This is a site dedicated to posts and comments about designing curriculum that integrates technology (Lesley University EC6106 Graduate Class). Considerations will abound and feedback is welcome.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
Final Project- Key Assignment Posted on Blendspace
My key assignment is posted and ready on Blendspace. Please visit the link below to view the paper, video, and artifacts for this project. I am excited to hear your feedback! Thank you!
Thanks for the great suggestions and questions, Megan. I answered them on my Blendspace page for you right under your comments. I appreciate your help and feedback!
Vallory, I believe that most concerns are for what best for students. I just feel that school district need to give paid time to their teachers to create these lessens. As for your data, why do you think they do better on the practice test then on the actual tests?
On pre- and post-tests in class, students don't do any better on the pre-test. Many show great progress from the first to the last, especially in social studies and math. The tests where they start to fall is on the standardized tests throughout the year. Their trajectory looks better on the first two, and by the time the take the last one and the big state required one, many don't perform as well as predicted. There are probably many reasons. The testing is two weeks long, and the long write and math are always assessed last. Those are the two that our scores drop. I think kids are just burned out and begin to not care/protest all the testing. I guess the point I was trying to make was compared to what they show they can do in the classroom, the students don't show it on the standardized tests. Mainly, I believe its because of the flaw inherent in standardized tests: they aren't authentic assessments, they are too long, they're mostly multiple choice and ambiguous, students misread what the question is actually asking, students have test anxiety, and so forth. It is just so frustration. We want students to use 21st century skills and learn and work together as they will in the future. Standardized testing is holding them (and teachers) back. We have to practice this specific type of testing, since kids aren't really used to it anymore. It wastes class time that could be used for better things.
I love how you separated out each category to let us know what you did. I did not think of that when I was writing my paper. I love your ideas for technology. I found that some students prefer paper and pencil to complete their assignments than using their iPads. How do the younger students feel? I was surprised when some of my students did not want to use technology. I give them a choice.
If given the choice, my students all prefer to use the computer to research, create presentations, and play "games" to learn. Some prefer paper and pencil to take notes, but that is only because they didn't learn to type quickly yet. This could be overcome with iPad apps that allow students to write freehand and then it is changed into type automatically.
I wonder if it because your students have started at a younger age with technology. Some of my students prefer to take notes pencil and paper, because they don't know how to type and some find it difficult to type on an iPad. Depending on the program sometimes it is more difficult to type on the iPad then on a computer.
When I saw your graphic organizer about video text -Have you tired Edpuzzle? It is a program that allows you to create multiple choice, true and false, and open ended questions about a video that students can watch on their own and answer the questions you created.
Video - I really like your use of PowToon. This is a fun resources that I have used to help build excitement for training and other PD that I offer to my teachers. I think that your problem is one that is seen across the nation with a lack of time for teachers. Your solution of using Blendspace is a great one since it allows a "one stop shop" for accessing materials for teachers and students. I wonder if parents would be interested in accessing this material too? Have you had a chance to use Blendspace before this course? If so I would love to hear your feedback from it. This is the first time I have used it and can see it being a very helpful tool. I also like how you mentioned that they flip class model will also help with thsi. I believe you are correct, but you will need to make teacher aware that the flip classroom can be a little more work up front, but in the long run it saves time (and energy). Graphic Organizer - I think this is a great visual for people to see the different ways that UDL and Culturally Responsive sources can help in the classroom. As a teacher I would love to see specific tools added to this so I would know how to accomplish some of those task. Paper - It is very important that you started your paper off with the specific points of data. This helps to make your problem very valid. I really like you idea of "flexible curriculum" that you quoted from Courey, Tappe, Siker, and LePage. This is an important concept that we need to keep in mind when working with our diverse learners. I can see some teacher push back through from having to "grade multiple types of assignments". You may need to have an answer with a flexible rubric or rubric that is a little more generic that can fit multiple types of assignments.
