680 Course Reflection

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About 18 months ago, I started the Teaching with Technology endorsement program through the University of St. Francis. My first course was EEND 675: Foundations of Educational Technology. My final reflection today marks the last day of the last course in the endorsement sequence, EEND 680: 21st Century Educational Leadership, and my last hurrah in this program.

The ISTE standards have been the common thread throughout every course and each USF adjunct instructor has done a respectable job reminding course participants of their importance in education today. My goal is to continue to incorporate the student, teacher, and teacher-leader standards in my curriculum and be a resource in my school building.

Speaking of instructors...Michelle Nevin, Kristin Beeler, Scott Hagedorn, and Kim Darche were phenomenal leaders in their own right as they helped many of us along this path. I've also had the pleasure of meeting some great educators from all across the DuPage area who have participated in these courses with me. I've enjoyed the countless face-to-face and virtual encounters with many of you and have learned a great deal from your experiences.

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It's fitting that I end the program with this course because leadership has taken on a new meaning for me as I've progressed through the course sequence. Educational technology programs, applications, and platforms will continue to improve, and newer, better things will come along to enhance curriculum and guide student learning. Compared to 18 months ago, I can clearly see the importance of developing better digital citizens in my classroom, maintaining/modeling a positive and ethical presence online, and using technology to address the 4 Cs - communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Part of my job as an educator is preparing 21st-century learners to be successful, contributing members of society.

I doubt I will every move into an administrative role as I'm quite happy being a science teacher, department head and ed tech leader in my building. I endeavor to redefine my leadership role and be a lifelong learner in fulfilling this quote by John Quincy Adams: "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader."

680 Artifact Reflection #1

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Professional Development. It's a very interesting word.

A word that conjures this notion that information, discussion, and practice improves our profession.

Educational PD topics are broad and limitless; usually tied to school improvement goals, established by administrators, or (hopefully) shaped by teacher input. As I approach another school year, no doubt chockfull of PD opportunities, I reflect in this post about my opportunity to design a day of professional development and reflection.

In Module 6, I developed a full-day PD opportunity designed around the Edcamp model which

• allows educators to take charge of their own PD and attend sessions that most pertain to their needs or goals
• allows educators to collaboratively determine session topics
• encourages educators to facilitate sessions by sharing experiences and conversations, not a planned presentation

Edcamps were “born” to include sessions about using technology in the classroom but don’t always; many times it’s related to general education topics.

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I’ve attended a few edcamps through conferences I’ve attended and was pleased by the overall outcome. I walked out feeling better educated on topics than if I had attended an individual conference session with one main presenter talking to me. Edcamps are hard to implement if the school climate isn’t receptive to this sort of idea. Some teachers are comfortable being told what to do and where to go. Those teachers sit through sessions and (usually) don’t pay attention but are perfectly content to waste a half-day sitting there. But, there are other colleagues I work with who would like to see more personalized PD that relate to topics in education or technology that we grapple with day after day, year after year. Why not experience PD together and be expert presenters together?

With these ideas in mind, I developed a professional development day for the CTE, Science and Math Departments at my school. The design of the agenda allowed for teacher choice, personal reflection, and small group work that would continue throughout the year during PLC meetings. I was pleased with the outcome and hope to present my ideas to the building administrators at my school.

676 Course Reflection

With the completion of this course, I'm officially half-way to finishing the endorsement program through the University of St. Francis. It has certainly been a learning process as I incorporate what I already know about technology and learn from the expertise of other classmates and my instructor about collaborative web tools.

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Bill Nye said, “Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don’t.” Words for anyone to live by! To work collaboratively means to interact with, communicate, and learn from each other to reach a common goal. This course has given me a better perspective on collaborative student work and methods to fine tune collaborative student discussion using a variety of web tools.

The article 5 Useful Ways to Kickstart Student Collaboration in the Classroom by Tricia Whenham suggested that teachers embrace a little chaos in the classroom. I've always been a supporter of this statement, not only because I'm a science teacher and we "do" collaborative science every day, but also because students think and work their best when allowed to problem solve with each other out loud! As the teacher, I shouldn't have all the answers. It took me several years after my rookie teaching season to realize it's okay to "not know"; to help students arrive at an answer without just giving it to them. Their confidence as learners grows when you let them do the thinking together. A loud and messy classroom is oftentimes where problems are best solved!

