Last QuickFire: LipDub!

Professional Learning Plan

Professional Learning Plan

View more documents from Frogy1360.

Did you learn everything you set out to?

Initially, I set out to learn more about student blogging, social networking and web design. I definitely feel I have learned a lot about those topics. I feel comfortable enough to teach others about those programs/ideas. 

What did you learn that you didn’t anticipate learning?

I learn so much in this class. When I look at the list it seems impossible, but I am quite proud and empowered: Podcasting, screencasting, personal blog, Prezi, Glogster, bubble, QR codes, word clouds, creative commons, webquests, imovie, mixbook, TPACK, UDL, voicethread, PLN, the list goes on…

Are there still some things you are interested in learning more about?

I am interested in learning more about iPads, Smart Board Notebook software, classroom web design and/or wiki site design. 

What other literature or theory do you want to connect with?

I am so passionate about Gender Specific Learning and excited to teach an all girls class this fall. I find myself challenged to meet the needs of boy learners. I would love to read more literature about how technology can meet the needs of how boys learn.  

How are you going to take what you learned here and integrate it into your personal and professional workflows?

I am going to share tools with my technology committee and peer teachers. I plan on hosting tutorials to staff, because I often find it’s the fear of the unknown in operating a program/tool that usually stops teachers from using technology. If I can spend twenty minutes a week showing another teacher how to use a program I think I will open many teachers to the idea of TPACK.  

What specific goals do you have between now and next summer in your teaching practice? How specifically do you plan to accomplish these?

I really want to fully develop my classroom website/blog. I plan to develop my website individually on a weekly basis. I am very excited to incorporate student blogging in our reading and writing workshops. I plan to have my students participate in blogging every week. I am also looking forward to incorporating technology projects into our lab times. I plan to incorporate technology projects every three weeks in lab. 

Which goals do you think you can accomplish on your own, which do you need help with, and where might that help come from?

I feel confident in my ability to administer student blogging. I plan on getting help fusing technology tools with content from our school technology director, who is very knowledgeable on our curriculum. I plan on getting help on my classroom website from the technology committee leader, who has her own classroom website.

This I Believe Podcast

Podcast Powered By Podbean

When I look back to my original “This I believe” video I see connections between my initial statements and my current beliefs regarding technology, pedagogy and content. My video pointed out that teachers need to be willing “to adjust their paths”. This is especially true when it comes to my feelings about TPACK. TPACK is a huge mindset shift for educators, but I really think all educators need to do is be willing to try to incorporate technology, and sooner than later they will see the benefits it has on their pedagogy and content. I believe it’s my personal responsibility to be an advocate of promoting this mindset shift so that more educators can benefit from the TPACK model.

Another statement in my video was to “create links to collaborate.” I still believe in this statement, but after this cohort I am seeing the value in collaboration when it comes to TPACK. With our SIG group project and our group leadership project, I was able to see how sharing ideas and giving support to one another with technology tools produced more well rounded products and presentations, compared to when I worked alone. I believe that teachers need to collaborate on all levels, but especially with technology. If teachers don’t support each other in this journey of change then we will be more likely to have failure and it will take longer to change our education system. Change is necessary if we want to keep up with the digital natives in our classroom and if we want to meet needs of 21st century learners and prepare them for the digital age we live in.

In my video I also made the statement that I believe we should challenge each student. This directly ties in with keeping up with our digital native students. If we don’t offer technology to our students, then we simply our not keeping them as engaged as we possibly can. If we aren’t engaging them to the fullest capability then we can’t be challenging each of our students. Technology resources meet the needs of so many learners, such as auditory, hands on and visual learners. Traditional lecture and textbooks are only meeting the needs of students who learn one way, and it’s leaving the rest of our students behind.

In the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching article we read, it discusses how teaching styles affects different learners in relation to gender. Being that I was trained in gender specific learning, I have the belief that boys and girls learn differently and that we need to accommodate these differences as educators. Studies show that boys learn better from movement and hands on opportunities. So, I believe that incorporating TPACK meets this challenge directly.

