Final Posting (EDLD 5398)

I have thoroughly enjoyed the progress and the experiences of what this internship had to offer. Coming into this program, I honestly did not know what to expect, however the professors, the instructional associates, and my classmates have done a tremendous job and helping me succeed throughout the course of this program.  I still do not know if I would want to become a principal, because technology is my passion. However, I do believe this program has prepared me to train my peers to become 21st-century educators. This program is also trained me to turn our students into 21st-century learners. I cannot wait to see what good comes out of the skills I have learned and leadership opportunities I have been given. Thank you Lamar University for preparing me for the next level!
-Andres Chavez, EDLD 5398
 

5326 Reflection

This course has honestly been on of the most enjoyable courses that I have taken in this program.  I thought the timing of this course was perfect because it was the first one of the semester, which also happened to be when our campus was seeking out community involvement.  To be honest, when it comes to volunteering for school events on my campus, I usually turn a deaf ear to them. However, this year I wanted to see exactly how community involvement worked and what all went "behind the scenes." Sure enough, majority of what we talked about in class was talked about at school. We discussed the importance of Title 1 funds and how they impacted the classroom. We also met together for the first time as a Site Based Decision Making Committee to go over the goals for the year. Finally, the day before this course ended, we had our first school event which was a "Bingo Night" at our campus. The turnout was tremendous! I am glad that this course started when it did! I was able to get so much out of it mainly because I started becoming involved in my school!

Action Research Summary

I am currently putting the finishing touches on my Action Research Project.  My project was to see if a behavior modification program would have any effect on the overall grades and behaviors of a 5th grade class on our campus. For this program, each student was listed on a website with an avatar next to their name. Students would accumulate points over time in which the points could be redeemed for prizes.  Students would be given a point when they were either "on task" "raising their hand" and a few other categories. Students would be deducted a point if they "talked" "did not bring their homework" or "being disrespectful." The biggest component of this software was the fact that each time a point was awarded for positive behavior, a bell would ring and alert the student(s) that a point was being awarded. However, when a point was deducted from a student, a negatively sounding bell would sound, alerting the class that someone had lost a point.  I started off with student's first 9-week grades and used that as a baseline. I used the 2nd and 3rd weeks to run my experiment. By the 4^th nine weeks, there had been so many students switching classes for standardized testing purposes that it became impossible to record data accurately.  As much as the teacher enjoyed using this software, unfortunately, there was no major change in the grades of the students. However, the teacher did explain to me that he did notice an overall improvement in how the students behaved in their class that year.

My Group's Collaborative Lesson

**Click Here to View our Collaborative Project**

EDLD 5364: Final Reflection

This course definitely helped me see learning from all sides. As an Elementary Technology Teacher, there are times that lessons can be so routine that one may forget the importance of diverse learning. One of the useful tools that I have learned in this course was the basics of what the Constructivist Theory is all about. According to my readings, "... Learners take in information, process it to fit their personal frameworks, and build new understanding. " (Bagely & Hunter). As I began to continue to research how the Constructivist Theory could be used, I started to look for real world applications I could use in the classroom. Sure enough, this past week in my 3rd grade Computer Class, we were introducing spreadsheets, which was a new concept for most of the 3rd graders. Instead of having them just watch the lesson via video, we decided to play "Bingo" in which students would have to get four cells in a row using the cell addresses. As we wrapped up for the day, I thought, "Hey! This is the Constructivist Theory at its best!" Students were taking information they already knew (playing a Bingo game) and turning it into new information (how cell addresses work.)

Another concept that was introduced was that of UDL. For this course, we as a group had to create a lesson plan targeting different learning groups. For instance, while my task may have to create lessons for a GT students, other members would have to create theirs for below leveled students, special education students, blind students, etc. What UDL helped me understand was that while we were all trying to get the same lesson taught, the way we taught it to our particular group was completely different. The interesting thing about this particular project was the fact that we had to align our lesson with various ISTE Standards to keep us accountable. I can safely say that our group did a wonderful job in working together to achieving our goal.

