In this course, I had the opportunity to learn how to effectively use student data to inform instruction and bring about change in my own school. The three most important things I learned during this course were:
The most valuable field experience in this course was the Data Overview assignment. This assignment provided me with an overview of the data situation at my school. Since I am new to this school, it was beneficial to see the summary of student achievement results in relation to the district and state, as well as highlight the strengths and weaknesses for the latest mathematics state assessment. When looking specifically at my grade level data, I was able to pinpoint a few areas that needed improvement, which will enable the grade level team to develop a strategy to deal with those issues. I plan to continue applying this learning at my school, by sharing my data overview with my grade level team and administration. During our monthly Cobb Collaborative Communities (CCC) meetings, we can delve deeper into the data and examine current mathematics data from our district interim assessments. These assessments will provide us with item-level data that we can use to identify a student-learning problem. As a team, we can then develop an action plan and find ways to alter our instruction to improve student learning. The challenges I anticipate as I continue to implement these ideas in my school would be time and grade level team buy-in. As a team, we would need to make time in our schedules to collaborate, honor the time we set aside, and maintain our attention on the current task. The grade level team will need to also understand that the process of collaborative inquiry takes time if we want to have a true understanding of what the student-learning problem is and how can we help student improve.
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ITEC 7480: ITRODUCTION TO ONLINE & BLENDED LEARNING - Professional Learning Goal Reflection7/7/2023 UDL, Universal Design for Learning, is an excellent framework that can greatly improve teaching and learning. This framework comes with guidelines to help anyone, especially educators, that may want to implement it in a learning environment. In Course Objective number 9, the task was to create a video for colleagues that provided an example/model of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles in the Blended/Online Learning Module. Therefore, my focus was on incorporating UDL into the Blended/Online Learning Module assignment. The pedagogical approach that I implemented to achieve my goal for improving my implementation of UDL was the Engagement part of the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines.
I believe I accomplished my goal by ensuring that my unit plan and the module I created provided multiple means of engagement for students. The UDL Guidelines 7-9 focus on providing options in teaching and learning to increase engagement. The goal of doing so is to get students to become purposeful and motivated in their learning. The unit plan and module that I created sought to recruit student interest by offering student choice and autonomy. The goals and objectives were clearly laid out and opportunities for collaboration and community were visible within the varied learning tasks. Options for self-regulation were provided numerous times a week through reflection posts and opportunities for students to self-assess. As an educator, there are a few things that I would like to do to further my new understanding. First, I would like to seek additional professional development. This can be done through the district and online training options. I also plan on using the Professional Learning Networks I established last semester to stay abreast of new research and practices. In addition, I would like to incorporate the UDL Guidelines during my lesson planning. They would also be a great tool during collaboration meetings when we need to create a pacing calendar at the beginning of the school year. After reviewing the learning outcomes, objectives, and activities in this course I found a professional learning goal to improve my implementation of UDL, Universal Design for Learning. Course Objective number 9 states: create a video for colleagues that provides an example/model of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles in their Blended/Online Learning Module. Therefore, my focus will be on incorporating UDL into the Blended/Online Learning Module assignment. I plan to pay specific attention to the Engagement part of the Universal Design for Learning Guidelines. I believe that “the WHY of learning” and getting students to understand the purpose is the most important part of teaching.
When this course began, I took a lot of things in consideration when choosing a goal to focus on. I thought of my role, the makeup of my classroom, the resources I am given and how I can best achieve my goal. After reviewing the learning outcomes, objectives, and activities in this course, I settled on the course objective number 3 which states: Analyze a physical (e.g., classroom, makerspace) or digital (e.g., learning management system, open-portfolio application) learning space to identify how active learning is both enabled and constrained by the design of the space. This objective matches the PSC-IT and ISTE-E Standard 5.
A specific event in which I tried to enact my goal was during the implementation of my Creative Computing Project. In this project, students learned the basics of computer science by programming on the Code.org website. They were assigned a course that they accessed through Clever. Students learned to create and animate sprites and make them interactive using events. The only materials needed for this project were student laptops and teacher laptop. The teaching context was in a student-centered classroom comprised of small groups. In addition to the aforementioned standard, I addressed the following professional standards (ISTE or the PSC) with this goal:
As an educator, I believe that my most important role is that of a facilitator. Once I have a plan and have designed authentic learner-driven activities as standard 5 explains, my role in the classroom is most impactful when guided by standard 6, as seen above. The Creative Computing Project allowed me to facilitate learning with technology in order to support my students. After considering this event, I think the entire project was a success and the students’ feedback of this project was nothing but positive. I truly enjoyed the opportunity to do something I have never done before and excite students to the possibilities of coding. In the future, I would like to assign additional lessons and find ideas about how to integrate computer science into other subjects, such as reading. After reviewing the learning outcomes, objectives, and activities in this course I found a professional learning goal to explore and apply a pedagogical approach made possible by technology. Course Objective number 3 states: Analyze a physical (e.g., classroom, makerspace) or digital (e.g., learning management system, open-portfolio application) learning space to identify how active learning is both enabled and constrained by the design of the space.
In my current role as an Interventionist, I am required to use specific online resources in addition to having small group instruction. Since my classroom is not a normal size classroom, I have had to change the prescribed program expectations for my student rotations. Therefore, the physical space of the classroom along with the digital learning program has made a difference in my students' performance. As the year progresses, I would like to utilize data to analyze and compare how active learning has been "both enabled and constrained by the design" of my classroom. |
AuthorMari Mullen |