Educational Technology Endorsement- Check!

21st Century Ed Leadership Artifact and Reflection

Never would I have imagined that just 18 short months ago my adventure towards obtaining an Educational Technology Endorsement would be needed in my career as much as I do now. I simply never imagined we would be in the middle of a pandemic and seeking ways to integrate technology like never before into our classrooms and teaching. I'm so thankful for this choice to continue my education and focus forward on these courses. I've learned more about technology with students and most importantly have gained the confidence to move forward in remote learning and integrating technology. I'm confident wherever the future takes us all, technology and education will go hand in hand. It is with this mindset that I move forward proudly. 

   

In the final course, 21st Century Ed Leadership, I've gained the knowledge and created amazing resources to use when sharing technology with others. I'm not certain where exactly my future takes me, but I know with the resources I've created and the practice of creating those resources, I can lead confidently and with care. 

There were many artifacts from this course I simply do not want to forget! The two that really guided my thinking in leading other leaders and sharing that passion are found below. 

First, the professional development plan for rolling out flipped learning with a staff was overwhelming to complete at first. With a 4 day PD to plan for, I was concerned I would not be able to fill those 4 days with content for teachers to implement flipped learning into their classrooms. I wanted to engage them and keep them motivated on this new component of teaching. I  believe in flipped learning and wanted to encourage others to feel the same! I quickly found the resources I found were numerous and it was a challenge to shorten them down in manageable chunks for teachers to digest. I know the PD model is one I will hopefully use as a skeleton for future PD sessions. The feedback I received from my instructor truly helped offer teachers unique ways to learn and try out this new way of teaching.  I look forward to sharing this PD with my district in hopes I may offer a flipped learning PD in our teacher institute days moving forward. 

Flipped Learning 4-day PD

The second artifact I'm presenting here is the redesign plan of a school space. I chose to redesign our hallways. While many walk through the hallway without much thought, this space is a key place for educators to think about maximizing those transition times. I had fun with this assignment and hope to be able to share my wish list of items with key administrators and decision makers in my district. Some highlights were using whiteboard paint on the walls, and creating nooks throughout the hallways with benches for teachers to take their students and read or practice fun skills. A new space such as our hallways can really create and unique place for students to learn and maximize the time on task at school. 

Hallway Redesign

As this rounds out my last class of my Educational Technology Endorsement I simply want to say thank you to my instructors and USF for their professionalism and desire to move educators forward in such a positive way. I'm excited for what the future may hold and know that technology and education will be hand in hand. 

Tech Assessment Artifact Reflection

Assessment is a key component in teaching and learning. The data collected guides our choices throughout the teaching and planning process. Throughout the course: Assessing and Improving Student Achievement with Technology, I spent quite a bit of time reflecting on my practices of assessment and reforming them with technology in mind. 

The first artifact I chose to reflect upon is an assessment I created for students with regards to multiplication and division and how the two are related within the path of learning division. I spent time creating this assessment first on a Google Form. Then, I uploaded it onto an online digital assessment platform: Edulastic. The Google Form for assessment is not something I had previously used as an assessment tool. However, the ease of use when creating as well as the ability for sharing this assessment with my team, is something I am positive will elicit my continued use of Google Forms. I also found it extremely easy to see student responses and take data in a timely manner.

Here the link to this artifact. Formative Assessment - Google Form. 

The second artifact I am highlighting is the Digital Badge I created with my students in mind. This digital badge came after we created a personalized pathway for student learning. The pathway was something new to me and really demonstrated to me the importance of student engagement to elicit motivation for learning. The ah-ha that occurred for me during this assignment and lesson was the understanding of the difference between differentiation and personalized learning. The main difference is the student centered nature of personalized learning. In pathways for personalized learning, students work at their own motivated pace. They are attempting activities that they have helped design with their teacher. At the end of the pathway, as students have demonstrated mastery of the standard, a digital badge for the skill can be awarded. 

Here is the digital badge I created for context clues. I look forward to using personalized learning pathways in my classroom when we return to school in the fall. 

Deeper Dive

• The history of grading is particularly important as I begin this new adventure with e Learning. Though the State Board of Education is mandating these days of learning to be "continuing to the next grade level", students are not to be "penalized" with grades on a specific assignment. therefore, what are the value in grades right now? How do we maintain the quality of expectations without an ability to quantify the student's work? Through motivation and intrinsic values we hope to have instilled or continue to instill in our students. As educators it is our hope that students want to learn more and try their very best to become a better version of themselves. This behavior needs encouraging however. Were grades doing that?
• Right now in my "classroom", or shall I say, collection of ZOOM web boxes with faces of my long lost students,  the absence of grades is interesting to endure. Students are "turning in" assignments with the assistance of Google Classroom. Many are doing a fantastic job working to their fullest potential and receive nothing more than a "good job" in the private comment feature. Where many are turning in blank assignments with a hope "my teacher won't notice that I haven't done any of it, I turned it in." Either way, students are trying in their education for something other than a grade. In essence, their motivation is not reliant on a number on a standard ranking scale. They are achieving their level of education motivated by either themselves, or their parents. Either way, the absence of actual grades is making me really stop and recollect on the history of grades.
• The element of intrigue for me surrounds the beginning of education. As stated by Thom Hartmann in the article "for the love of learning", "The model of education from its earliest times was one of mentor-ship, starting with hunter-gatherers taking their children out on the hunt 100,000 years ago, all the way up to the teaching methods employed at the university founded by Thomas Jefferson." This concept or thought that you only continued education for career readiness is something of complete interest to me. It makes sense that we started here. Additionally, it makes sense that college and career readiness is another place we find ourselves in education today. At my school we actually just cancelled our recent addition to this college and career movement. Our Career Day has been the source of intrigue of many of or students on specific jobs or careers they could consider in their future. Parents will come and present to our 3rd and 4th graders about their careers and explain how students need the things they are learning in school to complete many of these jobs as they get older. 
• Did the past Career Days instill a motivation in our students that grades could not? I'm not exactly sure. I wonder if by chance students continue to work towards their grade achievement based on motivation by their parents. I'm guessing  parental support or criticism could impact performance in school more than grades themselves. 

Effective Technology Integration into Lessons & Curriculum - EDU678Y

During the course Effective Technology Integration into Lessons and Curriculum I worked to hone my skill set on what life may look like when I'll be teaching in a classroom with 1:1 devices. The discussions as well as activities aligned with my work as a classroom teacher and ways in which technology can become an asset and necessary tool during instruction. 

One of the artifacts I was a part of creating for this course was a slide incorporating management skills and ideas for a classroom with devices. The following slide I created with a focus on the management of the accessories and devices we often teach students to use when working with technology. While creating the slide, I envisioned my own classroom struggles with organization of the accessories and care for such items. 

I see myself using the slide, along with the collection of slides which my colleagues and peers created to help teach safe and organized management tips for students in my classroom. 
  

The second artifact that I created is an outline of Project Based Learning Essential Questions as well as thinking for implementing problem based learning in my classroom. This assignment forced me to rethink what I had previously felt about PBLs and their vast time consuming work. As I became more comfortable with implementation and the more I discussed these ideas in class, I realized what I already do in many content areas is Project Based focused. I will utilize this outline in future planning and to continue to develop more lessons. PBLs are perfect for student engagement and focus and I know 4th graders would love to learn in this manner.