A. Elliott's Theories of Critical Thinking Reflection

After reading through the five articles on theories of critical thinking, I am satisfied knowing that the field of education is a continuous process of improvement, always striving to make learning authentic for students. Being an educator in the 21st century, one of the lines that resonated with me most was from R. Hobbs article where she writes, "Unfortunately, many school leaders mistakenly believe that simply providing children and young people with assess to digital technology will automatically enhance learning."  (Hobbs, 2011) These technological tools can truly transform the classroom when teachers use them to assess learning at the most complex levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. As a teacher, it is always my goal to allow technology to take learning to the next level, whether it be to have students connect with other students or create a piece of work with the knowledge they have gained through a unit of study. Of course, there are times when I may use technology for students to complete a Google form as a formative or summative assessment, but I realize that this is not where technology tools truly change learning for students.

Differentiated instruction is the key to reaching all learners. Technology serves as a catalyst in allowing that differentiation to happen seamlessly. For example, I use Google Classroom as my digital platform for assignments. One of the amazing features within Google Classroom is that assignments can be given to one student, a group of students, or the whole class. This allows me to quickly build interactive practice based on what students need. There are also some incredible features within Google Forms that allow students to move onto different material based on what their answers are to the Google Form questions. Also, all of the extensions available through Google provide different tools that ease learning for students with learning difficulties. These are simple tools, but when used to their full potential, allow me to almost effortlessly differentiate instruction. In the article Connecting Depth and Balance in Class, Kuhn mentions, "Fortunately, the differentiating power of educational technology makes meeting the needs of different intelligences or learning styles more and more possible." (Kuhn, 2008)

The information in these articles strongly effects all educators at any level of education, because the technology we are witnessing right now is only the surface. We have to equip our students with the skills to use this technology to continuously learn, discover, and create so they will be prepared for the jobs that are not even created yet. In order to keep learners engaged, educators must be engaged with their own technology in and out of the classroom. I love the description of the learning partnership in the article A Rich Seam. (Fullan and Langworthy, 2014) It depicts the teacher learning alongside the student, with the teacher as a partner of learning, rather than the individual with all the knowledge. When teachers begin to learn alongside their students, a beautiful dynamic develops in the classroom. Technology allows this to happen on a daily basis with students sharing their findings and creations with their teachers and visa versa. I look forward to watching the field of technology and the field of education continue to merge in order to better our world. 

Resources:

Fullan, M. & Langworthy, M. (2014). A rich seam: How new pedagogies find deep learning. London: Pearson.

Hobbs, R. (2011). Empowering learners with digital and media literacy. Knowledge Quest, 39(5), 12-17.

Huitt, W. (2011). Bloom et al.'s taxonomy of the cognitive domain. Educational Psychology Interactive. Valdosta, GA: Valdosta State University.

Kuhn, M. S. (2008). Connecting depth and balance in class. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(1), 18-21.

Rogers, E. M. (1963). The adoption process II. Journal of Cooperative Extension, 1(2), 69-75.

Alabama Virtual Library Demonstration

EBSCO Host
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8PETXCNc3A

The database that I choose to research is EBSCOhost. It is geared more towards college students and it contains a plethra of peer-reviewed journal articles as well as books and other resources. When you search using this database, you can easily narrow your search and you can also get full text articles which will save you from having to go to the library. EBSCOhost can also be used for teachers to do research when searching for new teaching ideas. For example, I could research different ways to use technology in the classroom. EBSCOhost is one of the many useful databases on the Alabama Virtual Library website.

Alabama Virtual Library Demonstration

GALE PowerSearch

I decided to go my research and recording on GALE PowerSearch. This resource caught my eye because it was in the list of recommendations on the AVL homepage (and was a resource I have not used before). This resource holds a wide variety of databases in it and is very user-friendly. Additionally, the search options can be as broad or as specific as the consumer needs. I also am a fan that you can narrow your search after the results are calculated (as shown in the video). This resource would be an excellent choice for introducing students to database search engines.