I had never heard of Blendspace before this course, but I am so excited to use it with students! I have made a Blendspace for all three branches of government already. It is so easy and quick to use and is able to find and incorporate any resource, even those required for the curriculum. I love it!
Adding specific tools to the graphic organizer is a great idea. Having teachers collaboratively help with this during a staff professional development lesson might be a fun and informational activity to do.
Using flexible and generic types of rubrics is exactly the way to go for answering concerns about grading multiple types of assignments and assessments! I've noticed our professors do this and have learned this trick in the Online Teaching class as well. Using generic rubrics and feedback/email forms are recommended. Thanks for you info, Betsy!
Re Betsy's comment about the difficulty in grading multiple types of assessments, a flexible rubric, as she suggests, is an excellent solution. I have such rubrics if you would like to see an example. The content part of the rubric is not flexible. All students are expected to grasp and master content area skills and concepts, synthesize and demonstrate understanding. All students are expected to meet specific benchmarks. The format is assessed based on effective use, creativity, and suitability to content and audience.
Yes! That would be great to have an example of one of yours. I was looking for an example to add to my Storify Evolution project. I couldn't find an example of one on there, but I have used some.
Rosalind, I'd be interested in seeing a flexible rubric. I had not heard of one?!! With giving my students choices to increase engagement, I'm interested in seeing one.
I have place a brief comment in your Blendspace with questions about your standardized testing results. Here are other ideas: - Your attention to accessibility for all is excellent, and I especially appreciate your being mindful of web site accessibility. WAVE is a great resource. I use a web site accessibility analyzer from the University of Illinois. Many of the visually appealing sites and tools out there are engaging for most students, but completely useless to someone with a screen reader. - Though I shudder at the idea of "teaching to the test" I think it is appropriate to teach students that there are many ways to demonstrate what they know, and to incorporate those ways into our daily routines. For instance, for every item in your three branches of government Blendspace, your students could be responsible for a different form of formative assessment, from screenshots of multiple choice quiz results, to creating a graphic organizer, to an open response arguing a point of law. The assessments themselves can be cross-curricular, and very varied. - Concerning expanding outside of the school walls, one of the barriers to equity that keeps me from truly "flipping" the class on a regular basis is that fully one quarter of my students do not have computer access at home, and I do not want to increase the gap between the haves and have nots. Be careful if you implement the "flip" that you are not leaving someone out or making the lives of children and their families more difficult.
Thank you, Rosalind. Excellent points. Allowing students multiple formats of learning and showing what they know is key. I have never been a good multiple choice test taker, so many of my teachers allowed me to show them the notes I took to prove I read the material, in lieu of the test. An accommodation that I loved! Although there is a multiple choice assessment on the three branches of government lessons on Blendspace, they are really just the essential questions from the beginning, and have very obvious answers. Students would have options to use graphic organizers or responses to argue the laws (as you mentioned) too. I could see using graphic organizers during the readings/articles and arguing a law as a closure activity. As for flipping the classroom, all of my students the past 3 years have either had access to a laptop or at least a Smartphone at home, so they should be able to access the material they need, but that is a great point. If there is one or two that don't, I could make sure they have access to one of our iPads or desktops in the classroom to see what they need to at the end of each day. Things to definitely keep in mind! Thanks again!
