TPACK is an educational theory that suggests that students’ needs are met most when their teachers combine their knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and the content they teach. This year I have paid close attention to the TPACK framework while designing and planning my action research as well as individual lessons.
My research this year focused on creating a pedagogical framework that engages students so they can better learn the content they are being taught. This framework focuses on providing students with consistent opportunities to make meaningful decisions about their work. As the pedagogical framework created through my research is applicable to any content area, I mainly focused on the technological and pedagogical aspects of TPACK when planning my research. I then combined that framework with my content knowledge to create the assignment my students completed. Providing elementary aged students with opportunities to make decisions can be precarious; offer too many options and students won’t have enough support and structure, offer too few options and students will feel like they are only making token decisions. To solve this problem I used my technological knowledge of hyper-docs to limit the amount of options my students were exposed to. This, combined with my content knowledge about the California Gold Rush, the topic of my students’ research, allowed me to easily create a document that my students could interact with, choose sources to use for their research from, and yet not be overwhelmed or distracted by the vastness of the internet.
3 Comments
As a teacher I have always felt that my students should be my highest priority. Of course I care about all students, but my priority and focus has always been on my students. Throughout the process of reading other teachers' inspiring research and conducting research of my own, however, I have realized that I can be both a catalyst for positive changes in other classrooms as well as my own without sacrificing the quality of my students' education. This, in short, is the primary goal of my research.
By targeting other elementary school teachers as my primary audience I can widen the sphere of influence my research on engagement has from the confines of my classroom to potentially students all over the world. While teachers are my primary audience, I do always want to save something for the kids! I believe it is important to involve students in the discussions and decisions that teachers use to form their pedagogy so that students can better understand and contribute to the learning process. In loyalty to my students and to this idea of inclusion there is also a small section of my research for whom elementary aged students are the intended primary audience. This, I believe, is the best way to help foster engagement in other classrooms, while still prioritizing and respecting students as active participants in their own education. |
Photo used under Creative Commons from trekkyandy