Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society
a. Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
I have my students take exit slips before they leave my class to allow them to reflect on the days learning and also allow me to assess if we are ready to move on and what we still need to go over again. I used to have my students take this on a slip of paper but have recently moved to using google forms. This way the students can just click on a link posted on my twitter account and fill out the questions. The questions are open ended and allow the students to tell me what they understand and what they still need help with.
Artifact: Exit Slip
In one of my classes I had my students use interactive notebooks to take notes in and to house all their work for the class. Instead of doing notebook checks, I instead utilized homework quizzes. Normally, I would do these on paper but I found that giving them in the form of a google quiz was much more efficient. I was able to see a lot faster who was up to date in their notebooks because I had access to a data sheet of every student and their answers to the quiz and a breakdown of each question and how many students were missing that information. This allowed me to know if I needed to find time for students to catch up in their notebooks or whether it was safe to move on.
Artifact: Homework Quiz
b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
While I was taking Intermediate Web Development, I started to create a school website that teachers and students could utilize to gain information about the school and how they could reach the staff. Being that the school is an alternative program, not everyone who was steered toward us had any idea what we were. This website will allow the staff, students, and parents to be able to communicate about the school and get the lines of communication open.
Artifact: School Webpage
While participating in this program, I discovered the tool Dropbox. This online tool allows you to share documents with anyone else that has a Dropbox. It is very easy to use and I have even been able to access it while downloading other teacher's work that I would have never been able to obtain before this tool. After I learned about this tool I found out that other teachers in my district also utilize Dropbox and I began to use it to keep and share some of my colleagues work. I could even see it being used for more than just sharing work in the future. Such as sharing things for substitutes to use while we are away from our classrooms. This way all of my department could have access to everything we need without having to ask specifically for something we would like to use or borrow.
Artifact: Dropbox
c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats
One thing I have utilized in my classroom is the Remind101 app. This can be used through the computer, email, an app on your phone, or through text messages. This was a great way to get into contact with my students and their parents regarding things going on in my classroom or in the school. I could create events to remind parents about parent teacher conferences, have texts sent to parents and students about reminders like homework and returning permission slips to the office. I found it extremely helpful when needing to contact parents because I had quite a few who wanted me to text them instead of email. Remind101 allowed me to do this without having to give out my personal phone number.
Artifact: Remind 101
During Intermediate Web Development, I created a sign-up sheet that will be sent out to parents and they can then use to sign up for a time to meet with me if needed. The sheet gives them somewhere to say who their student is, what time they would like to meet, and why they would like to meet. I feel this is an easy form for the parents to fill out, they will know what time they are supposed to meet me so I can be available to them, and it is an easy way for me to keep track of who I am meeting with and why other than using email, which let's be honest, can get lost along with all the other emails teachers get during the day. This allows parents to communicate with me and uses a simple form to do so.
Artifact: Conference Sign-up Sheet
d. Model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate and use information resources to support research and learning
I have offered my students a course evaluation in the classes where I was trying out flipped classrooms for the first time. It was important to me to gain my students feedback so that I knew if this was something they liked, wanted to do more of, or simply was a bust. I used this survey to guide the way I was setting up my videos, how long or short they should be, and how I could improve my students engagement and learning throughout my course. I gave this survey out during midterms and then again during finals so that they had time to decide whether they liked the set-up or not. Some opinions changed over time because they became used to learning through the videos and working during class.
Artifact: Student Survey
One thing I was surprised by was the action research plan that I participated in with a group during Technology Action Research. I had never participated in an action research plan before and was intimidated at first glance, but came to find that it was something that gave me a chance to learn about how my students are perceiving new technology and innovations in our classroom. We performed an action research to see if flipping the classroom is beneficial to students. We found research on flipping the classroom, analyzed it and described our data sources as they pertained to our project. I found that it was important to really analyze a new technology you are using in the classroom to make sure it is something that is benefiting your students or if it is just fluff added into a course and if so making sure you take action to fixing what you are doing.
Artifact: Action Research Plan