Blog #2 Framework--SAMR

My first experience with the SAMR model was in 2014, when I was a fellow in the Beck Blended Learning Fellowship. Three other teachers from my school were also in this wonderful program that is offered at Dominican University.

After the first fellowship session, my bubble was burst when I found how much I did not know.  My fellow colleagues and I left that first session with our heads spinning from being presented with all the apps and websites that we could use with our students.I just did not know what tech tool to start with and how to implement it. I felt like I was diving off the cliff into an endless pool of ideas, and then waiting for someone to save me from going under from being overwhelmed. The SAMR model helped, because I was able to easily place myself into a category, which gave me a starting point of where I was and where I wanted to be.

Now before I go into the SAMR model, here is a little background about my school. In 2014, my school had a computer lab with about 25 desktops. In my classroom I had four desktops that were mostly used for stations (Substitution), which I did when the calendar allowed me to. When our new principal arrived, she was on a mission to get some tech in our school and into the hands of our kids. We started the school year with our old chalkboards that were transformed into white dry erase boards, and laptops and projectors for the teachers. Thanks to my boss and an anonymous donation, we had 30 iPads by the end of the school year. During the 2015 school year, our faithful leader brought in 25 Chromebooks. In 2016, an addition of 25 more Chromebooks and 10 iPads were added. For a small school like mine, this was like hitting the lottery. Being able to project video clips, examples, primary sources, and help my students visualize what I was trying to teach, truly changed the way I teach.

Back to our regular scheduled program

The concept of SAMR was presented early on in the fellowship program, and like a puzzle, the pieces started to fit.

This is one of my favorite graphics about SAMR

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/173599760620239658/

Note--the site that was tied to the Pinterest site is no longer available

Fair Use--Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.

For me, the graphic is a progression of technology skills that one can determine where a person fits and where your teaching style fits on the model. The SAMR model was developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura, in order to help educators create lessons that infuse technology on higher levels. Just like Bloom's Taxonomy, educators strive to ask higher order questions and design lessons that help develop critical thinking. SAMR follows that same concept. To help our students and ourselves become 21st century learners, we need to get past the basic--what color shirt did the main character wear and written responses to a piece of text, assignments.

https://www.smore.com/60547-samr-substitution

We need to provide lessons that involve global learning, such as collaboration and problem solving, such as using Puppet Pals to present the point of view of a historical person or a ground-breaking mathematician. 

Even as a child I used tech, Santa brought me a Commodore 64 and various video games over the years. When I started the fellowship program, I felt that I fell into the Substitution category, and I think that is only because my school did not have much tech and our internet was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo slow. We did not get Wi-Fi in our school until 2014. Thus, I was extremely limited to what I could have students do. After my principal starting acquiring tech for our school, I was off to the races. Yes, I did have my students write out narratives and such, then type them, which was Substitution. Now students will either brainstorm on paper or in a Doc, then use Google Docs to write, revise, edit, publish, share their work. Essay example 6th grade This is an example of Augmentation, because the student, used various skills--editing and revising within Google Docs, add-ons--Easy Bib to help cite sources. Students shared their file with me, then I proofread, leaving comments on the Doc for the student. Students also shared their Doc with other student to peer edit. By doing this, we saved a few trees and tears from students, because they only had to go back to their Doc to address the comments.

Whenever possible, I try to create lessons that have students working on the higher levels of SAMR, Modification and Redefinition. If not, at least a lesson that involves Augmentation. Here is another student example from last year, using Powtoon. Students had their choice on how to present their final project--Poplet, Slides, Adobe Spark, Docs, and some non tech applications due to the fact that not everyone has access to tech at home. Depending on the project, my students also create QR codes that link to a final project. It is fun to watch the parents figuring out how to use QR codes, then scanning their projects to view online.

For myself, I feel that I waiver between Modification and Redefinition. Summer of 2016, I made a series of parts of speech videos in order to use flipped learning. My early video lessons are adequate, but as I continued to make more, using Explain Everything, it got easier and that allowed a little bit more creativity on my part to fall into place. Here is an example of one of my videos-- Flipped learning example Now keep in mind, I wanted to add a little humor, so my son made the intro and conclusion.

My school also uses Defined STEM, which is an online site where collaborative projects are created using tech and non-tech applications. One project last year took 10 classroom hours to complete. Now this is a lot of time to dedicate to one project, but all subjects were involved.

This resource has a twist, because it smashes SAMR with Bloom's Taxonomy. There is also a template for dice, which is great tool to use for differentiated learning.

SAMR App Dice

Extra Resources

1. The SAMR Model: Background and Exemplars is a pdf resource to help get the ideas started on what you can use in your classroom or career.
2. Examples for using SAMR
3. Using Nearpod I have used Nearpod when I was a fellow, but not with my students. I think I need to take a second look at this tool.
4. Word Art Make your writing a visual piece of art. Here is a student example from one of my former students. 

Student example of using a writing skills, domain vocabulary, publishing skills, and tech skills.