Final Reflection

I have learned a lot about integrating technology through this course. Here are my final reflections based on the following standards:

• Standard 1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
• Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
• Standard 3: Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
• Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

How did my understanding of the standards change based on my experiences teaching and designing lessons and assessing student artifacts?

- Designing lessons using Taskstream made me realize how important each and every step is in a lesson. I have to be careful to incorporate different styles of learning, even those I am not personally familiar with. I need to teach in a way that sparks student interest.For this class I was also very aware of how to give students new technological experiences that were appropriate to the lesson. In my planets lesson I modeled how to use a glog, a new educational tool, to my students. In my earthquakes lesson students learned the concept first and then transferred it to an online game. Unfortunately, my lessons did not incorporate a section on digital citizenship. This was for two reasons - one, the activities involved did not include interaction with others and two, I was teaching college students who already had a good idea of responsible digital interactions. I should, however, take a moment anytime in my future classroom to discuss responsible use of technology before it is used.

- In teaching lessons I discovered that the teacher's enthusiasm is super important in sparking a student's interest and creativity within a subject. I discovered that I need to be deliberate with my use of technology and that I need to spend adequate amount of time modeling its use. I should never assume foreknowledge associated with technology. Thankfully, my students/peers had no problem using technology in a responsible way without instruction.

- From assessing my student's artifacts I discovered multiple things. I discovered that glogs are a great way for students to creatively present information. I should have, however, given them more time to do this so that they would have had sufficient time to complete the project. Assessing these projects also hinted at my need to spend more time demonstrating the use of unfamiliar technology.

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What did I learn about preparation and teaching from my peers through lessons and feedback?

My strengths are: Addressing individual needs, creating interactive, engaging lessons and using technology purposefully with in a lesson.

Things I need to work on: Explaining how to use new technology, planning more time for explanation and modeling, allowing more time for activities, especially those involving technology.

What this means: I feel that I learned a lot about being flexible through feedback and through teaching these lessons. My lessons were engaging and exciting and incorporated technology, but they weren't properly paced for the best success of my students. When writing lessons in the future I should over-estimate time needed and then just have backup activities if needed.

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How my experiences might impact my future teaching experiences?

I now have a better idea of how to spark student interest in a subject. Engaging, hands-on activity, purposeful technology and a great attitude are all important ways to achieve this. Through these lessons, as well as research done at the beginning of the semester, I discovered that it is important to use technology purposefully in a classroom. There are many great ways to discover new technologies available to teachers and students. Talk to peers, mentors, other teachers, your students or simply search the internet for different technologies that may be useful in your classroom. It is important to model technology before it is used - even if it seems to take too much time, it will be worth it in the long run! Students cannot succeed by using technology they don't understand. Lastly, I need to take time during my modeling to promote digital citizenship and responsibility. It is my teaching today that can affect the environment of the internet tomorrow.

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Assessment of Learning, Lesson 2

My student's success

According to the one-on-one assessments I conducted, my students were successful in learning the new vocabulary words associated with circles.

My teaching success
This lesson allowed me to practice the ever-important skill of flexibility. While I did not reach all of the objectives set forth in my lesson plan, I was still able to teach a successful lesson with the tools provided to me.

According to my feedback form (which I created through Google Drive), I succeeded in meeting individual student needs by assessing students one-on-one. My students also thought that using earthquakes as a way to teach circles was a great way to engage the class. The game was also supposedly a good way to reinforce the concepts of the lesson.

I need to spend more time working on vocabulary as students will most likely not have prior knowledge.

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Instructional Decisions/Teaching, Lesson 2

What I learned from this teaching process

• You always have to be willing to adapt. We tried to use rulers and pencils for our lesson since compasses were unavailable.
• Because of our tools, not everything lined up perfectly - this allowed us to analyze where the intersection should have been, even if it wasn't there.
• In the future it may be useful to expose students to the online game before the lesson in order to introduce the topic.

How alignment to goals and objectives was maintained

One objective was that students would be able to use a compass to draw a circle. I did my best to teach this with rulers and fingers, but unfortunately, the lesson did not align with this particular objective. Due to circumstances beyond my control, compasses were not available. The second objective was that students would be able to explain the words "circumference," "diameter," "radius," and "pi," in relation to a circle and its measurements. The lesson did maintain alignment to this objective. I went around individually and asked each student to define or explain these words while they were working individually. The lesson was centered around introducing and using these words in a true-to-life scenario.

Modifications made for individual needs

The one-on-one assessment allowed me to address individual needs as they arose. If students did not understand something, I was able to explain it to them at that moment and at their level. I tried to use checks for understanding to move the lesson at a pace that worked well for my class. Since I was teaching college students, I did not need to spend a lot of time on these concepts and we moved on quickly. However, there was enough flexibility in the lesson that if I needed to I could have slowed the lesson down to meet the needs of the class.

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Planning Assessment, Lesson 2

Planning Assessment: Embed or link to your assessment tools and describe how you will demonstrate

• the performance of linked goals and/or objectives
• student engagement in higher order thinking
• meeting individual student needs

This lesson only uses informal assessment that will not be taken for a grade. The teacher will assess while the class is working on finishing their worksheet/drawing the final two circles. He/she should check to see if each student is able to draw a circle with a compass. He/she should also ask each student to explain the following vocabulary in relation to the activity:

• Circumference
• Diameter
• Radius
• Pi

The teacher will also use quick checks for understanding throughout the lesson.

