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Describe your involvement in school teams. Do you feel like a contributing member (explain). What areas, discussed in the webinar, do you personally need to improve on, in order to be a more effective team player.
My involvement in the school has been limited by a couple of things. My inexperience both in teaching and as a new employee at the school means everything takes me three times longer than it should. But I do participate in a few key ways. I do run a 3D Printing Club with another teacher, and to reciprocate I help him out with Science Olympiad. My club is great to show off on Parent nights and online, and competitive clubs like the Olympiad are a high priority for the school system. My school also runs a program where small, 3 teacher teams meet with an administrator weekly to give cheers and jeers, to report on what teacher "hallway meetings" are bringing up, and to give general impressions of academic progress. I'm also in an informal team of teachers for each student. 4 of us cover most of the core subjects of the same cadre of students, and we meet irregularly to discuss common issues. This is also the team that handles parent conferences for problem students, with the homeroom teacher taking the lead. I've made myself a sounding board for 3 teachers - 2 fresh from the Philippines and one first year teacher.  When one of us learns some new corner of corporate policy, we share notes.  Lastly, I try to coordinate with SPED teachers. There isn't much integration and as a charter our available services are limited, but they always have better history and perspective about the individual cases than I have.

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Blog Assignment 5 EDU256AD: Assessments and Differentiation.

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Blog Assignment 5 EDU256AD: Assessments and Differentiation.

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"How did the formative assessment data you captured in the video impact future instruction? " I must confess, I'm not great doing the video thing, and did not capture video of the class and formative assessment for the assignment. It wold have been of a recent class where I was reinforcing measuring skills with a team activity designed to combine using a scale with math estimating activities. It was an echo of a lab assignment from September in preparation for the midterm exam in a couple of weeks. Students would weigh items, record the data, and use that to extrapolate and estimate weight of greater quantities.  The results were as expected in 3 of the 4 class sections, and will allow me to move on to the next topic in the review. The 4th group blew my mind and was surprising. A little bit more than half the students could not follow the activity or perform the below-grade-level math needed to complete it. This will require me to break down the steps and reteach/ concept recovery before moving on to the next topic. Breaking down the steps more sharply will allow me to ID the specific weaknesses that need to be addressed for the students who are having problems. Breaking into steps will also allow some confidence building, which will be needed after the rough day yesterday. I was able to spot a couple of students who hadn't been paying attention and didn't understand  the activity, so I was able to bring them up to speed. The next step will let me tease out math problems from other comprehension issues, which I can address individually.

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I have a few regular tricks to keep student s involved. One I've been using lately if the class is drifting and getting a little talky is to declare the classroom a whiteboard-only zone. The only student communication allowed is by dry erase board, clearly understood gestures (like fingers for numbers) and ASL signs for YES, NO, and I FORGET. I have to adjust my presentation to make it clear and concise with frequent group questions. Math questions or one word answers work best,  and the class flips the boards as quick as they can to be first with the right answer.  I never go more than 10 or 15 minutes before they start slipping, so I cut it off just when the first voices peep out.
Another technique I like to use I mentioned in an earlier blog. I do  a regular current event assignment, and it gives the students a chance to choose science stories in their own areas of interest. When I go through the papers, I pull a few examples out, and have the students introduce the story in their own words  by asking them what the story is about. This encourages them to actually know what the story is about, and preps them for their upcoming oral reports to the class.
The day-to-day engagement workhorse is a program called ClassDojo.  I use it to randomly select students from the class roster to answer questions, making sure I keep spreading the attention around. I can also award points for positive achievements that the school uses for short term and long term rewards. It also lets me send messages home, and parents can look in on the scores.
My favorite move is to include the quiet or slower students for at least a segment of every group activity. I need to give every student a chance at achievement in the class - it helps build their confidence and status. But it also shows the other students I want them to engage.

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Blog Assignment 2 EDU256AD: Technology/ Digital Citizenship.

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Blog Assignment 2 EDU256AD: Technology/ Digital Citizenship.

