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This assignment was my first attempt at writing a research paper in the decade since I graduated from UCONN with my masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction. Here I will discuss the interrelation between the learning theories of Constructivism and Constructionism. After doing some research, I found that students seem to learn better by having an active role on how they learn about an idea and how they demonstrate their learning. I completed this research in the first year of this program. Since then I have made some modifications to my middle school math curriculum based off this research. At the end of each unit, students would complete a performance task as an alternative assessment to traditional summative assessment. My fellow seventh grade teachers and I have adapted multiple performance tasks to provide students more options to demonstrate their learning and understanding.

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Although there is no curriculum about classroom etiquette, teachers establish a classroom culture that students must adhere to. Our students are spending more time on the internet than ever.  Digital Etiquette (sometimes called Netiquette) can be defined as "the electronic standard of conduct or procedure". Teaching students about Netiquette is important to help promote cyberbullying prevention, responsible online behavior, and having a positive/private digital footprint.

I used Nearpod to present this lesson to my students earlier this year. Nearpod allowed this lesson to be extremely interactive and engaging. Students liked that their voices were heard and that their opinion drove the conversation. It was a great deviation from a traditional math lesson, where I am providing them the knowledge that was already established. Although my math curriculum is robust, it is important to take breaks from it and allow students to learn about other topics such as digital etiquette.

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This program did a fantastic job letting us explore different types of educational technology.  One app that I started using my classes is called Remind. This program allows teachers to communicate with students and families more efficiently because, not all parents are check their email on a daily basis. Remind enables educators to send messages, reminders and announcements as a notification to my student and their parent/guardian's smart phone. Each week I send a calendar reviewing what assignments are due and their mode of completion, curriculum objectives, and lesson enrichment opportunities. I have witnessed that parental involvement in their student's education is a key factor that helps enable academic success. Keeping parents/guardians in the loop about my mathematics class has helped make my course more transparent to families.

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I found this assignment extremely valuable as it opened my eyes to some of the deficits my unit assessments have. Teachers should analyze their assessments in order to ensure their reliability and validity. Reviewing the standards, learning targets, and assessment methods of each question helped me see if these variables effectively integrate together. This review also showed me that not all of the lesson objectives address in this unity of study are represented in this assessment.

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After critiquing a previously created assessment, we were tasked to create an assessment where the learning targets, unit objectives, and assessment methods all align. Doing this is much more of a challenge than you think. Reflecting upon this process was valuable because it helped me think more critically about my future assessments. It made me realize that I need to review each question's validity by tracking student data. This will help me make tests that are not biased and truly test lesson objectives. For future units I plan to have students track their progress toward achieving different learning targets. Students will create journals in order to track cool down and other assignment scores to track this progress.

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Adam Behling - Assessment Creation Assignment #2

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Here is the data related to the previous piece in this journal entry. Looking back at these survey results, I would have probably completed a deeper analysis of this data. If I were to have looked at demographic data such as age, race, and gender, I could make even more data driven decisions about this assessment.

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Adam Behling - Assessment Creation Assignment #2 

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Completing this research proposal has made me realize teachers should review the different assessments they give to their students. Teachers should stay current with recent academic research to ensure that their pedagogical techniques and unit assessments are valuable. Remaining up-to-date on current educational trends is an important aspect of being a lifelong learner.

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Adam Behling - Research Proposal - Infographic

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Students thoroughly enjoyed this adaption of a Common Sense Media lesson. Nearpod helped channel their focus through the use of games, polls, videos, and digital collaboration spaces. Students took a quiz about this lesson at the end and the results were positive. This lesson made me realize that there are instances where paper assignments are more valuable than digital assignments. If the assignment is not enhanced by the digital version, teachers may want to print the assignments so students can take a break from computer screens. Most of my classwork assignments are completed on paper to give students a break from screens. I typically assign homework digitally though so students do not lose these assignments. I will be teaching this lesson next year because I believe digital media balance is a key aspect of Social Emotional Learning (SEL).

