Videos I've watched...

The videos I've watched are...

Kate's "The Scarlet Pimpernel"

Marissa's "Be Glad Your Nose is on Your Face"

Beth's "Strawberry Shortcake"

Nina's "It's Raining It's Pouring"

Amy's "Winning With Winnie"

Celecta's "Winnie the Pooh"

I think the hardest part of using video projects in the classroom would be the time investment. It would definitely take several hours to put together a whole video project, especially with younger kids. Plus, then showing the videos also takes time. I would want to make sure that the benefit of creating the video would be worth the time it would take to put into it. If it was for a final project or a presentation on something we had spent a lot of time discussing in class, I think the video would be a great way for kids to show what they've learned. But it would not be reasonable to make a video for every concept you teach because it would take up too much class time. I will definitely implement a video project at least once a semester though! I am convinced it will make learning fun and meaningful to my students!

Our Video!

1.) I would model positive emotional understanding, regulation, and empathy as I interact with my students and respond to their emotions. I would also make it a point to incorporate discussions about emotion into my lessons. For example, if we're reading Charlotte's Web, we could talk about how Wilbur felt when Fern took him to her uncle's. I would also provide opportunities for students to express emotions in a safe setting such as role-plays, storytelling, and other drama activities. These types of activities would also help students to consider others' feelings and emotions. Finally, when conflicts or other emotional situations arose in the classroom, I would take time to talk with students individually about how they handled the situation and how they could have reacted more positively.

2.) I see Gardner's theory as more useful as a teacher because it includes intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligences. While some people might not think it's a teacher's job to help students better understand themselves and the people around them, I believe a good teacher wants students to not only succeed academically, but to succeed in life. Gardner's theory seems to cover a person's whole capacity for learning, and not just the academic or problem-solving aspects.

3.) I really don't think IQ testing is very useful because it measures things other than cognitive ability (like reading skills and test-taking strategies), and they are only aimed at measuring a certain part of intelligence versus a person's whole learning potential. Also, because people grow and develop at different rates, assessing a person's ability at a certain point in time may not accurately predict future potential.

"Messy Room" by Shel Silverstein storyboard (and I just realized I put them in backwards order...whoops) :)

IP&T 287, Week 3

TPACK is important for teachers because the best teachers will have a thorough knowledge of the content of their subject, understand how to teach their subject, and also know how to effectively incorporate technology into their lessons. If a teacher only has skills in one or two of these areas, students will not have all of their learning needs met. Teachers who incorporate all three of these aspects into their teaching will be able to better meet the needs of their students and help them to reach their full potential.

IP&T 301 Week 3

1.) Some examples of formative assessment would be homework assignments, journal entries, and teacher observation. Examples of summative assessment would be written tests, projects, presentations, and portfolios. Formative assessments can be used as a summative assessment...for example a portfolio of students' homework and journal entries throughout the unit can be used as a summative assessment at the end of the unit.

2.) Standardized achievement tests assess students' current knowledge and understanding while aptitude tests assess students' capacity or potential to learn in the future. Both tests can be either criterion-referenced or norm-referenced.

3.) I don't think Alexandria should be too alarmed yet. While the scores may have fallen slightly from the previous year, like Mr. Whitney said, they are still within the average range. The school should definitely look into implementing some changes to help students achieve higher scores for the next year, but I don't think any radical changes are necessary just yet. If the trend continues and test scores get lower and lower, than there would be cause for concern.

4.) I feel like I understand how to interpret test scores now. This will help me as a teacher when I'm explaining test results to students, parents, and school administrators. It will also help me as a parent to not freak out when my child only scores in the 65th percentile or to brag that my 7-year-old has a 6th grade reading level because his GE score is 6.3. After reading Module 6, I more strongly support the use of frequent and varied assessment. I want to use many forms of informal, formal, and authentic assessment to better understand what my students know and to give them more opportunities to feel successful.

Where do I even begin...pretty much every single thing I did on this assignment was new to me.  I had created a webpage before in a high school computer class, but we barely spent any time on it and I didn't remember anything.  While this assignment definitely took a lot of time (and a fair amount of frustration), I feel pretty confident that I could fairly quickly and effectively make a webpage, embed and attach links, and upload documents and pictures.  By doing this assignment, I am starting to have my eyes opened to how useful and FUN this stuff can be.  There are so many resources available online, and it is wonderful to know exactly how to access the endless possibilities and bring them into my classroom.

Skyping with Megan :)

Facebook Video

IP&T 301 Week 2

1.) Bloom’s Taxonomy divides thinking into higher-order and lower-order levels. The six levels are 1.) Remembering 2.) Understanding 3.) Applying 4.) Analyzing 5.) Evaluating 6.) Creating.
2.) If a test is valid, it successfully measures what it is supposed to measure: if it is meant to test how well students can add fractions, the test should ask students to add different fractions. If a test is reliable, the test results are consistent. This means that if a student took the same test twice, the score should be the same. Tests must be valid because it allows teachers to see how well the students’ learned the material and/or how well the material was taught. Tests also need to be reliable so teachers can know that the test will accurately and consistently measure the knowledge and abilities of the students.
3.) Assessing the final draft of a research paper would be product performance assessment. Assessing the research strategies, brainstorming activities, rough drafts, as well as the final draft would be process performance assessment.
4.) Performance assessments can be evaluated using checklists (does the paper have a topic sentence?), rating scales (was the student’s research thorough and useful? Rate unsatisfactory, good, outstanding, etc), and rubrics (5 points for a creative title, 4 points for an appropriate title, etc).
5.) Even teachers that genuinely have their students’ best interests at heart can unknowingly be affected by assessment bias if they are not careful. I know that for myself, if I know that a student really tries hard to succeed, I would want to grade them more generously than a student who puts forth little effort, even if they obviously do not have a perfect understanding of the subject matter. Even if teachers try to be fair and unbiased, some of their assumptions and conceptions about their students will unintentionally affect their grading if they are not careful.

Technology Background

I can't really remember a time when I didn't use a computer. As a little kid I remember playing these educational games on our home computer. Both of my parents are pretty good with technology—my dad works with computers in his profession as a high school teacher and my mom graduated from BYU with a minor in computer science—so I was always able to get help from them with technology problems and questions. I have always had a Macintosh computer at home and now have an Apple laptop, so I am most comfortable with Macs. I love using computers...browsing the web, emailing, facebook, organizing photos, etc. I don't consider myself super technologically savvy, but I feel pretty competent using computers for most of the basics.