Technology offers creation opportunities, hands on opportunities and flexibility, which are all things boys can benefit from. Girls can also benefit from what technology offers. But I believe it’s especially important that we focus on re-structuring education for boys, considering the research shows that traditional schooling is designed for how girls learn and therefore is failing the needs of many boys. This belief of challenging each child correlates directly with our studies on the Universal Design for Learning. I believe that frameworks such as UDL, helps teachers to be aware of exactly what we can do to meet the needs of all learners.

A final statement within my video was “Discover your layers of talent.” I still believe that it is important that teachers push themselves to new boundaries in the classroom. All teachers would benefit from having a well-rounded Personal Learning Network. Continual professional development that relates to TPACK helps to create teachers that are informed and more successful in the classroom. This professional development can be achieved by small steps such as participating in online learning. In the last four weeks, I have grown in my skills and knowledge through online learning, so I believe that other teachers could to. Outside of online learning, I believe teachers need to continually strive to make connections through resources such as blogging and twitter. I believe that technology leadership is necessary in order to move forward in transforming our schools. Many individuals within education have the talent that it takes to be technology leaders. I believe that schools need to place more of an emphasis on technology committees and technology leadership in order to fully integrate TPACK across the nation.

I also have developed new beliefs that were not mentioned in my initial video. I believe we have so many wicked problems in education that need to be attended to. From reading struggles, to ELL students, to outdated textbooks—we clearly have our hands full. I believe that best way to address these wicked problems is by implementing the TPACK framework. We are not reaching all of our students needs with traditional approaches. I believe students learn best when they are provided with creative outlets. When we solve our problems with technology we give our students a chance to be creative while solving wicked problems within our educational system.

I believe that as teachers we need to make the time to be our personal best. What that means in the 21^st century is teaching with the TPACK framework in mind and collaborating with others in order to be the best we can be.

Growing Up Online

I feel torn after watching Digital Nation and Growing Up Online. There were so many upsetting facts brought to my attention, from gaming addictions, cyber bullying to online anorexia forums. But then there were so many exciting things to hear about, from high schools being helped by technology to people creating positive identities online. This mixed review of feelings is often how I feel about technology.

I am sometimes scared of the disconnection the technology age is causing. The videos pointed out the harsh reality of teenagers living a hidden life that can sometimes be damaging to themselves. But at other times, I am so excited of what I can create digitally, and more importantly what my students can do with technology. I found these videos to be empowering because the films didn’t necessarily side with pro-technology or anti-technology. Instead, the films offered a variety of information and examples that allowed the viewer to be more educated on our digital world.

I feel this video helps to point our largest problem with living in a digital age: Finding a balance. The Korean gamer section of Digital Nation was really eye opening. We have to wonder if technology is always a positive if it can bring us to a point of addiction. This sad truth makes it that much more important for teachers to promote healthy technology use. But, the reality is that is comes down to parent support of appropriate technology use. This, as the movies reveal, can be such a juggle, especially when children are experiencing adolescence and are trying to find out who they are. 

In Digital Nation, we discover that bringing technology into a classroom can go as far as saving a failing school. We also saw how traditional teachers, who don’t incorporate technology, struggle to keep digital natives engaged in the classroom. This reminds of me of teachers I have met in my undergraduate teaching experience. I feel that our top challenge as educators is keeping our student engaged.

I think back to classrooms I observed in that didn’t have technology integration and to the ones that did. I have to say; the students were more engaged where there was technology. I recall a classroom that used audio books with mp3 players. I remember the sense of excitement from the students from this new opportunity. Although the effort was small, the student reaction was big. Although we have to be careful of how we use technology, we clearly can’t be afraid of using it in our classrooms.

I feel that in my short two years of teaching I have proven to myself that technology can bring great things to our students. In my first year of teaching, I didn’t have the time to embrace technology use as much. This past year, I taught my students how to use more programs, how to run the smart board, how to manage audio books, how to properly use Accelerated Reader and track their own progress, etc. With just a few added elements of technology, I felt a better sense of engagement from my students. I also attribute my increased test scores to technology tools that I incorporated this past school year. I am so excited to see what the next few years brings as I learn more tools and methods to experiment with in my classroom.

