ISTE #4 Digital Citizenship Poster Project

Below is the infographic I made with Piktochart.  This infographic is aimed mostly at my students with some key information for parents.  I chose cyberbullying for my infographic because it is something my students are dealing with on a daily basis.  Dealing with cyberbullying has been a focus at our school over the past couple of year.  I thought it would be helpful to put the information about cyberbullying into one graphic for students, teacher, parents, and other school personnel to see.

EDU6528- Accomplished Teaching End of Course Reflection

At the beginning of EDU6528- Accomplished Teaching, I had one goal.  My goal was to become a better leader within my department and my school.  However, I did not know exactly what that meant at the time.  Throughout this quarter, I have revised and broken down my goal into smaller more focused ways I can improve my leadership skills as a teacher.  At this point, I have the following goals moving forward: improve my ability to pose purposeful questions, get into the classrooms of my colleagues once a week, and find meaningful professional development around mathematics.

For my first goal, posing purposeful questions, I have looked at what the Danielson Framework requires, as well as what research says about questioning in the classroom.  According to the article, Student, teacher, and instructional characteristics related to students’ gains in flexibility, there are six levels of questioning.  You can see the six levels in the following table.

(Star, et al., 2015)

Right now, I am asking questions that fall mostly into level two and level three.  I am working on my ability to vary the levels of questions I use within my class periods.  I am aware that, “Orchestrating an effective classroom discussion, however, is not as simple as just asking questions.  It requires a teacher to be purposeful in the types of questions that are asked so that the key ideas are made visible and fully explored.” (Chedister & Shumway, 2016) Although, I am aware that this is the case, I am having a hard time carving out the time to pre-think my questions.  As I continue to reflect on this class and what I have learned, I am going to continue pushing myself to think about my questioning techniques and the levels of questions I am asking students to think about and answer on a daily basis.

My second goal involves visiting my colleague’s classrooms during my planning period.  As a department head, I think it is important to know what is happening in the other classrooms in my department.  I want to specifically make a point to visit the classrooms of my newer teachers more often.  I was a new teacher not long ago, and know “it as a process to assist a new teacher to become a member of a professional community in which members participate as equals in professional dialogue aimed at their individual and collective self-development.” (Kemmis, Heikkinen, Fransson, Aspfors, & Edwards-Groves, 2014) I don’t feel that I received the support necessary to really thrive my first couple years of teaching.  I want to make sure my newer teachers feel supported.  Although I want to focus on my newer teachers, I plan to take time one day a week to visit the classrooms in my department.  I want to see what the other teachers are doing in their classrooms.  I have found watching other teachers to be a beneficial practice for my own teaching.  I am able to get ideas of what I can do in my own classroom, give feedback to the teacher I was watching, and check in to see what is happening in other classrooms.

My third goal is to find professional development that will be meaningful and worthwhile for my colleagues and myself.  Through this course, I have realized how helpful it is to have a community sounding board.  A place where you can bounce ideas off of other educators and receive feedback.  Right now, professional development is seen as something we have to do instead of something we want to do.  I want to find ways to make professional development something people want to participate in.  “Schools and districts should be encouraged to rigorously evaluate professional development approaches themselves and, when possible, to report the findings publicly to build up the knowledge base on the topic.” (Gersten, Taylor, Keys, Rolfhus, & Newman-Gonchar, 2014) I think it is important that we look at the professional development options that are being offered and see if they are benefiting us.  Teachers are pressed for time.  If we are required to attend trainings that we don’t feel are relevant we won’t take as much away.  From this class, I have come up with a few professional development ideas I would like to try with my department.  I want to bring questioning into our professional learning community times.  If we are working on questioning techniques and question levels as a team we are going to be able to find new ways to get students thinking about the math.  I also want to get my department into each other’s classrooms.  Above I talked about my personal goal of visiting more classrooms, but I also want the other members of my department visiting each other’s classrooms.  Visiting classrooms will not only give the visitor ideas to try in their own practice, it will also give another dimension to our professional learning communities.  We will be able to transition from talking solely about curriculum to student engagement, teacher presentation of the material, and other aspects of our classrooms.

