I am very excited about my class this semester, Instructional Design in Special Education. I see many opportunities to use my learning in the classroom especially in the area of Active Student Response(ASR). ASR is an observable response made to an instructional antecedent. Some examples are choral response, response cards, read aloud and peer tutoring. ASR generates more learning, provides feedback to the teacher and creates on-task behavior. It is quick paced  and increases student engagement as well as learning. I can see ASR being used in the classroom daily with individual whiteboards, iPads, and peer tutoring groups.

2. How does this PD promote digital learning competencies? My research for next fall will be to use digital response cards such as Kahoots to measure student’s math growth. Using technology is a type of ASR in the classroom. It give teachers immediate feedback, is quick-paced and engaging and increases learning.

3. What will you add to make this PD even better in terms of meeting your needs as a professional? I will continue to use UNCC’s resources to further develop me as a special education teacher. I will use this course in Instructional Design to help students become more engaged in learning. I will also use this class to help in teaching strategies to students who are falling behind their peers.

Lesli Gration 

 After becoming an Apple Certified Teacher I never really knew some of the benefits of Garage Band. It was an app I knew was on the iPads and the students loved to play with, but I never tried to learn about it. I think Garage Band would be a great tool for students to record information for a project and bring in more dramatic effects into iMovie by app smashing. Next year when I do their Sections of Christianity Song Parody, I am going to implement the features from this app into their presentation. I have even looked on Teachers Pay Teachers about mini lessons on how to teach the benefits of Garage Band to the students. Right now, they just use it as a noisemaker, but it could be so much more in the classroom. 

 -What's a new way you can be creative in class and enhance your students excitement?

 I have thought about having the students create podcasts about a topic we are learning about in social studies or a current event. I could use Garage Band and iMovie to put in sound effects, music, and record the student’s voice. Students would be able to enhance their recording to make it applicable and interesting for their peers. They could even drop it into iMovie to add images if they wanted to make it more of a visual experience instead of a podcast.

 -What has had real meaning?

I think this PD Your Way had a significant amount of meaning. Not only was I able to refresh and learn about the iPads that I use every day, but it has inspired me to have new ideas in the classroom. I feel like it has refreshed my interest in finding new ways to use the iPad beyond what I already knew. Many of the features in Keynote I did not know like Instant Alpha, which is an editing tool with pictures. Furthermore, I have been able to expand my knowledge by cooperating in some EdWeb videos. Even though I did not write about EdWebs on my PD Your Way write-ups. I still watched many of the videos. I feel like the PD Your Way has made learning more tangible and meaningful. I have appreciated this opportunity to learn from home at my own pace and at my own choice. 

 

I wish we had the opportunity to also become a Google certified teacher. I think there is a fee for it, and it wasn’t an option this year. I would love the opportunity next year and since we are a G-suite school, maybe the fee can be waived?

In relation to PD, because it was a certification on a product we don’t have in school (MacBooks), I have not had real applications to the classroom. However, I did receive ideas on ways to incorporate multimedia platforms for one assignment, using what the PCs had. In addition, I hope to get MacBooks for my journalism class next year so I can teach Adobe InDesign and Photoshop; I plan to ask the PTO at the end of the year through the school’s standard process. I also utilized the ipads every month for video projects for my journalism class and this certification/PD helped me understand more with iMovie.

I thrive on developing creative lessons within the classroom to reach all types of learners, but most recently have been working on writing skills in all three of my subjects. I used Flipgrid, NoRedInk, Google docs, Google forms, Google slides, and iMovie to incorporate additional skills and resources to improve my students’ writing.

How will this PD inform your instruction and impact your students in the future? I love the chapter that talked about putting the bat in their hands.  Too often we think something will be too challenging for them so we don't even give them the opportunity to try.  I was inspired to stop limiting them based of what I think they can do and to let them show me what they actually can do.

