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I like when things are easy. Sometimes things are not easy, but it's always good for teachers to remember that feeling of awkwardness and having to work hard at something so that we can be more empathetic educators. Many of these assignments pushed me outside of my comfort zone but I feel like I grew and worked through that feeling of using my left hand as a natural rightie!
Gradeless teaching was eye-opening as was Kathy Schrock's massive collection of rubrics, but the assignment of Creating a Digital Badge and Digital Badge Pathway in Module 4 was my favorite. I found this to be very practical and something I will use in my classroom next year. I aligned the assignment to the RACE writing strategy that we use in 5th grade. Since I already do this in my classroom, I felt this was where technology can enhance what I am already doing. It was very fun to design the badge and I will be excited to create more to help build a digital pathway to mastery! This digital pathway is very logical to me and I think will help students visualize expectations and plan, prepare and pace themselves accordingly. There were many great learning moments, this one just really stuck with me!

“Truly wonderful the mind of a child is.” — Yoda

Dive deeper into mastery with me and my friend Yoda because everything sounds better when Yoda says it! To translate for those that don't speak Yoda: The mind of a child is a truly wonderful thing. This resonates with mastery in the classroom because while each child's mind is truly wonderful, not every mind operates the same, moves at the same pace, understands the same content or processes information the same way. Differentiation comes to mind as we need to meet each student where they are at and meet their individual needs. However, this ideology falls apart when we look at our current system of education.

In the TED Talk, "Let's Teach for Mastery, Not Test Scores," Sal Khan (My 2nd favorite behind Yoda) offers an amazing analogy at building a house in reference to mastery. You would not move to the first floor of building a house if the foundation wasn't fully set. You certainly would not move on to the second story if the foundation wasn't set AND the first floor was only 80% finished.

So why do we move students along when they have not fully mastered the material? I see this very often in our math classes. We lecture, give homework, go over homework the next day, lecture some more, more homework and so on for a few weeks until the assessment is given. If a student has earned an 80% they kind of celebrate - hey I got a B. What about that 20% of material they didn't show mastery on?  This is going to rear it's head again. Even the 95% test earner still shows that 5% is unlearned. We are creating educational gaps that will bite these students hard, later on in their schooling. We need to be patient and wait out the curricular demands and pacing schedules and help students master the information before introducing something new.

Sal was speaking directly to me, as he normally does, when he mentions students who experienced learning gaps and attributed them to the "I don't have the math gene" and "I can't learn this" as excuses. This WAS me as a student and then as an adult it all changed when I matured and persevered. I loved mastering math and teaching math to students who feel like they just don't get it!
Now I just wish it wasn't a race the to the finish line!

Patience, you must have. - Yoda

Photo credit: Sal Khan and Yoda

Effective Tech Integration

It's clear that technology is becoming the norm of expectations in the classroom but just because we use technology in our classrooms it doesn't mean it's good. I have enjoyed learning about the effective integration of technology and utilizing different tools and strategies to help my students become responsible and active digital citizens in my classroom. 

A few highlights for me are:

The grant writing assignment. This is practical learning that will help me in the future. I enjoyed practicing this skill and being pushed out of my comfort zone by asking for something and proving that it is necessary and meets certain criteria beyond,  just want to do this!

Planning the professional learning experience was WAY harder than I thought it would be. It required much deeper introspection into the goals of the experience while incorporating some fun and taking the best of what I have learned in class and applying it to real life. Truly eye-opening!

The growth I experienced in this class is huge! The above-mentioned projects and the PBL/UBD assignment were big and overwhelming but I was able to push myself and grow!!  I feel much more confident in my ability to plan a unit and integrate technology effectively to benefit my students the most!

Multimedia Magic

I have long been a fan of multimedia and enjoy audiobooks, podcasts, video and visually pleasing materials. This class however opened my eyes to bringing all of these interests together into my classroom and my instruction. Why have I been constrained by the walls of curricular expectations and direct instruction while the non-teacher in me has enjoyed all of these other multimedia mediums? It's not that I didn't do any of it, I think I did things and didn't exactly realize what I was doing. 

I have grown as an educator by trying new things and exposing my students to new videos, audio clips and introducing them to podcasts! I will continue to improve my video skills and speaking through audio skills. I will continue to try new methods of sharing information with parents to keep them engaged and informed as well.

My favorite learned skill was the use of Quicktime. Why has this clever app been hiding in the files of my MacBook forever without any use? It is simple and effective and it's multipurpose use make it a front runner in my go to apps!

What's even better than me learning all of this is the fact that my students will benefit as well and that makes me a better educator!

Learning curves

For every time something goes right, the pendulum must swing so that sometimes it is is bound to go wrong. Making our book/trailer advertisement was a lesson in frustration for me. I tried a new video making tool called Vyond. I put a lot of time an effort into the video that I intended to use a launch to our new science unit. The time spent creating it versus the 2 minute video final product was impractical. It was also very crushing that when I went to upload my video Vyond asked for me to purchase an annual subscription $79.99. I, of course, was not about to pay that for a 2 minute video. I contacted Vyond and was told that I should read the trial agreement (in fine print) that the trail is not meant to publish pieces, but a sample of what Vyond can do. UGH!  I accepted that my video would have a watermark stamped on it forever. I showed my 2 science classes and gave them the background story and the lesson learned here is know what tools you are using so that you don't get burned in the end. I also thought this was a fun and engaging way to kick off a new unit but I will use Apple clips or another video program next time!

Screencasting...all the cool kids are doing it!

I have watched so many screencasts (Thanks, Sal Kahn) but never knew how to do it myself. This is my new favorite tool and I will be doing it again in my classroom. The learning curve was not steep and it was a seamless transition to me making my first screencast. I think the biggest benefit is in the scaffolding that it provides to students when learning a new skill especially those who are visual learners, like me! The only problem I found was not rambling on and that is not one of my strengths. I also found out the hard way that you don't want to make a mistake at the end of the video and have to reshoot the entire screencast. It was fun to do, an engaging and helpful tool, and really easy to do.

I've attached a copy of my screencast that shows how to use the amazing SeeSaw activity library.

Pretty To Look At

Graphic design is easily taken for granted but can make such a difference in the classroom. Students are drawn to colorful, bright, aesthetically pleasing images, aren't we all? Because our students all learn differently a well-created infographic can make all the difference in the world for the visual learners in the classroom. It can draw them into content and get them hooked into engagement. And being just like my 5th graders, I did not carefully read the instructions of Module 5 so I created an infographic on Picktochart. We are entering IAR/PARCC season and I thought this little flyer would help students prep for test taking. It was really fun to make and who doesn't love bulldogs, french toast, meditation, and babies. I am in for graphic design and getting our students excited!!