// Reflecting on Mid-year Goals \\

 

• Your goal/challenge why this is an area on which to work, referring to the appropriate Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAP)

Throughout this semester, I have learned a lot about what differentiation is and how to have a differentiated classroom. Differentiation allow for ever student to find success dependent on their interest, learning profile, and readiness level. These three things are essential when deciding how differentiate a lesson or activity. During my inquiry I focused on differentiating based on the students’ interest and learning profile because I saw that my CT lacked when differentiating her lessons with these two things in mind. When I began understanding how differentiate, I would always come to the same thought, “how do I differentiate this?!”. As the semester progressed–although I am still developing my skills in this area–I have noticed that I have a much easier time when thinking about ways to differentiate for the students. I’ve seen that when there is differentiation in a lesson, it can make a big difference in a students’ academic success within that lesson (FEAP 3a). Additionally, when making appropriate differentiation modifications to a lesson, a teacher most have some sort of reasoning for it, such as an assessment of their learning needs. During this semester, I have given students multiple formative assessments that I have been able to look back on and reflect what choices should be made next time (FEAP 3h).
My new goal as I go into my next internship, is developing a good management system and having the ability to enforce management within a classroom. Although I did make a lesson this semester that had its own set of management instilled within it, I think that overall I still need growth in this area. Management is probably the thing I am most worried about when going into my final internship and my own career. I know that when it comes to my teaching, I reflect and take any critique or suggestions that people might have and I am always looking at what I can do to be a better supporter for my students. However, when it comes to management, I feel as though I am slightly hindered in some way to express my “teacher voice”. Hopefully, a change in setting next semester and seeing a new room with a new management system might expand my knowledge on management and build my confidence in this area. (FEAP 2a, FEAP 2b)

• Decisions you made related to your goal/challenge and why you made them. What was the role of your CT? supervisor?

Since I made my inquiry “how can I differentiate my lessons based on interest and learning profile”, I was able to make appropriate decisions throughout the semester that related to my goal. In one of my lessons, for example, I used a piece of art work to teach students about peer critiques because I knew that there were students in the class interested in art. It turned out to be a huge success because one of the lower level students in language arts was highly engaged and even came up to the board to share his critique. Another addition I implemented into the classroom were interest journals. Interest journals are basically a set of journals all with different topics that the students chose before beginning them. Each student would chose a journal each week and write in it. The goal is for students to pick different topics each week so that they are able to widen their interests while engaging in writing through choice.

Next fall, I believe that I will be in a classroom management class which will hopefully enable me to utilize good management techniques throughout my internship. Additionally, I will be able to have a new Collaborating Teacher with a new management system in their class which will allow me to see how their system compares to my previous CT’s. As I am going through my education as a teacher, I am constantly looking out for management strategies and techniques that I could adjust into something that would work for my teaching pedagogy. My supervisors role in this goal that I have would be to observe my interaction with my new CT’s management system and my ability to enforce the system in the same way as the CT.

• Examples of how you took feedback into account

I always encourage as much feedback in any form whenever possible. This semester, I had my students do a lot of formative assessments and some of them were structured so that it encouraged student feedback. Additionally, any time I teach a lesson I always had either a peer, my CT, or my supervisor observing my teaching and taking notes that I could reflect on afterwards. One of the formative assessments that I gave my students was an emoji reaction exit ticket. The students had to choose an emoji based on any part of the lesson, and describe why they chose that emoji. In this exit ticket, I was able to see what parts of the lesson students enjoyed, didn’t enjoy, and didn’t understand. Knowing that information allows me to adjust any lessons in the future and be able to differentiate in a more supportive manner. Another example of feedback that I was able to obtain this semester was through a peer observation. My peer gave me a new set of eyes and perspective that differs from my CT and my supervisor. This observation became a useful additive within my inquiry and differentiating a lesson based on interest.

• Evidence of learning (your own learning or students’ academic or behavioral learning); post 2 artifacts of this learning-these can be from your FEAPs portfolio

This pieces of evidence displays that two of the strategies that I implemented in order to differentiate my lesson and incorporate technology had two reactions. One of the students articulates their love for being able to utilize the iPods in the lesson. They appeared to really enjoy using technology to scan the QR codes and just being able to use something that is so much a part of their life (FEAP 2g). The other students reaction depicts his unhappiness with working in a large group. I was then be able to adapt the learning environment for him that enabled him to have the option to work in a smaller group or individually (FEAP 2h).