- 

What is an idea you have had that you have wanted to try but haven't? One chapter discussed home visits. The book talked about the ways this can impact a student. I loved reading the chapter, but haven't brought myself to the place of asking to visit a child at their home yet.

 

 

Couros' has a list of "8 Things to Look for in Today's Classroom".  I don't see them necessarily as new an innovative, but more as ideas that should be a standard in each classroom.
1-Voice
2- Choice
3-Time for reflection
4-Opportunities for Innovation
5-Critical Thinkers
6-Problem Solvers
7-Self- Assessment
8-Connected Learning
After, reading about these 8 concepts, I have made it my goal to incorporate all of them into my curriculum at some point in the semester.  Also, I have attempted to explain the value of a few of these concepts to my students (through projects we have done) and how they could be helpful.  For instance, students had to reflect on a video project they completed by showing to at least 3 adults outside on LNC and the adults had to comment with ideas on how to improve their videos.  I think these are values that employers are looking for employees across many fields.  Why not help students to start recognizing them now.

-Open ended - share a thoughtful reflection of your choice.
I found this book study to be motivational and thought provoking at times.  I really asked myself if I incorporated any of Couros' ideas into my daily practice. I believe I have with some, I am still working on others.  Couros has a quote, "If we only teach students the curriculum, then we have failed them." The key is to remember to build on student strength by allowing time for exploration, according to the quotes suggestion.This reminder is worth reading the book for because we often forget this in our never ending battle to "get through the curriculum".  Even in high school, we need to let students explore to find what is important to them.  Give them the freedom to discover and fail, at the same time.  They are both effective teachers. 

Chapter 7 Do Little Things:
*Play music in the classroom.
*Call students homes to show that I care.
*Greet my students when they walk into the classroom. If they don't speak, I send   them back out the room and tell them they can't come in until they speak. LOL!:)
*Hold random celebrations: Ex: When students are called on to respond to questions in class or demonstrate good things in class I cheer and spontaneous sing a random some or something. Also, we sing the "new school" Happy Birthday song when there is a B-Day that needs to be recognized.

-What is an idea you have had that you have wanted to try but haven't?
An idea that I have that I have been wanting to try but haven't is restarting the cursive club a LNC. I think having this club will definitely spark interest to the students of this generation because a lot of them are unaware of its uniqueness and how much creativity comes with it.

-How does this PD promote the four C's in your classroom?
I often remind students that what they are being taught in school, especially at Lake Norman Charter, is truly an example of real world life long learning:

Critical thinking: Learning new means of analyzing various units of ancient civilizations and determining solutions to problems and analyzing problems that need solutions. Not only do students demonstrate by verbal discussion or blogging but drawing which connects with art.
Communication: Encouraging students to have constructive conversations with their peers by talking with/among one another rather than at one another due to a lack of face to face conversation with this generation.
Collaboration: Being able to see the results of the team effort when students come together for a common goal especially when the are not allowed to always work with their friends.
Creativity: Working in groups allows students to see that having a variety brings about creativity from individuality.

 

In Responsibilities of the 21^st Century Educatoror, we studied the different tools and programs that are at our disposal in our technology rich environment. Â In the course of our studies we reviewed howto insure that we were not infringing on other' s intellectual properties and how to teach our students of how to be aware of how to use the information they find. We had to become members of and interact within a PLC community that provided us the opportunity to reach out with other content area teachers and review various lessons with a technology component that were used by each of us.  We were also provided with rubrics
that allows us to evaluate how well our lessons and students reach goals that
set in terms of learning and technology utilization. 

 What opportunities do you see for yourself/your classroom in this PD? 

In this course, I have been exposed to more ideas for technology use outside of the typical calculator based activities that are a standard fall back for us math teachers.  I think that as I become more comfortable with utilizing some of the resources that we have available (social media mainly), I can be begin to incorporate more cyber collaboration with my students and those of my more distant peers which would allow for the exchange of understanding is a far more meaningful manner for my students than the typical here's a problem
and let's talk about it within these four walls approach.  I have been provided with connections that prove the model can work, I just have to work on incorporating it. 

