Standard TF-V. Productivity and Professional Practice. Educational technology facilitators apply technology to enhance and improve personal productivity and professional practice.
A. Use technology resources to engage in ongoing professional development and lifelong learning.
Artifact- Edmodo Professional Groups, Apple iPad Training Resources, and Professional Development Sessions
As a teacher of science, I recognize my limited knowledge base and have continually seeked out and participated in various summer programs in order to be a lifelong learner of science and better serve my students.
Artifact- Edmodo Professional Groups, Apple iPad Training Resources, and Professional Development Sessions
As a teacher of science, I recognize my limited knowledge base and have continually seeked out and participated in various summer programs in order to be a lifelong learner of science and better serve my students.
_
_As an beginning user of Edmodo, I wanted to learn even more about the
different ways that I could use Edmodo in the classroom. Within Edmodo,
there are many different professional development groups and communities that allow teachers to informally share with others things that they find helpful and/or ask questions of others. I currently belong to the 1:1 Classroom and iPad Classroom groups and the Professional Development and Science Communities. Whenever a post is updated, I recieve an email with the message, and can sign into my Edmodo account to access any links or read responses. I have found this to be a simple and informal method of sharing information among teachers across the globe who have similar interests to mine. You must be an Edmodo member to access these groups. I have recommended these groups to other teachers as a way to expand their learning as well.
In January 2012 district teachers who were members of the Technology Cohort attended iPad training at the level of their own choice. I chose the advanced training session, which was taught by an Apple Educational Consultant. The session was fascinating by teaching us so many uses for the iPad in class, including Pages, Keynote, various apps- too much for one day. However, the consultant did leave us with some online references that he has collected over the years- lists, websites, etc. Best viewed from the iPad, the tutorial he left us with became an integral part of my research and creation of several of my professional development sessions held for my staff. In addition, I have consulted his lists when asked by other teachers for an app that applies best to their subject. His information is bookmarked on my iPad and has extended the one day PD session into an ongoing educational lesson for my own use, both as a teacher of teachers and a teacher of students.
I belong to a number of groups that have developed out of my past professional development learning experiences. I receive updates periodically from the NIST Institute for Middle School Teachers, who meet several times a year to further their learning through sessions with scientists interested in middle school student learning. Now that I am outside of driving distance, I can participate in these experiences via an online webcast through ReadyTalk. I have attended afternoon sessions in the past that help develop my base of science knowledge, and all of these sessions cover sessions at a higher level of science than a middle school student is expected to know. However, when the teacher understands a subject in more depth, they are better able to explain a concept to a struglling student. I look forward to participating in these online PD sessions as a means of extending my own learning!
In January 2012 district teachers who were members of the Technology Cohort attended iPad training at the level of their own choice. I chose the advanced training session, which was taught by an Apple Educational Consultant. The session was fascinating by teaching us so many uses for the iPad in class, including Pages, Keynote, various apps- too much for one day. However, the consultant did leave us with some online references that he has collected over the years- lists, websites, etc. Best viewed from the iPad, the tutorial he left us with became an integral part of my research and creation of several of my professional development sessions held for my staff. In addition, I have consulted his lists when asked by other teachers for an app that applies best to their subject. His information is bookmarked on my iPad and has extended the one day PD session into an ongoing educational lesson for my own use, both as a teacher of teachers and a teacher of students.
I belong to a number of groups that have developed out of my past professional development learning experiences. I receive updates periodically from the NIST Institute for Middle School Teachers, who meet several times a year to further their learning through sessions with scientists interested in middle school student learning. Now that I am outside of driving distance, I can participate in these experiences via an online webcast through ReadyTalk. I have attended afternoon sessions in the past that help develop my base of science knowledge, and all of these sessions cover sessions at a higher level of science than a middle school student is expected to know. However, when the teacher understands a subject in more depth, they are better able to explain a concept to a struglling student. I look forward to participating in these online PD sessions as a means of extending my own learning!
B. Continually evaluate and reflect on professional practice to make informed decisions regarding the use of technology in support of student learning.