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My school has been 1:1 the past four years, and the level of collaboration since that time has skyrocketed in my classes. Not only are they doing collaborative science together, but they are using the resources at their fingertips through digital devices to enhance their learning experience. The Google Suite (including docs, sheets, slides, drawings, keep, classroom, forms, calendar), digital portfolios, student blogs, and open educational resources (OER) have all increased collaboration among students, both in and out of the classroom.

Another article I read for this course that I found useful for teaching collaboration and digital citizenship skills was 8 Digital Skills We Must Teach Our Children by Yuhyun Park. In the article, it specifies eight skills that make up a person's digital intelligence: digital identity, digital use, digital safety, digital security, digital emotional intelligence, digital communication, digital literacy, and digital rights. As I reflected on each skill and the description the author provided, I felt comfortable knowing that I was making a valid attempt to teach and model these skills, especially the communication and literacy ones. It's important to be the best models for our students to demonstrate how to be responsible consumers and learners.

EEND 676 is my fourth course in the sequence of courses for the Teaching with Technology Endorsement. I didn't learn any new tech tools per se, but it was a rewarding eight-week experience using my curriculum to develop and modify materials to be more collaborative for my students.

679 Course Reflection

That’s a wrap for EEND 679!  There were many takeaways from this course and several great discussions that helped me get better at using and implementing technology. I’d like to thank the instructor and my classmates for an informative and beneficial course on assessment and improving student learning.

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At the midpoint of the course, module 5, I had the chance to dabble with Genius Hour/Passion Project. It’s definitely a concept I’ve heard and read about, but haven’t found a way or a reason to “fit it in” with my science courses. After being given time in class to learn something new and to learn new things from others, I’m thoughtfully reflecting on how I might start to incorporate this project with my students. I enjoyed being given the freedom to choose a topic to research more about, but I struggled to settle on a topic. Based on other classmate’s experiences and feedback, I feel more confident attempting to start a Genius Hour/Passion Project with my students and plan to do some more research to prepare for next school year. I like the idea of passion projects and hope to find success with it in the near future.

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In my artifact blog post, I made reference to the digital badge assignment and the formative assessment design assignment. I also found the infographic assignment and the student portfolio/self-assessment assignment to be useful for my students. After reviewing infographics of others in our class, I was blown away by how professional, clean, and informative they were. I had never used Piktochart or Canva before, and I certainly didn’t need much convincing to use it for myself and my students during the school year. It takes classes like these to introduce me to some really great ideas and I’m thankful to my colleagues for their infographic examples. Module 6’s student portfolio discussion and self-assessment assignment were also great learning experiences for me as I related to other’s background with student portfolios. I also found value in organizing several different student self-assessment forms. The practice of student self-assessment is an important piece in their education, no matter if they are a kindergartener or a 12th grader. I’ve been pushing my students to perform more self-assessments and reflections of their work. By the end of the school year, they really start to appreciate their achievement, progress, and growth. It’s easy for me to plot their progress over time, but there is more value when they can appreciate their journey over the course of a school year.

EEND 679 is my third course in the sequence of courses for the Teaching with Technology Endorsement. I've gotten a lot out of this course and intend to incorporate some of the new things I’ve learned from the instructor and my classmates/colleagues next school year.

713 Course Reflection

As my coursework in EEND 713 comes to an end, it's time to reflect on my learning. Each of the last eight weeks I learned something new that pushed me to step outside my box and try new ideas in my classroom. Through my work with the Next Generation Science Standards and my department's quest to redevelop units that align to these standards, I found the evolution of an e-learning unit moderately easy to create and manage for an Anatomy & Physiology unit of the muscular system.

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In modules 1 & 2, my group developed the initial phases of our muscular system unit. Identifying outcomes for learning and finding important resources to support weekly lessons was valuable time spent with my group. It was important for us to find a variety of online tools and resources for the students because, unfortunately, high school students lose interest quickly if it's not new and/or engaging. In module 3, we began developing our assessments and rubrics. This unit has two assessments: a cat dissection practical and a summative exam.

In the weeks that followed, we learned about open educational resources (OERs) and multimedia resources. I was introduced to multimedia resources in EEND 675 but had never understood the value of OERs until this course. My classmates provided some great resources as they worked on their e-learning units and I look forward to using OERs regularly as I continually develop and improve my units.

The remainder of the work on our muscular system unit centered upon our creation of a roadmap - a hyperdoc that laid out the specifics of our unit and communicated how students could get from point A to point B. Hyperdocs are a great tool for sharing information with students, parents, teachers, and administrators because it organizes everything in one spot. The development of our hyperdoc was time intensive, but the final product was ready to roll out to our students immediately.

