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.

677 Artifact Reflection #2

In Module 4, I used Flippity to create a scavenger hunt related to the 1930s Dust Bowl which was a central theme for my high school Earth Science sustainable farming unit. Flippity works with coded spreadsheets to present information in a fun and engaging way. Take a look at the scavenger hunt I created!

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I did enjoy developing this activity for my students. It's not necessarily easy to set up--there's definitely a learning curve for some of the activities that Flippity offers. But with some trial and error, you get a finished product that you can be proud of. I would encourage anyone looking for something different to use in their classroom to try it! All the activities on Flippity can be used for any K-12 group of students. I was impressed that the scavenger hunt allowed you to add multimedia including images, youtube videos, links to websites, google docs and some fun math functions including EquatIO equations and Desmos. Besides the scavenger hunt, I feel these are the most useful for a high school teacher or student to use: flashcards, quiz show, timeline, badge tracker, and the progress indicator. Many of the other functions are useful too, it's just a matter of exploring and testing what Flippity has to offer.

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Playing "games" in class to review concepts is nothing new. I remember creating Jeopardy! review games using the old fashioned power point platform in my early years of teaching. Lately, the buzz word for educational technology enthusiasts is gamification. There's lots more to gamification than just playing Jeopardy!; they way technology has seeped into education has allowed teachers to bring many fun learning activities into the classroom. Educational platforms like Flippity help achieve this and I encourage you to try it out!

#ISTE2018 - Things I Learned, Things I Love, Things You Should Know About...

The International Society for Technology in Education held a massive conference this summer in Chicago, bringing together teachers, administrators, and tech specialists to learn about the most effective and innovative ways to integrate technology in the classroom. The ISTE conference offered sessions on a wide range of topics, where presenters shared ideas, strategies, and tools for using technology to enhance learning.

Apart from the scheduled sessions, the conference brought together 18,500 people from all across the U.S. and 87 other countries. Connecting with other like-minded educators had a whole host of benefits:

• strengthened my resolve to keep getting better with teaching and technology
• established connections that will last well beyond the conference
• provided effective and exciting teaching practices

So how did I, a science teacher from a small high school west of Chicago, find out about this conference and burst onto the scene? TWITTER. Twitter has really been a turning point in my 16-year teaching career. It has become a go-to resource to connect to awesome people who broaden my horizons and inspire me to take risks and be innovative.

I attended the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) conference when it was in Chicago three years ago. Same location, same setup, lots of walking and LOTS of sessions. My experience three years ago definitely prepared me for ISTE’s conference. Except maybe for the walking tech zombie part...many of us were walking around with our devices, hoping to avoid others who were also looking at their device getting to or from somewhere in our quest to get in line for a session, show up on time for an amazing raffle prize in expo hall, or just find a bathroom!

#ISTE2018 took it to the next level when it came to useful (but sometimes overwhelming) amounts of information. I did my best to stay organized and pull together resources from my sessions that I could use and could also share with my colleagues. My experience was stimulating, productive, and engaging. This graphic (created using one of my new tech tools, Adobe Spark!) offers some buzzwords that summarize my 4-day experience.

Based on this list, an outsider might think I didn’t actually attend a technology conference! But it wasn’t really about technology - it was about how to use technology tools to enhance what teachers are already doing in their classrooms! Sure, the big guys...Google, Microsoft and LEGO, were in attendance but it wasn’t about them. It was about teachers helping teachers be better teachers as they use technology to educate their students.

Innovation, creation, and curiosity were mentioned in the bulleted list above. These words were echoed over and over throughout the four days. Young students traveling from all parts of the nation and even internationally were in attendance to share with attendees their passion for learning. They were excited to share how they were using technology in their classroom to any stranger who approached their table. Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, referred to the problem-solving main character, Mark Watney, in his keynote speech. Kids need to tinker and figure things out (with or without technology). And @TheTechRabbi, Michael Cohen, shared a moving and powerful message to all who sat before him, reminding the audience that “innovation is not achieved by knowledge and skill alone. It’s through having belief in yourself, belief in others and belief in something bigger than us. We need to give our students the courage to believe that they can create incredible things in the world.” The ability to challenge and engage students was a common theme throughout the conference and renewed my spirit in preparation for the coming school year.

When #TeachersBecomeStudents, amazing things happen in our quest to be lifelong learners. A little professional development goes a long way in rekindling our passion and love of learning.

679 Artifact Reflection #2

In Module 4, I had the pleasure of creating three progressive science assignments and designing my own badges. I enjoyed learning more about badges and the incentive they seem to have when students earn them. Many things are tied to badges these days--when you reach a certain exercise level you earn a badge; when you reach a new level on a mindfulness app you earn a badge, etc. Badges have a lot of power to engage learners and keep them coming back for more.

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I came across a badge maker website when scrolling through my Twitter PLN and used it to make my three badges. Pixaby is my go-to image site to grab “free” stock photos. I’ve also used Google Draw and Canva for other infographic and design projects in the past and both of these platforms could be used for creating badges too.

Assignment #1 Goal & Badge Earned: Identify & convert standard units commonly used in science.

Assignment #2 Goal & Badge Earned: Use evidence to support & explain different sphere interactions that exist on Earth.

Assignment #3 Goal & Badge Earned: Classify minerals based on their physical & chemical properties.

You can find the assignment specifics here. In discussing with several of my colleagues, we struggle with the administration and maintenance of a badge program. How can we virtually share the badges with students? How can students proudly display their badges virtually? I feel a bigger discussion needs to occur with our building's technology specialist in order to see this project really take off. I'm excited about the possibilities and appreciated the opportunity to use my creativity to drive student learning through these badge assignments.

679 Artifact Reflection #1

In Module 3, I compared two digital tools and designed two formative assessments for my high school Earth Science course. My first formative assessment (link) was made with Google Forms about stars. My second formative assessment (link) was made with Formative about groundwater resources.

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I use Google Classroom in my classes, so for most formative assessments I push out the links through Classroom then collect and review responses once students are completed. Most of us know that formative assessments are meant are meant as a check-in for students to demonstrate their learning at a certain point in a unit and helps a teacher to ascertain their current understanding of skills and concepts. Teachers need to plan each assessment so that it provides direct evidence of student proficiency on learning standards.

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Any of my science lessons could be 1-3 days. Through daily questioning and discussion, I’m constantly assessing my students. I give entrance or exit slips every few days and formative (practice) assessments (or quizzes) once a week. Sometimes I release the answers as soon as they complete the formative assessment, other times I show the responses from the whole class as a discussion, and still other times I assess on an individual level to look closely at each student’s progressive mastery on a learning goal or standard.

I like using Google Forms because it’s easy, quick, and intuitive. Google Forms works well with Google Classroom and I like that the assessment results go straight to a Google Sheets page. It allows me to analyze data and give students quick feedback on their performance. With certain add-ons, grading is a cinch. I used Formative for the first time in completing the module 3 assignment. I liked Formative because it was also easy, quick, and intuitive. The biggest positive difference was the ability to link NGSS standards to each question. Because this was my first time using it, I don’t know how the student’s results will look, but I’m convinced I’ll be using Formative as another tool in my assessment toolbox.

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.