Group Leadership Project

Project Reflection 

1.   What tool did your group use to deliver the PD tutorial?  Why?

My group implemented the use of three tools to create our final video PD tutorial. We used Keynote, a presentation tool, to create a slide show to display text information regarding copyright law, fair use and Creative Commons. We did this because we wanted to have some text in the tutorial to support visual learners that learn best from reading. We also incorporated the use of video footage of us at a school to act out scenarios that teachers often experience regarding copyright laws. We decided to use video footage to support auditory learners and individuals that learn best from examples. The final tool we used was Screen-o-Matic, which is a screen casting tool. We used this screen casting tool to describe how to understand Creative Commons images and to discuss a checklist that helps teachers know what they can use and how they can use it. We used Screen-o-Matic to support auditory and kinesthetic learners, because the screen cast provides an audio element and shows the viewers how to navigate Creative Commons images on Flickr. We also picked Screen-o-Matic because you can create longer screen casts and the program allows you to download the file so that you can put it into a video creation program. To combine these elements of our project we used Windows Live Movie Maker to create our final video product. We used Windows Live Movie Maker because it allowed for smooth transitions, music, combining stills of our slide show, and incorporating video footage along with our Screen-o-Matic footage.

2.   What did you learn during the development process of the final product?

During the development process of our final product I learned a few things. I learned how to manage the length of the Screen-o-Matic that I created. I learned that it’s very easy to talk too long when explaining how to do something. It’s important to keep things brief so that you don’t lose the attention of the viewer. I also learned that it’s important to keep screen casts simple, so that you don’t confuse a viewer. I learned that it’s important to have a pre-written script of what you are going to say on a screen-cast. Initially, I thought I could just explain creative commons from memory, but you need a script to sound organized This is similar to needing note cards to reference during a presentation. In regards to putting together the final movie, the group discovered the importance of not overwhelming the presentation with too much talking in order to support visual learners too. That’s why we decided to play music in the background for the slide show portion of the video instead of talking over the slides. We realized the benefit of incorporating music in the video for entertainment and engagement value. We also discovered the importance of transition slides, to keep the content connected and to allow the presentation to have a smooth flow.

3.   What would you do differently if you had to develop a similar product again?

If I had to develop a similar product again I would take time to do more research on the subject individually, instead of doing the research as a group. This is simply because doing research as a group is not always a good use of group work time. I would also incorporate another screen cast, because I find screen casts to be very user friendly and I think audiences often feel motivated to try the activity being modeled in the screen cast. I also think it would be helpful to include another video scenario, because I think viewers benefit from having real world examples given that they can relate to. The final element I would do differently is add images to our slide show to help them be more visual.

Wicked Problem Project

Educational Problem: The educational need in my wicked problem is to promote fluent literacy skills in the primary grade levels.  Many students are below grade level expectations when it comes to reading fluency and comprehension. This puts them behind as they move on in their educations. Students that never fully develop their reading skills are more at risk to drop out of school. Struggling readers are best reached in the primary grades to prevent continual struggles throughout their education.

Technology Solution: I propose a three-step program to help increase literacy skills of struggling readers. The first technology tool to employ is audio books. Audio books are proven to increase both reading fluency and comprehension.  Audio books allow students to replay specific passages multiple times, which eliminates the demand of a one on one instructor to practice fluency. But, audio books alone do not solve the wicked problem of struggling readers. To help create a purpose for reading and to test comprehension the full integration of the program Accelerated Reader(AR) is the next step in this proposal. This program offers online comprehension and vocabulary quizzes for students after completion of reading an audio book. Teachers need to include AR as a part of their daily routine, otherwise the students will not buy into the program and therefore it will not be as effective. The AR quizzes track student progress towards individual goals and also allows teachers to track students’ individual progress. The final technology step is to have students blog on comprehension prompts. This blogging will increase student motivation and will allow the student to make meaningful connections in order to promote real world learning. This is an alternative to paper and pencil responses, which aren’t as effective because they don’t allow easy student tracking of progress and instant peer feedback. All the above steps are reasonable approaches that are low to zero cost. Teachers are able to rent audio books for free from local libraries, many schools are enrolled in Accelerated Reader and student blogging is free.

