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Blogs about the classes: Educ 701-The Equitable Classroom, Educ 790- Research, Educ 702- Digital Tools Educ 791-Sensemaking and Research Design, Educ 703- Extending Human Capacities via Transliteracy, Educ 792- Capstone Seminar
Having explored several capstone websites, write a blog about who you think the audience of your capstone is going to be and why. Also, what content do you think you will need to have on your website in order to engage and teach them about your research. The audience for my capstone project will be teachers, in my department or outside of it, that are interested in teaching using Info-graphics. I will present research that either substantiates this new method, as I will use one of my 3 classes as the "experimental" group, and compare with the same summative assessment to ascertain whether it improved their understanding of the material or not. My hope is that, by using more visual aids in this topic, the students will be able to connect with the material on a deeper level.
On my website, I will need the research that I will do, the Info-graphics that I use and the assessments. Links to the standards that I follow, and the research papers and tools that I use or recommend.
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A capstone in an arch is the stone that holds all the others, and, if removed or damaged, makes the arch fall. Or the stone on top of other stones, set like pillars.
My goals as teacher, tutor, parent have always been to support the learner in their journey to learn. Sometimes the goals of what to be learned are different, but I think, there is always a learning experience on all sides.This program has reinforced that learning is not done on your own, or it does not have to be, and often, it is a more enjoyable and enriching experience when shared with others. People that are going through the same learning experience can be really helpful as "critical friends" as well as supportive pillars. Sometimes we need both. The Touro program, where we comment on each other's blogs, and meet and discuss a project or weekly meetings in the Zoom room have allowed us all to share our perceptions, which, in my mind, helps me to understand my practice more deeply because I consider alternate viewpoints. While I listen to my students orally, and with written submissions via surveys, having adult peers also reflect and respond is very meaningful to me and my practice. I appreciate this opportunity for the platform of these classes and I think that we, as a cohort, tend to support each other pretty well. I feel like I could ask any one of my cohort team for help and they would respond- and that is a great feeling!
Reflect BLOG: share any thinking, new design steps, progress, challenges, and/or successes you have during this course. How have you evolved as an innovative thinker? Because it is catchy and applicable to my Capstone, the CRAP principle is the first thing that comes to mind. Contrast, Repitition, Alignment and Proximity. I loved reading the Baggio book, because it was relevant, and accessible. The visual principles have helped me see the way I present material to my students in a new way. Dervin was more difficult but the big idea was about that bridge. Creating the meaning and sense making piece for learners. This is a daily struggle, but when you see that light bulb go on for students- so very rewarding! As for Clark, when I read Procedures, I did get a lot out of that but I am thinking that it will be important for me to go back and read the Concepts section because that is what my focus is truly on in my classes. Challenges have been numerous, mostly dealing with time. Learning a new tool- I want to explore and get really good at it. I don't feel like I have had time to do that, I do feel like I have a lot of tools in my tool belt to draw from, and I want to choose a few to do incorporate well into my practice. Because I am teaching a new course this year, I am not very familiar with the curriculum, and wish I had more time to work on that as well. I do feel like the lessons learned in this course are helping me bring new tools to my practice as well as good design ideas. I have implemented many of the good design ideas into materials that I create for my classes, like handouts, and exams. One important way that I have evolved this semester is the ability to be more of a Risk taker. I am usually up to try things, but even more so now. And I feel more confident in trying and failing in front of the class. This is difficult for me. I have learned that Instructional Systems Design is a huge field and a very big job. This is probably my favorite topic as I am a "gamer". I love playing games, I do not care if I win, I love the interaction, the mental stimulation; whether it is moving pieces around a board or the pac-man around the screen. I made sure to buy non-competitive games for my children, like Rainbowland- where players save up raindrops to build a rainbow together- because I just wanted to have them feel what I felt. Because I am reading J.P. Gee for 791, I am thinking about video games and their impact on me and my learning experiences very often. I really appreciate the Youth Ministry templates- I created a Jeopardy game when I was a student teacher because the department had buzzers to use- now we can use devices! I have created a few Kahoots! since being in this class, as Joe Madigan recommended the site and I really loved seeing how engaged the students became. I have been thinking about when my students have been truly and deeply engaged in learning this semester. Honestly, it was not when I told them what was on the test coming up. It was also not when I am assigning homework or classwork. Which concerns me that they are not connecting what I am asking them to do with a learning goal. And, believe me, I have tried to make the link. I have seen individual students very concerned with improving their grades for Avid, college, or sports and I appreciate those incentives but what I am thinking about is when, the class, as a whole is wanting to know.