Alabama Virtual Library Demonstration

EBSCO Host

I chose the collection of databases called EBSCO Host. This resource, provided by Alabama Virtual Library, has an incredibly wide variety of databases. Users can select the database that's appropriate for them, or they can select all. Because there are so many resources available in this search engine, it could be appropriate for many different age groups and types of people. In my own classroom, it's a great resource to use for maybe a web quest introducing academic search engines.

App Reviews

Standard (National Association for Music Education - NAfME):

MU:Cr1.1.T.Ia Generate melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic ideas for compositions or improvisations using digital tools.

Piascore

Piascore is an app that allows musicians to store their music on the app and access it through their device. With several schools becoming 1:1 schools where every student has a device they take home, Piascore can become a very commonly used app by all music classes. Students in ensembles can download their personal parts and cut down on paper used in music classes. Additionally, directors can make markings on music and the students can see their markings directly on their devices. While it hasn’t taken off too quickly in music classrooms yet, Piascore has a very real potential to be a game changer in the music education world.

Garage Band

Garage Band, the app which comes pre-downloaded on Apple iPads, is perhaps one of the most used apps in music classrooms. From personal experience, my elementary music Cooperative Teacher used garage band almost every day when he taught his students songs by creating drum tracks that helped keep the beat (it was a lot more fun to listen to than just a standard metronome!). But moving beyond elementary music, Garage Band has several features which could become educational tools in middle and high school band programs. Garage Band allows students to create their own music and explore what different chords and harmonies do when combined and how to use them. Garage Band can also add some instrumental voices into an ensemble that are not commonly there (like a synthesizer for more modern works). 

TonalEnergy Tuner

TonalEnergy Tuner (TET) is one of several instruments tuner apps available to be downloaded to devices. TET is not only a tuner, but it’s a multi-functional tool for band directors and students. This app includes a tuner, a metronome, and a recorder. The tuner can also be adjusted to specific instrumental settings (band setting, orchestral setting, guitar setting, etc). One of the best “educational” functions of this app is the fact that students can keep track of their tuning tendencies on different notes. Learning this not only helps them become better musicians, but it also is a nice introduction into some basic music theory. This app also has a wide variety of age range that it can benefit. Not only do it’s more advanced features help older high school students, but the tuner makes a smiley face when the musician is in tune (the visual simulation is very helpful to young musicians and creates that mental association from their early days of music).

Of these three apps, I think Garage Band would be the most beneficial in the most amount of music classroom settings. One of the alternative high schools in my hometown started up a music class during their second year of existence, and the entire class was taught using iPads, notably through Garage Band. The class became a huge success among students, and even opened up other opportunities such as recording and mixing tracks. Garage Band can be used effectively in any music class a band director may offer at any level (music theory, music technology, and ensembles), whereas Piascore and TonalEnergy Tuner are more specific to just ensembles. Garage Band is also easily accessible and has tons of online resources to help utilize the app to its fullest extent. The biggest downfall with Garage Band is that it’s exclusively an Apple product.

App Reviews

Standard
Teen Connections
8. Demonstrate the ability to select, store, prepare, and serve nutritious foods. 
• Exhibiting safe and correct use of kitchen equipment 
• Applying safety and sanitation procedures in food preparation 
• Utilizing guidelines for table setting  

https://www.fooducate.com

Fooducate is an app that helps to eat healthy, track calories, macros, exercise, sleep, and hunger. It has personalized nutrition and ingredient analysis for thousands of foods. The app teaches you to eat for health. It is free and it can be used for all ages. It is compatible with iPhone and android devices. The app is credible because it has an advisory board and has been endorsed by many credible companies.

https://www.choosemyplate.gov

My Plate Tips is an app that illustrates the five food groups that are the building blocks for a healthy diet using a familiar image-a place setting for a meal. The app provides you with, easy-to-follow tips. It will surely help you develop good eating habits. It costs 99 cents and is helpful for all ages. It is compatible with iPhone and android devices. The app is credible because of the .gov at the end of the web address.

https://www.cdc.gov/bam/nutrition/mobileapp.html
BAM! Dining Decisions is an app with a game that allows you to sort foods coming down a conveyor belt into three categories: Go, Slow, or Whoa. Earn points by putting foods into the correct category. It is free and applicable for ages 4 and up. It is compatible with iPhone and android devices. It was created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

I feel the BAM! Dining Decisions app if the best for my students because the game is more fun. They can work through levels and I think this app will keep them interested longer. It also has a game that teaches about diseases that a person can get from vitamin and mineral deficiencies. This also correlates with science objectives as well as Teen Connections.