Artifacts- Internship Blog and Fossum Technology Wiki
As a part of the implementation of my internship, I created an Internship Reflection Blog as a way to record my experiences. It has been extremely helpful as a way for me to reflect on the successes of my work and as a way to remember the steps of the process. In addition, this blog has documented my steps to help me create the internship portfolio. The reflection within the blog has helped me to develop my next steps in the process, as well as contribute to the development of this portfolio. A teacher must continually evaluate the effectiveness of instruction, and must continually update both the content and method of instruction within their classroom. In this transformation period in McAllen, all teachers including myself are examining their own practices and updating the instruction in order to best utilize the technology at hand.
In thinking about future instruction within my own classroom, I expect to use blogs within my classes in various ways. Students can contribute to their own blog as a way to develop their own writing. Other students can comment and help edit a student's work. Groups can use a blogging tool such as Edublog to develop a project that all members can contribute to from their own location. In this way students can communicate and work together over a weekend or over a holiday break. I find that students do not like to keep track of their steps in the scientific research process, but a blog would help them to record the process, and students can help each other by connecting to each other's blogs.
The Fossum Technology Wiki is designed to help staff members stay informed on the uses of the iPad in our classrooms. Fossum Middle School has used technology in the classroom since it opened four years ago, and has used Apple computers in all classrooms, labs, and mobile carts. However, the 1:1 iPad program gives each student the technology in their hands, at school and at home. Both teachers and students need to expand their thinking and develop beneficial uses of the iPad, not limiting it to word processing, notes, and web research in school, but expanding the applications within the classroom. It is hoped that this wiki will give teachers the opportunity to share resources, so that all staff members may move at tehir own pace but continually grow in their own use of the classroom iPad. At this point some teachers are enthusiastic and others are proceeding very cautiously. Recognizing that individuals need to progress at their own pace, this wiki gives everyone a site that is easily referenced and private, so that their questions are answered in a safe and secure setting. I hope that this remains an active tool for the staff to reference in the months and years to come.
Artifacts- Internship Blog and Fossum Technology Wiki
As a part of the implementation of my internship, I created an Internship Reflection Blog as a way to record my experiences. It has been extremely helpful as a way for me to reflect on the successes of my work and as a way to remember the steps of the process. In addition, this blog has documented my steps to help me create the internship portfolio. The reflection within the blog has helped me to develop my next steps in the process, as well as contribute to the development of this portfolio. A teacher must continually evaluate the effectiveness of instruction, and must continually update both the content and method of instruction within their classroom. In this transformation period in McAllen, all teachers including myself are examining their own practices and updating the instruction in order to best utilize the technology at hand.
In thinking about future instruction within my own classroom, I expect to use blogs within my classes in various ways. Students can contribute to their own blog as a way to develop their own writing. Other students can comment and help edit a student's work. Groups can use a blogging tool such as Edublog to develop a project that all members can contribute to from their own location. In this way students can communicate and work together over a weekend or over a holiday break. I find that students do not like to keep track of their steps in the scientific research process, but a blog would help them to record the process, and students can help each other by connecting to each other's blogs.
The Fossum Technology Wiki is designed to help staff members stay informed on the uses of the iPad in our classrooms. Fossum Middle School has used technology in the classroom since it opened four years ago, and has used Apple computers in all classrooms, labs, and mobile carts. However, the 1:1 iPad program gives each student the technology in their hands, at school and at home. Both teachers and students need to expand their thinking and develop beneficial uses of the iPad, not limiting it to word processing, notes, and web research in school, but expanding the applications within the classroom. It is hoped that this wiki will give teachers the opportunity to share resources, so that all staff members may move at tehir own pace but continually grow in their own use of the classroom iPad. At this point some teachers are enthusiastic and others are proceeding very cautiously. Recognizing that individuals need to progress at their own pace, this wiki gives everyone a site that is easily referenced and private, so that their questions are answered in a safe and secure setting. I hope that this remains an active tool for the staff to reference in the months and years to come.