Artifacts

Classroom Observation Analysis: Since getting into classrooms is a goal I have for myself and for my department, this protocol will ensure we are not going in with an evaluative stance.  It will keep conversations neutral and about what we saw. Classroom Observation Analysis

Shifting a lesson plan: this helped me think about how to move a lesson from traditional to student centered.  This is a resource I plan to use in my PLC’s. Shifting a Lesson Plan

Resources

·       Chedister, M., & Shumway, J. (2016, Spring). The Role of Questioning to Develop Conceptual Understanding. Volume 68(Issue 2), 21-24. Retrieved November 27, 2016, from http://www.wismath.org/resources/Documents/WMT_Spring_2016-Complete-LR.pdf#page=24

·       Gersten, R., Taylor, M., Keys, T. D., Rolfhus, E., & Newman-Gonchar, R. (2014, January). Summary of research on the effectiveness of math professional development approaches. Retrieved December 4, 2016, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED544681.pdf

·       Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H. L., Fransson, G., Aspfors, J., & Edwards-Groves, C. (2014). Mentoring of new teachers as a contested practice: Supervision, support and collaborative self-development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 43, 154-164. doi:10.1016/j.tate.2014.07.001

·       Star, J. R., Newton, K., Pollack, C., Kokka, K., Rittle-Johnson, B., & Durkin, K. (2015, March 6). Student, teacher, and instructional characteristics related to students’ gains in flexibility. Contemporary Educational Psychology. Retrieved November 27, 2016.

EDTC 6433 Teaching with Technology ISTE Standard 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

EDTC 6433 Teaching with Technology ISTE Standard 5: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

I am constantly striving to improve my instructional practice.  I am looking for professional development that I find useful and easy to implement into my classroom.  When I started researching my question, “how can I demonstrate the effective use of digital tools and resources as a department head to foster the growth of my departments professional learning communities and as a whole department?” I thought of professional development.  As a department head I am always looking for ways to help my staff grow and learn in their teaching practices.  The article I found, Moving education into the digital age: the contribution of teachers’ professional development, talked about how to design professional development to be meaningful for teachers.  The article stated that, “teachers (and learning) are often treated so generically that resulting TPD is not experienced as relevant” (Twining, Raffaghelli, Albion, & Knezek, 2013) where TPD stands for teacher professional development.  I am looking for ways to help make professional development opportunities relevant and worthwhile. 

As I continued my research, I was reading through the class readings.  I read an article titled, Early-adopting science teachers’ perceptions and use of a wiki to support professional development.  This article talks about using wiki to support professional development by helping teachers collaborate and work together even when time is limited.  This give teachers who normally have no face to face time with colleagues a way to support each other and work together.  The article mentioned that “All six teachers made comments about the need to take the time to become familiar with a new technology like the wiki and to think about how it might be used.” (Donnelly & Boniface, 2013)  Although I find this to be a cool study and I think it is valuable to give teachers time to support each other, I worry about the time it would take to become proficient at it.  This to the PD problem we are having in our department.  Everything takes time.  How are we going to make PD more worthwhile for teachers so it seems like an extension of what they are doing instead of extra work?

One of my classmates, Alex, found an article that is similar to the one in the class readings about professional development.  In the article, Factors of Participants and Blogs that Predict Blogging Activeness During Teaching Practice and Induction Year, the authors talk about using blogs to help with professional development and collaboration.  Like above, I would love to incorporate this into my department as another way we can support each other but I don’t know how to tackle the technology fears.  Throughout my research around my triggering question, I have found many resources like the article listed above, that give me ideas of how to better support and collaborate with my colleagues in my department.  I am still left with many questions.  I am still wondering how to make professional development around technology meaningful, worthwhile, and accessible for all?  I am going to continue looking for ways to bring technology into my departmental professional development to help advance not only myself and my colleagues but our students.

  

References

• ·         Donnelly, D. F., & Boniface, S. (2013, April 21). Consuming and creating: Early-adopting science teachers’ perceptions and use of a wiki to support professional development. Computers and Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2013.04.023
• ·         Luik, P., & Taimalu, M. (2016). Factors of Participants and Blogs that Predict Blogging Activeness During Teaching Practice and Induction Year. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 17(1). doi:10.19173/irrodl.v17i1.2169
• ·         Twining, P., Raffaghelli, J., Albion, P., & Knezek, D. (2013, August 5). Moving Education into the Digital Age: The Contribution of Teachers' Professional Development. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 29(5), 426-437. doi:10.1111/jcal.12031

EDTC 6433 Modelling Digital Citizenship

Going into this inquiry about digital citizenship I was initially unsure of where to direct my thinking.  When I started doing my research I came across the article, “Is it Cheating or Learning the Craft of Writing?  Using Turnitin to Help Students Avoid Plagiarism.”  This article is by Lynne Graham-Mathesona and Simon Star.  This article talked about how to use turnitin.com to help students recognize what is plagiarism and what is not.  I am one of the International Baccalaureate math teachers at my school.  In my class students, must write a math internal assessment that is worth 20% of their IB math score.  For their internal assessment, students are expected to write a paper about math.  Students are aware of how to write papers for language arts and history because they do it all the time.  Math however is a completely different story.  In their minds the rules completely change.  Through my inquiry, I have found that turnitin.com can be used to help my students understand what is going to be considered plagiarism and what is not.

As I was reading the articles for class, I found an article titled “The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons.”  This article talked about different sites that could be used and what things to look for when working with copyrights.  It was informative for me.  As a math teacher, the amount of writing I have done in my life pales in comparison to many people.  I am a novice at siting sources just as my students are.  This article gave tips for students and teachers to consider.  I said that the images will tell you if you are allowed to copy the image.  They use, “fancy talk for letting you know that you are free to use anything on this blog as long as you: 1. give an attribution or credit that lets others know where you got the info with a link, 2. won’t profit in any way from using our content and use it for non-business purposes only, and 3. anything you create with our content, you must use the same license.” (Burt, 2012).  After reading this article, as I work with my students on their Internal Assessments for IB, I will make sure to point them to the resources found in this article.  I will be working with my students to use the CreativeCommons.org site to check the images they are using.

Finally as I was looking at my classmates article, my classmate Katie’s article stood out to me.  Her article was titled, “Fostering Digital Citizenship in the Classroom.”  As I said above, coming into this inquiry, I was unsure what exactly digital citizenship meant.  Katie’s article really brought home the meaning behind digital citizenship for me.  Steps were given for helping students become responsible digital citizens:

• “Design a robust digital citizenship curriculum.
• Counsel students that “what goes online stays online.”
• Craft an empowering acceptable use policy for students.
• Teach students their digital rights.
• Advise parents of new social media and online trends.
• Provide an easy-to-understand guide for online behavior.
• Equip teachers and parents with education technology programs and practices to manage students’ internet use.” (Dotterer, Hedges, & Parker, 2016)

Through these steps I have come to realize digital citizenship is more than just how to use the web for writing and finding resources.  If you are truly teaching students to be quality digital citizens, you need to make sure they understand the consequences to their digital actions and are informed digital citizens.

Resources:

·       Burt, R. (2012, February 9). The Educator’s Guide to Copyright, Fair Use, and Creative Commons. Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://www.theedublogger.com/2012/02/09/the-educators-guide-to-copyright-fair-use-and-creative-commons/

·       Dotterer, G., Hedges, A., & Parker, H. (2016, November). Fostering Digital Citizenship in the Classroom. The Education Digest, 58-63.

·       Graham-Matheson, L.,& Starr, S. (2013). Is it cheating or learning the craft of writing? Using Turnitin to help students avoid plagiarism. Research in Learning Technology, 21. http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v21i0.17218