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I'd like to thank my classmates for offering great feedback and resources. Our weekly discussions were enriching and enlightening. The discussion I found most rewarding was week 2's discussion about technology tools for engagement. Classmates suggested some great tech resources, and as I progress through this endorsement program, I continue to add to my educational technology toolbox.

I've really worked hard at becoming a connected educator. My participation on Twitter has increased, as I've followed many people that I think will suggest ways to be a better educator and individual. The more my PLN grows, the more tuned in I feel as an educator. To think that I could reach out globally to other educators was not something I envisioned when I first became a teacher 16 years ago. I'm glad for the technology and will continually strive to use it regularly in my classes.

EEND 713 is my second course in the sequence of courses for the Teaching with Technology Endorsement. I've enjoyed this course and the information it provided. I'm continually looking to improve my curriculum and my educational philosophy as it pertains to science and technology, so I look forward to continuing my work in this program.

675 Course Reflection

As my coursework in EEND 675 comes to an end, it's time to reflect on my learning the last eight weeks. Each week I learned something new that engaged me and improved my level of understanding in educational technology. Being introduced to the ISTE standards was one of the bigger takeaways from this course. Not only am I responsible for my content standards, but I should also take an active role in teaching my students and modeling the technology standards in order to make them "future ready".

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The collegial discussions that took place each week were interesting. Gaining new insight and understanding people's perspectives definitely enriched my learning experience. The discussion I most enjoyed was the 5th C. Every "C" that was suggested made me consider how it would impact my teaching and my student's learning.

My favorite assignment was the Multimedia Project from Module 4. I enjoyed creating the activity because it incorporated many resources in one location and it's ready to be used in my Earth Science curriculum for next school year! The project made me reflect on how important it is to have a variety of lessons that incorporate technology and make them engaging enough to draw students in day after day.

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I've really worked hard at becoming a connected educator. My participation on Twitter has increased, as I've followed many people that I think will suggest ways to be a better educator and individual. Twitter is there when you need it; you shouldn't feel compelled to check it every day like other social media platforms. A quick 10-minute stream scroll or search is all it takes to make sure I'm plugged into my PLN.

Path to Success

Professional development in educational technology can sometimes be absent within a district or building, yet it's a necessary form of education that all teachers should regularly participate in. This course is my first in the USF Educational Technology Endorsement program and I look forward to continuing my journey of understanding and incorporating technology as it relates to me both personally and professionally.

675 Artifact Reflection

As I reflect on the class, Foundations of Educational Technology, I am compelled to consider how this introductory class has impacted my teaching and learning. When first introduced to the ISTE standards, it resonated with me how important the technology standards were. If ISTE standards are not taught in conjunction with content standards (for me its NGSS), there is a gap in understanding! That gap hinders my students from practicing, refining, and mastering the 21st-century skills needed to be successful. In recognizing this gap, I shifted my perspective and hope to implement more ISTE standards that correlate with the current science standards I address throughout the school year.

The two artifacts I'm choosing to highlight in my reflection post include my Collaborative Assignment from Module 3 and my Multimedia Project from Module 4.

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In Module 3, I learned to create a collaborative assignment that included student perspectives on a topic related to glaciers. After watching the movie trailer for Chasing Ice, the assignment asked each student to respond to the question "How are portraits of people’s faces and portraits of ice the same thing?" Students were directed to a collaborative tech tool called Lino where they posted their responses and were asked to share their favorite glacier portrait. In posting to Lino, students could see each other's posts and compare pictures. In creating this assignment I had to be aware of the ethical use of other's pictures and plan to use this lesson with my high school Earth Science students to demonstrate fair use, copyright, and plagiarism.

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In Module 4, I added to my collaborative assignment by creating a multimedia project that incorporated a variety of media to enhance my lesson on glaciers in the United States. Within Google Slides, I was able to embed a topographic relief map of Alaska, add a YouTube video of Glacier Bay National Park, and hyperlink text and photos to various website links to create a multi-day activity that studied glacier formation and movement. In creating this project, I again had to be aware of the fair use of media in education. I liked how this project turned out because of the variety of multimedia tools I incorporated to engage my science students.

In looking ahead at future courses within this endorsement program, I'd like to continue to explore and implement the TPACK framework, and SAMR and RAT models to create, develop and enhance my units and lessons. In order to cross the threshold between substitution/augmentation and modification/redefinition, I need to study my science lessons closely to see how they tie to the ISTE standards and carve out some time to reflect and make changes to those lessons when necessary.