C. Apply technology to increase productivity.
Artifacts- Edmodo and iPad Accessibility Sessions
Teachers at Fossum had heard me talk of using Edmodo in my classroom and were anxious to learn more. This is a Web 2.0 tool, easily accessed on iPad or laptop. In this session, I shared how to set up an account, a class, and the abilities to hold an online discussion, and post a poll. Many of the teachers in attendance have created an account and use the site regularly to post assignments, collect student work, and give quizzes. They report that the site is much easier than SchoolFusion to post documents for students and students are contacting both the teacher and each other using the discussion board with questions about assignments. The quiz feature has become very popular among staff and students. It allowing teachers to give an assessment online, it is graded automatically, and the student gets immediate feedback of their grade and the questions they answered both correctly and incorrectly. Teachers report that the time limit feature of the quiz prevents students from accessing the quiz ahead of time (they will time out) and the teacher's time for grading and returning student work is cut down.
There are many accessibility features that come on the iPad and within Pages. I held a professional development session on iPad Accessibility Features for any interested staff. Although the special education students have had an iPad since October, their teachers were not given adequate training. I was able to share tools that they can use with their students. Many of our students, LEP, special ed, and general ed, can use the extra assistance of Speak Selection and Speak Auto-Text. Speech Selection allows a student to have a passage read to them; this is particularly useful if the subject is particularly difficult with many new vocabulary words. The student can also select define within Pages to have a definition available for any given word. I myself use Speak Auto-Text to let me know when the machine is correcting the spelling of a word (sometimes it is right!). In attendance were teachers of both core class and Special Educators. We all played with VoiceOver for a while and talked about how it could be very helpful with longer text such as books, but leaving it on constantly could become very frustrating for the student (or their classmates). We also discussed ways that students can "turn in" a Pages document by emailing the teacher or through a new tool in iWork.com. Students can submit work electronically and teachers can read it even if they do not have Pages or an iPad themselves. This is critical, since most teachers have an outdated version of Pages and no iPad. The teachers in attendance were not only enthusiastic but have been able to share their knowledge with others who were unable to attend.
Artifacts- Edmodo and iPad Accessibility Sessions
Teachers at Fossum had heard me talk of using Edmodo in my classroom and were anxious to learn more. This is a Web 2.0 tool, easily accessed on iPad or laptop. In this session, I shared how to set up an account, a class, and the abilities to hold an online discussion, and post a poll. Many of the teachers in attendance have created an account and use the site regularly to post assignments, collect student work, and give quizzes. They report that the site is much easier than SchoolFusion to post documents for students and students are contacting both the teacher and each other using the discussion board with questions about assignments. The quiz feature has become very popular among staff and students. It allowing teachers to give an assessment online, it is graded automatically, and the student gets immediate feedback of their grade and the questions they answered both correctly and incorrectly. Teachers report that the time limit feature of the quiz prevents students from accessing the quiz ahead of time (they will time out) and the teacher's time for grading and returning student work is cut down.
There are many accessibility features that come on the iPad and within Pages. I held a professional development session on iPad Accessibility Features for any interested staff. Although the special education students have had an iPad since October, their teachers were not given adequate training. I was able to share tools that they can use with their students. Many of our students, LEP, special ed, and general ed, can use the extra assistance of Speak Selection and Speak Auto-Text. Speech Selection allows a student to have a passage read to them; this is particularly useful if the subject is particularly difficult with many new vocabulary words. The student can also select define within Pages to have a definition available for any given word. I myself use Speak Auto-Text to let me know when the machine is correcting the spelling of a word (sometimes it is right!). In attendance were teachers of both core class and Special Educators. We all played with VoiceOver for a while and talked about how it could be very helpful with longer text such as books, but leaving it on constantly could become very frustrating for the student (or their classmates). We also discussed ways that students can "turn in" a Pages document by emailing the teacher or through a new tool in iWork.com. Students can submit work electronically and teachers can read it even if they do not have Pages or an iPad themselves. This is critical, since most teachers have an outdated version of Pages and no iPad. The teachers in attendance were not only enthusiastic but have been able to share their knowledge with others who were unable to attend.
