Meta-Reflection for EDU6524 - Curriculum Design

Starting this program, I felt comfortable discussing a curriculum, but not really critiquing or altering a curriculum. As this year has progressed, I feel my ability to do just that has grown with each passing course. During this past quarter I have begun to feel quite comfortable with both critiquing and altering my curriculum. With the initial discussion about what actually constitutes a solid curriculum I was forced to look deeply at the curriculum I am using. Luckily, I had some practice with this during this past school year as I participated in a curriculum adoption. I found this adoption process, along with the discussion and points of view of my peers, to be invaluable in helping me to determine what elements of my curriculum and lesson planning are good and what things need tweaking.

To start, I had to determine what my curriculum had going for it and what areas needed support or adjustment. Upon completing this (Module 1 Paper), I began looking at the standards, at least the major ones, to determine what is essential to the unit I was looking at in detail. This work is not something I have too much experience doing, but found that through our classwork and the guidance of my peers and professors that this was something that I felt comfortable doing. I was able to pare down the eight standards covered to a focus of three standards (Module 2 Paper). Moving forward, this ability to recognize the standards central to a unit is going to serve me well as knowing what is necessary for my students to understand and what is extraneous, or at least not as important, is vital.

Moving forward, we see began looking at learning targets and designing lessons. My school requires learning posted for student information, but we have not had much work around the aspects of a quality learning target. Through the readings, particularly (Knowing Your Learning Target), we see what it takes to have an effective learning target. The anecdote of driving somewhere without knowing where to go or how to get there really struck me as a key reason why having an effective learning target is so important. To guide my students as well as possible, I need to ensure that my students know where we are heading in a lesson and how we will know we are there. This learning and practice will prove instrumental in becoming the teacher I want to be.

To get students to achieve the learning target, we see the importance of engaging students in the learning. We first created brief engagement activity explanations and then completed several full lesson plans. This portion of the class proved to be the most challenging for me. I feel comfortable putting lessons together, but I often lack diversity in engagement plans. This is something I know that I struggle with and want to improve and as we created plans with more details I received several strong ideas and suggestions to change things up from my normal lesson routines. These ideas, although strong, are still difficult for me to plan and are pieces of my practice that I will be focusing on the years ahead. To show my progress, I have attached my brief and full lesson plans (Unit Plan). These initial plans and changes to my plans represent the most significant portions of my learning in this course.

Finally, the aspects of differentiation, evaluating learning and adjusting plans comes into play. These portions of planning are areas where I feel I have a bit of experience, but I definitely want to improve. One of the differentiation techniques (see lesson 6 in my unit plan) I borrowed from a peer (Erin Hocevar-Ortiz) is to create a handout of the definitions previously learned, including the terms we will define during that lesson, for students to tape into their journals. This acts as a resource for students to refer to and will help increase the use of the academic language. I also switched an exit ticket for an assessment problem creation (an idea from How to Keep Kids Engaged in Class)

to aid in evaluating student learning (see lesson 2 in my unit plan). This represents another shift in my focus from having students solve problems to them creating problems to show they understand how polynomial multiplication. These two examples of adjustment represent another step I have taken this quarter in improving my practice.

All of the work undertaken this quarter in Curriculum Design really has been beneficial to my overall process in planning lessons and units. Looking at program standard nine, evaluate and use effective curriculum design, I found many connections to the work completed in this class. We worked through a unit from start to finish, looking at strengths and weaknesses, essential standards covered, learning targets and preassessment, engagement activities, and complete lesson plans. This practice will allow me to move forward in my practice to become the teacher I want to be. 

Frondeville, T. (2009). How to keep kids engaged in class. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/classroom-student-participation-tips

Moss, C.M., Brookhart, S.M., & Long, B.A. (2011). Knowing your learning target. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar11/vol68/num06/Knowing-Your-Learning-Target.aspx

