The data analysis and school improvement course was very interesting and informing for me. I have never really been interested in data and I have never taken the time to really look into my school's data past what is shared with us from administration. Thanks to this course and Dr. Jones, I learned a lot of information about my school. This course allowed me to find my school's strengths and weaknesses. The course also gave me a chance to think of what I could suggest to improve our data and it helped me get a better understanding of why we do some of the strategies and things that we do at my school. I still am not that interested in data, but I am glad that I now have a better understanding of it. I also plan to be more involved and keep up with the data at my school past just what information is provided to us at meetings.
0 Comments
The course, designing online learning, taught me so much. Thanks to Dr. Larkin, I feel that I can design an engaging and effective online course for elementary students. This course took me through all the steps of creating an online course using a LMS (learning management system). I did not have a lot of experience with the LMS Edmodo prior to this course. I learned that there are many parts of creating a course that you do not think of unless you are the one working on it. This course helped me dig deep and learn more about this LMS and now I would love to use Edmodo more in my traditional classroom. Now that I have created a course using a leaning management system, I do not know if I would want to create a whole course by myself again. I would like to thank Dr. Larkin for this experience. I feel like I have learned a lot from the course that I can use throughout my career.
ITEC 7480, Introduction to Online Learning, has been one of the most impactful classes I have taken in my graduate class experience. Not only did this class start opening my eyes to what online learning truly is but it also made me put my technology skills from previous classes to work. Prior to this class I didn’t have much of an idea of what I would want to do with an Instructional Technology degree besides be a Technology Coach at a school. Prior to this class I also thought being an online teacher was easy and that they didn’t have to do much compared to a traditional classroom teacher. This course showed me that my thought process was wrong. In this course learned the duties and the everyday life of an online learning teacher. I learned how similar creating lessons, using rubrics, giving feedback, communication with students, and engagement with students was compare to the traditional classroom. This course pushed me to use classroom skills I already had and use those skills to create online modules. I had to think outside of my comfort zone and really get the mindset of an elementary student taking a course online and create modules that were engaging and meet the same standards and objectives that my traditional students have to meet. I would like to thank Dr. Vega for opening me up to something new that I could do with my upcoming degree and for really sparking my interest and making me want to pursue my online teaching endorsement.
When I found out that I would be taking this course, I expected to do a lot of research on other schools and learn what's expected of a technology coach. Going through the course, I found it to be one of the most beneficial courses that I have taken so far. Each assignment helped me learn ways to better myself as an educator and future technology coach. The very first assignment, the RSS feed, is a tool that has been useful all semester and will continue to be useful through my career in education. The RSS feed assignment taught me the importance of staying up to date on what's going on with education and with technology in education. Completing the assignments that went with the technology planning project helped me learn my school and my schools needs. I love that the assignments for this course pushed me to understand my schools SSP and technology needs. Although I could end up at any school in the future, I can serve as a leader in my school while I am still here. This course also taught me the importance of surveying and assessing the faculty and staff of the school to find out the needs and wants of the school I am serving.
This course caused me to really analyze and learn more about my school. This not only made me a stronger future technology coach but it made me a stronger employee of my school. I now know what the school can improve on technology wise and I can assist with taking my school to the next level as far as technology. When I found out that I would be taking an educational research class I was nervous and not too excited. I thought that we were going to do nothing but research, research, and more research. I've never enjoyed researching and was dreading the thought of spending a semester doing it. This course taught me where to find scholarly articles and the different types of research. Prior to this course I could not tell you either of those things. Although I did not love reading the articles and anaylzing articles, I am glad that I can properly analyze an article. I also now know how to use an article in my favor to prove a point.
Through the course I had the opportunity to plan my capstone and write my capstone proposal. Wring the capstone was a difficult task for me. I had a hard time narrowing down an idea and figuring out how the project would flow. Dr. Dias was extremely helpful with helping me organize and narrow downy thoughts. Instead of throwing the proposal assignment at us, she coached us through the proposal step by step in sections. She gave valuable feedback and I believe that I will have an amazing project thanks to her assistance. Observing how Dr. Dias assisted and coached me through my capstone proposal helped me see the importance of taking others step by step through what they find new and difficult when becoming a technology coach. Dr. Dias made preparing my capstone idea and proposal seem easier and more doable than I believed it could be just by the way she interacted with me and coached me through. I feel that having this skill is one of the most important skills when becoming a technology coach. Entering into this course I was very confident with my leadership skills and abilities to coach others. I have always been a leader in the activities, sports and organizations that I have been involved with. I also have years of coaching experience to help with my new teacher experience. I’ve always known that a lot goes into coaching but I have never struggled with it. This class has taught me that I will need to continue to practice and be patient with others and myself when it comes to technology coaching.
