EDT 5373: Assignment for Week 11/ Developing Ideas for Final Project

Week 11: Developing ideas for final project

My lesson will be in the subject of Language Arts. The state standard (TEKS) that will drive the lesson is the following: 7.8A Determine the figurative meaning of phrases and analyze how an author’s use of language creates imagery, appeals to the senses, and suggests mood. The design of the lesson will follow the format I am required to use presently in my campus. The topic I would like to address will be figurative language in poetry. The tool my students and I will be using is Inspiration. I will use this tool in various ways.

First, I will teach students what figurative language is and how it is used by writers. I will address Metaphor, Simile, Hyperbole, Idiom and Personification. Secondly, we will analyze poetry from various authors to practice identifying figurative language. Third, I would like for students to classify figurative language from a poem titled The Witch by Jack Prelutzky using Inspiration. They will also write a paragraph explaining how figurative language creates imagery, appeals to the senses, and suggests mood.

Finally, Students will be required to create an autobiographical poem using each of the types of figurative language. Last, I would use the online rubric maker to make the rubric that will be used to assess the autobiographical product of each student.  

EDT 5373: Assignment for Week 11-Explore Two Tools - Chapter 10

Week 11: Explore two tools for the second chapter you have chosen

            The second chapter I chose was chapter 10. This one deals with assessments. The first tool I have been exploring is Rubistar. You can find this tool at http://rubistar.4teachers.org. My initial search was using Delicious and found out the site has many followers. I added the link to my stack and signed up for Rubistar. I reviewed some examples of rubrics that are already available and they are editable. Looking at examples is a good way to begin brainstorming on how to create one. Rubrics can be challenging to create and they have to assess the learning target(s) that were taught. Rubrics can be applied to any educational subject. I used to create rubrics with my subject team, but we would use a table from Word. We often would lose the rubric or would forget to save it. Saving rubrics within Rubistar will make our work a lot easier. The online rubric maker will support the assessment part of learning.

 Experts in the area of assessments stress that teachers need to teach students how to compare their performance with the learning target. And rubrics with clear performance level descriptors are helpful in this process. Constructive criticism in this form should be part of a “safe” environment for students. Students need instruction and practice in how to compare their work with others using rubrics. The scenario that I will demonstrate will be in 7^th grade Language Arts. Given that we have to begin developing our final project, this scenario would be addressing the use of Figurative Language in poetry: metaphor, hyperbole, idiom, personification and simile. Students will use the rubric created by the teacher ahead of time in order to know how they will be assessed once they complete an autobiographical poem using each of the examples of figurative language. The sample illustration of the rubric tool follows:

The second tool I explored some was the online survey www.surveymonkey.com. When I searched under Delicious, it showed over 9000 saves. It seems like a very useful tool for creating web surveys. I also added this link to my stack in Delicious. I reviewed the sample surveys the site has available and it gave me some ideas on how I could utilize this tool with my 7^th graders. One of those ideas would be to have my students take a survey at the beginning of the school year so that I may get to know them better.

Presently I have them answer questions on a large index card and I can’t really fit a lot of information. Using the online survey would give me a chance to ask more questions about them. Some of the questions I like to ask have to deal with their reading habits and normally at the end of the school year I would give them back their cards and revisit what they had shared with me. What is always surprising to them is how their perspectives changed as far as their reading habits etc.  Another idea I had was to have students creating a survey over the types of activities done in class over the school year. Perhaps some of the questions in the survey would be (1) which was your favorite novel? (2) which of the following activities did you enjoy the most? (3) which activities did you enjoy the least? The technology learning objectives would be addressed using this type of tool. If students are involved in creating surveys and then analyze results, they would be using the higher levels of Blooms Taxonomy. This is an example of one of the already made sample surveys. 

 

EDT 5373: Assignment for Week 10-Explore Ideas for Final Project

Week 10: Explore ideas and resources for final project

My initial ideas for my lesson design will probably be in the subject of Language Arts. The design of the lesson will follow the format I am required to use presently in my campus. The topic I would like to address will be figurative language and grammar in poetry. The tool my students and I will be using is Inspiration. I am thinking of using this tool in various ways. First, I would like for students to classify figurative language, adjectives and nouns from a poem using a graphic organizer. Next, after addressing the state standards (TEKS) that drive the lesson, students will be required to create a poem using the skills targeted in the lesson with the same tool (Inspiration). An autobiographical poem would be the product students would create. Finally, I would use the online rubric maker to make the rubric that will be used to assess the autobiographical product of each student.