ISTE Standard 3- Modeling Technology

In my school, there are new teachers who are digitally literate, teachers who have been there a while but are keeping up with the changing technological times, and teachers who are reluctant to try any technology in their classrooms.  My triggering question for this week was, how can I demonstrate knowledge, and skills around mathematical technologies available to help reluctant teachers create a dynamic and interactive math classroom? As a teacher, I work hard to constantly adapt my practice to fit the needs of my students.  Currently, the shift I am making is in technology.  I am working to bring the level of technology use in my classroom up to the level of technology use my students are looking for.  In my research, I found an article titled No Teacher Left Behind: How to Teach With Technology by James Efaw.  This article talks about the three phases of implementing technology in a school.  It says that, “the three phases are learning, practice and feedback, and continued development” (Efaw, 2005).  As I have been working to get some of the veteran teachers on board with the technology changes I have noticed the same thing as Efaw did, “one of the biggest obstacles is the negative attitude of some faculty toward having technology in the classroom” (Efaw, 2005).  One of the key points in this article is that staff must be trained in the technology we want them to use, they need to practice using the technology they were trained on and then they need to receive feedback on their implementation.  Without those three steps the implementation of technology will fail.  In my school right now, we have occasional technology trainings but they are not focused or intensive enough to set a teacher up for success.  We are also not taking the time to visit each other’s classrooms to provide feedback to teachers making it hard for consistent technology implementation.

My classmate Katie found an article titled Using Technology to Increase Parent Involvement in School.  The focus of this article was around gaining parental involvement in their students’ academic lives.  This is something my school is seriously lacking.  I have begun using a website to communicate due dates, homework assignments, and general expectations with my students and their families.  I have also started using Remind to let students know about upcoming classroom events such as tests, quizzes, homework assignments, or other activities they should know about.  “Schools should be seeking ways to maximize emerging technological tools to promote better communication between teachers and parents” (Olmstead, 2013).  As I work with the technologically reluctant teachers in my department I am striving towards technology use in all aspects of their teaching.  I want to help teachers utilize the technology available to them so that students can access their classes.

As I continued researching my triggering question, I was looking through the assigned readings for my Teaching with Technology course.  There was an article titled, Effective Features in Computer Learning Games.  As I think about the types of technology I want to implement in my classroom and help others implement in theirs, games seem like a fun place to start.  This article talked about the place games have in the classroom.  I find that too often we are so focused on the tests we need to teach to, the content that needs to be covered, and the content as a whole we forget to have fun in our classrooms.  “Computer learning games are not only welcomed as a way to motivate learners, but also can serve as a mechanism for learning” (Su & Draper Rodriguez, n.d.).  Bringing games into the classroom can help students connect with the content, understand the content better, and bring joy into what they are learning.  Through my research, I am able to begin answering my triggering question.  I do not feel that I have the whole answer yet, but I have a place to start.  I am going to start looking for ways to get the technologically reluctant members of my department training on some of the simpler technology tools they can use in their classroom.  Once they have been trained, we will practice implementation, and finally I will observe and provide feedback on their implementation of the technology.  I am also going to talk with the technology person at my school to see if we can start a school wide process for implementing technology in our classrooms.

Works Cited

Efaw, J. (2005, January 1). No Teacher Left Behind: How to Teach with Technology. Educause Quarterly, (4), 26-31. Retrieved November 3, 2016.

Olmstead, C. (2013). Using technology to increase parent involvement in schools. TechTrends, 57(6), 28-37. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=91587612&site=ehost-live

Su, B., & Draper Rodriguez, C. (n.d.). Effective Features in Computer Learning Games. 148-153. Retrieved November 6, 2016.

EDTC6433 Module 2 Triggering Event Question Reflection

EDTC6433  Module 2 Triggering Event Question Reflection

Thinking about the different students that come through my classroom on a daily basis helped me create my triggering event question for Module 2.  More and more students are asking for technology to be incorporated into the lessons we do in class.  The question I researched and am looking for answers to is: How can I create authentic learning experiences in my high school math classroom that incorporate contemporary tools and align with the common core state standards?  Through my research I found an article titled Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment: A Research-Based Pedagogy for Teaching Science with Classroom Response Technology by Ian D. Beatty and William J. Gerace.  This article talked about using CRS (Classroom Response Systems) to perform both summative and formative assessments of students.  This article has given me a renewed desire to try and use technology for formative assessments.  According to the article, “An assessment-centered learning environment weaves formative assessment deeply into the fabric of instruction, providing continual, detailed feedback to guide students’ learning and instructors’ teaching.” (Beatty, Gerace, 2009)  I agree that class needs to be a constant place of assessment and adjustment.  Having the technology to poll students throughout the class and adjust my teaching based off of their responses will not only give them a better education but help improve my teaching and awareness of my student’s level of understanding. 