I have learned many great techniques and I was able to get much need practice in with coaching others on online tools. This course helped me see that this route of coaching is going to take more patience and preparing. I will have to continue to get comfortable with the tools and the techniques used for Instructional Coaching so that I can be an effective Instructional Coach. This coach has shown me that I am not completely ready to go out into the field of coaching other colleagues on technology. I need more experience and more time experimenting with different tools. Although I am not ready to step out on my own as a coach, I feel more confident than before to assist other teachers with their technology needs. I feel like I can hold workshops and sessions to help professionally develop my colleagues on certain tools. Coming into this course I I thought that I could consider myself very knowledgeable of using online tools in the classroom. I also thought Web 2.0 just meant using the Internet. This course has shown me that there are a plethora of tools out there for educators to use. I learned how to use new tools and got more knowledge of tools that I have heard of. This course showed me how important Web 2.0 tools are for in the classroom and students reaching their highest potential in education. Web 2.0 tools help kids practice, they reteach, they are great for determining groups, for collecting data, for in class or outside collaborating competition, and for pushing students past their level.
In a world that is turning into a technology driven world, it is important for educators to become familiar with the technology that is available. Prior to this course I used technology in my class, but not to the extent that I should have been. Now that I have knowledge on more tools, I am implementing more of them in my classroom. As I become more technology savvy, I plan to continue to implement more Web 2.0 tools. As an educator I want to prepare myself for all the opportunities the future has for them. This means I must continue to expose them to technology and continue to help them understand what they can do with technology. I will continue to use the skills that I have learned in this class with my students, my students’ parents, the factuality at my school and in my personal life. Lesson Plan for Implementing NETS•S—Template I (More Directed Learning Activities) Template with guiding questions Teacher(s) Name Jasmine McBride Position Classroom Teacher School/District Cobb County [email protected] Grade Level(s) 2nd Content Area English Language Arts Time line November 9th- 18th and November 28- December 6th Standards (What do you want students to know and be able to do? What knowledge, skills, and strategies do you expect students to gain? Are there connections to other curriculum areas and subject area benchmarks? ) Please put a summary of the standards you will be addressing rather than abbreviations and numbers that indicate which standards were addressed. Content standards: LA.2.ELAGSE2W2 – Write informative/ explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section NETS*S/ ISTE*S Standards: Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology- a. applying existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes; Student apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information- b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media, c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific task; Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior (a-d) ; Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concept, systems, and operations (a-d) Overview (a short summary of the lesson or unit including assignment or expected or possible products) Students will choose a topic that they know a lot about already or a topic that they would like to know more about. These topics can and will range from animals, people and/ or sports. Students will first write what they already know about their topics. Students will then use books, brain pop jr, kids click, kidssites.com, and any other teacher approved researching site online. Students will fill out organizers to help keep track of the information they find on their topic. Students will first complete an “All About” book on their topic. After they have taken their writing through the writing process and published their book, they will begin to create a PowerPoint presentation on their topic. Students will imbed a YouTube video (approved by the instructor) on their topic into their PowerPoint. Students will then create a five-question quiz on Quizzizz for their peers to complete after completing their PowerPoint. Students will present their PowerPoints to the class and will have the class complete their quiz. Students will be graded based off of the amount of information in their presentation and based on the questions that they create. Essential Questions (What essential question or learning are you addressing? What would students care or want to know about the topic? What are some questions to get students thinking about the topic or generate interest about the topic? Additionally, what questions can you ask students to help them focus on important aspects of the topic? (Guiding questions) What background or prior knowledge will you expect students to bring to this topic and build on?) Remember, essential questions are meant to guide the lesson by provoking inquiry. They should not be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” and should have many acceptable answers. How do I use Web 2.0 tools to take information that I researched and turn it into a presentation? What are different ways to show my knowledge on a topic? Assessment (What will students do or produce to illustrate their learning? What can students do to generate new knowledge? How will you assess how students are progressing (formative assessment)? How will you assess what they produce or do? How will you differentiate products?) You must attach copies of your assessment and/or rubrics. Include these in your presentation as well. Students will create an “All About” book and a PowerPoint on their choice topic. Students will then create a five-question quiz on Quizzizz on their presentation to give their peers after they present. Students will be graded based on their PowerPoint presentation