Survey of Instructional Strategies - bPortfolio Meta-Reflection

My previous experiences with instructional strategies have been limited to interactions with instructional coaches, undergraduate education and any research or instruction I have taken part in during the first two quarters of this program. Initially, I did not think the course would be as interactive as it has been. Throughout several lesson plans, videoing, reflection on lessons, and the reading and additional research we completed, I have found the course to be a very “hands on” experience. During the course I also gained a lot of information from my peers through their presentations, lesson reflections and reading and research reflections.
Starting out the quarter with our partner presentation concerning Cooperative Learning Groups, I found the information to be pertinent and attainable for my practice almost immediately. I have not used group roles and structures in the past, but found my lesson, Cooperative Learning Group Lesson Plan, utilizing these to be very easy to implement. This introductory period also led to our learning about Cues, Questions, and Advanced Organizers. I found this to be a great way to aid in my students' understanding of various mathematics theories. In my lesson, Advanced Organizer Lesson Plan, I had my students complete an entry task that required them to look at the difference between a linear situation and an exponential situation. I have performed these types of comparisons before in my classes, but using a situation where students have some type of context was a shift in my practice. Both practices were a part of the Dean, Hubbell, Pitler, & Stone (2012) text and were great resources for helping both myself in my lesson planning and my group for our expert strategy presentation. The example of Mr. Washington's class (p. 39-41) was a great guide to how a teacher may use the cooperative learning groups strategy. I found further help in our additional research where I found the article by Scheuerell (2010) which outlined a classes use of cooperative group learning where students did research to find out about the history of their city. Another article I found spoke to the use of both cooperative group learning and advanced organizers (Box & Little, 2003). Box and Little found that the use of both cooperative group learning and advanced organizers improved the self-concept of students. These findings are of high interest to me as this is a portion of what I based my collaborative inquiry project on, improving student independence and confidence.
Moving forward through the quarter I was struck by how many instructional strategies I have not used, or used with regularity, even though they are easily applicable to my practice. The other presentations we saw demonstrated in class are ones that I feel I have not utilized enough in my practice. Both the note taking strategies and the nonlinguistic presentations showed me a method for providing access and differentiation that I need to be utilizing on a regular basis. The two lesson plans I provided with this section of the class both included the use of a nonlinguistic representation. The first used a picture of a “function robot” that provided a visual to my students about what we are really doing when we solve a function (Nonlinguistic Representation Lesson Plan). In the second of these lessons I used a graphic organizer, a flow chart, that showed different circumstances where a relation is a function (Choice (Nonlinguistic) Lesson Plan). Both of these lessons used the information we saw and read about in chapter 5 of Dean, et al., and they required me opening up my practice to include visuals (visual representations are not what I usually desire, so this is not something that has occurred naturally in my lessons). While these representations are not the only nonlinguistic representations, and I admittedly did not employ them in the best way possible, they did represent a stretch for me instructionally. They are also methods of access that I plan to use in the future with my students both during the remainder of this year and in future years. I furthered my understanding of nonlinguistic practice in my research for this session through the article by Singleton & Filce. In this article, the practice of using graphic organizers is discussed, specifically as it pertains to increasing understanding for students with disabilities. This article helped me in that although it is specific for students with disabilities, the practice and benefit can be applied to students who are currently struggling as well.
In addition to the numerous instructional strategies we saw in class and through reading Dean, et al., I feel as though the Hattie reading, and class instruction and discussion related to this, was enlightening. I found chapter 4 in Hattie (2012, p. 41) to be particularly intriguing and relevant to my current practice and the students I have right now. The lead up to the lesson is one of, if not the, most important pieces of the lesson and planning and there are so many things to consider, especially when it comes to the way my students are coming into my class or a lesson. As I was looking through the self attributes described starting on page 44 of Hattie, I found that so many of my students are in the “low” section when it comes to these issues of self. This is part of the reason that throughout this class, I have been so interested in ways that I can increase the confidence of my students and their independence. Moving forward, I will be researching ways in which my colleagues and I can work to improve the confidence and independence of our students.
Additionally, the mind frames that Hattie presents in chapter 9 (p. 182) I found to be both inspiring and a bit overwhelming. To be effective both in the classroom and as a leader of change there is so much that needs to go into my work. The focus on learning rather than teaching is what helps ease the workload in my mind. The idea that the learning of students comes first and foremost, regardless of teaching style or preference or whatever, can be an important motivating factor for all teachers. The quote on page 185 I found to be particularly striking, "I have almost reached a point at which I lose interest in discussions about teaching - not because it is not important, but because it often prevents important discussions about learning" (Hattie, 2012). I like this because it is so easy to get wrapped up in a discussion or debate about how something is taught when what students are learning, or not learning, needs to take precedent. As a math teacher, the article I found by Bruster (2015) drove home the need to place learning first. In the article, Bruster found that with the interventions she use, the five students she was working with became enthralled with reading and writing poetry, even though they all "hated" reading coming in. In placing the learning first, she was able to have students read and write the pieces that they wanted to and still see remarkable improvement in these students. I have to find ways in which I can place the learning of mathematics, a subject many, if not most, loathe, above all else and make adjustments to my practice for my students to learn as much as possible.
Finally, I believe that I have grown in both my instructional ability as well as my comfort and ability to coach or lead my peers in a community shift in practice. All of these readings, presentations, and (often) difficult tasks we completed this quarter have been so influential on the way now I think about teaching and my place as a teacher leader. I know that I have a ton to learn and I hope I always feel that way. I also know that I have some influence over those around me and that if I can find my way through implementing and normalizing some, if not all, of the strategies we learned in class, I will be able to be a leader in helping my school to a place of renewed energy and of higher learning.