While keeping my triggering question in mind, I was reading the assigned reading for ISTE Standard 2.  In the assigned article EPIC WIN Inspire Engagement through Online Competitions and Collaborations by Learning & Leading with Technology they talked about creating online competitions for students.  Talking about teachers they said,  “Then they can begin to incorporate online competitions into their classroom as tools to teach and assess those standards.” (Mote, Kafai, & Burke, 2013)  I think giving space for competition within the classroom is important to the development of students.  I particularly think competition on an online platform would be beneficial for students.  If it is part of an online platform it could reach a different set of students than your typical day to day lessons.  Making an online competition would be an interesting and fun summative assessments for students.  I am going to continue to look into this option for my classes.  I am unsure at this point how it would work in a math classroom but I am hopeful I can find a way to incorporate an online competition or a project that is similar.

(Spante, Vea Karlsen, Nortvig, & Christiansen, 2014)

As I continued thinking about how to incorporate technology into my lessons, I read an article by my learning circle member Katie, titled, Cross-border collaboration in history among Nordic students: A case study about creating innovative ICT didactic models.  It talked about the TPACK (Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge) model that we talked about in the class discussion for this module.  It helped explain the model and how it could be used in my classroom.  “The TPACK model separates three specific skills of teachers, linked to pedagogical (PK), content (CK) and technical knowledge (TK) in learning situations within given contexts.” (Spante, Vea Karlsen, Nortvig, & Christiansen, 2014)  This article helped me think about different ways to incorporate technology into my lesson.  It made it clear that I should look for where technology could fit into what I am already doing.  As I work on my lesson plans for the coming weeks, I will be looking for where I can add technology into my lessons.  I will look for places students can use technology to aid in the learning, assess their learning, and/or give feedback on a lesson.  I will also be looking for where I can use technology with the whole class.

After my research, I feel confident in my ability to try out some of the different technology strategies I found.  I am going to try incorporating more technology based formative assessments and looking for where I can enhance my current lessons with technology.  Some questions I still have are, how to I make sure all students have access to the formative assessment technology, how can I help students access the technology resources offered at home, and what are some ways to bring technology into my classroom on a daily basis to help students connect with the math?

Works Cited

• Beatty, I. D., & Gerace, W. J. (2009). Technology-Enhanced Formative Assessment: A Research-Based Pedagogy for Teaching Science with Classroom Response Technology. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 18(2), 146-162. doi:10.1007/s10956-008-9140-4
• Spante, M., Vea Karlsen, A., Nortvig, A., & Christiansen, R. B. (2014). Cross-border collaboration in history among Nordic students: A case study about creating innovative ICT didactic models. The IAFOR Journal of Education, Volume 2 Issue (2), 55-85.
• Mote, C. W., Kafai, Y., & Burke, Q. (2013, December). EPIC WIN Inspire Engagement through Online Competitions and Collaborations. Learning & Leading with Technology, 16-21.

About Me!

Hi! I'm Michaela Clark.  I grew up in Marysville, WA and attended SPU for my undergraduate mathematics degree.  I swam competitively from age six through high school, played soccer for nine years, did gymnastics for four years, and pole vaulted in both high school and my first two years of college.  I grew up doing sports, going on vacation with my family (both of my parents are teachers), and enjoying time outside.  I still enjoy playing sports and enjoying time outside.  I have been married for three years to my husband Peter.  We met our freshman year of high school and started dating our junior year.  A fun fact about me is that my roommate from SPU was randomly chosen for me by SPU and we are now great friends.  She was the maid of honor in my wedding.

My college roommate (on the right) and I at Disneyland.

My favorite vacation location!

I have always wanted to do something with math.  For a long time I thought that was going to be with me as an engineer.  Now that I am in my fifth year of teaching I can't imagine doing anything else.  This is my fifth year at Renton High School.  I teach geometry, International Baccalaureate Math SL year 2, AB Calculus, and BC calculus.  I am also one of the math department chairs.  I love my students and the department I work with.

