Final Reflection

Wow, I cannot even believe that it was 20 months ago that I was starting on this journey through this master’s program. While this program is done I can see myself continuing to log onto the internet to see what new things are out there. I am so excited to have been able to gain the knowledge that I did from this course. I think that it will help me with the rest of my teaching. I cannot say how excited I am to have been able to take these courses.

The last assignment had me thinking about what technologies are out there and how they can help my students perform at a higher level. Well I am happy to say that after doing the assignment I was able to find a site that I can use at my school and I will be meeting with a representative from the company this Thursday, April 22nd, to see what the company has to offer. I never thought that I would be so excited about technology, but I am seeing that it can help to motivate the students that I teach. I hope that this company is good and that we are able to get the technology at my school next year. I talked it over with my principal and he is going to hear what the representative has to offer on Thursday also. I have been comparing different programs that can be used with math in my class and I do not think that I would of ever done that if it had not been for this class. I never thought that I would be looking for resources to use in the building that I teach. It feels so good to be able to bring what I have learned to life. I feel that it is making my job more enjoyable to be able to find things that the students will be enthusiastic about. I was able to test out a demo with the students last week and they seemed to love the demo. Most of them were upset that they were not going to be able to use the technology.

As a whole I am so glad that I have been able to have the opportunity to take these courses. I was a little hesitant at the beginning of the program because I did not think that it had anything to do with technology. Looking back now I can see how it might not of been using a computer or the internet, but it made me think about the students that I teach as a whole and I am so excited to have been able to take those courses and gain some great knowledge.

Spotlight on Emerging Technology - Click HERE

Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology

As I look back at this course and all that I have learned I see that one size does not fit all and that because I am a specific type of learner that not all of my students learn in that same way. It also made me evaluate the way that I teach. As a teacher if I am able to identify the way that I learn and the way that all my students learn then I will be able to be a more effective teacher. This class has also showed me that I am not alone in implementing differentiated instruction in my classroom. There are things that I do in my class that I do in my class that just come naturally to me and it is differentiating the instruction to all the learners. Yet there are still areas that I can improve in. Before when I would see that education needs to be more differentiated I kind of fought against it. I did not know that there were so many resources out there on the internet or that I was doing many of the tactics in my class already. Differentiated instruction was not so clear; actually it was kind of muddy. Now that I am at the end of this class I look back at all the resources there are and all the knowledge that I have gained I am actually more comfortable with implementing more things into my class.

Adjustments that I am making in my class is providing the students with guided notes that they are able to get all the information that they need on the topic that I am teaching. I started this process halfway through this class and the students have been responding positively. The thing that I did last year at the end of the year when I knew that I was going to be having the same kids was grouped the kids in the classes that I was going to be teaching by their ability. This has helped with teaching because I knew what the ability of the students was and I was able to pair them up so that those students that were higher would be able to excel. I have seen that this has worked pretty well this year.

Reflection

As I look back at this course and reflect on my GAME plan I think that it fell into place and I feel like I will be able to incorporate more technology into my classroom. There are many things that I will take from this class and use in my classroom. There are also many things that I did not know existed and I am glad to have had the opportunity to be in this class and learn about all the advances there are in technology. I was fortunate to be able to use the SMART Response technology in my classroom and that helped me and my students advance in technology. The students were able to gain instant feedback on what they know and don’t know. It also allowed me to know where the students were lacking and what I needed to cover more in my class. The technology that I would like to take from this class into my own class is digital story telling. I think that it is a great way for the students to be able to express themselves.

Week 7 GAME Plan Continued

In order for the students that I teach to understand that technology is important in all that they do I will need to model how important it is to them all the time. I am loving being able to use the SMART response clickers in my classroom. I think that they are a great tool and the kids love to be able to use them. I am a little scared that I will not know what to do when I am not able to use them on a daily basis. I use the clickers at least three days a week and at times it is every day. Not all the teachers in the building use them now so that is great for me because I get to use them all the time, but when all the teachers in the building start using them then I will have to give them up. I am not looking forward to that. I love the technology that is at my finger tips. Just sometimes when there is only a limited amount available to use I think that is limits me and the things that I am capable of doing.

GAME Plan- Week 6

I am still in the same place that I was in looking over my GAME plan. I think that I have a pretty good understanding on how I am going to do my lesson plan and I think that it Is coming together pretty well. The goals that I have I think are coming together. I know that there are teachers that I teach with that are not proficient with the SMART Response clickers and I have been helping them to understand how to use and implement them into their classes. I hope that I will still be able to help those that are struggling and then also grow as an individual in my own knowledge of the technology.