Bolkan, S., Goodboy, A. K., & Kelsey, D. M. (2016). Instructor Clarity and Student Motivation: Academic Performance as A Product of Students’ Ability and Motivation to Process Instructional Material. Communication Education, 65(2), 129-148. doi:10.1080/03634523.2015.1079329

Box, J. A., & Little, D. C. (2003). Cooperative Small-Group Instruction Combined with Advanced Organizers and Their Relationship to Self-Concept and Social Studies Achievement of Elementary School Students. Journal Of Instructional Psychology, 30(4), 285-287. http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=507867547&site=ehost-live

Bruster, D. B. (2015). Poetry and Writing: Improving Fluency and Motivation for Students with Developmental Dyslexic Traits. Reading Improvement, 52(3), 93-99.
Dean, C., Hubbell, E., Pitler, H., Stone, B. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Colorado: McREL.
Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning. New York: Routledge.
Scheuerell, S. s. (2010). Virtual Warrensburg: Using Cooperative Learning and the Internet in the Social Studies Classroom. Social Studies, 101(5), 194-199. http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=53004482&site=ehost-live
Singleton, S. S., & Filce, H. G. (2015). Graphic Organizers for Secondary Students With Learning Disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 48(2), 110-117. http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=110716471&site=ehost-live

Teaching with Technology - ISTE 5 - Participating in an OnlineEducational Community

I joined the edutopia community in order to show participation in an online educational community under the user name "Math Teacher". I happened upon this community when researching the my ISTE 5 triggering question and found a lot of interesting and informative posts and articles. I decided to comment on a blog post by Schoolhouse Media titled, "Social Media - Adopt or Face Irrelevancy". I thought this was especially relevant because of the ISTE 5 Google Hangout posted by Dr. Wicks. Because of this discussion and the blog post, I am considering ways in which I can use social media, not with my classroom, but as a tool to correspond with teachers about teaching practices. At this point, I am too new to this community for it to have helped in ways other than to shift my point of view on using social media to aid in teaching, but I do plan to keep up with this edutopia and see what sort of information and resources they have in the future.

Teaching with Technology - ISTE 2 - WebQuest

Here is my WebQuest.

 

Teaching With Technology - ISTE 4 - Digital Citizenship Infographic

https://magic.piktochart.com/embed/9976243-digital-citizenship

I chose to create a general infographic concerning the potential dangers involved with irresponsible technology and social media use, and some ways to stay safe and appropriate. With the prevalence of social media and technology abuse students (and parents) need to know how to help themselves in preventing potential issues. Overall, I hope that the visual is fairly striking and the links to other resources are very useful.

Accomplished Teaching Final Reflection

This quarter, I started with the intent of learning how to differentiate instruction in ways to allow all students to gain access to algebra regardless of where they came to me. Although differentiation was not the focus of this course, I did find ways in which I could help my students at their level through reflection and the work we have produced. My learning about the use of reflection to help guide our practice as an individual, small group, or even an entire staff has had an impact on the way in which I teach and interact in my class.

First, the general information concerning reflection as a tool was enlightening. Early on, the Reflective Practice Spiral as presented by York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere, and Montie (2006, p. 20) revealed the power that the use of reflection may have starting with the individual and eventually leading to an entire school staff. One aspect of individualized reflection that I struggle with is the ability to maintain perspective when teaching. My most difficult class, due to both attitudes and abilities (the class is comprised of approximately 50% students with an IEP) is also at the end of my day. When lessons do not go well during that period, regardless of their success throughout the remainder of the day, I have great difficulty taking a step back and evaluating how things went overall. Instead, I have tended to focus on the way that single class period goes and taken that as the level of success the day attained. However, I have begun to reflect with a partner who is constantly asking how all class periods went in an attempt to get my focus away from the single class that may not have gone well and refocusing my reflection toward the bigger picture of how all of my classes went. This particular reflection partnership has helped me a great deal in including how all classes went rather than fixating on the one class that may not have gone well. The practice of reflecting with a partner is not one that I would have appealed to me without this class, and the readings and research in which we have participated.