and the information included. Resources (How does technology support student learning? What digital tools, and resources—online student tools, research sites, student handouts, tools, tutorials, templates, assessment rubrics, etc—help elucidate or explain the content or allow students to interact with the content? What previous technology skills should students have to complete this project?) For research on their topic of choice students will be using books, brain pop jr, kids click, kidssites.com, and any other teacher approved researching site online. To create their final presentation students will use PowerPoint and YouTube. Students will also create a quiz using Quizzizz to give their classmates and to show their knowledge of the topic to the teacher. Instructional Plan Preparation (What student needs, interests, and prior learning provide a foundation for this lesson? How can you find out if students have this foundation? What difficulties might students have?) Teacher will begin with a lesson on informational writing and text. Teacher will have students think of topics (sports, animals, people, activities) that they think they know a lot about or want to know more about. Students will then narrow down their choices to one choice. Each student will tell the teacher what their top choice is and that will become their topic for the lesson and project. Students will struggle with understanding how much information is needed to truly teach someone about a topic. Students will also struggle with writing and putting enough information into their books and PowerPoint. My students are often good and articulating what they want others to know but have a hard time putting it into writing and into presentations. Management Describe the classroom management strategies will you use to manage your students and the use of digital tools and resources. How and where will your students work? (Small groups, whole group, individuals, classroom, lab, etc.) What strategies will you use to achieve equitable access to the Internet while completing this lesson? Describe what technical issues might arise during the Internet lesson and explain how you will resolve or trouble-shoot them? Please note: Trouble-shooting should occur prior to implementing the lesson as well as throughout the process. Be sure to indicate how you prepared for problems and work through the issues that occurred as you implemented and even after the lesson was completed. Students will work individually. Students will research during one day of media center time and as one of their center rotations. Students will also get the opportunity to use morning work time and enrichment time in the afternoon to research. Students will begin with their books as students complete their books they will move to the computers and class lap tops to begin their presentations. The teacher wills checkout additional iPads from the media center so that multiple students can work at a time. When the majority of the class gets to where they need a computer the class will begin to use their working time in the computer lab. The teacher will assist students who need assistance with writing. Teacher will help students with imbedding their YouTube videos and creating their Quizzizz. Students will each work at their own pace and the teacher will walk around and assist students when needed at whichever step they are on. Instructional Strategies and Learning Activities – Describe the research-based instructional strategies you will use with this lesson. How will your learning environment support these activities? What is your role? What are the students' roles in the lesson? How can you ensure higher order thinking at the analysis, evaluation, or creativity levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy? How can the technology support your teaching? What authentic, relevant, and meaningful learning activities and tasks will your students complete? How will they build knowledge and skills? How will students use digital tools and resources to communicate and collaborate with each other and others? How will you facilitate the collaboration? I will use the “I do”, “We do, “You do” strategy to go through the lesson. I will model each step of the assignment using the topic of cheerleading. After I model each step of the lesson I will have the students go through the step with me with our class topic. The class topic will be on elephants. My role is to model how to research the topic, model how to organize information, model how to create a All About book, model how to create a PowerPoint, model how to embed a YouTube video into the PowerPoint, model how to make a quiz on Quizzizz and model how presenting to the class. My role is to also assist students on wherever they are in the process of completing their project. To ensure that analysis, evaluation and creativity, the students are making choosing how they want to make their PowerPoint look as long as they embed their video from YouTube. The students are creating their own questions for their quiz. Students will be able to see how their classmates do on the quiz and will be able to evaluate and analyze if the students learned from the presentation. Technology can support my teaching because I can show introduction and how to videos from online. Through this lesson students will learn that there are more than one ways to show understanding or knowledge of a topic. They will show that they understand this because they are making a book, creating a PowerPoint, and creating a quiz. Students will also practice presenting and preparing for presentations, which they will need to know for the rest of their school career and for careers after school. Students will be building their knowledge on their topic by researching to learn enough information about the topic to teach others. Differentiation (How will you differentiate content and process to accommodate various learning styles and abilities? How will you help students learn independently and with others? How will you provide extensions and opportunities for enrichment? What assistive technologies will you need to provide?) Research- For students who need assistance teacher will already have websites found and will have print outs of information for some students All About Book- Teacher will sit with students who need