TPACK Applicaitons: Blog Part B 


Intended Audience: This presentation and solution was specifically designed for my fellow teachers at my school. I designed the solution with our resources in mind (such as AR). I also designed the PowerPoint presentation with our staff in mind. I gave specific instructions on accessing programs we use and standardized tests we administer. I think this program will help solve the problem of having many students below grade level. At my school we are expected to move students in reading ability, not matter what their intital scores are. Moving our lowest students is the most difficult. Although we have programs such as AR, we weren't provided with professional development to employ such programs. My Prezi legitimates the use of my program by discussing TPACK framework. But, more specifically, my PowerPoint presentation offers a guide for teachers to set up a reading intervention program in their classrooms. By hearing my Prezi, teachers will be convinced of the methods I have chosen for my program. By exploring my PowerPoint teachers will have a detailed plan to implement reading support in their classrooms.


Power Point Presentation:

Wicked problempowerpoint

View more presentations from Frogy1360

Presentation Transcript: Do you ever worry about your students’ reading abilities? Do you worry that too many of your students are reading below grade level? Do you find it challenging to get your students engaged in reading? If you answered yes to any of these questions than this presentation is for you. You are not alone: Many students across the nation are below grade level expectations when it comes to reading fluency and comprehension. This puts our students behind as they move on in their educations. Students that never fully develop their reading skills are more at risk to drop out of school. Many educators would agree: This is what we call a wicked problem!

So, what do we do about this wicked problem? I am proposing a three-step technology integrated program to help increase literacy skills of struggling readers. The first technology tool to employ is audio books. Audio books are proven to increase both reading fluency and comprehension. The next step in this proposal is the full integration of the program Accelerated Reader(AR). AR helps create a purpose for reading and to test comprehension skills. This program offers online comprehension and vocabulary quizzes for students after completion of reading a book. The final technology step is to have students blog on comprehension prompts. This blogging will increase student motivation and will allow the student to make meaningful connections in order to promote real world learning.

I have presented a few elements for this plan. Now lets talk about the logistics of this plan. This program will need to be used on a daily basis with quarterly tracking of progress. The program can be implemented as a workshop where pairs of students take turns using computers for audio books while other students read independently. Another computer can be used for AR quizzes and comprehension blogging. The program will be most effective in 2^nd-5^th grade classrooms, where students are still developing reading skills. Teachers will need to implement this plan throughout the entire year. This will allow students to meet quarterly AR goals, move up in reading levels due to audio book support, and track their personal growth of blogging responses. I have created a detailed step by step power point that outlines the set up and implementation of this plan. By clicking this last photo you will be able to access a link to the powerpoint.

You may have already noticed, each step of this program integrates the use of technology. It’s important that we employ technology into education for many reasons. We need to prepare our students for the 21^st century and for their future careers. Technology offers alternative learning strategies to meet Universal Design for Learning principles, which help us meet the needs of ALL learners. I would like to take some time to talk about how this program meets the need of a concept called TPACK. TPACK refers to the concept of fusing technology, pedagogy and content together. In other words, how teachers can teach with technology to support their content, rather than simply adding technology into a lesson.

Audio books might seem like a simple tool, but if you look more closely you’ll discover how audio books supports the TPACK framework. First, let’s discuss how audio books support technological pedagogy knowledge. By using audio books, readers are able to hear audio books being read to them. Auditory reading is proven to be a key element in learning to read. An additional element that audio books offers is that it takes away the stress and anxiety that struggling readers often experience. Eventually, students are able to see that they can have success with reading and later down the road become more competent independent readers. Audio books also support technological content knowledge. This program also encourages new representations of content by way of technology. Audio books offer an audio version of books, which is a new approach compared to independent reading. This representation variety correlates directly with the UDL framework, as it offers variety in order to meet the needs of ALL learners.

Audio books also support pedagogical content knowledge. In this program, students experience literacy in a variety of ways. Audio books allow students to experience the literature in an auditory sense. Students are set on their own self-guided tour, so to speak. They experience the success of comprehending the books and passing quizzes with the assistance of audio books.

Let’s move onto to looking at how Accelerated Reader meets TPACK requirements. Comprehension quizzes through AR correlated with Technological Pedagogical Knowledge. Testing our students understanding of what they read is essential. This program offers quizzes on almost any current book, so it therefore provides variety. Variety means differentiation. AR is designed so that students are reading the right books, and are moving up in their reading ability as time goes on. Making sure our students are reading the correct level literature is key pedagogical practice, and these above mentioned technology methods directly meet this need. This program also allows student to pick books that interest them within their level, which meets the UDL principle of providing individual choice.