Oh, I had much more luck today! I found some great rubrics to include for my the Evolution section of the project. Here is one of the great sites I found- http://www.rsd.edu/teach-learn/fifth-grade-rubrics.html
From Shari Humphrey (via email) Feedback- I thought that your goals of your lesson were clearly identified and what the questions that the students will be able complete at the end of the lesson were also clearly identified. Students need to know what they are and what they to complete so they can have a direction in which to concentrate on. Keeping the students goal orientated is key factor in having the students motivated and engaged in the learning process. Having the Key Vocabulary for the students is a good start of the lesson. As with many of my ELD students they do not have the background knowledge that many of the English students have. Being able to bring the vocabulary in the classroom and build upon it will assist both ELD and English students. I thought that your choice of videos was wonderful. The video for the Article III brought the formal language down to informal language so the students could understand the meaning of the article. Sometimes the formal language such as in the Constitution can confuse students and they will miss the actual meaning. The video with the interactive situation I thought would increase the students’ engagement and also can be a discussion starter for either whole group or small groups. I did not see a section for discussion either whole group or small group in your lesson or I may have overlooked it. I think that if you incorporate oral discussion it will assist with the learning process and also assist with the students hearing different opinions of other students. Discussions are a great tool for students as long as the environment is created such as guidelines need to put into place beforehand.
Thank you, Shari! I made the lesson so it could be accomplished online or at least on a computer within the classroom (I see students working in pairs and discussing the learning throughout), so the discussion will be the comments students put on Blendspace at the end. They are to write something they learned and a question about the judicial branch and answer 2 peers at the very end. Any vocabulary added to the Blendspace or questions not answered from the Blendspace will be addressed in the next class. Do you think I need to add discussion anywhere else? Where do you see a good place to add it in if you were using it for one of your lessons? :-) Thanks again!
Your problem of practice centered on a lack of time for planning, reflection, individualizing instruction, and analyzing data.
Your transformational lesson using online curation tools seemed to be very effective.
What are your thoughts on enabling your coworkers to create their own lessons similar to what you presented? In my experience there is usually a learning curve with technology that may be new to many. Perhaps you could plan some PD to help everyone get up to speed and on the same page.
I believe it’s a great solution with a lot of potential. My only concern would be in regard to teachers who may not quite have a handle on this type of online curation resource and may not yet be able to utilize it as effectively as you. No doubt you would be able to help them with this though.
Yes! I think using 15 minutes in professional development to show my peers how Blendspace works or offering the "how to" video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICw-MlgPAlI will definitely build an excitement in them to at least try it out. Once they do, I think they will find it's easy and is a great curation tool to quickly put all needed materials for a lesson in one place. All of our curriculum is now online and to use it we have to navigate through an LMS-like site our district has put together for us. Some of the resources that we need to use are in multiple windows, so since teachers must know how to use these, I think getting what they want and adding them to Blendspace, even the night before, will be simple for them and very much worth their time and the class' time! I just wish there was a way to better organize the Blendspace lessons. I see making tons in the future and my list may get quite long! Thank you!
I appreciated your honestly about planning lessons. I know that this is true where I work too. And when you want to change things up you need more time. I know as a school we built formative and summative assessments in a PLC time which meant less planning time for instruction and then data analysis, less time for planning. I agree that this is a major issue that needs solving. I am wondering if you envision professional development on UDL? There are great ideas embedded within UDL, but I know that at my school when I mention UDL, many bring up UBD (understanding by Design) and say we tried that and it did not work here. When creating blended learning and flipped lessons do you envision it taking a longer amount of time for planning? Are the teachers in your district comfortable with technology use? I love the idea. I personally think it would benefit many teachers, but what about those who are not tech savvy? Just curious. Nice work.
Thanks, Kate! I think using new technologies and Web 2.0 tools may take a little longer in the beginning, but just like with Blendspace, once you get the hang of it, planning time is much quicker. We use lots of technology, such as Schoology, iPads, and sites for assessing and even getting out curriculum. I believe using the sites and ideas that I have suggested will be easy for teachers at my school. I think we could definitely use PD time to show teachers how to use some of these sites and scaffold learning from those who might not be as tech savvy to those who are very fluent with technology. Just like what's best with students, ultimately teachers can choose which ones they are most comfortable with and want to use for their own teaching, but at least they will have experience with and knowledge about what's out there to make more informed decisions. Thanks again!