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Skills That Are Not Apart of the Traditional  Curriculum 

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Skills That Are Not Apart of the Traditional  Curriculum 

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There are many "soft skills" that are not thoroughly examined in most public schools. Examples of these are financial literacy, task management, and being able to direct complete focus to one task. Students will need these skills not just for future employment, but also to keep up with their daily lives. During SPEC 505, we were given time to research different apps that could help promote transitions and behavior life skills. The app that I found to be most useful out of the ones that I explored is Rocket Money. Students can use this software to track their purchases and make financial decisions based off of the analytics provided by the app. I have actually starting using Rocket Money to help keep me more honest about my financial habits. While many of my students are too young to need a bank account, it is wise to teach students strong financial habits at an early age. My seventh grade mathematics curriculum does not have many lessons about financial literacy. I plan on reviewing my curriculum and integrating more lessons about sound monetary practices.

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Transitions Behavior and Lifeskills Portfolio

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It was helpful to refresh myself about this federal educational law. Teachers need to be aware of the laws their classrooms are governed by. Ignorance is not a viable excuse in court. By understanding IDEA, teachers can ensure they meet the legal requirements and provide appropriate educational support and accommodations for students with disabilities. It is helpful to know what my students' rights are and what I can do protect and advocate for those rights. Reviewing IDEA helped me understand why there are so many safeguards and bureaucratic processes built into each student's IEP. Like the three branches of government; parents, students and educational staff help provide checks and balances in the process of education.

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This Venn Diagram helped me compare the similarities and differences between three laws that govern for treatment of individuals with disabilities: IDEA, ADA, and Section 504. Like my exploration into IDEA, it was helpful to be re-educated on the ins and outs of these three laws. I have not had formal training on these topics since my undergraduate degree over a decade ago. Schools should provide more professional development opportunities for all teachers (not just special education teachers) so that educators can keep current with these laws.

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There are many tools that educators can use in their classrooms to best support a diverse student population. While all students do not require assistive technology (AT) to strengthen their learning experience, these tools can be greatly helpful to those students who need these resources. The SETT Framework is intended to guide the process of selecting, evaluating, and implementing AT for students with disabilities. It helps identify the most suitable AT solutions by considering the Student, Environment, Tasks, and Tools involved in the person's specific situation. During my coursework, I learned how to effective use the SETT Framework to choose the best AT based off a student's specific disability. We used this analysis on both real-world and fictional students. This helped me realize that one type of technology is not always helpful for each student. Teachers need to be calculated when choosing AT for their students. There is not one type of AT that is "one size fits all". After learning about the SETT Framework, I have used it alongside my special education co-teacher to help determine what AT would be suitable for each of my 12 students with IEPs.

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During my SPEC 505 coursework, I analyzed on my current students. While I have not engaged in a study this deep since completing this evaluation, it was extremely beneficial to study, analyze and reflect upon the effectiveness of different AT. Some of these tools were digital tools, such as text-to-speech and typed examples of problems on OneNote mathematics lessons notes. A physical Bluetooth stylus and printed unit vocabulary page were given to the student to help improve their handwriting and retention of key terms. These tools were implemented and had excellent results. Journaling the process of effective AT implementation helped me understand that teachers need to be systematic and thorough when choosing what tech they give their students. While all the AT we utilized helped my student move toward their math goals, this would not have been possible if I had not done the research on my student. The process helped me foster a greater appreciation for the special education teacher I work alongside with. She is always trying to implement new types of AT in the classroom to help support our special education students.

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AT Implementation Project - Adam Behling 

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It was helpful to explore and review a variety of mathematics tools. Most of these tools are used to help gamify learning, promote conceptual understandings of mathematical curriculum or help practice learned skills. Most assignments in my middle school mathematics class are graded based off of effort. Every week, I use apps like Delta Math, the Ruler Game, and IXL to help inform my students and their families how they are doing in terms of their mathematical accuracy. GeoGebra has been helpful when teaching students new topics or providing more context to concepts they are struggling on. This app helps students explore how topics relate to the real-world. It also uses digital manipulatives to promote student exploration. As a math teacher, I would argue that math feels better when hand written. Bluetooth styluses have been a life saver in my classroom. I like when students do work on their iPad because it helps them organize their notes and learning all in one place, allows them to use different tools cannot be printed, and it enables them to color-code assignments much more efficiently. It also saves me time at the copier. Many middle schoolers have poor handwriting and Bluetooth styluses help my students display their ideas in a cleaner and more coherent manner. After completing my SETT Framework reflection assignment in my SPEC 505 class, I got my department chair to purchase a small set of Bluetooth styluses for each mathematics class at my school.