GAME Plan Evaluation

My game plan so far has been effective. My first goal was to model digital-age work and learning to the students. I feel that I am doing well with this because I have been able to use the clickers in my classroom that will help the students in to gain knowledge in the ever changing world. The other goal that I have set forth is to engage in professional growth and leadership. Well I feel like this will all come into effect when I am able to talk about the clickers and how they are used in the classroom on our delayed start on Thursday. I hope that the teachers in my building will be open to the new technology that I will be presenting along with a person from the district. I have had great success in using the clickers and getting the students engaged in the lessons that I hope that I will be able to show all the possibilities there are with the clickers. They are a great way to get the students excited about learning about math and applying technology.

Progress of my GAME Plan

I am excited that I have the materials and resources that I will need to carry out my game plan. Being able to use the SMART response clickers is a great luxury that I am blessed to have. They are a great asset to my class. The tests that I have given the students on the clickers have been very successful. The clickers are awesome to use. The other goal that I have in my game plan is to be able to use the internet. The problem that I think will come up is the ability to use the computer lab at my school. It was hard in the first couple months to get into the computer lab because there was a team in there every day for two months. I think that the clickers will help with all the data that I have to collect and help with the students getting instant feedback. It breaks up the same old same old of the pencil and paper method of teaching. I think that my game plan is starting to come together with the clickers, SMART board, and internet access.

Carrying Out My "GAME" plan

Looking at my GAME plan and the goals that I have set for myself there are a couple of resources that I will need in order to carry out my plan. I will need a SMART board, a set of SMART responses, and access to the internet to get others ideas. I will need to collaborate with other teachers in my department to see what they are doing so that I can get some ideas from others.

Additional information that will be required for me to carry out this part of my plan is to acquire the knowledge that is necessary for me to convey the important topics to my students. I would also have to see how familiar the students are with the up and coming technology. If students are not that aware of the technology I would have to teach them how to use the technology.

The one step that I have been able to take at this point is being able to use the SMART response clickers in my classroom. I love being able to have the technology right at my finger tips. It is a little work getting all the assessments ready for the students to take, but it is well worth it once it is time to get the results. The students love the instant feedback that they receive when they take the assessment in the class and the students have told me that they feel that they do so much better when they are using the clickers. It is the same material that I would give them with paper and pencil. They are just able to use the technology instead of the old time paper and pencil.

GAME PLAN!!!!

When I first looked at this week’s blog post I thought about how I am the assistant varsity girls basketball coach in the district that I teach and we are just getting started with basketball. I was thinking to myself what would my game plan be before I coach a game? I was trying to think about how I would approach that type of situation and then how I would apply it to this class.

MY GAME PLAN:
G: The two areas of the NETS-T that I would like to strengthen are “model digital-age work and learning” and “engage in professional growth and leadership”. The district that I am in has moved to looking at all the data that can be collected to drive our instruction. The one performance indicator for this topic is to “model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning”. I am starting to implement this in my class with the SMART Response clickers that I just got to use in my classroom. This is a great way to collect, analyze, and evaluate my teaching and what the students are learning. The other area that I would like to strengthen is engaging in professional growth and development. The performance indicator that I would like to address in this is “evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice”.

A: The first action that I am taking now is trying to get all the teachers at the building that I teach in to be able to get a set of the SMART Response clickers for data research. I think that the information and data that they are able to collect are essential for driving instruction. I would also like to be able to get the teachers the proper training so that the use of the new technology would be like second nature for the teachers to be able to use. The clickers allow for the students to get instant feedback on what they are doing well or not and I can also get instant feedback with which students understand a concept and those that are struggling without the students being put on the spot.

M: The ways that I am planning on monitoring this is by collecting all the data that is available for information and then share the results with the other teachers in the building. This would be something that would be easy to monitor because the software for the SMART Response clickers is there and I can show the students a spreadsheet that will allow them to see their own personal progress. The goal that I think will be hard to follow is going to be communicating in global communities. I am not sure where to other school that I would be able to collaborate with. I hope that I will be able to find another school that I would be able to communicate with and get other ideas.