AR offers online quizzes that provide instant feedback, which ties into Technological Content Knowledge. The instant feedback is a positive representational change for both the teacher and the student. Lastly, AR also connects to Pedagogical Content Knowledge. The pedagogical choices in this program correspond with producing fluent readers. As mentioned before, in this program, students experience literacy in a variety of ways. AR specifically allows the students to experience the literature by completing interactive comprehension quizzes. The AR tool gives students assurance and evidence that they comprehend the literature they are reading.

Blogging is the final element within this program. Blogging also corresponds closely with the TPACK framework. Blogging connects to Technological Pedagogical Knowledge because it allows for personal responses using technology. Having students blog about their reading helps to build comprehension skills. It is important that we allow our students to speak to what they are reading, so that they can make authentic connections. Although this can be done with pencil and paper, the online blogging experience offers so much more. With online blogging students can organize their work overtime, it provides a progression of progress and most importantly it provides an easy source for discussion and feedback.

Blogging also connects to Technological Content Knowledge: Student blogging also offers a representational change: Students are now able to keep an online journal of their responses and refer back to comments and feedback. Lastly, blogging also correlates with Pedagogical Content Knowledge: As I keep mentioning students experience literature in a variety of ways in this program: But blogging in particular allows them the benefit of writing about their reading. With blogging, students they are able to express their excitement pertaining to their comprehension of literature. Blogging also allows students to express their pride as a result of experiencing success with reading. This is an example of self-regulation, which applies to the UDL framework.

This program allows students to experience the process of learning to become a fluent reader in a positive, differentiated manner. With this program, students wont lag in their reading experiences; instead, this TPACK integrated solution will allow all students to prosper in their reading. 

MPG: Word Cloud

MPG: Yarn Doll Creation

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

MPG: Character Photo Book

Esperanza Rising Photo Project

View more presentations from Frogy1360

MPG: Photo Shaped Collage

MPG: Graphic Representation Book

| View Sample Photo Books | Create your own Photo Book

Technology Leadership

I found it interesting that a noted trait of a technology leader is being a risk taker. I definitely see myself as a risk taker professionally and personally. One example is setting up my classroom differently from the traditional classroom as a brand new teacher. At first others were curious, later I received some criticism and most recently I received praise. Although there are clearly negatives and positives in risking taking it is differently a worthy trait if you want to LIVE your life. I think people learn best from taking risks and when they aren't successful they gain the most experience and knowledge from their mistakes. This directly applies to technology and education. As technology leaders we need to be willing to take risks and possibly fail. Otherwise we will never be able to fully explore the endless possibilities within educational technology.

I already, in a sense, am an active technology leader. I am an active member of my school's technology committee. I often times take notes at meetings. I volunteer in tasks and contribute ideas on how we can support our staff. I am especially active when it comes to our workshops that we host. In the future, I would love to actually be the official leader or co-leader of our group. I think I do best when I can lead the way. I am proud of my technology committee, but would like to see the committee be more active in our goals and tasks. I am an action type leader, so I think leading a technology committee would suit me well.

Thinking even bigger, I would love to be involved with any type of technology committees within my company. I would also be open to a job opportunity within my company that allows me to provide support to teachers on how they can fully integrate technology, rather than add it on to lessons. I am unsure if such a position exists, but I feel my company (and any district) would benefit from a position such as this.

Wicked Problem Project: Creating Fluent Readers in the Classroom

Blog Part B: Application of TPACK

TP Knowledge: The aim of this wicked problem project is to increase fluent readers. This is clearly an ongoing problem in our schools and although there have been traditional approaches to support this problem; these solutions are clearly not as effective as they need to be. That is why it makes sense to adjust our pedagogy and attempt to incorporate technology to create more fluent readers. My three-step technology plan meets the needs of creating fluent readers. In step one the readers are able to hear audio books being read to them. Auditory reading is proven to be a key element in learning to read. But, without the aid of audio books, teachers can only offer class read alouds. These read alouds do not offer repeat readings on demand for individual students, but audio books do. An additional element that audio books offers, in relation to teaching reading, is that it takes away the stress and anxiety that struggling readers often experience. Audio books allow students to follow along with printed copies of books and feel more at ease. This allows them to develop a more authentic passion for reading and allows students to become engaged in stories and series books. Eventually, students are able to see that they can have success with reading and later down the road become more competent, independent readers.

Step two of the program offers comprehension checking through the technology tool Accelerated Reader. Testing our students' understanding of what they read is essential. This program offers quizzes on almost any children's book, so it therefore provides variety. Variety means differentiation. AR is designed so that students are reading the right books, and are moving up in their reading ability as time goes on. Standardized testing provides teachers with information on reading levels and students are able to look up books on ARbookfinder.com to find their appropriate level book. Teachers also have the option of leveling their library, which allows students to easily browse books at their level.  Making sure our students are reading the correct level literature is key pedagogical practice, and these above mentioned technology methods directly meet this need.

Step three in the program allows for personal responses that promote comprehension building. Student blogging on comprehension blogs is how this step is met. It is important that we allow our students to speak to what they are reading, so that they can make authentic connections. Although this can be done with pencil and paper, the online blogging experience offers so much more. With online blogging students can organize their work overtime, it provides a progression of progress and most importantly it provides an easy source for discussion and feedback. So, essentially, blogging drastically improves this particular aspect of the pedagogical practice of promoting fluent readers in the classroom.

TC Knowledge: The technologies in my solution (Audio books, AR and blogging) make the content of learning to become a fluent reading much more intellectually accessible. Without these technologies reading instruction can easily be too uniform, in other words not differentiated. This program promotes having each student reading books at their exact level. Teachers are able to rent audio books of various levels, AR offers quizzes on a large range of reading levels and students are able to blog about the books that are “just right” for them. Audio books allow students to also read books slightly above their ability since they are reading along. This allows students to be exposed to more difficult literature and pushes their vocabulary and comprehension development even further. This benefit of audio books can even allow students to move up in their reading level. This system ensures not only that struggling students progress, but that all students progress in their reading abilities, including grade level and above grade level readers.

This program also encourages new representations of content by way of technology. Audio books offer an audio version of books, which is a new approach compared to independent silent reading. Audio books puts the words to life and offers a model of a fluent reader with good intonation and voice. AR offers online quizzes that provide instant feedback. The online quizzes allow the student to view one question at a time and allows the student to click on various answers before submitting their final answer. This is visually more clean than crossing out answers and erases mistakes. Viewing one question at time allows for self-pacing, and the clicking option allows for a kinesthetic approach. The instant feedback is a representational change for both the teacher and the student. Traditionally grading can block the teacher from immediate remediation. Students also take more ownership in their learning when they receive instant results. Student blogging also offers a representational change: Students are now able to keep an online journal of their responses and refer back to comments and feedback. Whereas traditional journaling limits the students to paper, which can be disorganized/easily lost. In traditional pencil and paper activities, students are also more likely to forget peer and teacher feedback because it is often represented verbally.

PC Knowledge: My pedagogical choices in this program correspond with producing fluent readers. In this program, students experience literacy in a variety of ways: Students experience literature in an auditory sense, they are able to complete interactive comprehension quizzes and also have the benefit of writing about their reading experiences by way of blogging. Students are set on their own self-guided tour, so to speak. They are reading books that interest them and that are at their level. They experience the success of comprehending the books and passing quizzes, with the assistance of audio books. Furthermore, students are able to express their excitement of success and comprehension by blogging. 

When looking at the even bigger picture of this program it is evident that the additional pedagogical practices support literacy for readers of all ability. This program is implemented primarily in workshop form, where students are able to read in comfortable areas, or enjoy an audio book with a partner or even participate in small literature circles. Students self run this workshop: Student jobs allows for a student to monitor computers for quiz and blogging use. This model allows the teacher to attend to teaching rather than management. The teacher is able to focus on individual instruction in such an environment. This allows the teacher to administer one-on-one Dibels testing, attend to small literature groups and model repetitive reading practice on audio books. Students are experiencing the process of learning to become a fluent reader in a positive, differentiated manner. Students no longer have to struggle in their reading experiences; instead they are able to prosper in their literacy skills by implementation of such technology based programs.

