Introduction

Greetings! My name is Becky Schwartz. I teach Earth Science and, after a 7-year hiatus, Biology at Lisle High School and I also serve as the 6-12 Science Department Head for District 202. I have been a science teacher for 17 years. I received my B.S. in Biology from Northeastern Illinois University and received my M.A.T. from Dominican University. I also moderate the Ecology Club and National Honor Society.

I was born and raised in Chicago but live in the western suburbs. I have two kids, Liam (12) and Nora (9) and our dog Juno! My hobbies include hiking, biking, camping, reading, gardening, cooking, photography, and scrapbooking. I'm also an avid sports fan of many Chicagoland teams.

I have all but completed this educational technology endorsement program and will finish this summer with EEND 680. I teach in a 1:1 building and I'm looking to expand my repertoire of assessments, educational technology tools and use of multimedia for science.

STEM is a large part of our district's science curriculum, so incorporating and using technology is an integral, daily part of my lessons. I am very much a risk-taker when it comes to technology. I'm always looking to use new ideas in class and share technology success stories with my school colleagues. I get many ideas from colleagues on Twitter and email listserves. I'm looking forward to adding/enhancing my edtech repertoire and add to my PLN as I get to know all of you!

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.

713 Artifact Reflection

As I reflect on the class, Engaging e-Learning, I am excited to think of the new opportunities for organizing my curriculum and presenting it to my students. This course provided many useful tools and resources that enhance my science curriculum and support my goal of incorporating more technology into my units. Working on the unit plan for the muscular system helped me to see which parts of the unit were supported and where gaps existed. By adding multimedia and open educational resources, the gaps were filled and the unit was more robust.

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In module 4, I learned how to research and incorporate OERs (open educational resources). I have found "free" resources in the past and have used them as extension activities for a lesson or unit, but I didn't really comprehend until this course, just how many great OERs there are. For the muscular system unit, I chose a case study through http://www.oercommons.org titled Wearing on Her Nerves Exploring the Interrelation between the Nervous and Muscular Systems. To facilitate their learning, students will be asked to analyze this case study related to their study of the muscular system. Most of my high school anatomy students plan to major in pre-med/dent/vet/nursing. Continual exposure and review of muscle content is a must for success in a post-secondary program. A case study like this would lend itself to the type of learning they would get in college. The more I can prepare students for real-world scenarios, the more successful I hope they will be.

In module 5, I learned how to use Pear Deck as part of a multimedia lesson for muscle identification. Having Pear Deck as an add-on for Google Slides really convinced me of its usefulness in class. It raised the level of student engagement and I found better retention of muscle groups as demonstrated by their performance on a formative muscle review several days later.


Labeling diagrams can be tedious, but in an advanced elective class such as Anatomy & Physiology,  students require constant review of muscle names, while connecting origin and insertion points on bones. This activity certainly challenges the student - if they can label muscles in this activity, they are on their way to successfully mastering the muscular system.