Open ended - share a thoughtful reflection of your choice. 

Over all I think that the between the two PDs that I completed as part of this year's "your way": "Responsibilities of the 21^st Century Educator" and "Assessing Digital Tools" has provided me with a lot of information and resource on how to better incorporate technology within my classroom.  It also proved me with some connections outside of LNC which I can fall back on to assist me in implementing different strategies within my classroom.  As a math teacher, I feel like some of the things that were shown to us throughout the PDs were not directly useful because it doesn't directly correlate to the content found in the upper levels, but I can see how it would be useful to those teaching in the elementary and middle school levels.  It also provided me with some of the knowledge that I would need to support my peers in other disciplines. 

I kinda want to find a teacher to work with on basic classroom management skills to help reduce anxiety in the classroom. There were tips I learned on teaching students techniques to reduce anxiety in the moment and how to remind students throughout class on how to integrate those practices while in class. I just need to find a teacher willing to collaborate with me on that.

This semester, one of my grad school courses is about being a culturally responsive teacher.  Some of the topics we are discussing are directly related to a course I had last semester about current issues surrounding education (i.e. achievement gap, equality in schools, etc.)  Although I’ve always known how important it is to get to know my students, and I feel that I have done a pretty good job with that over the years, I’ve come to realize the benefits of really getting to know them – beyond surface level information, and how using that information should really be informing my instruction so that I can make a greater impact on my students’ learning.  My class this semester is focusing on how culture impacts how the brain works with regard to taking in and processing information.  I’m looking forward to learning ways that I can be more effective in the classroom by being more culturally responsive to my students.

I love teaching science and incorporating experiments and ways to explore science topics with my students!  Another grad school class I’m taking this semester has been about incorporating more STEM instruction into our regular curriculum.  I’ve learned about STEM boxes and how other teachers use these as ways to engage their students in fun, hands on STEM activities with their students.  The STEM boxes are available for student use during morning arrival time and when they’ve completed their assignments and are completely independent activities (once the students learn appropriate ways to use them, etc.)  I’m in the process of putting together these boxes for my students to use to get them more excited about exploring STEM concepts in the classroom!

With regard to being more culturally responsive, I have already taken an “inventory” of the information I already know about my students and am in the process of digging deeper with them (through more personal conversations and connections) to find out more about their background and culture so I that I can include that in my teaching through literature, educational videos, etc.  This will allow my students to make a more personal connection to the content I’m teaching.

Puzzlement is when you might think, “Hmm, I wasn’t expecting that. What questions should I ask, what do I need to know to find a solution? Confusion is more like when you are completely baffled - I don’t know where to start”

These two states of mind are flexible and changeable with practice.  I should practice being patient and consistently utilize strategies that teach students mind-set and questioning practices to help keep from remaining in the less constructive confused state.

-What's a new way you can be creative in class and enhance your students excitement? -How can you go "big" in your classroom, using some ideas you’ve gotten from this PD?  

This PD is timely as it corresponds with the recent speaker we had join us.  Dr. Stephan reignited my interesting creating inquiry based lessons with a highly engaging launch.  The PD I am participating in focused on how the state of the mind enhances learning.  The most recent module reminded me that a relaxed brain, a motivated brain, and a brain that is having fun learn better.  It appears that I am going to be digging into inquiry based lesson sites for my next unit - :)  I am excited to do so!  We are beginning out data analysis unit which lends itself so well to connecting with students’ lives as well as creating fun activities.   

-What will you add to make this PD even better in terms of meeting your needs as a professional?

 Working together with the information gained during our recent department meeting, I plan to utilize the Connective Mathematics curriculum to enhance my lessons.  Using this along with a familiar resources like Open Up Resources can be a great way to increase engagement and bring my kiddo’s brains to a state of mind more in line with deep learning.