I commented straight on blend space. I left one on your paper and Diigo.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great suggestions and questions, Megan. I answered them on my Blendspace page for you right under your comments. I appreciate your help and feedback!
DeleteVallory, I believe that most concerns are for what best for students. I just feel that school district need to give paid time to their teachers to create these lessens. As for your data, why do you think they do better on the practice test then on the actual tests?
ReplyDeleteOn pre- and post-tests in class, students don't do any better on the pre-test. Many show great progress from the first to the last, especially in social studies and math. The tests where they start to fall is on the standardized tests throughout the year. Their trajectory looks better on the first two, and by the time the take the last one and the big state required one, many don't perform as well as predicted. There are probably many reasons. The testing is two weeks long, and the long write and math are always assessed last. Those are the two that our scores drop. I think kids are just burned out and begin to not care/protest all the testing. I guess the point I was trying to make was compared to what they show they can do in the classroom, the students don't show it on the standardized tests. Mainly, I believe its because of the flaw inherent in standardized tests: they aren't authentic assessments, they are too long, they're mostly multiple choice and ambiguous, students misread what the question is actually asking, students have test anxiety, and so forth. It is just so frustration. We want students to use 21st century skills and learn and work together as they will in the future. Standardized testing is holding them (and teachers) back. We have to practice this specific type of testing, since kids aren't really used to it anymore. It wastes class time that could be used for better things.
DeleteI love how you separated out each category to let us know what you did. I did not think of that when I was writing my paper. I love your ideas for technology. I found that some students prefer paper and pencil to complete their assignments than using their iPads. How do the younger students feel? I was surprised when some of my students did not want to use technology. I give them a choice.
ReplyDeleteIf given the choice, my students all prefer to use the computer to research, create presentations, and play "games" to learn. Some prefer paper and pencil to take notes, but that is only because they didn't learn to type quickly yet. This could be overcome with iPad apps that allow students to write freehand and then it is changed into type automatically.
DeleteI wonder if it because your students have started at a younger age with technology. Some of my students prefer to take notes pencil and paper, because they don't know how to type and some find it difficult to type on an iPad. Depending on the program sometimes it is more difficult to type on the iPad then on a computer.
DeleteWhen I saw your graphic organizer about video text -Have you tired Edpuzzle? It is a program that allows you to create multiple choice, true and false, and open ended questions about a video that students can watch on their own and answer the questions you created.
ReplyDeleteNo! Thank you for the suggestion! I am always looking for programs like that to use. I will add it to my running list of class apps and sites!
DeleteVideo - I really like your use of PowToon. This is a fun resources that I have used to help build excitement for training and other PD that I offer to my teachers. I think that your problem is one that is seen across the nation with a lack of time for teachers. Your solution of using Blendspace is a great one since it allows a "one stop shop" for accessing materials for teachers and students. I wonder if parents would be interested in accessing this material too? Have you had a chance to use Blendspace before this course? If so I would love to hear your feedback from it. This is the first time I have used it and can see it being a very helpful tool. I also like how you mentioned that they flip class model will also help with thsi. I believe you are correct, but you will need to make teacher aware that the flip classroom can be a little more work up front, but in the long run it saves time (and energy).
ReplyDeleteGraphic Organizer - I think this is a great visual for people to see the different ways that UDL and Culturally Responsive sources can help in the classroom. As a teacher I would love to see specific tools added to this so I would know how to accomplish some of those task.
Paper - It is very important that you started your paper off with the specific points of data. This helps to make your problem very valid. I really like you idea of "flexible curriculum" that you quoted from Courey, Tappe, Siker, and LePage. This is an important concept that we need to keep in mind when working with our diverse learners. I can see some teacher push back through from having to "grade multiple types of assignments". You may need to have an answer with a flexible rubric or rubric that is a little more generic that can fit multiple types of assignments.
I had never heard of Blendspace before this course, but I am so excited to use it with students! I have made a Blendspace for all three branches of government already. It is so easy and quick to use and is able to find and incorporate any resource, even those required for the curriculum. I love it!