Another concept that was of interest to me this semester was the study of technology integration in the classroom. One of the articles I had read this semester was a study to see if technology in the classroom had any effect on student achievement (Page, 2002). What was surprising to see was the fact that they conducted their research in a low socioeconomic part of town. I also in a very low income district, so I was definitely interested to see what this study would find. Sure enough, after the experiment was conducted, Page discovered that there had been a significant improvement in mathematics achievement. Although that this study was done ten years ago, I am certain that if a new study was done in 2012, the results would show that technology integration in the classroom would result in higher scores. As a matter of fact, last week in our monthly Instructional Technology meeting, one of the teachers had said they they opened up the computer lab to classes when it was not being used. That particular classroom teacher had told us that she had seen a major improvement in her student's reading abilities.

The final week of this course was by far the most engaging for me. It talked a lot about Web 2.0 tools and how powerful they can be. Some of my team for this course had the opportunity to go to the TCEA conference where they stressed various Web 2.0 tools. Although I am all for Web 2.0 tools, my hope is that teachers do not replace internet based lessons for actual teaching. If a teacher is putting their students in front of a computer and expecting them to teach themselves content, it is as if they are giving a student a textbook and expecting them to teach themselves.

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, (1999). Learning as a personal event: A brief introduction to constructivism. Retrieved on March 31, 2012 from http://www.sedl.org/pubs/tech26/intro2c.html

Page, M.S. (2002). Technology-enriched classrooms: Effects on students of low socioeconomic status. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 34(4), 389-409. Retreived March 31, 2012 from the International Society of Education at http://www.itse.org/am/template.cfm?section=number_4_summer_20021&template=membersonly.cfm&contentfileid=830

EDLD 5364: Week 5 Reflection

Week 5 Reflection

One of the major themes of this week’s learning was the focus of Web 2.0 tools. A web 2.0 tool is simply where a student can create, work on, or interact with other peers towards a common goal. One of the main quotes that stood out in this week’s reading was, “…one this is certain: we are at the very beginning of this evolution and many of you reading this book will be creating new ideas and projects that others will want to hear about…” (Solomon & Schrum). I find this to be true mainly because Web 2.0 tools simply provide a gateway to synergized world of student engagement. One of the Web 2.0 tools that I have started using ever since I had returned from TCEA is screencasting. Screencasting is simply recording activity from your computer and sharing it with the world. (In this case, my classes.) I have used screencasting to show students how to put spreadsheets together. Students really enjoy it mainly because they can go at their own pace, and do not have to wait for the teacher to come help them with step by step instructions.

Although Web 2.0 tools can be very powerful, we as educators must be very careful and not let the tool become a replacement for teaching. I have seen many teachers start using games and other “busy work” in the name of Web 2.0 tools. I believe that if use correctly, Web 2.0 tools can help students achieve greater success in the classroom.

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, OR: International Technology in Education, 168-176.

EDLD 5364: Week 4 Reflection

Week 4 Reflection

The topic that I learned mostly about this week came out of the article, “ Using UDL to Accurately Assess Student Progress.” When reading the article, I immediately felt as if we have been doing everything backwards, or have veered off track when it comes to assessing student progress. The four main factors that the article tells us that we are facing when it comes to proper UDL assessment are, diverse learning differences, media constraints, lack of appropriate support and lack of integration with curriculum. The greatest concern that I have with UDL is the fact that I think it focuses mostly on a “perfect word” scenario. From my point of view, we do have programs in place to serve the students, however when it comes to assessment, it is normally conducted the same way for each student. Although the ideas of computer aided, text-to-speech, assessments seem ideal, many schools that I know of do not utilize those resources.

One of the other factors that did seem ideal, yet can be taken out of context is lack of appropriate supports. The article suggested that teachers may be concerned that students use various devices, (word processors, calculators, electronic dictionaries, etc) as means of cheating on assessments. While I can see how the author sees how one may become dependent on these devices, one should not forget that these devices can be very helpful to diverse learners. Just the other day a student who had terrible hand writing, approached me, asking if they could type their homework due to the fact of their messy handwriting. I told the student that I was okay with that. I also told them to check their spelling using the spell check tool. In the end, both the student and teacher had a win-win situation.

Rose, D & Meyer, A. (2002). Teaching every student in the digital age: Universal design for learning. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Available online at the Center for Applied Special Technology Web site. Chapter 7. Retrieved on March 23, 2012, from http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes/