As I reflect back on the last year and a half, I find myself planning ahead for the upcoming school year, eager and excited to to put to use all of what I have learned about transliteracy, and applying it to my teaching practices. Using everything I have learned during my time at Touro University, I know that I am confident in my abilities given my vast experience working with diverse populations of students to help bridge the learning gaps for all of my students. Even though technology is a great tool for student inquiry and engagement, I still believe that teachers need to continue strengthening their own individual teaching practices in order to keep our students 21st Century ready.
0 Comments
I feel like I have spent day after day working on my CAPSTONE. You never realize how much time it takes to create something worth while for other can take A LOT of time! Editing my video was put on the "when you have time"list, The checklist for the CAPSTONE is loooooong and even though a lot of this was all created, it takes more time than anticipated.
The information and knowledge that I will walk away with will truly benefit all of our students. However, getting to this point has been truly exhausting and I feel as if I need a vacation from my summer vacation! However, spreading all this new knowledge is worth the exhaustion. Moving forward in my teaching practices, I intend to cultivate what I have learned from being in a Cohort and being a part of the Innovative Learning Masters degree program at Touro University. This program has allowed me to understand in order for learning to take place there has to be inquiry, discovery, and good teaching practices. When a teacher can demonstrate their excitement for learning to their students hopefully, students will embrace that being a life long learner is important especially, in regards to information being available through technology which is today's information highway.
In my teaching, I always emphasize to my students that we can all learn from each other, and appreciate different points of view, whether we agree or not. Touro has shown through working in cohorts, that it's okay if we give constructive feedback to our peers. By giving constructive feedback to our students, we as teachers, are preparing students for the adult world where they will have to collaborate with others within a given work place community. My hope is that all my students will be able to share their thoughts and ideas in the adult world both expressively and receptively. In order to ensure this goal is reached I plan to use inquiry-based learning through utilizing the six C's, and by challenging my students to be passionate about their learning. When sharing these ideas with my colleagues, I hope they will be as excited to try them in their classrooms. Reflections on your Journey
Twenty-nine years ago I started college with a type writer and a card catalogue in the library to complete my research papers. Fast-forward twenty-nine years and I use a laptop and the internet to complete my masters degree. When I started teaching, my 4th grade class visited the computer lab once a week to insert CD-ROMs and play educational games. Gradually, more computers were available and I was able to allow students to complete classroom assignment and make slide shows. For a good decade, I used computers to teach READ 180 and for sharing documents with me. Very few of these assignments required group collaboration and technological savviness. Technology was changing so fast I couldn't keep up with it! I found myself asking my students for help and a sense of direction in terms of learning and understanding the latest technological innovations. I decided to further my education and background with understanding advancements in technology and how these programs could benefit learning in the classroom to better enhance my inquisitive nature. Lasting Learning from the Innovative Learning program Touro University and NapaLearns provided for me an opportunity to pick a masters degree are I could specialize in that is aligned with technology. The Innovative Learning emphasis has allows me to share information and ideas with cohorts, as well as provide a sophisticated educational platform from which my students can gain greater insight and enhance their learning on a given topic. I have learned that you have to continually work with technology in order to obtain a good understanding of the tools you want your students to learn. This program has made me see learning through the eyes of a student and see important it is to learn by doing. TPACK Reflection Technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge are required in all aspects of teaching and learning. Students have to be able to demonstrate knowledge and mastery of core content standards and technology allows students to showcase their learning. Technology in the past, was a time filler for me. Today, I use technology to integrate learning with real world problems. TPACK allows me to instruct students with the most innovative strategies that lead to desired learning outcomes. After spending hours on the rough draft, insisting it was perfect the first time, I had very little to edit. One section of my video had a little background noise. My advice for anyone using Adobe Sparks, practice loading images, I found this the most frustrating part of the video making process. I found jpg saving was the format Adobe liked the most. I also remembered that letting a few seconds pass before recording my voice kept the video segments from overlapping when playing it. As for any adventure on the master program journey... allow time! I always think it will take an hour to complete. However, it needs multiple hours to complete! Patience.. This requires a lot of PATIENCE!