 

Wicked Problem Project: Creating Fluent Readers in the Classroom

Blog Part A: Description of Need or Opportunity

Educational Need: The educational need in my wicked problem is to promote fluent literacy skills in the primary grade levels.  Many students are below grade level expectations when it comes to reading fluency and comprehension. This puts them behind as they move on in their educations. Students that never fully develop their reading skills are more at risk to drop out of school. Struggling readers are best reached in the primary grades to prevent continual struggles throughout their education.

Technology Solution: I propose a three-step program to help increase literacy skills of struggling readers. The first technology tool to employ is audio books. Audio books are proven to increase both reading fluency and comprehension.  Audio books allow students to replay specific passages multiple times, which eliminates the demand of a one on one instructor to practice fluency. But, audio books alone do not solve the wicked problem of struggling readers. To help create a purpose for reading and to test comprehension the full integration of the program Accelerated Reader(AR) is the next step in this proposal. This program offers online comprehension and vocabulary quizzes for students after completion of reading an audio book. Teachers need to include AR as a part of their daily routine, otherwise the students will not buy into the program and therefore it will not be as effective. The AR quizzes track student progress towards individual goals and also allows teachers to track students’ individual progress. The final technology step is to have students blog on comprehension prompts. This blogging will increase student motivation and will allow the student to make meaningful connections in order to promote real world learning. This is an alternative to paper and pencil responses, which aren’t as effective because they don’t allow easy student tracking of progress and instant peer feedback. All the above steps are reasonable approaches that are low to zero cost. Teachers are able to rent audio books for free from local libraries, many schools are enrolled in Accelerated Reader and student blogging is free.

Logistics of the Solution: This program will be used on a daily basis with quarterly tracking of progress. The program can be implemented as a workshop where pairs of students take turns using computers for audio books while other students read independently. Another computer will be used for AR quizzes and comprehension blogging.  It will be used in 2^nd-5^th grade classrooms. Teachers will need to implement this plan throughout the entire year. This will allow students to meet quarterly AR goals, move up in reading levels due to audio book supprt, and track their personal growth of blogging responses. It will be the grade level teachers responsibility to enforce the program and promote it as a daily activity.

Resources:   

Audio Books and Literacy

Reader Responsiveness 2.0

The Importance of Reading Practice

Implementation Plan: To implement this plan during this course I will create a best practices presentation outlining the steps to apply this plan in a classroom. This presentation will explain how to effectively set up each step and the benefit of each step in regards to promoting fluent readers. After this course is complete, I plan on sharing this presentation and hosting a “getting start” workshop session in order to help teachers set up the program in their classrooms. 

Indicators of a Successful Project: To track student reading progress teachers will be able to look at three resources of data: The first is the accelerated reader quizzes results and individual student goal progress. The second source is tracking student reading progress on standardized MAP testing. The last is to analyze Dibels results (one on one reading assessments). All these resources will offer data to indicate if the program is increasing reading ability. An additional informal indicator of success is to track student progress on their comprehension blogs.

Three Words For Education

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Online Learning

Making the Online Experience More Meaningful

When thinking about the question: "How can online learning be more meaningful?" the first thing that comes to mind is my current MAET online learning experience. Although I have had experiences with discussion blogs in the past, this is my first true online course. Reflecting on my own progress thus far, I have some ideas of what makes online learning meaningful: 



Feedback:


I agree that our students may struggle to find the online learning experience engaging unless there is constant feedback from peers and instructors. This is a mindset shift from taking a stack of papers home and crunching the numbers to instead logging on to kidblog and commenting on your students' posts. I think this is a radical change for some. But, I am willing to promote such tools as kidblog because it allows for fluid peer feedback and teacher feedback. Without feedback, students can easily feel unheard in their online experience and therefore might become unmotivated. 

Inquiry Based Learning:


I initially struggled with our content connections web page because I was unsure how to incorporate inquiry based learning and wasn't clear on the importance of including inquiry tasks. I feel these struggles were natural because sometimes as teachers we get in the mode of delivering content instead of being coaches of learning. I pushed myself to not create a web page that just gave the information and "checked for understanding". I was proud of my end result: My students would be able to form their own questions about the content and explore ideas as a collaborative group. This assignment, along with the projects we are completing in 811 and 812, have allowed me to see the importance of inquiry in the online process. 