I want all my students to feel like Gabe Zichememaur (sp?), and Katie Salen's students, J.P. Gee, and me, when playing games: engaged in learning, motivated, validated, excited and wanting more. As human beings, those are essential needs. From our readings, it is human desire to learn. It is a survival skill. Gabe Z asks, "Is our world too slow for students to appreciate?". Sometimes I do think that is true. Sometimes I think we need to make sure to slow down. I hung "winter lights" in my room this week and did not turn on the overhead lights. It was calm, my students really liked it and the mood in all the classes was calmer. I love technology, but I do feel like I need to disconnect- and just be, sometimes. I want to use tech to create fun, interesting learning experiences for students. I want to be a teacher that helps students think, create, problem solve and work together. I think that technology helps with that- the few times this semester that I really felt like I had the majority of the students actively engaged in learning in my PreCalculus classes was when we played a Kahoot game, which was content based and when the students were tasked with taking a quiz, that was individual for a specific time, and then I gave time to collaborate and continue working on the quiz. The students, in both cases were asking great questions, discussing important topics because the stakes were high. They wanted to win Kahoot, and they wanted to score high on the quiz. I love games in the classroom, as long as they are a means to an end to support student learning. In the "How to Choose a Game" article, it suggests to not choose a game because it is "cool" but because it is "fun" and not to meet students where they are but to move them incrementally from one place to another". Taking the students we have been given, helping them to learn and ready to keep learning, it is a big task. I really loved reading the J.P. Gee article from the KQED readings, we need to educate "proactive, deliberate learners in and out of school and for their lifetimes.":) Blog and respond to others:
Punya Misra states that "technology has changed not only how we teach but also what we teach". This resonates with me so very much. I am not a new teacher, but not a veteran, either. this is my 9th year teaching and I have never taught the same thing 2 years in a row. I did teach Algebra II for 5 years, but it changed each year. Partly because I evolved, but also, because technology evolved. And then we adopted the Common Core Standards, which were certainly more rigorous. I always brought in lessons that students would need to use a graphing calculator, because it aids in comprehension (Visual!). Baggio reinforces this idea with me. I can tell students how changing one value in an equation will change the graph, or I can assign them to graph the different equations and find out for themselves how it changes. I believe that this is not only efficient learning, but also deeper learning. Having the use of online calculators is fabulous as well, but first I need to learn the new technology, explore, see how to fit it in. All of this takes time- I believe that is the "wicked" part of TPACK. Time is the commodity that we have to use, teachers, to the best of our ability to benefit our students. I think that this is a constant push-pull situation. My growth in this area has been the assignments that I had to use different tools- so I made the time to do it. I found some that I have already incorporated into my practice- my APCSP class made Weebly pages and posts their written work there, while linking to my google sheet- sound familiar? And when Joe recommended Kahoot! I thought I would try it, and it was so well received that I have created my own Kahoots for all my classes. Getting the video on a new way to look at Kahoot- Blind Kahoot- I will use that to introduce material as well. I will also definitely be more cognizant of the visual displays and font choices. I have always been a fan of Comic Sans- now I realize that it is not the best choice for serious work. The CRAP principles will help guide my development of Infographics. The readings on Procedures in Clark has helped me to remember to assess more frequently, daily, if possible, in an informal way- using Kahoot in this way will help. We have learned so many tools to use and that has been a bit overwhelming but also, helpful for me to find the tools that I can implement, and work on getting better at. The Capstone project seems insurmountable to me at this point, all I can think about is how I need a few days off to visit with my daughters- without distraction. But, I really believe that to "unplug" is very healthy and necessary, at least for me. So, I will be doing just that, and getting back to work on Sunday. Wishes to all for a lovely break and holiday! I checked out EdPuzzle, and there are several teachers with lessons on the P's and Q's of Factoring Polynomials, and I would love to connect their videos to my lesson plan. I often felt like if I could not connect with a student, it was my fault. I always felt that, given different learning styles, my job is to connect, to the best of my ability, to as many students as I can, but to also seek methods for those I cannot. I do not want to fail, in my job, to any student. Now that I have tools to get other teachers explanations, and videos I can provide to my students other paths to success. This is very exciting to me. I want to connect students to other teachers videos so that they can learn in the way that may benefit them. I really love the idea that a teacher in New York or Arkansas can share a lesson that a student in my class can access and then have the understanding that they need. And, while I do not think that this can replace the relationships that teachers make in their classrooms, I do think that it can supplement it.
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I started a twitter account last year, in order to communicate about a club at our high school. I put links to websites that involve the club and I follow and am followed by, our school so it is my "professional" account. I like twitter posts and retweet things of interest. I feel like I am using this tool appropriately. |