Teacher Talk

TPACK and SAMR are two more acronyms that we can add to our teacher vocabulary!  TPACK stands for Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and this combines all three of the elements to make the information being taught more relevant to the students.  Content knowledge covers the what part of the lesson; what is being taught.  The pedagogical knowledge is the how; how can this information going to be more accessible to our students.  The technological knowledge needs to incorporate technology to enhance the content.  The three should intertwine to meet the students' needs.  SAMR stands for substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.  Substitution means that the new technology piece replaces the old, but the task still remains the same.  Augmentation is when the technology makes the task easier for the students.  Modification and redefinition allow students to create new ideas, and things that you would not be able to do without the integration of technology.  As you progress through the acronym for SAMR, the benefits from the use of technology should become more complex.  It is important to try to push to the R level of the SAMR in your lessons.  By working in the higher levels of SAMR you enable your students to enhance their 21st century skills!   

For my research portion of this week's blog, I found an article that discussed different ways to increase students' attention spans. Research has proven that the more physical activity incorporated into the classroom, the better the students perform academically. The main emphasis of this article is increasing physical activity and decreasing instructional time.  I know what you may be thinking, how will decreasing the amount of instruction time help improve testing and academic scores?  However, this article also talks about if the students get breaks every so often, or are active while learning, their attention spans will increase and performance levels will also increase.  This is because students are able to refresh and refocus when it comes time to actually concentrate.  A mistake that teachers often make is trying to rely on recess or physical education class to make sure that students are active.   

There are many NCPTS that fit in with this week's blog.  The standards are 1, 3, and 4.  It is important for teachers to take leadership and responsibility for the well-being of their students: physically, emotionally, mentally.  Also, teachers have to know the content they are teaching, this is a huge factor and key component in the TPACK acronym.  Lastly, standard 4, teachers should facilitate student learning by providing them with the correct resources and allowing them to build their 21st century skills, which is a key component in the SAMR acronym as well.