Creativity: 

A great benefit of online learning is that it lets all students, no matter their artist ability, show their creativity. I have enjoyed creating and brainstorming for my multi-genre project  because it has such opportunity to be creative and different. This project alone has made my online experience meaningful. I know that if I provide tools to my students such as Glogster and Animoto that they will flourish in their learning due to the creativity opportunities available. Often times pencil and paper assignments are too limited and don't push our students to think outside the box. Online learning is a perfect solution to this problem.

Lesson Plan (Re) Creation with UDL Updates

Below is a revised version of my Lesson Plan (Re) Creation with adjustments based off the UDL framework. 
MaroccoLessonPlanReCreationRevised

Universal Design for Learning Checklist

Below is my Universal Design for Learning Checklist that I made for the Lesson (Re) Creation assignment. I really found this checklist to be helpful when thinking about if my lesson was UDL friendly. I found that I was able to explain that a lot of my lesson elements were already features of UDL, such as options for perceptions and comprehension. But I also discovered my barrier areas, such as options for language and symbols and options for physical action. I am actually excited to go back and modify my lesson so that I can fix my barrier areas to make my lesson universally designed for all learners!

UDL Checklist

Lesson Plan (Re) Creation

MaroccoLessonPlanReCreation

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

I enjoyed reading the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. I felt that many ideas portrayed in this article are ideas that I have learned at MSU, but also concepts that I am practicing in the classroom. My school promotes a model of collaboration and team work. Every team within the building meets on a daily and weekly basis to share resources, ideas, results, adjustments and feedback. Authors Bender and Gray of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, would agree that such models allows us to be the best we can be in the classroom.

Another concept discussed in this article that I practice is formative assessment. Bender and Gray point out, "We must use what we learn about their learning as data that justify or require us to change our practices...". I am in the habit of informally assessing my students so that I can know what to teach next and who to teach what. Formative assessment ties into Educational Technology because I have discovered in this process that sometimes all students need is a new tool to master the objective--and sometimes that is a technology related tool.

What I found most intriguing in this article was pointing out different teaching styles and how they influence learning. The article points out, "We have begun to understand how teaching styles influence learning and about gender and cultural differences and their direct relationship to learning." I have had the privalege of being trained in gender specific learning at the Gurian Institute in Denver, CO. I am teaching an all girls class this fall. I was so enlightened at this conference to learn all the differences between how girls and boys learn differently. I am excited that my school is making such huge strides and taking action on what the research of teaching reveals.

When thinking about goal oriented learning, I am proud to say that again my school promotes lesson designing with goal oriented learning in mind. At the beginning of the last year, my teammates and I designed a unit plan keeping our end objectives in mind. So, we started the unit plan by creating the summative assessment. This ensured that each lesson had a place and purpose towards mastering the summative assessment. Goal oriented learning is a great way to keep the lessons on track, but it can also be difficult to design summative assessments before designing the lessons that help teach the material on the summative assessment.

Motivational Poster/Reflection

I am feeling very reflective about this whirlwind experience. I have felt exhausted and frustrated at times, but I am feeling like I have learned so much about ed tech and so many useful tools. I am taking the time to look around and realize that I am a part of a program that will allow me to create informed 21st century learners. 

My personal learning network has expanded throughout this course. Not only have I made personal connections with colleagues in class, but I have made use of technology related networks. I have really enjoyed expanding my PLN with my personal blog. I had never blogged before, but I am feeling that blogging has allowed me to have a professional voice that I can share with others. I have loved the opportunity to share multimedia projects on my blog. I plan on continuing to use my blog throughout the school year as a reflective and informative space.

I also have enjoyed having twitter because it’s a social network that I was able to use exclusively for professional purposes. I plan to continue to follow relevant hashtags on twitter, so that I am able to stay aware of ed technology news. I also like that twitter exposes me to new colleagues that have similar and difference experiences. 


I hope to contribute to the professional learning of my school colleagues by exposing them to PLN resources, such as blogging and twitter. But, I also am excited to share technology tools such as glogster, prezi, iMovie, weebly, voicethread, quickfires, jing, wordle, QR codes, Animoto and bubble. This tool opens so many possibilities within the classroom. But, I am want to be sure to encourage others to develop lessons around these tools, rather than simply making them additions to lessons.