Statistic Research Blog: Homework Gap

Project Tomorrow's Speak Up
I came across one of Project Tomorrow's Speak Up reports entitled How America's Schools are Addressing the Homework Gap: Speak Up 2017 Findings May 2018. Upon reading the statistics on the report, I found myself connecting to it, especially after the week I had. (I'll tell you about it in a minute.) The report discusses and provides evidence about how there are some students who are not completing digital assignments since some families do not have access to the internet outside of school. This situation is called "digital divide." Another issue called the "homework gap" is that the quality of their internet access is not very good which makes it challenging to do work.

According to some statistics from the report, which can be seen below, almost 50% of principals say that a major challenge today is trying to guarantee student access to technology tools outside of school. Additionally, 13% of middle school through high school students say that they cannot complete homework because of not having access to the internet. Furthermore, about half of teachers want to be more reassured that students have access to technology resources in order to incorporate technology in their instruction.

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Even if 13% of students does not seem like a lot, I still find it significant. This report really struck me this week because since I was out-of-town for part of the week, I assigned digital assignments for my students to complete via Google Classroom while a sub was present in my room. In addition, with several snow days this week due to the cold weather, my principal told all homeroom teachers to assign work through Google Classroom during the snow days to see if we could use those as instructional days in order to not have to make-up any days in June. My students each have their own Chromebooks which is an advantage. However, when I was finally back at school with my students, I had to deal with issues that some students were not able to complete their work because of different internet issues students were experiencing at home, especially during the snow days. I received some parent e-mails confirming this. Part of me feels that some individuals are using this as an excuse to have an extension on some work, but, I do nevertheless believe some of these cases are legitimate. My question is, at what point do we stop excusing some of these instances? While some work could be done using traditional means, other assignments online can be more challenging to make traditional. I guess teachers will just have to deal with this on a case-by-case basis. Even with 5 students not having work complete, it can slow down moving forward with further instruction since teachers have to deal with catching some students up.

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Also, as the report points out in the caption above, technology leaders predict an increase in online instructional approaches in 2019. With this being the case, how can administrators and teachers make sure students are able to complete work outside of school? Below are some ways that schools are addressing this situation. One that really struck me below is where schools are discouraging homework that is digital or online. To me, 41% is a high number of schools doing this. I guess in a sense I see myself and some of my colleagues shying away from digital homework so as not to deal with this problem. I tried to take advantage of digital work this week since it was convenient for me considering my situation, but I found myself overwhelmed with trying to see what everyone was able to accomplish.

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Overall, maybe this is a problem that will resolve itself as instruction becomes more and more digital. While schools can do what they can to help students with this situation, maybe it's up to the families and students to figure out ways to get access to the internet in order to make sure they're completing work. If they want to succeed, they'll need to be creative with solving this problem like utilizing resources at a public library or coming in to school early or staying after. I just found this to be an interesting topic to discuss with others in education. What are your  thoughts?

Acceptable Use Policies

My school, St. Francis Xavier School (SFX), in LaGrange, IL, has an Acceptable Use Policy for students and parents as well as one for teachers and staff. These policies align with the regulations set forth by the Office of Catholic Schools within the Archdiocese of Chicago.

Copies of these policies can be viewed here:

 Parent & Student Acceptable Use Policy

 Teacher & Staff Acceptable Use Policy

Upon re-reading through both of these policies, (yes, I did read through the faculty one when asked to sign it!) I found both of them to be comprehensive and clear. The opening statement on the student/parent version explains that the purpose of technology at my school is to promote “resource sharing, innovation, and communication with the support and supervision of parents, teachers, and support staff.” It goes on to further state that these technology resources are a privilege and not a right. That opening clearly summaries and expresses my school’s goal with using technology. These resources are intended to enhance learning, and it is necessary to have adult supervision in order to ensure that students are using the resources appropriately and gathering reliable information. Furthermore, I believe it is important to explain that the use of these resources is definitely an advantage to learning. I think students especially need to understand that using them is like a special treat, and they should not think that it is a must for them to be using technology in order for them to learn and do their work. I am not referring to assistive technologies here, but I believe it is important to make the students feel grateful that they are able to use these resources so that they use them appropriately.

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I also like that the student/parent policy expresses that the advantages of using technology outweigh the possibility of students coming across information that may not be in line with the school’s goals. I have had students in the past conduct research on Greek gods or Catholic saints where some of them have come across information that may not be appropriate for school. Some sources that talk about the Greek gods mention too many love scandals, while some of the saint research involves describing gruesome details about their deaths. While I want my students to research and learn more about topics, I get nervous sometimes when they come across some of this information. I think, “Will a parent contact me?” Nevertheless, with this statement being in the policy, I feel better since we can’t hide all information on the Internet from students.  We need to give them freedom, but at the same time, it is important to supervise them.

The faculty version explains similar points, but also goes into detail about appropriate staff usage of equipment and resources. It states that when using a school device, we need to conduct ourselves professionally. At the same time, if we are doing work for school on our personal computer, we also have to understand that the “spirit of the policy applies” whenever we are doing a task for school.  I like that it states that they understand if teachers need to use their work computers for occasional personal use since the lines between professional and personal lives can mesh.