Module 1 Blog Post: Integration of Technology in a Low Tech Classroom

Through my five years so far at Renton High School, the integration of technology has been slow.  More and more of our textbooks have online components but our classrooms do not have a growing amount of technology.  Every year we are asked and expected to use more technology with our students and within our lessons.  This is where my triggering question for the ISTE Standard 1 came from.  How can I better integrate technology into a classroom with minimal technology available in a key way to advance student learning and creativity?  I feel that I work hard to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity but I don’t use a lot of technology within my classroom.  We have a limited amount of technology available for classroom use.  I am looking for ways to incorporate technology into my classroom that are easy to implement and do not need to be done every day to be successful. 

The first article I looked at to help answer my triggering question was 50 Alternatives to Lecture by Alexandra Pickett.  This article was one of the class readings.  In this article a list of activities you can do in your classroom besides lecture were given.  One of the ideas I found particularly interesting was when students were given a list of solutions and were asked to create the corresponding problems (Pickett, n.d., p.3).  This idea struck me as a way to bring technology into the classroom in a low stress way.  Students would work with their teams to create the questions to go with the answers they were provided.  I would then have them create a google doc they can share with me.  Once I have all of the responses we can make a class list of the different questions that all have the same answer.  This article gave me one idea of how to bring technology into my classroom even though technology is scarce.

After looking at the class articles I began researching for more answers to my question.  I have not yet found an article that fully answers my question but, I have come across some helpful articles and Tedx Talks that provide partial answers and ideas.  The first resource I found pertaining to my triggering question is from Stanford University (https://edpolicy.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/scope-pub-using-technology-report.pdf).  It is titled Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students’ Learning.  In this article my desire for more technology in my classroom and ideas for how to utilize the technology I have become more profound.  This article emphasizes the idea that technology can help close the achievement gap if used correctly alongside quality teaching. (Darling-Hammond, L., Zielenzinski, M., Goldman, S, Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students’ Learning, 2014)  Working in a low income, high needs school, the gap in achievement between my school and the other two high schools in the district is apparent.  I am hoping I can find a balance in my use of technology, student directed group work, and teacher time that can help my students close the gap.  The second resource I found helpful was a TedxRainier Talk by Jessie Woolley-Wilson titled Blending Technology and Classroom Learning (https://youtu.be/o0TbaHimigw).  She talked about the importance of quality education being available to all.  Her big question was how do we make that happen?  She talked about the idea of blended learning and using adaptive learning programs in classrooms.  This talked left me with the question, is there an adaptive learning program for high school math?  From these two resources I am still wondering how I can use the technology I have available to enhance my students learning experiences?

As I was continuing to look for relevant articles pertaining to my triggering question, I was reading an article my classmate Conrado found titled “U.S. Educational Secretary Announces Guidance to Ensure All Students Have Equal Access to Educational Resources” written by the U.S. Department of Education.  This article states, “All students- regardless of race, color, national origin or zip code- deserve a high-quality education that includes resources such as academic and extracurricular programs, strong teaching, technology and instructional materials, and safe school facilities” (“U.S. Educational Secretary Announces Guidance to Ensure All Students Have Equal Access to Educational Resources,” 2014).  I truly believe this to be true.  The math department I work in is working to bring equity to our students.  This year we were able to get the district to purchase brand new graphing calculators for each classroom.  I have already seen the effect this has had on our students.  When it comes time to use the graphing calculators they get excited.  Our new calculators graph in color and for the students it is a whole new world.  Another piece of the article Conrado found that struck me was, “Despite major progress in some areas, many students, especially students of color, continue to lack the opportunity of a quality education” (“U.S. Educational Secretary Announces Guidance to Ensure All Students Have Equal Access to Educational Resources,” 2014).  As a teacher in a low income school I experience every day the hardships my students face when it comes to education.  I also notice it when talking to the math department chairs from the other two high schools.  Their “problems” are different than ours.

My triggering event questions of, how can I better integrate technology into a classroom with minimal technology available in a key way to advance student learning and creativity, is still a question I am trying to answer.  After my research, I am going to look into a blended learning structure for my classroom, if there is an adaptive math program for high school, and how I can use my computer to aid in a more interactive technology based classroom.  Some questions I am still grappling with are, what are simple technology activities students can do in class with phones or COWs, how can I bring at least one technology element into each lesson, and what can I do to help bring more technology to my school and classroom.