DeleteAdding specific tools to the graphic organizer is a great idea. Having teachers collaboratively help with this during a staff professional development lesson might be a fun and informational activity to do.
Using flexible and generic types of rubrics is exactly the way to go for answering concerns about grading multiple types of assignments and assessments! I've noticed our professors do this and have learned this trick in the Online Teaching class as well. Using generic rubrics and feedback/email forms are recommended. Thanks for you info, Betsy!
Re Betsy's comment about the difficulty in grading multiple types of assessments, a flexible rubric, as she suggests, is an excellent solution. I have such rubrics if you would like to see an example. The content part of the rubric is not flexible. All students are expected to grasp and master content area skills and concepts, synthesize and demonstrate understanding. All students are expected to meet specific benchmarks. The format is assessed based on effective use, creativity, and suitability to content and audience.
ReplyDeleteYes! That would be great to have an example of one of yours. I was looking for an example to add to my Storify Evolution project. I couldn't find an example of one on there, but I have used some.
DeleteRosalind, I'd be interested in seeing a flexible rubric. I had not heard of one?!! With giving my students choices to increase engagement, I'm interested in seeing one.
DeleteI have place a brief comment in your Blendspace with questions about your standardized testing results. Here are other ideas:
ReplyDelete- Your attention to accessibility for all is excellent, and I especially appreciate your being mindful of web site accessibility. WAVE is a great resource. I use a web site accessibility analyzer from the University of Illinois. Many of the visually appealing sites and tools out there are engaging for most students, but completely useless to someone with a screen reader.
- Though I shudder at the idea of "teaching to the test" I think it is appropriate to teach students that there are many ways to demonstrate what they know, and to incorporate those ways into our daily routines. For instance, for every item in your three branches of government Blendspace, your students could be responsible for a different form of formative assessment, from screenshots of multiple choice quiz results, to creating a graphic organizer, to an open response arguing a point of law. The assessments themselves can be cross-curricular, and very varied.
- Concerning expanding outside of the school walls, one of the barriers to equity that keeps me from truly "flipping" the class on a regular basis is that fully one quarter of my students do not have computer access at home, and I do not want to increase the gap between the haves and have nots. Be careful if you implement the "flip" that you are not leaving someone out or making the lives of children and their families more difficult.
..More comments later.
Thank you, Rosalind. Excellent points. Allowing students multiple formats of learning and showing what they know is key. I have never been a good multiple choice test taker, so many of my teachers allowed me to show them the notes I took to prove I read the material, in lieu of the test. An accommodation that I loved! Although there is a multiple choice assessment on the three branches of government lessons on Blendspace, they are really just the essential questions from the beginning, and have very obvious answers. Students would have options to use graphic organizers or responses to argue the laws (as you mentioned) too. I could see using graphic organizers during the readings/articles and arguing a law as a closure activity. As for flipping the classroom, all of my students the past 3 years have either had access to a laptop or at least a Smartphone at home, so they should be able to access the material they need, but that is a great point. If there is one or two that don't, I could make sure they have access to one of our iPads or desktops in the classroom to see what they need to at the end of each day. Things to definitely keep in mind! Thanks again!
DeleteOh, I had much more luck today! I found some great rubrics to include for my the Evolution section of the project. Here is one of the great sites I found- http://www.rsd.edu/teach-learn/fifth-grade-rubrics.html
DeleteFrom Shari Humphrey (via email)
ReplyDeleteFeedback-
I thought that your goals of your lesson were clearly identified and what the questions that the students will be able complete at the end of the lesson were also clearly identified. Students need to know what they are and what they to complete so they can have a direction in which to concentrate on. Keeping the students goal orientated is key factor in having the students motivated and engaged in the learning process.