The faculty version also discusses social media and states that faculty and staff must take caution when posting anything on these sites that may affect how they are viewed professionally. Teachers and staff are warned against posting anything that may harm the school community’s reputation. Student work or images of students may not be posted on personal sites. We did have a violation of this rule at my school last year. A teacher posted an example of some student work on her personal Facebook. The student’s  name was crossed out, but a comment was made about the work that was inappropriate. Pictures of the post were shared among faculty who were friends with the teacher, and it ended up being shared with the principal. This teacher did receive disciplinary action for this violation.

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Overall, I am in line with both polices, and I am glad that I spent time reviewing them. It reminded me of things I need to remember to follow. For instance, my school’s policy states that teachers need to direct students to specific sites when researching and not permit a free search on websites. While I certainly do direct students to helpful and reliable sites, I feel that it is hard to avoid having the students do free searches. Sometimes that’s a natural thing that happens when researching. Despite finding this specific policy challenging, I feel that my school is on track with having these policies in place.

PLN: Pinterest

Hi everyone!

 I would be considered a Stage 1: Lurker when it comes to Pinterest. I have had an account for a while (two accounts actually as I just discovered...I forgot I made one years ago in college). When planning my wedding, I definitely used this social media site to get centerpiece and dress ideas. I enjoyed looking at all the pictures. I also came upon this site when doing Google searches for my classroom, and I found some neat ideas over the years. Nevertheless, I never spent much time really using the site---I never really organized pins, pinned things in general, or followed anyone.  I spent more time on it today and came across some neat classroom management ideas.

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 I made a whole new board and called it classroom management ideas. I was inspired to create this board by coming across this pin above about blurt beans. The title Chatty class? definitely caught my attention! I have such a chatty class this year and after coming home today on a Friday, I am willing to try anything to help limit the talking in my classroom. Upon clicking on this pin, I went to a website called Miss Giraffe's class. This page contains a slew of strategies to curb or stop talking among the students. Some of these ideas such as "blurt cubes" and "the marshmallow trick" are clever ones to manage talking in the classroom. After spending time on this site, I started pinning other classroom management and organization ideas on this board. I have a nice collection so far!

I love making lists. I have Post-It notes all over my desk. Pinterest is essentially just that but on the computer. The site is actually really up my alley so I am not really sure why I have shied away from using it. Something about it overwhelmed me and that caused me to not fully pay attention to it. By spending more time pinning and gaining followers, I can venture into the higher stages of connectedness when using a PLN (Professional Learning Network) like Pinterest. 

I most identify with the cognitive benefits of using a PLN. I like gaining creative ideas from other educators to help meet needs or solve problems in my classroom. While I use TpT a lot to gather resources for the classroom, I have recently found Twitter to be very helpful in order to learn new ideas from teachers. I shared my classroom management board on Twitter to see if anyone may be inspired and/or share more tips with me. After exploring Pinterest more, I need to use this social media site to help myself stay connected with other teachers so that I am not sitting in isolation with my classroom problems.

Let's hope these blurt beans work so I can stop all the chatterboxes in my room....

EDU 790 Introduction

Hi everyone! I'm Laura Walls. I love taking pictures, so I couldn't just share one. Below are four of my favorite current photos: 

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The past two and a half years have been very eventful in my life, especially since I got married in 2016! The picture at the top is my current profile picture on my Facebook account. It's one of my favorite pictures from my wedding. My husband (Nick) and I got married at St. Francis Xavier Church in LaGrange. I am a 6th-grade teacher at the parish's school. Since I have shared this picture before for other courses, I decided to share some other recent pictures that are also on my Facebook. I can't seem to get myself to change my profile picture! 

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This picture above is from my honeymoon. Nick and I love Disney World and had a great time when we went. I am actually going back soon with some of my close girlfriends for a long weekend. I can't wait!

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This third picture shows Nick and I at a wedding over the summer. Nick was the best man at his best friend's wedding. I tagged along with the bridal party when they took pictures at Dominican. I didn't know at the time that I would shortly be starting classes there!

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As for this last picture, it shows Nick and I on the day we purchased our first house. Over the past few months, we have worked hard at making our place feel like home. We love to decorate and went a little crazy with Christmas. We are currently getting some work done with our basement, and most our Christmas stuff is still up. I'll admit that I'm a little nervous about when I'm going to have the time to put it all away! As much as I love it all, I am looking forward to getting my house back to normal and all clean!

 Looking through these pictures just now on Facebook has made me reflect on how busy/eventful life has been lately. It's kind of nice to share these moments on Facebook because in a sense, it's like creating a traditional photo album to remember events and people. I love history and pictures, so storing all these in one location preserves my history with my friends and family and also organizes these images.

I am looking forward to this course. While I tend to be a private person, I feel that I have come along way with being more open to sharing with others via social media. I have definitely benefited from social media as teacher by gaining great ideas and resources from others. I am excited to learn more ways to use social media as an educator.

Check out the following to learn more about me:

Twitter (@lwalls776)

Professional Website