What is TPACK?
TPACK is a framework that teachers can use to help them identify knowledge they might need to focus on to be able to teach effectively with technology (TPACK with explanations). TPACK, or Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge, uses three main focuses that overlap to make up the framework.
The content refers to what you teach, the pedagogy refers to how you teach, and technology refers to the tools you use to teach. For example in my classroom, the content I teach is ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies, and SEL (Social Emotional Learning). The pedagogy, or how I teach my content, is through storytelling, modeling, visualizing, direct instruction, centers and more. The technology tools I use in my classroom are Clever apps, projectors, document cameras, Chromebooks, and Promethean board (will use soon). My Self Evaluation
After diving into what these three pillars represent and thinking about my full day as a teacher, I could not come to a definitive conclusion on one area I am strong in or weak in for the whole day. I think it depends based the content subject. In the core subject of reading I feel confident in my Pedagogical Content Knowledge. When listening to a student read or write, I feel I am equipped with the knowledge to decipher what they are lacking and what I can do to amend that gap. Within phonics, there are clear first steps to go through when teaching to learn to read. As a teacher of English Language Learner 1st grade students, I feel passionate in identifying gaps and closing them through hands on activities supported by best practices. I feel weaker in my use of technology to carry out the teaching practices in my room. Although we use Lexia, Epic, and Learning A-Z in my room daily, I feel I could be using these apps or more technology with fidelity. I wonder how I could better use technology in my classroom as more than just a replacement of paper activities but as a way to change how I am teaching or change how the student is learning? Could I create videos and interactive activities for students on Seesaw as a way to re-teach students? These lessons could be used year after year, helping prevent teacher burnout.
I believe in the core subject of math I am strong with my technological content knowledge. My district and school provides us with many apps focused on grade level expectations, remedial programs, challenge programs, and play based math games. We use IXL, Edmentum math, Freckle math, ABCYA, and Boddle. IXL provides skills activities based on our Eureka Math curriculum. Edmentum uses the students most recent NWEA data to place them on a learning path. These two built in app features help teachers provide tailored instruction for their students with minimal setting up. However, in the area of math I believe I am weaker in content knowledge area for the natural progression of how math skills are learned. Contrary to how I feel about reading, I am not confident in the progression of how math concepts are learning starting at young ages. For this reason, I have applied and been accepted to a year long professional development by The Chicago Children's Museum called Playing with Numbers. They pride themselves on providing teachers with engaging instructional strategies to introduce, reinforce, and deepen understanding of grade-level math concepts through innovative classroom activities. I look forward to incorporating what I learn from this professional development and what I learn from this technology course and make changes to my math content understanding, pedagogy, and technology integrations. Overall
As a younger teacher I think parents and teachers look to me as someone to guide them in technological advances but in reality I went to school as these technological advances were just starting out. I feel as I have a lot to grow in how to integrate technology into more of my day and in a meaningful way. As I read, each component of TPACK carries equal importance. Furthermore, I look forward to learning more ideas of how to balance integrating more technology into my daily classroom culture while recognizing that my students are 6 years old. Finally, I appreciate the acknowledgement that the integration of these three areas will appear different based on grade level and economic and social status of a school.
It's great to see an educator being reflective about their practice. I too need to grow in the area of technology. I regularly use Clever apps such as Newsela, IXL, Nearpod, Quizziz, BrainPOP, and Office 365 with my students. As a math teacher I have found ways to incorporate more tech into my teaching such as having students contribute their answers to math problems in a Padlet or participate in a lecture through PearDeck. This gives me a lot of real-time feedback and then we can discuss their answers. If you've never tried them out, I recommend it because you can see their answers quickly in one place instead of having to work your way around the room, saving you time and giving you an opportunity to address math struggles with the class.
ReplyDeleteHi, Brittany. I too was thinking about how I could push my use of technology in the classroom to enrich student's learning more than just supplementing it. One way that I want to do that with EPIC is to use EPIC to create book groups in my classroom. I do not always have multiple copies of the same book, but EPIC allows for students to all access books at the same time. I imagine your students would gain a lot by learning how to have book talks with each other. I also resonated with your statement about being a younger teacher and parents looking for you to be the tech expert. While I feel I can solve many tech problems as they arise on my students' devices, I do not always know how and when to branch out and use more digital learning platforms in the classroom. I am hoping this course helps us both to gain confidence in finding and using those resources.
ReplyDeleteHi Brittany,
ReplyDeleteI too wrote about TPACK for my post for this week. I thought your description of the different pieces of TPACK was excellent, and your point about feeling different strengths/areas for growth dependent upon subject area was something I felt to be very insightful. This year I am only teaching one subject area, so honestly this was not something I considered when doing my self-reflection. After reading your post, I thought further, and realized that even within my one subject, there are areas where I would say I feel more knowledgeable about content or pedagogy or technology than others (say, reading vs writing vs language). I also think that your point about how each area of TPACK comes into play differently across grade levels and across schools was important as well, because it always is coming from the perspective of creating harmony among those knowledges for the purpose of helping our own students. I think that for any educator, there will always be ways to improve in one of the areas of TPACK, or in the integration of, say, technology and content knowledge. But having that awareness, and taking the steps to continue to grow, is what makes the greatest amount of difference.
This is an excellent reflection, Brittany. I appreciated how you gave personal classroom examples and talked about how you feel differently about TPACK based on what you are teaching. This is completely normal and makes sense. No one will live in the "sweet spot" of TPACK all of the time but becoming more aware of when we fall short can help us get there faster.
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