Having the Key Vocabulary for the students is a good start of the lesson. As with many of my ELD students they do not have the background knowledge that many of the English students have. Being able to bring the vocabulary in the classroom and build upon it will assist both ELD and English students.
I thought that your choice of videos was wonderful. The video for the Article III brought the formal language down to informal language so the students could understand the meaning of the article. Sometimes the formal language such as in the Constitution can confuse students and they will miss the actual meaning. The video with the interactive situation I thought would increase the students’ engagement and also can be a discussion starter for either whole group or small groups.
I did not see a section for discussion either whole group or small group in your lesson or I may have overlooked it. I think that if you incorporate oral discussion it will assist with the learning process and also assist with the students hearing different opinions of other students. Discussions are a great tool for students as long as the environment is created such as guidelines need to put into place beforehand.
Thank you, Shari! I made the lesson so it could be accomplished online or at least on a computer within the classroom (I see students working in pairs and discussing the learning throughout), so the discussion will be the comments students put on Blendspace at the end. They are to write something they learned and a question about the judicial branch and answer 2 peers at the very end. Any vocabulary added to the Blendspace or questions not answered from the Blendspace will be addressed in the next class. Do you think I need to add discussion anywhere else? Where do you see a good place to add it in if you were using it for one of your lessons? :-) Thanks again!
DeleteYour problem of practice centered on a lack of time for planning, reflection, individualizing instruction, and analyzing data.
ReplyDeleteYour transformational lesson using online curation tools seemed to be very effective.
What are your thoughts on enabling your coworkers to create their own lessons similar to what you presented? In my experience there is usually a learning curve with technology that may be new to many. Perhaps you could plan some PD to help everyone get up to speed and on the same page.
I believe it’s a great solution with a lot of potential. My only concern would be in regard to teachers who may not quite have a handle on this type of online curation resource and may not yet be able to utilize it as effectively as you. No doubt you would be able to help them with this though.
Yes! I think using 15 minutes in professional development to show my peers how Blendspace works or offering the "how to" video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICw-MlgPAlI will definitely build an excitement in them to at least try it out. Once they do, I think they will find it's easy and is a great curation tool to quickly put all needed materials for a lesson in one place. All of our curriculum is now online and to use it we have to navigate through an LMS-like site our district has put together for us. Some of the resources that we need to use are in multiple windows, so since teachers must know how to use these, I think getting what they want and adding them to Blendspace, even the night before, will be simple for them and very much worth their time and the class' time! I just wish there was a way to better organize the Blendspace lessons. I see making tons in the future and my list may get quite long! Thank you!
DeleteI appreciated your honestly about planning lessons. I know that this is true where I work too. And when you want to change things up you need more time. I know as a school we built formative and summative assessments in a PLC time which meant less planning time for instruction and then data analysis, less time for planning. I agree that this is a major issue that needs solving. I am wondering if you envision professional development on UDL? There are great ideas embedded within UDL, but I know that at my school when I mention UDL, many bring up UBD (understanding by Design) and say we tried that and it did not work here.
ReplyDeleteWhen creating blended learning and flipped lessons do you envision it taking a longer amount of time for planning? Are the teachers in your district comfortable with technology use? I love the idea. I personally think it would benefit many teachers, but what about those who are not tech savvy? Just curious. Nice work.
Thanks, Kate! I think using new technologies and Web 2.0 tools may take a little longer in the beginning, but just like with Blendspace, once you get the hang of it, planning time is much quicker. We use lots of technology, such as Schoology, iPads, and sites for assessing and even getting out curriculum. I believe using the sites and ideas that I have suggested will be easy for teachers at my school. I think we could definitely use PD time to show teachers how to use some of these sites and scaffold learning from those who might not be as tech savvy to those who are very fluent with technology. Just like what's best with students, ultimately teachers can choose which ones they are most comfortable with and want to use for their own teaching, but at least they will have experience with and knowledge about what's out there to make more informed decisions. Thanks again!
Delete