assistance to help organize and write book, students writing and reading level will determine the amount of facts the teacher expects on their topic Presentation- teacher assistance when needed, amount of information/ facts in presentation will depend on the student Quiz- Number of questions and difficulty level of some questions Reflection (Will there be a closing event? Will students be asked to reflect upon their work? Will students be asked to provide feedback on the assignment itself? What will be your process for answering the following questions? • Did students find the lesson meaningful and worth completing? • In what ways was this lesson effective? • What went well and why? • What did not go well and why? • How would you teach this lesson differently?) After completing this lesson/ project students will be asked to complete a survey. The survey will give the teacher feedback about what students liked, didn’t like, thought was meaningful, how could the lesson be made better. Closure: Anything else you would like to reflect upon regarding lessons learned and/or your experience with implementing this lesson. What advice would you give others if they were to implement the lesson? Please provide a quality reflection on your experience with this lesson and its implementation. This lesson is still in progress for me. I was not expecting this lesson to take this long. I did not take my students’ age into consideration when I came up with my idea. I expected the lesson to go a little past a week, but I assumed since they were working on it through different parts of the day they would complete everything by November 30th and would be able to present December 1st and 2nd. When I saw that students were still working on their books on November 16th and 17th I realized that we would need way more time. If I do this again I will take out some aspects of the project or allow more time. I would also allow students to have the choice to work in groups if I completed this project again. Graphic organizers to find information: Project Rubric: All About Project Student Name: _____________________________________________ Date: ___________________________________________ Score: __________________________ 0 points 1 point 2 points Student does not create an All About book or does not stay on topic in All About book Student creates an All About book that included five or less facts Student created an All About book with more than five facts Student does not create a PowerPoint or does not stay on topic in PowerPoint Student created a Power point without a YouTube video Student created a PowerPoint with a YouTube video and facts Student was not focused and on task throughout the project Student stayed on task and focused through most of the project Student stayed on task and focused throughout the entire project Students did not take his or her time and did not submit his or her best quality of work Student partially submitted his or her best work Student took his or her time and submitted an example of his or her best work Student did not create a five question quiz on Quizzizz Student created a quiz on Quizzizz that was lesson than five questions or that had questions not relate to their topic Student created a quiz related to their topic that had five or more questions Teacher Comments: Hey Teachers! Safety First!I so not believe in sheltering children form everything, but I do believe that as educators we should be preparing them for what they will experience in the future. Exposing and preparing students for the experiences that they will one day have makes them a better and more prepared citizen when they grow older. As a teacher I personally stress digital citizenship with my elementary school students and the high school students that I coach. When it comes to interacting and being social on the internet I stress the importance of being ethical, safe and legal when using the internet. Educators must teach students the proper way to behave when using the internet and must model proper internet etiquette. All educators must hold discussions with their students teaching guidelines, protocols, and expectations for the internet. Learn more about safety on the internet here...https://staysafeonline.org/stay-safe-online/for-parents/raising-digital-citizens http://www.safekids.com/kids-rules-for-online-safety/ https://kids.usa.gov/online-safety/index.shtml http://www.parenting.com/article/keeping-your-child-safe-on-the-internet http://www.gcflearnfree.org/internetsafetyforkids/staying-safe-from-online-predators/2/ Strategies to keep kids safe...1. turn off or edit location- do not leave a footprint for predators 2. Don't give TMI- explain how much information is too much information 3. limit and monitor student access- have control over your student(s) activity 4. Never give your full name and personal information like your address Youtube & The Future of Web 2.0I used Youtube as a way to reteach unpacking word problems with my students. I taught students how to unpack a word problems and key information to look for to properly solve the equation. After teaching and practicing, I had a student use the strategy independently. I then used him completing the problem and my voice overs to reteach what it meant to unpack a word problem. This video was used as an opening in my second grade classroom just to test how effective it was with my group of students. The students thought it was so cool to watch a student solve the problem and listen to me talk about it on and off the screen. I would use youtube as a tool for teaching again to teach a new skill. This way students could go home or use one of the devices in the classroom to help them when they needed assistance. In the blog titled What is Web 3.0 and How Might it Affect Education, Powers stated the Web 2.0 “is more like a big group of friends and acquaintances. When I take the time to think of how Youtube has influenced my daily life that statement is true. I use YouTube to learn songs, dances, get ideas, watch tutorials for hair and fashion, to watch TV shows, to find cheer skill tutorials, to find cheer routine ideas, and to find songs and videos to help my students learn in the classroom. Just like I look to my friends, colleagues and peers to give me ideas and to teach me new things, YouTube can do the same.