E: The way that I would evaluate my learning would be to look at all the things that I have implemented and see if what I am doing is working and are the students grasping the concept? The other way that I will evaluate my goal is by checking to see if I have accomplished what I have wanted to with my goals. If I have then I would be really happy. If not then I would have to look to see if there was anything that I would have to reevaluate with my goals.


National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

EDUC 6712: Reflection

I have had a couple of revelations while teaching new literacy skills to my students. The one that is most striking is that I need to change the way that I am teaching my students the new literacy skills to help prepare them for the future. Technology is changing so fast that every year I feel that I need to teach my students how to obtain valid information from all the different resources that are out there. The other revelation that I had was there are a vast amount of skills necessary for our students to be competitive in a world-wide work force. Up until this point in our society students were only responsible for reading, writing, and remembering. In today’s society the students must be able to solve advanced problems and must have technical and self motivational skills.

The knowledge that I have gained over these past eight weeks has made me realize that I need to become more fluent in the new literacy skills. The new literacy skills were something that I had never heard of before this class so I need to become well versed in them so that I can convey those skills onto my students. The more versed that I am in the skills the more likely I will be able to convey them to my students so that they can become more technologically advanced.

Some professional goals that I have are to learn more about different technology skills and model different ways to connect with other people. The way that I plan on learning about different literacy skills is through reading up on the internet on the new technology that is out there. The way that I would like to connect with other people is by having mu students share information on a class blog. I would like to be able to find a class that is studying the same things that I am in another school that my classes would be able to communicate with. I think that the students would be able to learn more from students that are doing the same things.

Evaluating Research Methods

Scenario 1: Ten students are available for in-depth interviews. Participants will be selected based on their involvement with the peer mediation program. They will be observed over three weeks. Analysis will attempt to determine issues concerning peer mediation.

For the first scenario the qualitative method would be the most suitable. The participants in the scenario are subjects in a case study that examines the students over a period of time and describes personal experiences and detailed interviews.


Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.

This second scenario has an experimental make up that makes it the quantitative research design. In this scenario “the researcher manipulates what the subjects will experience” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 23). The students in the study have been divided into groups that will be manipulated by either receiving or not receiving peer mediation. This scenario also uses the true experimental method with “random assignments” because “every subject used in the study has an equal chance of being in each group” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p.24).


Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.

I believe that this scenario is mixed method. The research in this scenario is conducted in the natural environment of the subjects so that makes it quantitative. The number of referrals is also looked at in the study so that makes it qualitative.


Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.

The last scenario also is mixed-method design. The pre- and post- tests in the scenario fall under the quantitative design surveys. The scenario is qualitative because it has face to face interviews on a bi-monthly basis which falls under “case study (which) examines a bounded system, or a case, over time in detail, employing multiple sources of data found in a setting” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p.26).


As an educator I need to use the best method of research to get the best result possible when it comes to my students and their learning. I have learned through this class that I need to examine my educational practices and see which ones work well and which ones need tweaking. Through the research that I conduct in my class either quantitative, qualitative, or mix-method, I need to make sure that I use it proper and accurately so that the results are not skewed. I do not want to be that educator that delivers misleading statistics.

Reference

McMillian, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2006). Research in Education: Evidence-based inquiry(6th Ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc.

Writing Research Questions

Week 3: Research Question
EDUC-6653I-2 Introduction to Educational Research
Instructor: Kathryn Arnold

I made a couple of changes to my original problem statement After doing the research for this week I believe that my questions are all qualitative. I hope that from the research that I am conducting here that I will be able to take some of the data back to my school and maybe we will be able to implement some of the techniques in our district. I know that for our school the special education students are the ones that do not grasp the concepts as quickly as the regular education students. I would like to know a way that we will be able to get those students that struggle in math to be successful. I know that it is not just the special education students, but I think that this is a great place to start.

My problem statement:
I plan to determine if skill and drill practice with technology programs and online tutorials help middle school special education students with their standard based test scores differently than those special education students taught through traditional class examples.

The questions I would like to address are:
1. What types of tutorial sites are available to help students with math concepts? (Qualitative)
2. Will students who use only the online skill and drill practice have better scores then those students who are taught traditionally? (Qualitative)
3. What types of technology based programs work better for the special education students? (Qualitative)
4. How are standard based tests scores affected? (
5. How much background knowledge is needed for use of the online programs? (Qualitative)
6. How will I assess the students to know that they are progressing? (Quantitative)
7. What impact does not using the textbook have on the students better grasping a concept? (Qualitative)

Any help that I could get on this would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for all your support.

