Rubric Creation Reflection

One of the more perplexing parts about teaching, beyond educating, is evaluating what students have learned. As I learn the various ins and outs of becoming a teacher, it's reassuring to know that others have come before more, faced with the same questions and concerns. As a result, there is a huge plethora of knowledge and tools at my disposal.

The rubric is a wonderful tool that allows me to clarify the goals of my lesson plan. By outlining what I want to see from a student's work, I am able to organize my own thoughts. This ensures that I have a comprehensive lesson plan that will help my students to achieve their academic goals while at the same time, it gives me a tool to assess the achievement and progress of each student. Furthermore, the rubric gives students a clear and concise reference for what my expectations are for their work. This ensures that there is no lapse in communication.

Considering the time constrictions all teachers face, whenever we can save time it's a blessing. For this reason the rubric building tool online is a lifesaver. With the pre generated rubric templates I am able to build a rubric that fits my needs in a fraction of the time.

Technology Supported Lesson Plan Reflection

One of the most important characteristics of a good teacher is being prepared. Through the preparation and execution of thoughtful lesson plans, a teacher is able to navigate her class through a meaningful adventure in learning. In addition to being an important organizational tool, lesson plans offer an opportunity for an educator to be creative and engaging.

During the course of designing my technology supported lesson plan, I was unaware of how truly labor intensive the design of a lesson plan is. As a teacher I want to make sure that my students are engaged in the material and learning. This is not a simple task. From ensuring my compliance with state curriculum guidelines and utilizing ITSE guidelines to ensure my inclusion of technology to devising a lesson plan that fits within a 45 minute class period, lesson plans are extremely challenging.

The hardest part about devising a comprehensive lesson plan is juggling the lesson plan with the overall big picture goals I have for my classroom. In a perfect world I would be able to map out the entire years lesson plans like a learning road map. I envision a giant wall with push pins, books, and post its and various pieces of colored string tying the lessons together in a cohesive plan.

However, this is not realistic. Even if I were able to sit down and plan out an entire year's worth of teaching, I shouldn't want to. Each class will be different requiring me to utilize different tools and approaches to reach them. If I were to limit myself to an elaborate design for my own peace of mind and organization I could end up ignoring the needs of my students, which is the last thing I want to do.

The best approach to designing lesson plans is to limit my "big picture" scope to units based on the readings I have chosen. I can have goals for the class, but I need to avoid being rigid in my planning as stuff happens and challenges arise. I have worked out a series of questions to ask myself as I design a lesson.

1. What is my overall goal in reading this book in class?
   
2. What curriculum standards can be applied to aid in the achievement of this goal?
   
3. What are some effective approaches that other teachers have discovered in teaching this material?
   
4. How does this approach work towards achieving these goals?
   
5. In what ways can I utilize technology to engage the students?
   
6. What means am I going to use to determine the effectiveness of this lesson?
   

Assistive Technology Reflection

As a teacher, I need to be aware of all of the possible obstacles my students may face. Not every student will be challenge free. In fact, most students will face some learning obstacles during their academic career. As a result, it is important that I am not only aware of these potential obstacles, but of their possible solutions.

Through this research I was able to educate myself on various assistive technologies that will help my students who face challenges be active participants in their education. It's easy to think that these technologies are expensive and potentially unrealistic for every day classroom use, but that is simply not the case. I was surprised to find that some of the most helpful assistive technologies are included as part of the standard package with Windows operated PCs and Apple computers. From "sticky keys" that transform multiple key strokes into one to simply enlarging the text on the screen to make it easier to read, assistive technology is everywhere.

There is a quote that I found extremely inspirational during this research and in general:

"I have discovered few learning disabled students in my three decades of teaching. I have, however, discovered many, many victims of teaching inabilities." ~ Marva Collins

It is my responsibility to ensure that none of my students are abandoned at the doorway because they face challenges I am unwilling to help them navigate. I am their educational advocate. There is no such thing as being too prepared to help a student learn because at the end of the day, there is no such thing as a student who can't learn, only a teacher who is unwilling to figure out how.                

 

 

 

Back to School PowerPoint Presentation Reflection

As an educator it is my responsibility to not only educate the students, but to give them every possible opportunity I can. This includes taking advantage of every opportunity I can to involve each student's parents in hopes that they will take an active role in their child's education. Just as my Back to School Brochure was an opportunity to initiate this contact, so too, is my Back to School PowerPoint presentation.

Where my Back to School Brochure left off, my PowerPoint presentation picked up. I was able to fully introduce myself to the parents, giving them a brief history of my personal educational background. It was my intention that by getting to know me as person and not just a representation of an educational system that their child participates in, the parents would be more apt to approach me with questions, concerns, or suggestions. By being able to engage the parents, it is my hope that I have a better chance at engaging the students.

A goal of the PowerPoint presentation was also to familiarize the parents with my classroom, a few of the academic highlights, and to demonstrate my proficiency with technological tools. By making the parents aware of the expectations I hold for their children they will be aware of the classroom culture I aim to cultivate. Furthermore, by offering the parents a view of the books we will be reading in class in addition to my planned use of a class website, I providing an opportunity for the parents to involve themselves as much as they can in their child's education. Perhaps by providing this information early in the school year, it will encourage the parents to read the novels along with their child allowing for additional conversations at home.

At the end of the day I am confident that this technological tool helps me as an educator to reach my goals in communicating with the parents of my students. I am hopeful that this tool will also be the spark of inspiration that is needed to generate moments of opportunity and learning between parent and child.