Students can use YouTube to learn from others. Some students who are more tech savvy and comfortable with technology may feel comfortable with creating and sharing videos of their own. Some students may be confident enough to create videos and share them with a select group of people. Students can create videos so that they can receive feedback or they can opt out of receiving feedback. YouTube provides educators and students with more resources and advice than they can imagine. YouTube can offer things to students that I have not yet touched on or learned myself. We all must remember that YouTube is only one source and that there are many more out there. I will be using YouTube to show my students unpack and solve word problems. Web 2.0 will continue to evolve and get better as time goes on. Web 2.0 allows us to take ideas from others and avoid reinventing the wheel. Communicating and assisting others through Web 2.0 tools allows the users to feel like they really know each other. They become we friends, that just like your real friends assist and support your needs. Although Web tools are getting better and evolving to meet the needs of teachers and students, there is a major challenge. The challenge is the accessibility to the web. Many schools can not afford to give teachers a class set of computers and iPads. Not all schools have computer labs and carts of laptops or iPads to check out to classrooms. This means the use of technology is limited in the classroom and in some classrooms it is just non existent. On the flip side, there are many advantages to Web 2.0 tools. They provide differentiation in the classroom. They are a sources of entertainment and they provide student engagement. Some tools help teachers collect data and create classroom groups. Teachers can also allow student to work independently on Web 2.0 tools so they are great for center time. Students in todays society are tech savvy. They stay up to date with technology so as technology changes they change with it. I Can't Read Their Writing!
When reading chapter nine of Web 2.0 How-To For Educators by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum, I ran across an app called Handwriting Without Tears. Teaching second grade has taught me to always incorporate writing practice and to give students opportunities to practice their handwriting. I have many students who if I do not stay on top of them about their handwriting they turn in work that they can not even read for themselves. Handwriting Without Tears gives practice activities and work for teachers to give students and it allows students to log in and practice their letters and record their own progress and errors. This tool can be used as morning work prior to the school day starting. It can be used as a center and during enrichment time at the end of a school day. The tool can also be used as an at home practice tool for students. There are many students who have informed me that they do not enjoy writing. Using an online tool is a way to engage students more in writing by having them practice on a device verses writing on a sheet of paper. If I was to use this tool in my classroom I would make it a guided reading center for students do independently. Challenges to using this program would be that the students are not always physically writing, so you would have to remind students that a device is not always a subsitute to writing. Another challange could be teachers monitoring the student progress and monitoring how the students monitor themselves.
Games Are Only Fun When Math Is Involvoled!
Magna High is a math game site that incorporates Common Core standards for second grade and up. The tool allows students to earn badges and compete against others based on their performance. Students are encouraged to move to more advanced levels of math while playing fun competitive games. Magna High has a great level of engagement for students, because it allows them to practice and master standards without realizing that they are doing work based on the Common Core standards. This tool can be used during math centers, in the computer lab, and when students complete work early. This tool allows students to practcie their standards without completing a worksheet or workbook page and it allows them to independently work on mastering their math skills.This tool could be a challange when students are trying to rush through and just put ansers because they want to be the first to make it through a certain game. This challange would more likely happen with younger grades. I feel like this is a great classroom tool to implement in my classroom on our Friday Math Days.
Voki Voki Voki… Show Me Show Me Show Me!
Voki is a free Web 2.0 tool that allows you take make personal avatars. These avatars can be used to read a story, open a lesson, close a lesson, and introduce a project or task. The tool allows the sreator to design the avatar and bring the avatar to life. The avatar's voice can be the creators voice or can be a voice and in a language provided by the Web tool. Voki's are a fun engaging way to catch an audiance's attention. After asking around I was informed that Vokis are amazing attention grabbers for elementary school students. I plan on using Voki in my classroom just to give my students something different to grab their attention when introducing a new standard. Voki is a great tool for students who like change in enviroment, because it is almost like getting a new instructor when the Voki is "teaching the lesson or giving the task". Voki's can be a challange when creating them ad figuring out the best way to create and bring the avatar to life. I feel Voki is a quick fun tool that can engage students when the instructor makes an avatar based on what they know about their students.
Hoot For Kahoot- Screencast
Originally, I was frustrated with Screen-o-matic. I was having issues with my computer and it was hindering me from completing my task. Then after two days of my computer freezing and logging me out while I was trying to create my screencast, I found that I like the tool. It is an amazing way to use you voice of a video or presentation. This would be beneficial for giving presentations or teaching a lesson in class. This is also a great tool for students to be able to go back and use as a reference on information. For my screencast I used part of the video Kahoot! Gamify Your Class ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6gER64oFgA ). I spoke over the video and gave teachers a brief word of encouragement to use the tool Kahoot.
Kahoot is an amazing free game based tool. It can be used with all ages so it is an appropriate tool for grades k-5 and for secondary education. Kahoot can be used for any subject and it offers different languages. Kahoot is a great tool to use a lesson or unit opening or closing. It is also great for quick checks, assessment and competitive review. It is a great tool that will engage students and allow teachers to collect data on if their class is mastering the standards. |
AuthorMy name is Jasmine McBride. I am a Cobb County School district employee. I spent my first year teaching fourth grade an I am currently a second grade teacher. I am enrolled in the Instructional Technology Master's Program at Kennesaw State University. Archives
December 2017
Categories |