App Reviews

Standard: ELAGSE6L4: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 6 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
a. Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence or paragraph; a word’s position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
b. Use common, grade-appropriate Greek or Latin affixes and roots as clues to the meaning of a word (e.g., audience, auditory, audible).
c. Consult reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning or its part of speech.
d. Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary).

IXL-
IXL is a website and an app that allows students to choose the standard they want to work on mastering. It's compatible for iOS and Android. It tracks mastery using a Smart Score and if student performance indicates the need for remediation, it is provided through lower grade level standards. It's appropriate for students age 10 and up. The program offers a free trial, but a monthly subscription for language arts and math is $15.95 a month. Commonsensemedia.org provides a reliable wealth of information on this app, and provides reviews from both parents and students. It even give recommended talking points for parents to discuss with their students when using this app.

Word a Day- This app is available on iOS and Android. It costs a one time fee of $1.99. It gives students daily notifications, providing a new vocabulary word everyday. Users can challenge their peers to games, and even post their daily word on social media. Commonsensemedia.org recommends if for ages 14 and up. However, their review states that if used with supervision, it could be appropriate for younger ages. At times, it introduces terms that might be a little too mature for young ages.


Bluster!-  Bluster! is an app that promotes vocabulary building for younger kids. This app is produced by McGraw Hill which is a reputable company that specializes in publishing textbooks. This app teaches rhyming, as well Greek and Latin prefixes, roots, and suffixes. Kids can also compete against each other. This app is compatible with iOS and Android. It is also free. Players can pay $0.99 for additional word packs. It is appropriate for ages 6 and up.


Of these three apps, I think Bluster! is the best app for vocabulary development at the grade level that I teach. If it weren't for the price tag attached to IXL, it would definitely win, as it has much more to offer than Bluster!. However, unless the school system is buying a subscription (mine has), that price is unrealistic for a teacher, or parent to take on. If I were only teaching vocabulary development (L4), then Bluster! provides for multiple exercises to promote this skill. The only downfall I can find with this app, is that it doesn't provide read aloud to students who have that accommodation.

Theories of Critical Thinking

As ideas and concepts in education change and adapt over time, technology must change and adapt too. Technology usage in the classroom is at an all-time high right now. While I haven’t had my own classroom to experience this in, I witnessed it while student teaching and continue experiencing it through many of my colleagues. Students all have different learning needs, and it is up to educators to do their very best to meet those needs. For many students, having access to adequate resources can make all the difference in the world. Lucky for today’s educators, attaining those resources is arguably easier now than it’s ever been with the surge in classroom technology.

All educators are aware of Bloom’s Taxonomy and its importance in our field. Even as vital as Bloom’s Taxonomy is on education as a whole, it has even adapted over time to keep up with the needs of students and educators. In 2001, Anderson and Krathwohl revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to not only fit into modern education better, but also to attempt to make the process clearer to those it applies to. With modern education adapting to more outcome-focused objectives, Anderson and Krathwohl felt that Bloom’s Taxonomy should follow suit (Huitt, 2011). So, they adjusted the level names from nouns to action verbs, as well as switched the highest two levels of the model (Huitt, 2011). As a side note, the most modern national music standards also use action verbs very similar to those brought forth by Anderson and Krathwohl (NAfME standards: creating, responding, performing, and connecting).

