Thoughts on SAMR

 What is SAMR?

I was introduced to SAMR a few years ago during a professional development workshop at the middle school where I held my last full time teaching position. The SAMR model was developed by Ruben Puentedura, and it is used to integrate technology into classroom teaching in a way that is meaningful (Walsh, 2015). 

The "S" standing for "substitution" and the "A" standing for "augmentation" are ways to enhance teaching with technology. However, the "M" for "modification" and "R" for "redefinition" mean that the educator is truly transforming his or her own teaching by redesigning tasks and creating new tasks that were possible without technology (Walsh, 2015).

(Image Source: Puentedura)

My Teaching

During my last year of teaching in 2021, I used a mix of all four types of technology integration:

substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition. I used a combination of all four types

because the content of my classes were both regular and gifted English language arts. I would

have liked to use more elements of self-paced flipped classroom. I think that both the regular

and gifted students would have benefitted from more of a self-paced flipped classroom model.

Substitution: In my regular language arts classes I integrated the students’ iPads into my lessons daily. For instance, students read articles, stories, and plays on their iPads and annotated the texts using the annotation feature (Notability) on the iPad. 

Augmentation: I used Google Forms for student assessment as much as I could in my language arts classes. The students and I loved the immediate feedback provided and the automatic scoring was a time saver for me even though it did take more time to create the assessments on the front end.

Modification: Students in my gifted language arts class created book trailers for books that they read on their own time (required homework was reading was 30 minutes per day). Students wrote scripts for the book trailer, acted in the trailers, filmed and edited the trailers. We viewed the trailers in class and students used them to recommend books to the class. Students have also effectively created blogs, podcasts, and websites in my classes as alternate assessments to demonstrate their learning.

Redefinition: I used redefinition in a broadcasting class that I taught as an elective course. In the class, students created their own news broadcasts using WeVideo video editor for Chromebooks, an entire broadcasting room with microphones, cameras, lights, and more plus a green screen. This is an example of redefinition because the whole course would not have been possible without the use of many forms of technology.

(Image Source: Pixabay)

A Note About Differentiation

It is important to remember that different forms of technology are useful to students at the different times. Teachers have to meet the needs of all students including students with accommodations. For example, when my students were required to annotate their reading, some of them preferred to type all of their annotations into one Google Document rather than using the annotation tool, Notability. The Google Doc was also easier for me to read and grade than the Notability annotations. Other students preferred to handwrite their annotations in a notebook. Technology should assist students with their learning rather than be a hindrance to them. 

(Image Source: Vimeo)

Conclusion

I am very curious to see some examples of a flipped classroom in the library setting. It seems like it would be challenging to implement at least at the elementary level where I currently work as a library assistant because of time constraints. The elementary classes at my school only meet for 30 minutes per week and 10 of those 30 minutes are reserved for book check out. However, I do see a benefit to the flipped classroom model at the middle school level and above.

References

Terada, Y. (2020, May 4). A powerful model for understanding good tech integration. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/powerful-model-understanding-good-tech-integration.

Walsh, K. (2022, May 19). 8 examples of transforming lessons through the SAMR cycle. Emerging Education Technologies. https://www.emergingedtech.com/2015/04/examples-of-transforming-lessons-through-samr/.