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We also learning about different writing resources that can be used to support student learning. One of the resources I reviewed is Padlet. While I do not teach narrative writing, the ability to write is key when constructing an argument. My students tend to struggle when creating a mathematical argument. Math and science writing is vastly different than a piece you would write for a humanities course. It is challenging to teach my students how to write a mathematical argument because there just is not enough time due to curriculum limitations. I wish there were mathematical learning apps that also taught mathematical writing. I do teach my middle schoolers to highlight key ideas in math word problems using different color highlighters. This helps students point out and relate key ideas as they read the problem. An example of this will be below.

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My USJ program of study is concentrated on Educational Technology. One aspect of this program that I felt was lacking was that we did not explore many apps about Social Emotional Learning (SEL). My school utilizes the app called Character Strong. Students engage in lessons that review SEL related topics. My class uses this software approximately every 3 weeks. The lessons take roughly 45 minutes to complete, and have students participate in thought provoking activities about the different aspects of SEL. Most of my students enjoy these lessons because it provides them a judgment free space to express their genuine feelings and explore different social issues. My school has given us three sessions of professional development to ensure that teachers are properly implementing this program. Especially after the pandemic, students need different coping mechanisms. This program is just one way educators can help.

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Teachers need to generate strong assessments that allow students to demonstrate their learning in multiple fashions. Assessments need to be analyzed to ensure the alignment of curriculum objectives, learning targets, and assessment methods. Educators must also give their students different ways to demonstrate their knowledge.

One aspect of my teaching that I need to improve upon is being more transparent with assessment data. While I do update PowerSchool frequently, families should have greater access to how their students specifically did on assessments and other assignments. This will be a topic I will brainstorm and research in the coming months.

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Highlighters and used here to illuminate and link key ideas.

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AT Implemenation Unit 2.6 Template Complete

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21st Century Skills: Digital Citizenship and Literacy 

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21st Century Skills: Digital Citizenship and Literacy 

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There's the old saying "a jack of all trades is a master of none, but often times is better than a master of one". While my primary role as a teacher is to educate my students about the foundations of mathematics, the modern teacher wears many hats. Educators must be willing to teach their students about 21st century skills, such as digital citizenship. I plan to continue teaching these different lessons next year, so that my students do not make mistakes that can have long lasting ramifications on their lives. Students also need to be aware of what their digital footprint is and how they can remain anonymous and safe while using the internet. Students should also learn the norms and conventions of digital tech tools so that they do not offend others. After implementing the attached Netiquette lesson, I have seen a difference of how students email me. There are more student emails in my inbox are written in a professional manner.

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Adam Behling - EDUC 536 -Digital Portfolio

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This Critical Literacy lesson adapted a lesson developed by Common Sense Media. Students engaged in different activities that are designed to promote a cynicism of digital media. While the term "Fake News" can sometimes have a negative connotation, there are many websites that are not entirely factual or can sensationalize a new story. Students need to be aware of this and fact check media they are viewing. My students had a great time completing this lesson, because it gave them time to talk about their personal experiences. Learning critical literacy is even more important now that we live during the mainstream onset of AI. Things are not always as they appear, so it is important to promote our students to have a healthy skepticism of media. I plan on teaching this lesson next during my statistics unit, so that students can see how math can be used to manipulate a readers perspective.

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My plan is to continue to use AT within my middle school math class. I would like to expand its reach so that all students can get access to these physical and digital tools. Educational technology changes so quickly; therefore I am going to need to stay caught up on the latest and greatest technology to ensure my students are being provided quality products.

I also need to review the different laws that govern my classroom. Students will disabilities require specific needs that must be accommodated. Making sure that educators are compliant with these needs is extremely important for these students' education. If schools are not going to provide professional development on these topics, teachers must complete this review independently.

The world is changing at a extremely fast pace. Our students are online more than any generation before them. Individuals must be up to date on digital critical literacy and citizenship to protect their privacy and to promote a healthier online presence.

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Teachers need to teach other lessons that are not a part of their prescribed curriculum. Students need to engage with lessons about social emotional learning, digital literacy/ citizenship, and other behavior related life skills. We want our students to be well-rounded individuals by the end of their education. Doing so may help increase high school graduation rates, and potentially push more people to pursue higher educational degrees and post-secondary opportunities.