Desiree

General Problem Statement

Week 2: Purpose/Problem Statements
EDUC-6653I-2 Introduction to Educational Research
Instructor: Kathryn Arnold

I plan to determine how skill and drill practice with technology programs and online tutorials will help middle school special education students with their standardized math scores differently than those special education students taught through class examples and book work.

Who: middle school special education math students
What: use technology for skill and drill websites and programs
Why: to increase test scores on the state standardized test

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Reflection

This will be my fourth year of teaching this next year and in this short time some of the ways that I do things have changed. In the three years that I have been teaching the students have had many different learning styles. So I think that as a teacher I need to examine where my students are and what learning theory best fits the learning styles of the students that I am teaching. My personal theory of learning is one in which I am able to understand all the differing views that are present in my students that helps to design an “instructional event to transfer knowledge and skills to (my) students” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). I try to incorporate all of the multiple intelligences into my lessons so that I am able to reach more students. Be it kinesthetic, visual, or auditory. I cannot think of any modifications that I would make to my personal learning theory.

The adjustments that I would like to make to my instructional practice in regards to technology integration as a result of this class is immense. The first technology tool that I would like to incorporate more into my classroom is PowerPoint presentations. Dr. Orey talks about PowerPoint presentations and how they are rarely used and how they can be very useful to engage the students and create a student based learning environment (Orey, 2001). The other technology tool that I would like to use in my class would be a voice thread. I think that the voice thread would be able to be used when I am absent from school. The voice thread may be used if I have a sub or for more clarification for the students when they get home from school. It is important though to remember that the strategies are only effective when “students become proficient at using them” (Laureate Education Inc., 2008).

The long-term goals that I would like to make in my classroom are to incorporate more technology into my lessons that are more aligned with social constructivism in which “learning is considered a result of the collaboration of a group of learners in an effort to construct a common core of knowledge” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). I would also like to implement more non-linguistic representation in my classroom. The use of non-linguistic representation allows for the students to get a visual image of what I am teaching so that later on the students will be able to use the connections that they made to remember what I had taught. This is a skill that is hard for many of the students but is very beneficial for them. I can have the students create visual images of some of the math words that we use on a daily basis. I also think that it will help the students with their math vocabulary. Another strategy that I would like to incorporate into my classroom is a web page for the team that I teach on. I think that having a place where the students can feel free to ask questions in a safe environment. There are so many possibilities out there to create and incorporate technology into my class that I am so excited for next year and all the things that I can do in my class. I want to talk to my principal to see if I can create a team or class web page so that the students will have access outside of school.

This course has taught me so much in the world of integrating technology into my class that the sky is the limit as to what I can do. I wish I knew about these things earlier, but as they say, better late than never. I am so happy that I had the opportunity to learn all the different types of technology that is out there. I think that the students would be really excited to use the new technology out there and they would become experts in the world of using technology. This little bit that I am doing will help them when they get out into the real world.


Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program eleven. Instructional Strategies, Part One [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.

Cooperative Learning

I think that the social learning theory is a great way to learn and I think the majority of people not only students learn this way. It is hard for students to learn when they are not actively engaged. I know personally if I am not actively engaged in something that I do not really pay attention. I know that I have ADHD and it is hard for me to focus for more than five minutes. So there are a lot of students that have ADHD and I know that they need something that is engaging in order for them to remember what is being taught.

The resource that I think is very useful is web quests. In using technology with classroom instruction that works they talk about web quests and their uses (Pitter, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoksi, 2007). Web quests are able to be used by individual students in classes and they are able to be used by people from all over the country if not world. I think this is a great thing to do in teaching and this allows for lifelong skills of collaboration. Students will have to collaborate when they get into the real world in every profession whether it is to brain storm an idea or come up with a solution to a problem.

The communication software that I believe is useful in communication and collaboration is Skype. It is a great way to communicate through visual conferencing with someone else. There are a lot of business that use this technology so that they are able to communicate with people from all over the world.

I am so impressed with all the technology that is out there. The students that I teach today will never know the more simplistic things in life. I am already starting to see how a lot of things that I thought were so advanced when I was growing up become ancient. It is just so amazing how much the world of technology has changed. At the age of 28 I feel that I am really out of touch with technology and all the advances that are coming out each and every day. School just ended for me today and after doing the voice thread I am thinking about when I have a sub that I can leave the voice feed with the sub and the sub can teach what I want him/her to teach. I am taken back from all the technological advances.


Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Voice Thread URL

Hope you enjoy this short math lesson :-)

All you have to do to access my voice thread is click on the title.

Constructivism in Practice

Dr. Orey discusses what the constructivist learning theory and how people learn best they build an external artifact and then share it with others (Laureate, 2008). There are many things that can help students to have a better understanding of what is being taught. One that is a great resource is PowerPoint presentations. I think that PowerPoint presentations can be effective in enhancing constructivist/constructionist learning theories. PowerPoint presentations allow for students to convey their thoughts while using technology and can be used as an assessment to see if the student is grasping the concept that is being taught. It allows the students to use an artifact like discussed by Dr. Orey and then they are able to share what they have learned with others. Project based learning is a common practice in constructionist learning.

The other resource from these past weeks that I think is very useful is the virtual field trips. I think that the students will be able to experience a lot from just the virtual field trip. I am looking forward into incorporating these into my classroom next year. I had never thought about using a virtual field trip in my classroom until this class


Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program seven. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Congnitive Learning Theory

Dr. Orey talks about cognitive theories and the “integrating multiple senses in presentation improves learning” (Laureate Education, 2008). I think that is so true in education that children need to be exposed to information in multiple ways. Not all the students obtain the information from lecture and the more senses that are hit the more likely that the students are about to retain the information that is being taught. The thing that was shocking to me was when Orey said that “short term memory can process 7 +/- 2 pieces of information at one time” (Laureate Education, 2008). Sometimes I wonder when there is a whole bunch of things going on why I cannot remember what was said. I can now chalk it up to the fact that I cannot process the information in my short term memory. The thing that I use in my math class is songs. I know that all the kids know all the words to a lot of the rap and Hannah Montana songs and who knows what else. So, I incorporate songs into my class. The songs that I use are ones that have familiar music that the students know, but the lyrics are math lyrics. At first the students laugh and think that the songs are funny and ridiculous, but by this time of year they are asking to hear the music. I think that this is a “episodic experience” (Laureate Education, 2008)that the students can relate to for the most part and that will help them to remember.

When it comes to concept mapping I never really knew what it was until this week when it was part of this week’s assignment. With how much the students want to text and get on myspace I know that the use of technology is very important to the kids learning in schools today. Something that Orey said in the video that I think plays a key role in concept mapping is allowing the learners to see what they are creating visually. With the concept map the students are able to organize the information that is being presented and map out what they are going to be doing. The primary method of storing information in long term memory is through elaboration. Through elaboration students can build on prior knowledge and use informational images to help them to recall a fact. There are many students in my classes that will be mouthing the words to some of the math songs when they are taking a test or a quiz. That is the way that they have stored their information and that is the way that they are going to recall it from memory. Through the concept map the students will be able to draw pictures that will allow them to connect and then retrieve the information later.


Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Instructional Strategies

Throughout the reading this week I noticed that technology can be used in several ways. I think that the most effective way that it can be used is through reinforcement. I think that through reinforcement students grasps the concepts that are being taught and realize that with a little extra effort on homework and through practice that they are better able to understand a concept that is being taught in my class. I was just at a workshop today and looking back at the readings for this week I think that what was discussed today would be a great tool. The workshop was on using different types of assessments in the classroom so that as a teacher I could get immediate feedback without the kids even knowing. I could do the assessments before, during, or after a standard is taught. The one assessment that I was really drawn into was the clicker that goes along with a SMART board. It gives feedback right away. There were so many things that I was thinking about while I was going through the training and how I could use this technology in my class. Through the clickers students will be able to monitor their progress along with I will be able to monitor where they are weak. This will be an instant “are they getting it or not” checker.

Homework and practice I believe should be for reinforcement not busy work. Students know when a teacher is just giving them something to keep them occupied and that is meaningless. At times I know that I fall into the phase of giving homework as busy work so that I can get some things done. The positive reinforcement that I started though and that had the students really excited was a ten day homework challenge. The students loved it and it was a great way to have positive reinforcement from each of the students and having all the students work towards a goal. The thing is though I have those one or two students that just refuse to do the work no matter how simple the assignment. I am at a loss for what to do for those kids. I have tried all types of things to no avail. The worst one of the bunch is the one that has been held back. You would of thought that not advancing to the next grade would be some sort of motivation. That is not the case he is as lazy as ever. I hope to find something that motivates this child.