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Blog assignment: What technology would you like to start using with your students and how will it enhance student learning? Review the Digital Citizenship Resource List. Pick at least one resource and summarize how you can use the information to enhance the learning experience for your students or raise awareness with colleagues/parents.
Using educational technology is a loaded question for me. Instead of an overhead projector with acetate sheets I use PowerPoint slides, which add a lame layer of flash and sparkle to the same notes previously written with grease pencils. This is an improvement to me, but not much of one to a student. To my mind, because of my age and how long ago most of my formal learning took place, adding technology to a lesson is exactly that: adding something. Because I’m teaching digital natives, I need to think of technology as less of a bolted-on modification and more of an ingredient mixed into the batter. In previous classes I’ve used learning activities like Kahoots and Gizmos as breaks from traditional lecture-note-quiz mind-numbing routine. I need to plan lessons with technology integrated into the lesson.

My school does a lot of work with a system called Study Island, which I’ve begun using as a way to reverse teach the standards. The program has a series of lessons, flash cards, and online quizzes cued to the standards, which I use as foundational knowledge to give student entry into more detailed and specific work in the subject to explain and reinforce the standards. (Weird- I never thought I’d be able to reverse teach anything.)

My lack of experience isn’t just limited to technology. I want to start using more frequent lab work as extensions to the curriculum, and there’s a lot I don’t know. Pre-recording activities to use as briefings before getting to the lab and using them to teach techniques will do a lot to familiarize students with steps, and can be used to catch up students who were absent or who need reteaching on specifics.

The school I’m at uses Chrome Carts, shared between 3 teachers. But the cars have 32 books for classes with 34 students assigned. We also do fairly frequent benchmark testing and use the Chromebooks as regular parts of ELA and Math curriculum, so I don’t get to use them too often. In fact through the first 3 months of the school year my classes had 3 days of access, so I have to maximize the benefits and minimize gimmicks. I’ve decided to start a regular science current event assignment to get a few priorities of mine into the classroom. First, I’ll use it to introduce internet literacy into students’ research habits, both search techniques and source discrimination. Secondly, I can use it to teach the students how to structure facts they find online into coherent thoughts, getting a follow-on benefit for ELA and report writing skills.
I'll be using the SEARCH approach to teach the students (https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/3-ways-to-make-digital-citizenship-part-of-your-everyday-teaching) the most effective techniques to use their Google time.

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Blog Assignment 1 EDU256AD: Differentiation.

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Blog Assignment 1 EDU256AD: Differentiation.

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Differentiation was not something i was able to incorporate in the past- i didn't have the experience, knowledge, or confidence in my knowledge of the base curriculum to be able to making different versions of my presentations appropriate to different learning styles and abilities. I didn't even know i didn't need to come up with different versions. This year I have a great sandbox to learn in: 4 sections tracked by ability of the same 6th grade science. I've adjusted pacing, presentation style, and topic depth to address student learning style and understanding. I only have a couple of SPED kids in each class, so I'm able to address them as individuals without losing the class. There are SPED specialists, but the interventions are limited to one or two pullouts a week for 20 mins or so each. They focus on math and language skills. So far their grades are tracking well with the class. I have my 504s and IEPs, but they mostly come down to "give more time and give extra help," so it fits my training style. I'm also trying to add enrichments for the 2-3 gifted kids in my top 2 classes- something I greatly regret having neglected last year
My classwork is being differentiated by track- the A track gets more material on the 1st or 2nd pass, as most of the  students work well in a traditional academic setting. My challenge with them is adjusting my plans to push past both their and my comfort level by challenging them with different approaches beyond the lecture. The D tracked class needs completely different pacing and focus on the standards, but in a way that addresses their less academic focus. Shorter segments in class, more competitive or playful approaches (Kahoots, anyone?) , and coaching in academic study and note taking skills the other tracks take for granted to bring up the engagement level.

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Welcome to EDU 276. Great work on your welcome wall. 

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Welcome to EDU 276. Great work on your welcome wall. 

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I'm  Denis Valyo, a late-as-hell career changer  who finally figured out what he wants to be when he grows up: science teacher. Did a bunch of years in the Navy, did a few decades toiling in the cubicle fields, and now I'm at Rio Salado to learn what I'm doing not-as-good-as-I-can so I get better at it!

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I'm Denis Valyo, and this is Integrated Science.

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I'm Denis Valyo, and this is Integrated Science.

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Welcome to Room 865! Integrated is a unique subject- it's a chance to learn some Physics, Biology, and Chemistry all in the same class. You'll get prepared to go on to each subject in later grades by getting some new vocabulary, get into some cool experiments, and get good at working in teams.