Really learning how to use the tools you expect your students to be proficient with can really open your eyes to the possibilities with digital creativity to excite your students for grater comprehension and understanding.  Trying to figure out a way to move from old school paper and textbooks can be challenging to those teachers afraid of technology. By selecting the type of continuing education gives a variety of step by step instruction to ease all sorts of technology abilities into a concept/lesson they can be comfortable assigning to their students. The more success with simple digital assignments can lead to bigger and better lesson down the road.

12.
 What's a new way you can be creative in class and enhance your students excitement?

Using apps (iMovie) on the iPad has given me more ideas on greeting assignments that incorporate true understanding of how body system operate. Learning how to really utilize iMovie with truly learning how to manipulate the app (rather than asking to students to figure it out) allows the students more time to be creative.  What the point in an assignments if they spend half the time trying figure out how to add something? By giving them quick responses on how to add, fix, and edit their iMovies, the student can focus more on learning the content instead of learning the app. I’ve had the students create two iMovies during the Human body unit and I can really see the difference in understanding. Having them teach me the systems on video is a game changer , and they loved the creative freedom. 

13.
 What is an idea you have had that you have wanted to try but haven't?

I would love to tinker around with Oculus virtual reality for my human body system. Inspired by the 1970 Fantastic Voyage, how cool would be to travel through the circulatory system as a blood cell allowing the students see the interaction of blood with transporting nutrients from the digestive system to the cells in the body. Traveling through the heart, going to the lung to dump off carbon dioxide and receiving oxygen. Watching the kidneys in the excretory system removing urea from the blood cells, and maneuvering through the different blood vessels.  I feel this would greatly benefit the students to actually see the body systems working together to maintain homeostasis.

 I see numerous ways for my students to engage with the content they are learning. Keynote provides the tools for students to create slides/brief presentations summarizing what we have covered in our lesson, they can use iMovie to record themselves explaining or acting out a scene applying what we’ve learned, or creating a song in GarageBand to show understanding of the content. 

 

One innovative idea is to use Numbers to arrange/show data for my students. It’s important to recognize how I can utilize these tools in other areas of my role. I do pre- and post-tests for many of my lessons to gauge effectiveness and impact of lessons and programs, which helps me garner support and advocate for resources going forward. I am also beginning a Student Ambassador program for New-to-LNC students and will be collecting data on how the ambassadors and new students perceive the program and suggestions on how to improve for the future - Numbers would help illustrate and provide a visual perspective of the data. 

 

I feel like I have learned the bones of what Apple has to offer, but am concerned about forgetting a lot since I don’t deliver classroom lessons frequently. I plan to practice different applications and add consulting/collaborating with other staff members who are well-versed in Apple tools to help me utilize the best apps for what I want to accomplish. Because I only deliver lessons every 1-2 months for each of my grade levels, I want to be as purposeful as I can with how I integrate the apps.

This gaming activity will force me to try new thing with in the classroom. Even if every student in the class in not 100% engaged this might motivate some students who are not normally engaged. I would also add some elements of success for completing physical activities in some of the QR codes.
What has had real meaning?
This ability to see some of these PD's and ideas from all of the academic areas. I think that sometimes you get stuck into your own area of expertise and you don't think about how this might help in other areas.

This PD has allowed me to better understand the technology that I am using to instruct my students. There are several simple tips and tricks that I have learned through this PD course that will enhance my lessons and allow them to be more interactive. By creating interactive lessons my students will have more opportunities to understand the content I am teaching. I would also like to teach my students how to implement these skills on the Apple devices they are using in school. 

 

Learning more about my laptop and iPad will allow me to confidently create lessons, documents and activities for our classroom. I love creating content and interactive lessons for my students to use. I am excited about trying new things I have never tried before. Blending backgrounds, creating presentations, flyers, and photo editing will be some of my newfound skills that I hope to use in the near future.