D. Use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning.
Artifact- Fossum Technology Wiki and SchoolFusion Website
During the implementation of my Internship, I wanted to share the resources I created not only with the staff members who indicated interest but also with the staff as an entire group. I created a Fossum Technology Wiki as a means of communication within the staff. Staff members may or may not use the information, but I wanted access for everyone. In addition, I felt that as the students obtained their iPads and began using them in class, the staff needed a way to communicate with each other regarding successes, frustrations, and problem solving other than a mass email to everyone. I assumed that only interested staff would check in with the wiki, and that way questions and answers would be contained within a more informal, friendly setting.
As far as I know, wikis are not used within my school, so I chose this format as a way for staff to obtain experience with a new format. Not having much experience in creating a wiki myself, I first needed to consult other wikis and sites as well as the resources within wikispaces in order to create the wiki. It has taken some time to get the wiki up and running, and so far it has been read-only, but I hope that it will become a valuable tool for any interested staff member at our school. Over time, I may consider giving access to other schools and/or the district.
All teachers at my school are required to keep a SchoolFusion webpage. I have used my website all year to post assignments, handouts, homework, and announce upcoming projects and tests. Students use my webpage during class to access links to websites that we use in class; in this way they also know how to access the information at home as well. Although students have a login for their own SchoolFusion access, no login is needed in order to view my page. I try to upload documents and post assignments regularly, so that parents and absent students can keep informed as to what is going on in science class on any given day. Students and parents alike confuse the SchoolFusion page, which contains links and documents, with the Skyward site which is an online gradebook. Skyward keeps parents and students informed of the current grade, but by the time the assignment is posted on Skyward it is considered "late". Therefore, in a continuing effort to keep my students informed, I have asked my students to bookmark ("Add to Home Page") my SchoolFusion site on their iPad in a folder marked science. I have added apps that they will find useful in science to this folder, in an effort to lower the time required to find science information. As we continue in the learning process I hope to add much more content to this folder!
Artifact- Fossum Technology Wiki and SchoolFusion Website
During the implementation of my Internship, I wanted to share the resources I created not only with the staff members who indicated interest but also with the staff as an entire group. I created a Fossum Technology Wiki as a means of communication within the staff. Staff members may or may not use the information, but I wanted access for everyone. In addition, I felt that as the students obtained their iPads and began using them in class, the staff needed a way to communicate with each other regarding successes, frustrations, and problem solving other than a mass email to everyone. I assumed that only interested staff would check in with the wiki, and that way questions and answers would be contained within a more informal, friendly setting.
As far as I know, wikis are not used within my school, so I chose this format as a way for staff to obtain experience with a new format. Not having much experience in creating a wiki myself, I first needed to consult other wikis and sites as well as the resources within wikispaces in order to create the wiki. It has taken some time to get the wiki up and running, and so far it has been read-only, but I hope that it will become a valuable tool for any interested staff member at our school. Over time, I may consider giving access to other schools and/or the district.
All teachers at my school are required to keep a SchoolFusion webpage. I have used my website all year to post assignments, handouts, homework, and announce upcoming projects and tests. Students use my webpage during class to access links to websites that we use in class; in this way they also know how to access the information at home as well. Although students have a login for their own SchoolFusion access, no login is needed in order to view my page. I try to upload documents and post assignments regularly, so that parents and absent students can keep informed as to what is going on in science class on any given day. Students and parents alike confuse the SchoolFusion page, which contains links and documents, with the Skyward site which is an online gradebook. Skyward keeps parents and students informed of the current grade, but by the time the assignment is posted on Skyward it is considered "late". Therefore, in a continuing effort to keep my students informed, I have asked my students to bookmark ("Add to Home Page") my SchoolFusion site on their iPad in a folder marked science. I have added apps that they will find useful in science to this folder, in an effort to lower the time required to find science information. As we continue in the learning process I hope to add much more content to this folder!