Works Cited

Pickett, A. (n.d.) 50 Alternatives to Lecture, SUNY Learning Network

“U.S. Educational Secretary Announces Guidance to Ensure All Students Have Equal Access to Educational Resources,” 2014, U.S. Department of Education

Woolley-Wilson, J., Blending Technology and Classroom Learning, 2012, TedxRainier

Darling-Hammond, L., Zielenzinski, M., Goldman, S, Using Technology to Support At-Risk Students’ Learning, 2014, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

Initial Reflection

I began teaching four years ago.  My classroom my first year looked different in many ways than my classroom now.  My core ideals of teaching haven’t changed but my delivery has. As I have grown in my practice and learned more about the students I am working with, I have tailored my instruction accordingly.  I am constantly reflecting on my practice on my own as well as with my Professional Learning Community.  When I am reflecting on my practice there are a few key things I do.  I use what I did in my previous years to help guide and influence how I will teach the same content this year.  I look at my old plan books to help remind me of how lessons went, how long lessons took, and how my students did.  In order for this to work I also make notes when the lessons occur.  If a lesson went particularly well I write myself a reminder of what worked and if a lesson didn’t go particularly well I will also note what didn’t work.  If it was a lesson that didn’t go as planned, I write down ideas of how I could make it better next year or if it just needs to be completely rethought.  I also reflect throughout my day.  Just because I taught the lesson one way in my first period does not mean I will teach it the same way in my sixth period.  If a portion of a lesson didn’t go was planned the first time I teach it, I will make adjustments for the next class.  The individual reflection helps me when I work with my Professional Learning Communities.  As a member of a Professional Learning Community, I am also able to reflect with my colleagues.  We talk about student growth, how the class went last year compared to how it is going this year, and how our students are performing.  We use this time to look at our test scores.  We talk about how to bring the lower grades up, how to push our students who are getting perfect scores, and how to bring our classes to the next level of understanding.


Consistent reflection has helped me realize my strengths and challenges as a teacher.  Over my first four years I have noticed my ability to think on my feet, engage my students and connect with my students on an academic level as strengths I bring to the classroom.  Throughout a lesson I am able to improvise and make changes as I go if students aren’t getting the information I need them to get.  I work with students to make sure lessons are being delivered in ways that are helpful, engaging, and designed in a way students can connect with the math.  I also work hard to connect with my students.  I want them to know that I care about them and their success.  I am able to get students to do work in my class when they wouldn’t necessarily do work in their other classes.  They know that my classroom is a safe environment and it is low risk for them to participate.  I have also noticed some key things I struggle with in my every day teaching.   I have a hard time scheduling my period, pushing students to go the pace I want, and getting all students involved with their varying learning styles.  I always know what I want to get done in a period but I don’t always have realistic goals.  I will frequently plan more than will fit into a single period.  Since I do this, it makes daily closure of activities difficult.  It also doesn’t give my students a sense of urgency.  Since they don’t have a sense of urgency it is hard to get my students to work at the pace I am looking for.  The other struggle that I am constantly working to remedy is getting all students involved.  I know there are varying learning styles in my classroom and I am consistently trying to make sure my lessons address as many learning styles as possible.


I worked on the above weaknesses with my administrator when I was on the comprehensive evaluation plan under the Danielson Framework.  The Danielson Framework is made up of four domains, planning and preparations, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.  You are evaluated on a four-point scale from unsatisfactory (1) to distinguished (4) and required to provide evidence for the individual components within each domain.  In my district there are two categories of teachers when it comes to evaluations.  There are teachers who are evaluated on a comprehensive evaluation or a focused evaluation.  If you are on the comprehensive evaluation form you are evaluated on every component of the Danielson Framework.  You are expected to provide evidence for everything that cannot be observed.  Administrators are also expected to observe you at least twice during the year.  There is also a group of teachers who are on the focused version of the evaluation.  For this, teachers pick a component within one domain of the Danielson Framework and collect evidence for that one component.  If you are on the focused evaluation the administrators will spend sixty minutes between the evaluation and meetings with the teacher.  Every teacher must have a goal for the year and a goal for a specific class.  Comprehensive teachers will also pick a sub group.  You are expected to collect data on your specific goal to help show your growth as a teacher over the course of the year.