Educators and technology professionals in schools are understanding the importance of technology skills play in their students’ success, not just in the school but in their futures. Common Core State Standards Initiative highlights on the importance of adequate technology skills, stating that these skills are imperative “to be ready for college, workforce training, and life in a technological society” (Hobbs, 2011). If students do not gain adequate training at this point in their lives, they are bound to be behind in whatever their futures hold. I was also intrigued with the section of “Empowering Learner with Digital and Media Literacy” where Hobbs discusses the reality that simply providing the latest digital resources for students is not enough. The resources must be understood well by students and teachers must have a solid plan of incorporating the technology into their lessons for it to be effective (Hobbs, 2011). While it is a benefit to get the latest and greatest stuff when you can, educators need to go through a thorough training before teaching the students how to use it (Hobbs, 2011).

When I become a band director, I plan to incorporate music technology into my program. I believe this will open up new opportunities for my students who hope to pursue a career in music. However, I am also aware that music technology only scratches the surface of some programs and digital resources students already use in their other classes. I hope to collaborate with my colleagues and with the other technology professionals in my school to ensure I am incorporating other resources in my classroom that will benefit my students beyond music, and I hope they will consider doing the same in their classrooms.

Theories of Critical Thinking

It's interesting to note that as technology changes, so do the needs of our students. As students adapt to changes in their world, their educational needs must be met. Technology makes this significantly more easy, allowing teachers to provide accommodations to students and meet them where they are. This easy access to learning also allows for a deeper understanding of the content. However, with these changes, we must teach students to become responsible digital citizens in an age where access to information is all too easy.

As an educator, the well-known Bloom's Taxonomy is a staple. However, in recent years, even this model has changed in order to match what students are being required to do in the classroom. The addition of "Creating" to the highest levels of the model, are no doubt the result of technologies that allow students to easily become producers in their own way (Huitt, 2011). In my own classroom, honestly, I see the need to reinforce more strongly the beginning steps of the model, before pushing ahead to the level of creating. I really benefited from the matrix combining Bloom's and Gardner's theories in a real world classroom (Kuhn, 2008). It was helpful to see concrete examples of how these different types of intelligences could be displayed at different levels of understanding.

With the rise in technology, it's imperative that we teach students how to be responsible when they're creating. My school has always had an advisement program to encourage students to be responsible citizens. However, it's only been in recent years that digital citizenship has been integrated into the curriculum.  One of the biggest concepts that I took away from "Empowering Learners with Digital and Media Literacy," is the importance of teaching students to evaluate and analyze the information they take in online (Hobbs, 2011). In the age of "clickbait" these skills are huge, and they also incorporate, in a sense, the principles of Bloom's Taxonomy.

In my own day-to-day life, it's easy to use technology as simply a means to an end. However, these texts have reiterated the importance and the possibility of using it as a tool to create a deeper level of understanding.

Theories of Critical Thinking

Education is continuously changing. When I began teaching eighteen years ago, we did not use technology much at all. I remember using a computer for attendance and that was all. Now teachers are encouraged to use technology as much as possible because the students seem to be more engaged when using technology. The traditional teaching methods are fading and we are now in a Digital Age. Educators are tasked with engaging students and making learning entertaining.

Bloom's taxonomy, developed in 1956, was a classification of intellectual objectives and skills essential to learning. These objectives have been used to structure lessons, guide learning, and assess students' performance (Huitt, 2011). Anderson and Krathwohl updated Bloom's taxonomy to indicate outcome focused objectives (Huitt, 2011). Bloom's taxonomy is a tool that can be used to help teachers effectively incorporate higher levels of learning into lesson plans.

Meeting after meeting, teachers are introduced to new digital tools. While new tools are important, it is not imperative that educators have the latest technologies (Hobbs, 2011). The main focus when the teacher is planning lessons is how effective the tool is when doing projects. If it is too difficult for the students to use, they will get lost trying to utilize the technology, instead of learning the objectives for the class.

When I am an administrator, I hope that all teachers will use technology in the classroom. I know it is not practical to think that all teachers will use technology daily, even if it is available. I hope to provide enough professional development, so that all teachers are comfortable using new digital tools in the classroom. In order to get the teachers on board with new tools, I will model them during faculty meetings. I can not expect the teachers to use new technology if I am not willing to do so myself.