CEP 800 Digital Story

CEP 812 - Final Wicked Project

Google Doc Presentation

CEP 812: Professional Learning Plan

CEP 812 Professional Learning Plan on Prezi

Academic OneFile - Document

From professional development to professional learning: if schools are to change to meet their increasingly urgent needs, Ms. Easton argues, teachers will have to move from being trained or developed to becoming active learners. Significant change will require educators to alter their attitudes and behaviors  
 
Academic OneFile - Document

CEP 812 - Leadership Project - Final

Our group used Jing to record the Google Presentation and posted it online through a screencast. This was the most simple to record a screen while recording audio as well. The only problem is that the basic Jing only lets your record for 5 minutes. 

I learned that Google Docs and Vyew are great tools to use to collaborate for group projects. IT made it easy to break up the parts and show all the different features of Weebly. However, it is always difficult to find time to meet and discuss with others with busy schedules.


If I had to develop a similar product, I would have had a universal recording with one speaker recording the entire presentation. The three different screencasts made it choppy and each person had a different tone. Also, we would have used the Google Docs from the beginning to create our storyboard.

Screencast 1: Intro to Weebly and Basic Features
Screencast 2: Adding Files and Videos
Screencast 3: Advanced Features

CEP 812 - Mobile Learning Lab

I really like the Poll Everywhere idea. It is flexible as far as the options for the type of questions to ask and it provides immediate feedback for the teacher to gauge understanding. It also gets the students engaged in learning because shown by the statistic in the Module texting is the most frequently used form of communication between the ages 12-17. The only disadvantage for me is that our students are not allow to have cell phones on them in the middle school. Although it was very interesting to read about the phones Verizon created that only allow data processing and bans calling and texting to other numbers. Even though cell phones are not allowed, we could always do a online poll on our netbooks. We also have access to iPads that have unlimited amounts of apps for the classroom. My friend who teaches 4th grade uses her to organize help her organize her AR library they even have an app to scan the books and tell you exactly what reading level it is.


Some of the tools I found useful were class dojo, flash drives, smartphones, and mp3 players/flip cameras. Class Dojo is a website that can help track behavior both positive and negative. It displays the students (you could use numbers instead) and allows you to add points for good behavior or take away for negative behavior. I have a smartboard that I can do it on, but I can also add points directly from my smartphone if I am busy walking around the room. Then, you can have a reward for reaching so many points. I also love flash drives, I use them everyday to work on and transport files from home to work. We are doing a RAFT (Role Audience Format Topic) on adding integers and the format is a rap. The most creative and descriptive rap is going to be able record a video/audio production of their song with me! Lastly, I love the idea of recording lecture notes for students, especially if a student was absent. I would love to propose an idea for getting a classroom set of mp3, this would definitely make class time more efficient if students could sometimes work independently on the lectures instead of having all the interruptions with a whole class. I could see students not asking as many questions if they were to just be listening to a lecture and not wanting to stop or me answering their question when 10 others might have that question later on. Another problem is abuse of the technologies. One teacher had an iPod Touch stolen, so we would have to keep tight security on the items.

CEP 812 - Wicked Project Part D

The implementation went well. I made sure to have the computers set up before hand the second time around. I also noticed that the students were comprehending the information verbally although it was not showing on the written assessments previously.

I have continued to see an increase in scores compared to the written assessments. For the ELL students, there has been an average increase of 25% and for the special needs students an average increase of 35%.
Some increasing more than others, but I plan to look at their final Scantron scores at the end of the year as well. 

If I was to approach another project of this type, I would implement it earlier in the year to get a wider range of data. Also, I would collect more original data that gave me grounds for a project, like keeping more of their vocabulary tests.

This program has unlimited benefits. I wish I was able to explore and implement more tools. I would use this in more areas, such as for writing assignments when they have to explain the process of solving a problem. Some students struggle with writing and if I want to assess their thinking process this would help target that. This will help them not to focus , but on the content. Also, the program has a cue tool to help students with spelling. It can give five options of a word they think they are trying to spell and when they highlight that word it as says it out loud as well to make sure it is the word they want. These tools will maintain focus on the content instead of on their spelling, neatness and presentation.

The hardest part for me is figuring out how to implement a project smoothly. I struggled with the direction of this project and identifying a technology tool that would help the issues I was having in class, but once I sorted out the details and created a structure for implementation the project fell in place. Having a clean and clear outline will aid in a more successful project.