each recording session.
• Supervisor can record help sessions.

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What I Know Digital Portfolios

• Portfolios in teacher education offer many
  potential benefits for self-reflective teacher
  practice through experiences that develop
  understanding of process learning and holistic
  assessment. (Zemelman, Daniels Hyde, 1998)
• Portfolios can demonstrate competencies with
  multiple examples in different digital format
  that can be transmitted and viewed by different
  audiences in different locations, at different
  times, and for different purpose. (Wilson, Wright
  Stallworth, 2003)

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What I KnowVodcasts/Podcasts

• Virtual Field Trips and Oral History Interviews
• Absences of Student or Instructor
• Instructional Procedures
• How to Write a Lesson Plan / Teaching Unit
• Introduction to the New Semester
• Instructional Strategies
• Field Experiences

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PODCASTS Decisions

• Pod recorders
• Olympus Digital Voice Recorder WS-100
• Olympus Digital Voice Recorder VN-4100
• Server space on the Center for Teaching and
  Learning, Northeastern State University
• Blackboard Link
• Assessment Guide

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I wanted to GUIDE Metacognition in e-DOL
(electronic documentation)

• Essential thinking skills and habits
• Deep understanding and insights
• In-depth analytical analysis and interpretation
• Richness of interpretation
• Improved instruction by focusing primarily on the
  positive, not negative experiences.
• Authentic rigorous assessment
• Knowledge of self in application and leadership.
• Two levels of reflection
• Asynchronous chats to allow threaded discussion
  that encourage quality work, critical thinking
  and reflection.
• Synchronous, or real time chats take place
  online providing for spontaneity in interactive
  discussions.
• Connecting theory to practice.

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Strategic Tutoring Checklist

• Lesson Objectives and Purpose
• DRTA Lesson
• Word Study Lesson
• Writing
• Dispositions

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Amandas Thoughts

• The voice recorder was great for helping us watch
  our time. It was also very useful for writing my
  reflections over the lesson. I liked the idea of
  being able to listen and evaluate myself and the
  things I said to Katelyn as we were reading or
  doing various activities. I truly enjoyed hearing
  the laughing and the joking that took place
  during the sessions. When I first listening to
  the podcast I heard how confident my voice felt
  and I liked the idea that even though I may be
  nervous, I do not come across that way. Katelyn
  was a little shy toward the idea of being taped
  but she quickly forgot about the recorder as we
  started each lesson.

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PODCAST EXAMPLES

• Introductory Session - 1
• Introductory Session 2
• Introductory Session 3

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Susans Comments

• I was very intimidated about recording myself. I
  remained nervous about it for the first few
  sessions. Finally it just became part of the
  lesson and didnt bother me anymore. I felt like
  I was saying OK all the time and when I listened
  to myself I found out I was. By listening to
  myself, I realized that I was not giving Valarie
  enough wait time I often answered for her. The
  strategic evaluation helped me a lot in the
  beginning and then it things became more routine.
  I think the pod is a great idea for any teacher.
  You think you are effective but you never know
  unless you listen to yourself. I want to thank
  Valarie, Dr. Swanson, and NSU for giving me this
  opportunity to learn about myself as an educator.

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PODCAST EXAMPLES

• Tutoring Session - 1

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Steves Thoughts

• I feel that by using these podcasting techniques
  it has opened my eyes to technology. Downloading
  these was an experience in itself. I believe that
  these are good for evaluations and reading
  assessments and would be great for assessing in
  the classroom. It makes available the opportunity
  for portable assessing. I learned that I do not
  have as much transition as other tutors while
  listening to their sessions. I have known this
  through talk tools and coaching in other classes
  as well, but I feel that this is a positive
  thing. One of the ideas that I will implement
  into future tutoring sessions is more six trait
  writing. There are a lot of motivational
  exercises in this program.

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PODCAST EXAMPLES

• Final Session

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Dawns Reflection

• I liked the podcasting. It made reflection so
  much easier than relying on memory. I think this
  would be a great tool to use in classrooms for
  teachers to reflect over their own lessons,
  successes and failures. You can catch things
  that you missed when you were in the moment and
  they give us much more information than we could
  retain on our own.

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Problems to Solve

• Students attitude toward technology
• 370 hours of Podcasting
• Turn-around time and quality of recording
• Support of technology for faculty and students.
• Access to the materials, equipment and servers

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Best Solution

• The Reading Clinic is an area with 27 individual
  recording rooms where each session can be
  digitally (A-V) recorded and saved on a DVD.
  Each recording can be saved into a tutoring
  folder for easy access for both the supervisor
  and the teacher specialist candidate.

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• To truly empower teacher candidates, we must move
  the responsibility for professional growth from
  our desks to their desks.

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Questions?
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Bibliography

• Anders, P., Hoffman, J., Duffy, G. (2000).
  Teaching teachers to teach reading Paradigm
  shifts, persistent problems, and challenges. In
  M.L. Kamil, P.B. Mosenthal, P.D. Pearson, R.
  Barr (Eds.), Handbook of reading research (vol.3,
  pp. 719-742). Mahwah, NJ Erlbaum
• Bowman. B.T. 1989. Self-reflection as an element
  of professionalism. Teacher College Record 90
  (3), 444-51
• Johnston, P.H. (2004). Choice words How our
  language affects childrens learning. York, ME
  Stenhouse.
• McCollum, K. (1999). Colleges urged to use
  technology to promote lifelong learning.
  Chronicle of Higher Education, 46 (5), A-39.
• NCATE (National Council for Accreditation of
  Teacher Education). 2006.Standards, procedures
  and policies for the accreditation of
  professional educational units. Washington, DC
  Author.
• Poplin, W.J. (2008). Transformative Assessment.
  Alexandria, VA Association for Supervision and
  Curriculum Development
• Strickland, K. Stickland, J. (1998).
  Reflections on assessment, its purposes, methods,
  and effects on learning. Portsmouth, NH
  Heinemann.
• Vygotsky. L.S. (1986). Thought and language (A.
  Kozalin, Trans.). Cambridge, MA The MIT Press.
  (Original work published 1962)

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• Mary F. Swanson
• Assistant Professor of Reading
• Northeastern State University
• 3100 E. New Orleans Street
• Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74014
• swansomf_at_nsuok.edu