Mid-Semester Goal Blog Post
“It’s not a simple task and I am learning about the various ways and strategies that can be implemented to increase the engagement in the classroom. Last semester I would make a lesson and think that it was really engaging, however, I would find that the students weren’t very engaged during the lesson. I wanted to focus on how to differentiate because it is so crucial in being an effective teacher and also because it is the focus of my inquiry.”
Blog Post
“As the art critique on Vincent Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” began I soon unrevealed a true passion in my below level student. His level of critique input was at an extremely high level and far past that of a fifth grader.”
After discussing the students involvement and engagement with the art teacher in her class, I found that one of my below level students in Language Arts had high engagement and motivation in her class. When I found this out, I made the decision to incorporate art into a lesson where the students were learning how to articulate positive and appropriate critiques. In order to do this, I had the students look at a painting and answer the three prompts: something they like, a question they have about it, and a suggestion or something they would do differently. The piece of art created an atmosphere that supported my below levels interests and strengths that enabled him to fully understand and succeed the overarching content they were learning. 

This shows that I have looked upon myself and reflected on what I wanted to grow with. I was able to use what I learned about a student to differentiate a lesson and design it so that not only people interested in art but also all the other students as well could find success. Having a goal continually working at it in this way reflects FEAP 5a.

• Plans for your future work related to this goal

Teachers can always make growth in their teaching. The reflection process never end, and for me reflecting on how I differentiated my lesson is what I’m working on. Additionally, since this semester we focused on implementing technology into the classroom I would like to work on this as well. I’ve used many videos in my teaching, but I want to work on incorporating more interactive technology where the students are actively using the technology to expand their learning. The interactive technology that I used this semester was having the students use the iPods to scan QR codes in order to have a discussion with their peers. I found that management was something I struggled with when I used the iPods, therefore I would like to work on management when using technology and using technology so that students are thinking in a higher order manner.

• Remember to have your artifacts for your FEAPs Portfolio:

FEAPS Portfolio

 

// 21st Century Teaching \\

Reflection on lesson

            On March 31, 2016 I did a lesson that integrated technology that allowed students to interact with the technology. The technology that I used furthered enhanced the students understanding because it allowed the students to be in control of their learning. It allowed the students to be leaders of their discussions rather than the teacher leading it. Using QR codes the students were to scan the code with the iPod and a video along with discussion prompts based on the video. If I hadn’t of used technology then the lesson might have been much more dry and uninteresting to the students, but when I gave the students the ability to manipulate the technology themselves, it becomes much more engaging to students.

            Prior to this lesson, I have used technology before but I had never given the students control of the technology. Since I have included videos within my lesson before I really wanted the students to be active in the technology in order to enhance their learning. When I began the idea of using the iPods I was really excited to incorporate them; however, as the lesson quickly approached, I became worried about the management of using them.

There were many problems that I faced the day of my lesson. In the beginning of the day, I found out that the schedule was changed due to the testing of other grades. Because of this obstacle, I had to change around the time of the lesson. After this challenge I had to test the iPods to ensure that the QR codes would work for the students. When I did this I found that the iPods did not have access to the video, therefore I had to ask the substitute if she had access to the teacher laptop. The substitute had to ask the media specialist for assistance because of an issue with the Wi-Fi connection. After about 10 minutes or so—while the students were in specials—the students returned and the laptop was set up. I was still able to utilize the iPods for the students to do the discussions, after the students would watch the video on the laptop.

Initially when I walked into the classroom carrying the box of iPods, many students enthusiastically came up to me and asked if we were using them. Throughout the day, the students would ask when when we were going to do the technology lesson. While the students were using the technology within the lesson, they all were very excited and appeared to be enjoying it. The formative assessment that I chose to use was based on the students’ reactions. Through the use of emoji’s and explanation, I saw that the majority of the students had positive reactions to the lesson.