Goals and Objectives

The objectives are:

• Students will be able to use a compass to draw a circle.
• Students will be able to explain the words "circumference," "diameter," "radius," and "pi", in relation to a circle and its measurements.

The assessment directly addresses these objectives.

Higher Order Thinking Skills

This lesson only addresses medium-order thinking skills. This activity addresses "apply" on Bloom's taxonomy. 

Meeting Individual Needs

This lesson attempts to target visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners to allow each student to learn in a way comfortable to them. The informal one-on-one assessment also allows the teacher to address individual needs at that time. 

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Designing Instruction, Lesson 2

Here is the link to my lesson plan.

How is my instructional design contextually and logically organized?
I used the Madeline-Hunter set up to create this lesson plan. We begin by introducing/refreshing basic properties of a circle. As a class, we walk the different parts of a circle (circumference, radius, etc.) The teacher then explains how to use a compass for the whole class. As a class we use a worksheet to use these skills as a class. Students are then able to finish the worksheet on their own and use the Internet to further their knowledge.

How does my lesson plan use varied instructional methods that meet individual needs and target higher order thinking skills?

• Visual Learners- There will be photos for the introduction, visual instruction on the board on how to use a compass and a worksheet that allows them to practice creating circles on their own.
• Kinesthetic Learners- They will be able to hands-on create a circle using a compass and a ruler. We will also introduce the math terms by walking them as a class.
• Auditory Learners- All information will be presented aurally as well as visually. We will also repeat important terms a couple of times so students will be able to internalize them.
• "Low" learners- The teacher will address any gaps in knowledge during the guided practice and independent practice times. If necessary, different scenarios or analogies may have to be used to help the child.
• "High" learners- High learners could expand on this by creating their own worksheet to find an earthquake. This requires them to work backwards and measure their circles after they have been created.

The Madeline–Hunter style lesson plan (intro, model, guided practice, independent practice, closure) allows students to slowly become comfortable with the new material. They are also given the opportunity to practice on their own.

Does this lesson align with research based understanding of technology integration?
Yes. Although the technology is not the main focus of the lesson, it provides material which directly compliments the lesson. The game presented may allows students who are still unfamiliar with the material to reach a greater understanding. In my research, technology is useful as long as it is used purposefully, which it is in this case.

Does my lesson address:
-Safe, legal and ethical use of technology?
This is not directly mentioned in the lesson plan, but the activity is completely ethical and legal. If students stay only on the website provided then it is completely safe as well. The teacher should monitor computer/Internet use.
- Digital etiquette and responsible social interactions?
No. The activity involved does not involve online social interactions and therefore does not address these issues.
-Meeting diverse needs of learners through learner-centered strategies and equitable access?
This lesson does meet the diverse needs of learners. There is built-in flexibility to allow the teacher to move at the pace of the class, and allow the teacher to provide one-on-one help when needed. The lesson has equitable access as far as technology goes, but some students may struggle with the use of a protractor. This lesson also tries to address visual, auditory and bodily-kinesthetic learners.
-Global awareness and digital-age communication
This activity provides students the ability to solve a real-world problem, that is, how to find the epicenter or origin of an earthquake. Surface knowledge of earthquakes and their effects provides global awareness. The practical application also increases awareness of different jobs including scientist and geologist. The students do not communicate digitally during this lesson.

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Planning Instruction, Lesson 2

This post is designed to discuss my goals, objectives and outcomes for this lesson.

The objectives
Each student will be able to use a compass to draw a circle.

Students will be able to explain the words "cicumference," "diameter," "radius," and "pi", in relation to a circle and its measurements.

How is this clearly stated?
The objective will be read aloud to the students before we begin the lesson. The objective is written in clear language and directly targets what I hope to achieve for this lesson. It is also measurable.

How is this appropriate for students?
This is written using vocabulary at about a fifth grade level. The lesson and objective is developmentally appropriate for the fifth grade.

How is this aligned to state standards?
The standards for this lesson are taken from Arizona Common Core State Standards for Math in Grade 5.

• Domain: Measurement and Data
• Area: Convert like measurement units within a given measurement system.
• Standard: 5.MD.1. Convert among different-sized standard measurement units within a given measurement system (e.g., convert 5 cm to 0.05 m), and use these conversions in solving multi-step, real world problems.

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Assessing Prior Knowledge, Lesson 2

I will be teaching a math lesson incorporating the properties of a circle, the use of a compass and using circles to find the epicenter of an earthquake.

How will prior experience be assessed?

As a class, we will address all math vocabulary ahead of time and participate in a class activity in order to refresh (or teach) the information. Prior experience is assessed informally through these activities and the lesson will be expanded upon or simplified as needed based on these assessments.

What will I learn from the prior knowledge?

I will learn what I need to focus upon with this lesson. If I need to spend more time teaching the properties of a circle, I will. If students seem to have a good background knowledge of the circle, than we can focus on the use of a compass and finding the epicenter.

How will this information be useful?

It is important to know where my students come from and where their understanding is in order to shape my lesson. The lesson is flexible and can be stretched where needed to address gaps in knowledge. Individual difficulties can be addressed during guided practice and independent practice.

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