 

Internet Safety and Classroom Rules Flyer Reflection

In a world where new technology is emerging virtually every day, it is difficult for busy parents to stay on top of what new worlds are becoming available to their children. If parents aren't aware of what potential dangers and benefits are available in this burgeoning technological world, how can they be expected to protect and teach their children? As an educator, my responsibilities don't stop at the classroom door, especially if I choose to engage my students in a virtual classroom. This internet safety and classroom rules flyer is the way in which I help to bridge the gap between these worlds.

In a concise and well organized flyer I have included a lot of material that I hope will aid in the awareness of the parents and students. The students and I will have engaged in an in depth discussion regarding classroom expectations and internet safety by way of my PowerPoint presentation, but the parents should also be clued into the basics of these discussions. It is my goal that this flyer will not only bring awareness to the parents, but also inspire a conversation between them and their child.

My goal with this flyer is not only to reaffirm the discussions students and I have engaged in about internet safety, but to assure the parents that any access to the internet is not frivolous or without guidelines. For this reason, I also included the school district's policies regarding internet access and the use of technology. I think that this flyer does a thorough job of communicating to the parents that we take their child's safety and education very seriously.

In addition to providing the parents with the basic rules and guidelines that have been set up for safe and appropriate internet use in the classroom, physical or virtual, and the school district's policies on this matter, I included several resources for this parents to explore. Each of these sites discusses various aspects of internet safety and how each parent can set appropriate boundaries in the home to ensure the safety of their child. There are also links to resources such as computer filters for the home computer to help guide the students away from inappropriate or unsafe material as deemed by family standards.

I think that the material contained within this flyer is very important as are the goals of awareness and safety. The flyer is visually appealing to draw the attention of the parents and the information is concise to keep the attention of the reader. Plus, with the inclusion of a "permission slip", I am ensuring that the parents are engaged, at least on some level. All of these aspects added together demonstrate that I am a teacher who is not only well versed in technology, but an advocate for its appropriate use. With evidence that I have taken the time to assemble such a clean and clear document for something as standard as a flyer, I hope my dedication to excellence is apparent as are my adherence to the ITSE standards.

Internet Safety and Classroom Expectations PowerPoint Reflection

I really enjoyed creating a PowerPoint presentation educating the students on internet safety and the classroom expectations. To begin with, the information that was contained within the presentation is information that the students need to be aware of. However, standing up in front of the classroom lecturing about "stranger danger" and the importance of arriving to class on time is not an effective means of getting through to the students. This PowerPoint offers a viable and high-tech solution to reach the students.

The downside to this presentation is that it is a PowerPoint about rules which is a teenager's kryptonite. So, I did my best to liven up the presentation with colorful graphics and text. In addition, I wanted to move beyond the "no chewing gum in class" and "raise your hand" classroom rules. My goal was to set forth classroom expectations that inspired rather than dictated. To illustrate this, I made each expectation tie in with an important quote. I even incorporated Yoda from Star Wars. It was my hope that these aspects of the presentation would help to not only keep the attention of the students, but to engage them.

In addition to engaging the students while in the classroom, I also wanted to engage them in our virtual classroom with the class website. By making this presentation interactive and available online, I am giving my students continued access to this presentation for future reference, but also as a way of owning these expectations. This will also give them practice with interacting with future presentations that are related to our course work and reading while helping each student to become an active participant in his or her own education.

Considering the amount of time I would like my students to be engaged with the online classroom setting I think it would be beneficial to have a PowerPoint presentation and classroom discussion dedicated to appropriate online behavior and safety. This information is so critical in ensuring each student's continued safety and future well being that I don't think that it would be "over kill". The YouTube video I have included in this initial presentation goes a long way in starting a discussion about the importance of being aware of what you post online. However, due to the potential future implications each poor posting choice holds, I feel it would be wise to have an in depth discussion that includes not only this topic, but the issue of "sexting" as well.

Through the utilization of this technological tool, as an educator, I think that I have not only accomplished my initial goal of engaging and teaching the students, but I have opened the door to important future discussions. Furthermore, by being able to demonstrate my professional proficiency with technology in the classroom, I am meeting the ISTE's Educational Technology Standards for Teachers.

1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
   
2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments.
   
3. Model digital-age work and learning.
   
4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.
   
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership.
   

Back to School Newsletter Reflection

I am quite happy with my back to school newsletter for parents. This tool has allowed me to communicate directly with the parents in an approachable fashion. It not only gave me the opportunity to lay a foundation of expectations, standards, and highlights, but more importantly it opened up a very important line of communication between myself and the parents. Parental involvement is critical for the educational success of students. By demonstrating to the parents I am a teacher who is happy to answer questions and supportive of suggestions from both students and parents I make myself more approachable.

Just as the content helped to determine the effectiveness of this newsletter, the appearance of the newsletter was equally important. Some parents may have had negative experiences with educational settings. By providing a newsletter that is visually appealing and upbeat in nature, I help to negate any potentially negative expectations. Furthermore, the information is organized in manageable pieces with distinct headings. This helps to ensure the parent reads the important information, but also avoids overwhelming the parent with unnecessary words and sections.

This back to school newsletter was so successful that it inspires me to create one for the students. It is important that the parents are involved in their child's education, but it is also important that the students benefit from the feeling of a classroom community as early as possible in the school year. By extending this tool to my students, I would be communicating to them that they are important to this process and community. Using the newsletter tool for both parents and students has the potential to be a good tool to introduce new books we will be reading in class as well.

The in classroom applications of this newsletter are limitless as communication tools should be. In addition, it has helped me as a professional to determine what is important information and what is not so vital information that might bog down the brevity of the text. I've also discovered new ways in which to work within a word document to make the visual aspect of the document more exciting thereby setting the tone for what I write and the reader's expectations.