EDT 5373: Assignment for Week 9-Twitter

Week 9: Self-guided learning with Twitter

            For this assignment I followed Dr. Zhang. And I noticed she was following Rob Mancabelli ‏ @RobMancabelli . I decided to see what he was all about and I’ve decided to follow him. His website is http://www.mancabelli.com/ . He is the co-author of a book titled Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education. I haven’t read the book but according to his website it deals with networking in the educational field. This might be a good read. While I was reading and following Rob Mancabelli, Twitter suggested I should follow @MarzanoResearch. I have a few books that Marzano has written. He is a very helpful resource for reading and writing activities for all students. I have used his activities and they are extremely well planned. I would recommend his suggestions to anyone who teaches reading and writing. I will definitely be looking into his tweets as often as I can. His website is http://marzanoresearch.com .

EDT 5373: Assignment for Week 9-Two Tools

Chapter 10: Assessing Meaningful Learning and Teaching with Technologies

            This chapter argues that authentic learning must also include authentic assessments. As I read the first part of this chapter, I began to notice similarities or I guess relationships between performance assessments and performance indicators. The district I work with adopted a new scope and sequence of skills we have to follow. A major part of it deals with performance indicators which are non-negotiable. These performance indicators are exactly what the book describes as being authentic. The student has to produce to show the skill or skills they were taught. Under the topic Technology-Based Assessments, they also mention that large amounts of data can be processed in order to be analyzed but formatively speaking. I will have to agree with this information. It has been very helpful to receive immediate feedback after running scan sheets to see how my students performed on any given assessment. Some of these assessments though, are used as grades.

            I was particularly interested in the rubrics section of this chapter. Having taken an official Assessment class during the previous semester, I began to generate them a little better. Creating effective rubrics can be very challenging; I quickly found out. Another section of this chapter discusses two categories of technology-based tools. The first tool is rubric banks and the second is rubric generation. One word of caution is to first analyze and evaluate rubric samplings that are offered online. Teachers have to match the rubric to the standards and performance that is needed for that particular skill. On page 240 of the text, there is a list of rubric generators. I only recognized Rubistar because I have used it only once or twice in the past. This is one of the tools I wish to explore further to support my learning.

            E-porfolios are also discussed in this chapter. I am in total agreement with this section. But one of my major challenges is that my students are not well versed in technology. It makes it very difficult for me to have them engage in a simple writing assignment on a Word document when they can’t even type. This is the second tool I am interested in learning more about. I am not well informed on how to implement e-portfolios, and consequently I am very interested in this portion as well. Unfortunately, e-portfolio software would have to be purchased. One of the sites the book offers is www.digication.com/k-12.

            Another section in chapter 10 addresses using the clicker as an assessment tool. The clicker looks like a TV remote control. Students can respond using the clicker. The results are transmitted to a computer that may display the outcomes on a screen. I just received clickers to use with my students but I have not learned how to use it. This is another tool I am very interested in using with my students before the school year is over. I also learned about Online Environments with Embedded Assessments; It’s an interactive tool that automatically assesses students as they engage in the activity. This chapter was very helpful, and the two tools I would like to learn more about are the online rubric maker and the clicker. 

EDT 5373: Assignment for Week 8-Twitter

Week 8: Self-guided learning with Twitter

For this assignment I followed two people and three organizations. The first organization is Edutopia, website for the George Lucas Education Foundation www.twitter.com/edutopia. There is quite a bit of information in regards to education. The main title of the website is What Works in Education The George Lucas Education Foundation www.edutopia.org. The next organization (newspaper) is Education Week: American  education’s newspaper and website of record. Their main website is www.edweekorg and it also addresses issues in education. The third organization is an online community of teachers called We Are Teachers www.twitter.com/WeAreTeachers they have a plethora of ideas on how to use technology in the classroom.

These last two are the people I followed. Will Richardson is the author of Personal Learning Networks: Using the power of connections to transform education, and Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful Web tools for classrooms www.twitter.com/willrich45. One of his links caught my attention right away “Ontario shows us we should support our teachers, not shame them.” The last person I followed is Sue Waters, writer of how to use technology and blogs for learning. www.twitter.com/suewaters . One of her links also caught my interest http://bit.ly/kboleY . 

           The two resources I learned and read about were posted by our classmate Fernie. The first one is U.S. Dept of Ed FBNP ‏ @edpartners http://ow.ly/9Hqp9 . I wish I had known about this program ages ago especially because I teach in a high needs area. The second resource Fernie shared is Reading Rockets ‏ @ReadingRockets  http://ow.ly/9yMdm. This looks like a great writing resource. There is a place for teachers, parents, principals and other professionals. There is endless information to learn from and so little time.