 

-What innovative ideas have you come across that can keep you professionally renewed and inspired?

Sharing notes and documents with colleagues from our Apple devices, without having to use other software, is something I am excited about and eager to try. We often collaborate as a team and we frequently work on lesson plans and activities as a group. I always knew these features were available with other platforms and now, as compared to Google Drive, I can eliminate unnecessary steps by using what is available on my Apple devices.

A thoughtful reflection I’d like to share is that I felt proud to be an ‘Apple Certified Teacher’ after this PD, with that said, I don’t feel I have mastered all the skills needed to teach all students apple programs.  When I have learned new apps or features of new apps, I’d shared them with my students, and they help me grow.  I try new things and let them know, I am trying this out and we can problem solve working with each other for the best results.  This is how we found out together, my students and I, the best uses of the ‘Smart Annotation’ feature on our iPads. 

One of the challenges I had with PD your way is, although I always get my requirements finished, when it is on my own time, I tend to leave it to the last possible moment, hence, this last reflection.  I think if were to do this again in the future, I’d like to schedule a time with my colleagues and collaborate on the PD together and this will help move us along at a pace that is more productive.  I really appreciated the thoughtful programs our school came up with to allow teachers to achieve CEU credits, while having the choice of what they were most interested in. Thank you!

One simple thing I really am excited about and hopefully will impact my teaching is simple notepad. My goal would be to write some type of grant to get more ipads for my classroom along with the ipad pens. My classroom right now lacks whiteboards. How simple would it be to use the ipads to show their work with math problems in whole group? Or use the notebook and have saved for each child for my reading groups to help incorporating writing. This would be a great way to impact and increase learning in the classroom. As well as get student engaged in learning! 

 I have not implemented a ton yet into the classroom that I have learned through PD. There are a lot of great ideas I could use with older students but it is harder with the younger grades. I want to use more of these tools with my colleagues. With my students I just want to try more interactive learning. I always come across the issues of how do we keep them accountable for what they are learning. I am hoping to continue my learning to figure that piece out. Or maybe I need to explore some more of these tools and apps to see how that part of the learning can fit in. 

-What has had real meaning? Technology is the future. If you think about it. We use it for everything, all day and in every part of our lives. Students are more well informed with ipads and technology than I am. If we want to be successful in engaging, teaching, and impacting our students we must know how to teach with technology. I am not finished with apple teacher yet. However, I am excited to gain more knowledge on how to help and teach my students that will impact their future. They will need this to be successful. 

-What has had real meaning?

The PD is more practical in its nature - focused on tools that are available on the mac. So real meaning might be a stretch but small tricks that has made my day more efficient as the macbook is my primary creation tool for much fo the materials I use in my classroom so overall real meaning may go to far but helpful does not

Open ended - share a thoughtful reflection of your choice. 

Another edWeb webinar that I watched was called What's the Problem? Finding the Right Math Problem to Challenge Students. I chose this because it's often difficult to find just the right problem that will truly challenge those higher level students in a way that forces them to relate other concepts or subject matter to math. Some of them are VERY narrow minded and see math as math and nothing else. This webinar talked a lot about something called Transfer Learning and how it forces a much deeper way of thinking. This is ultimately what I'd like to aim for in all of my classes, not just my advanced, but it made me think of them the most.  Transfer learning makes me think of how I can prove to the kids that math exists in the real world too and that other subject areas rely on math application.  What they learn in school is supposed to prepare them for the "real world," right?  So I think that this webinar's purpose was to help teachers see how to better prepare their students by reminding them that students need to practice applying the "transfer" of knowledge on a daily basis. I personally hope to try to offer as many opportunities as possible that will allow students to collaborate and find ways to apply what they learn, not just memorize facts.