Another element that has helped me a great deal is the lesson plan (KC's Lesson Plan) that we had to create and debrief with a partner. My work with Sara was difficult to get going because of our different schedules, but was very interesting and informative. The lesson I created, centered around solving systems of equations, has been very difficult in the past because although it has some real world applications, it is not the most intuitive types of problems to solve. The fact that I had Sara’s input, a teacher with relatively little experience in the world of math, was very interesting and helpful, especially the fact that she provided me with some suggestions and ideas that turned out to be very appropriate to the content being taught (even though this was definitely out of her comfort zone). The helpfulness was hopefully reciprocal as I provided feedback on her lesson based off of To Kill A Mockingbird, even though Language Arts is definitely outside of my comfort zone. This collaboration was also helpful in revealing how useful it can be to collaborate with those outside of my content area. I have found myself rarely in the position to make an obvious connection with teachers from the Humanities contents, but this collaboration allowed me to discover that there are possibilities to collaborate with other contents even when the opportunity is not obvious.

Finally, when we were required to research some of our own material concerning the traits of accomplished teaching, I was struck by the ways in which my peers and I approached this task. The article I found dealt with personalized learning environments and was very specific to my initial reflection desires. In the article, there were many informational topics, but the aspect that resonated with me most was the definition of educational equity presented by Hanover Research, “Educational equity is not simply about equal access and inputs, but ensuring that a student’s educational path, curriculum, instruction, and schedule be personalized to meet [the student’s] unique needs” (2012, p. 7). In ensuring that my students get the most they can out of their class, I need to be able to not only work toward individualizing their lessons, but may also need to take into account that they have other commitments that require them to miss classes and require other modes for them to gain access to the information provided in class. Another article I found interesting had a Language Arts focus, but was surprisingly informative to my practice. The article by Tobin (2008) titled, “Conundrums in the Differentiated Literacy Classroom”, helped to offer information about grouping and the benefits and potential pitfalls. One of the best tidbits of information I found from that article is that whatever the method for grouping, a focus on homogeneity versus heterogeneity for example, it is important to not let the groups get remain stagnate or else the practice loses its’ effectiveness (2008, p. 164). Since I am considering using grouping as a differentiation strategy, this struck me as very important moving forward. Further, the work we did at the beginning of the course and throughout with respect to the Danielson framework was important to shaping the way in which I approach the idea of differentiation. In Domain 1, Danielson outlines the requisite elements for an effective teacher, particularly with 1b and 1e. Knowing the student, their interests, skills, and needs, as well as providing appropriate grouping are all elements needed to differentiate successfully in today’s classroom (2013, p. 11, 23). For example, the Distinguished level of 1b offers elements that teachers should be cognizant of when designing lessons and utilizing strategies. These elements range from planning with a various level of follow up tasks so that students with low ability will experience success and learning as will the students who have shown or previously acquired a high level of ability to taking into account the various cultures in the room and participating in them to gain greater insight into the lives of students (2013, p. 13). This, along with many other articles and discussions, provide information that I will be taking with me moving forward in my planning for, and use of, various differentiation strategies.

Overall, I am grateful for having had the opportunity to take this class early on in my Master's program. The elements involved with this class have helped shape my thoughts moving forward with respect to what it means to become the type of teacher I hope to be. My synthesizing elements paper (Accomplished Teaching Paper) turned out to be something different than it would have been if I had been required to produce this at the beginning of the quarter mainly because of the aspect of reflection this class has emphasized. The number of resources I have been exposed to, as well as, the opinions and research provided by my peers and professors has provided me with a much clearer vision of the teacher leader I would like to become through the duration of this program. Moving forward, I hope to deepen my understanding, and use, of differentiation strategies so that I can better reach all of my students regardless of their skill level. I also want to continue building my skills as a teacher leader so that I can help my colleagues become better teachers, but also to become more comfortable working with teachers of various contents and experience from whom I can further learn and hone my practice.