Knowing what I know now, there are a few things that I would change in my lesson. First, I would have expectations when using technology already ingrained within my classroom. Since this was the first time really utilizing technology, most of the students didn’t stay on task and got distracted by the technology. Additionally, if I did this lesson within my own classroom, my students would be used to using technology, so it wouldn’t be a brand new “toy” given to them. Another thing thing I would change in the lesson, would be to have the students filling something out throughout their discussions, thus making them accountable for their independence. This would also disallow the students to rush through their discussions. The last thing I would change with the technology portion of the lesson, would be to have some way to oversee what the students are doing on the iPods. I noticed that many students got distracted by the camera and settings on the iPod, which caused them to be disengaged in the actual content. After the use of technology, I played a game with the class and even though the students had a blast with it, I would make some adjustments. The game began slow, but as the students started to find matches much quicker, I became overwhelmed with the amount of students wanting to switch their cards. With a crowd of students around me I was unable to visualize every student. To solve this, I would make the card swap more student led. I would check the match and give them their letter, then the students would go to a pile to change out their cards. Doing this would decrease the amount of jobs that I was doing, which would then decrease the overload that I experienced.

During the beginning of the lesson, the class was split into two parts. In one of the sections the students had to go through a PowerPoint to discuss with their group. Although both groups went through the PowerPoint and discussed, they seemed to rush through the questions and some of the student were left out of the group discussion in side conversations. When I came into this station and asked the students some higher order questions to discuss, the students were more motivated and gave better answers because I was standing there. The other group appeared to be engaged and motivated while watching the video and doing the QR code discussions, however, it may have been misleading because I couldn’t see what the students were doing on the iPods. During the game portion after wards, the students were so engaged and engrossed that I became overwhelmed with the amount of students with matches and wanting to get more matches.

In order to visualize what the students are doing on the iPods, having some sort of technology that would allow that would be beneficial to keep an eye on the students and keep them on task. Additionally, setting classroom expectations on how to use technology in the classroom would support the management problems that I faced in my lesson. It would also be beneficial for the students to instead of using the QR codes to take them to just the discussion prompt, it could take them to an educational discussion website that allows the students to write in their discussions. This would allow the students to still utilize the technology, but by giving them an assignment that keeps them accountable for their discussions and learning while using technology. I think that these other supportive additives would make the lesson run much more smoothly.

When rating the lesson’s use of technology on the TIMS matrix, the most appropriate descriptor would be constructive adoption. Although the students were to discuss and collaborate with other students, they were not actively using the technology in order to share their discussions. The students task was to use the technology to scan the QR codes that would bring them to the video and the discussion questions. My job in this situation was more of a facilitator because the students were in control of their learning. Through the discussion the students were building upon their prior knowledge and the new information in the video to construct meaning. In the constructive adoption approach to integrating technology, the teacher makes the choice as to what technology the student use. I thought that the task that the students were to complete in this lesson, this kind of technology integration would be the best choice.

Reflection on Student Academic Success

            Learning about the community and how it works is always exciting to the students because there is a natural intrigue in this topic. When I was asking the students the higher order questions to get them thinking and to visualize their comprehension, the majority of the students were able to change the mold of their initial thoughts of the community through the discussions. The level of engagement overall in the beginning of the lesson—while the students were using the technology—was about a 6.5 out of 10. While playing the game the students level of engagement was about a 9 out of 10. The students came up with matches so often that I ran out of the corresponding letters. Through the higher order questions that asked, I was able to visualize that the students were building new meaning about the community and how it works. One of the questions that I asked was “what do you think about the arrows on the map?”, the first group answered that money moves around in a circle. The second group I had to guide the students think about money in this way because they thought it had to do with the pictures that were inside the arrows. Another question that I asked was “Do you agree with the idea that every business uses trade? Explain.” The discussion that followed this question began with a student saying no because grocery stores and firemen don’t trade, but as more students began to collaborate, one of the students made the point that the trade that firemen provide is their service. Having the technology in the lesson affected the students learning both positively and negatively. Independence and responsibility was an underlining message in this lesson because the students were in control of their learning. Some of the students, as I observed, were fully capable given this duty; however, I also observed that some students were unable to preform adequately because the technology distracted them. After the lesson, I had the students fill out an emoji exit ticket that displays their feelings toward any part of the lesson. One of the students replied with a heart shaped eye face and her reasoning was “I chose this emoji because it was really fun to use the iPods and do the slide with each other and also doing the game was fun.” Another student didn’t feel the same way because he chose an angry face and his reasoning was because of the group he had worked with. The exit ticket was purely to reflect upon the choses that I made and to see how the students understood the lesson. Part of the teaching process is reflection and looking at the students’ work allows teachers to make adjustments.