I always think, "Ok, this time I've got it. I've made multiple videos during this program." I started with the an image I have referred to many time this semester. It wouldn't save in the correct format. Try and try again. Then, before I know it, it's was hours later and I still was not done! For the most part, the difficulties came when loading images I wanted to use. It took a few tries to get the images to save to my desktop in the correct format. From there, I was able to upload them as an image into my Adobe Sparks video. Finally, it was time to record my voice over the images. Take 1, my daughter needed my car keys. Take 2, the doorbell rang and of course it was for me. Finally, I was half way done and it was time for dinner. That's when I decided enough was enough, it was time to finish this video! I was almost two and half hours in and finally I had a rough cut. I watched it...I'll be back tomorrow for Take 3!
Saelee: This website is clearly designed for teachers, especially after watching the short video. I found this homepage to be very appealing to the eye. First, you see the logo that makes you want to read why the arrows are going in different directions. As I continued to read the homepage, I found it to be lengthy, but full of valuable information. It would have helped if the data information was larger. Overall, I found this webpage to helpful in designing my own page.
Ellison: This website felt extremely organized when first browsing through it. I loved the videos and graph. However, I had to a lot of reading to the purpose of her website. I felt the website could be geared towards educators or parents, but it felt like it was not directed towards one crowd. As I browsed the other links, I loved watching all the videos and skipped over the abundance of writing, Avrukin: I loved how simple the homepage with an eye catching logo and a short video full of information. As I clicked on the other links, I felt it was more of an outline of information, It was simple and straight forward and I could find information quickly. The visuals tied nicely to the text and added an simple, but powerful feel to the webpage. Once again, I did not feel that it was directed towards one audience. I think the audience of my capstone will be elementary school teachers, grades three through five. I am hoping this will be information I can share with my colleagues across the district. Today's elementary classrooms have to have a focus on technology in order to send students off to middle school ready for multiple teachers with different technology techniques.
My goal is to create a website that teachers will want to use, that is easy to navigate with multiple ideas ready for classrooms. I want my Learn More page to contain the data behind my research and the tech tools I found the most useful to use while navigating Google Classroom. I do need to pick a few standards that I think students need the most reteaching in after I look at end of the year CAASPP data for my students. I think it will be important to leave teachers with step by step instructions that will allow them to use these tools immediately! Trying to find my creative side these past few weeks has been hard! As I sat down to work on my storyboard, I didn't know where to start. Is it possible to get the point across in just a few small boxes? I started with my Driving Question and then I reread my research paper. Then, I used Google to search for images that could match my written ideas. It is definitely just a rough draft! As I searched for illustrations, I now find myself thinking about what needs to be said. I don't want to bore my audience, I want them to walk away feeling this can happen! Technology is part of education and every subject has a connection to computers. Now I found myself thinking ahead to making a video. I want it to send a clear message with examples that can be used in 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade classrooms. I watched multiple videos that use Adobe Sparks and hope to use this program to create my video.
I tried three different logo making websites and I think this still a work in progress! First, I gave Logojoy a try and found it very easy to navigate. I had a logo I loved in just minutes. However, I had to purchase it in order to use it. My search for a free logo maker app continued!
Next, I tried Logomaker. It was super easy to search and I had a logo quickly. The designs were simple and very teacher friendly. The bad news... it would cost almost forty dollars to purchase it! I wasn't in the mood to spend that much and so my search continued. Finally, I tried Canva and found it easy to navigate as well. To start, I made sure they had free options! I found that they had many options and I had a logo that could be used for a homework assignment. However, this logo was not necessarily one I loved. I need to go back and spend more time exploring Canva. |
AuthorHeather Feinberg is an Academic Specialist for grades K-5 at Yountville Elementary. Archives
July 2018
Categories |