The most obvious benefit of doing PD this way is freedom of choice. I think being given the opportunity to select which PD you want to participate in changed my mindset in having a more positive and receptive attitude towards learning. It allows me to take more of a personal approach of developing and growing as a teacher. Another benefit is that it is self-paced and doesn’t restrict you to a particular date and time….flexibility! A challenge of doing PD this way is having the discipline to actually do the assignment/questions on time and holding yourself accountable to the due dates. Maybe one thing I would add as an option to PD your way is to maybe list some professional development opportunities that exist off campus that people may want to attend. List some conferences or seminars that may be free to attend.

Coding and app design is something that I’m sure would capture the students’ attention and boost their excitement. Most students love to play games and work with animation within applications anyway, so the Everyone Can Code curriculum through Apple is something I will look more into. It seems like an easy way to teach the students coding and keep them engaged. It will create an opportunity for students to learn how things work in the planning and beginning stages of a game or app.

Have the students use one of the iPad apps or tools to teach their peers a lesson about a feature that we used on the desktop computers. Although there are many features that are different on the app and the desktop program, students could create a lesson using Keynote or Pages to teach their peers about a function or feature we use on the desktop program. It’s a good way to use their iPad devices and apps to prepare the notes and lesson. They can use it to map out the “how to” steps in learning a feature of the desktop program. 

Historical thinking skills and teaching inquiry through the study of objects are part of the C3 framework. College, Career, and Civic readiness. Thoughtful, evidence based approach to problem solving will benefit students in a vast majority of the course work associated with college and will also be relevant skills for a majority of careers. 

-What are some things you are already successfully implementing in your classroom as a result of this PD?  The module outlined Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural learning theory.  The three main focus areas are: the basis of learning happens through social interaction, more knowledgable individuals can share their expertise, and how the zone of proximal development is the aim for our classroom (in which the novice learning will gain skills from the expert learner).  The aim is to establish a coaching environment where instructors can effectively collaborate, share effective techniques and observe each others teaching techniques.  It got me thinking that I would like to focus on visiting other biology teacher classes next year to build a stronger sociocultural learning environment.  

-What opportunities do you see for yourself/your classroom in this PD?  I see the opportunity to build my lesson creativity and implementation to be more diverse as well as effective.  Widening the teaching community I work with would help me find more teachers to share, collaborate and discuss biologically focused lessons that work.  This PD has also made me rethink some units for next year.  I am striving to restructure some of my lessons to provide more social learning environments in my classroom.  I humble admit, that this does make me a bit nervous as I strive to have 100% of our students master the curriculum content and worry that this type of change might slow the pace of learning.  However, this PD has made me more confident that this type of social dynamic will foster a stronger learning community. 

-List benefits & challenges of doing PD this way (LNC Choice). What changes would you make?  I really liked this LNC choice PD.  It has allowed me to cater my specific classroom and teaching needs.  I also appreciated the fact that I could schedule the PD around my time schedule.  

-What innovative ideas have you come across that can keep you professionally renewed and inspired? In the apple teacher PD, I learned new ways to utilize keynote that I did not know.  Additionally, I learned of drawing tools that would be cool to use on a lesson focused on the biochemical process of photosynthesis and cellular respiration. 

-What is an idea you have had that you have wanted to try but haven't?  I would like to get more skilled in google.  Jamie has taught me some really helpful tools utilizing the google form through the grading system of schoology for my leadership students.  I have really enjoyed using that and would like to find other places I can use it.  I also would like to gain a better techi grasp around google and all it has to offer.  

Make the classroom appealing.

Get students moving

Make the learning experience relevant

 

 

 

This PD will hopefully result in the way in which I deliver my instruction help me to focus on  my area of content and finding a connection to relevant information, promote active learning and foster coherence with other professionals to help with interdisciplinary instruction.

 

 

Haven’t really tried any ideas yet but the impact I make in the classroom with my students and vice versa keeps me inspired. And the support and motivation from students and coworkers keeps me professionally renewed and inspired.