Danielson, C. (2013). The framework for teaching: Evaluation instrument. Retrieved from: https://www.danielsongroup.org/download/?download=448

Hanover Research. (October 2012). Best Practices in Personalized Learning Environments. Washington, D.C. Retrieved from:https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0ahUKEwi9_ZWXu8PJAhVU_mMKHWxDDtcQFggiMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hanoverresearch.com%2Fmedia%2FBest-Practices-in-Personalized-Learning-Environments.pdf&usg=AFQjCNEydYQaMsjIIYiMSC2_VwjAfGK1Ow&sig2=Nb8qdMTqC5yBIOGNTS6XzA

Tobin, R. (Winter 2008). Conundrums in the differentiated literacy classroom. Reading Improvement, 45, 159-169. Retrieved from: http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=508023571&site=ehost-live

York-Barr, J., Sommers, W., Ghere, G., and Montie, J., (2006). Reflective practice to improve schools: An action guide for educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Teaching with Technology, Module 4 -Keeping Relevant with Technology

My triggering question for this module was: How can I continually improve my knowledge of, and expertise in, technology to incorporate in my professional practice?

In researching this question I found a couple articles that spoke, at least in part, to my focus. The first article I found deals with the need for teachers and technology directors to work together to ensure that both the desired technology used is appropriate and that the programs are supported with appropriate levels of technology. Too often, Johnson (2013) argues, teachers forge ahead with technology use that is either not best supported by the technology available (or its' current set up) or technology directors move ahead with technology allocations that are not what a teachers needs or requires. One of the best ways in which to ensure that technology is appropriate for all is to form a "technology advisory committee" which is "composed primarily of educators (teachers, librarians, and administrators) but should also include parents and students—and of course, representatives of the technology staff" (Johnson, 2013, p. 81). The use of this committee approach is necessary to ensure that both the technology is appropriate and the technology is supported.

The second article I found discusses the need to have all levels, teachers, districts, and states, involved to effectively and lastingly incorporate technology in the classroom. Gunn and Hollingsworth (2013) researched the Southern Alberta school district and their implementation of technology in the classroom. The findings indicated that when the district implemented a 21st century curriculum shift including technology, they also utilized a focused curriculum of professional development over the course of three years yielding a significant growth in teacher comfort, familiarity, and use of the technology. Although the study was limited to three years, the authors acknowledged the need for an extended observation to determine whether this was a sustained shift, the fact that most teachers incorporated the desired technologies and strategies shows a significant impact by the districts program. Gunn and Hollingsworth (2013) conclude that, "any school district willing to undergo such a project must be willing to commit time and monies exclusively designated for the upgrading of information and communication technologies. They must also be willing to provide significant systemic support for pedagogical change" (p. 215). This effort is necessary for any school district to impart change, however, the lack of necessary support seems to be the downfall of many district or state-led changes.

Sonja found an article of particular interest to me as a math teacher. In the article, Pearce led his math classroom into a completely online, paper-free class. The class would do all of their work on an iPad and then upload it as a pdf so that he could see what his students did that day. The results of this article were fascinating in that student self reported "I am good at math" at nearly 80% after having worked through the digital class Pearson set up (2015, p. 49). This shift from worksheets and such to a completely digital class is something I have often wondered about as schools are limiting copies due to budgets, finding difficulty in shifting their curriculum to the new Common Core State Standards, and experiencing a necessary change in the way teachers need to relate information to students because of the prevalence of technology.

In closing, the use of technology must include everyone involved with education, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and district officials. For a district to initiate lasting change, they need to provide significant resources so that teachers have enough training to feel comfortable and knowledgeable with the changes. And, there are teachers out there who have experimented with many different types of classroom set ups if we look for them. I had not realized that a math class can be completely digital, but, thanks to Sonja, I have an outline of what that could potentially look like.

Gunn, T. & Hollingsworth, M. (2013). The implementation and assessment of a shared 21st century learning vision: a district-based approach. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, Vol. 45 (Issue 3), p201-228. http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=89525588&site=ehost-live (Links to an external site.)

Johnson, D. (Sept. 2013). Good technology choices: a team effort. Educational Leadership, Vol. 71 (Issue 1), p80-82. http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=eft&AN=90068955&site=ehost-live (Links to an external site.)

Pearce, K. (2015). Creating Leaders through the Teacher Learning and Leadership Program. Educational Forum, 79(1), 46-52. DOI: 10.1080/00131725.2015.972812