As we are wrapping up this program, I am thankful for taking it when we did. You can say it is lucky that we have decided to get our masters in Innovative Learning just when Covid-19 really took us for a spin, but these skills we have learned from this program are not only helpful for distance learning but they will innovate and push our regular classroom life forward. I am excited to take these new skills and tools and really put them to work in my classroom this coming school year (or through distance learning if that happens). I am thankful for this experience and honestly can say I am not scared to implement technology to enhance my students learning.
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VALUES
Touro University California is a university under Jewish auspices founded upon the universal values of commitment to social justice, intellectual pursuit, and service to humanity. As such, Touro University California is dedicated to the following:
I will be sharing my work with collegues if asked about it or if it comes up in conversation. This work will definitely continue to change my classroom for the better. I will always protect direct writing instruction no matter what grade level I am teaching. When I think of Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK), as an educator I think about balancing it all to make a great learning environment for our students. As teachers we are given curriculum and technology, often with no training and we are expected to implement it like we have been using it our entire lives. Well as humans it is hard to pick up new things and be able to use it right away with no background knowledge or practice. Part of our job however is to be able to implement technology in a way to build student knowledge of the content we are teaching. Since there won't always be the funding to receive proper training with technology, teacher's need to be willing to adapt and test out technology with their students. Using the TPACK model, it is possible to do that. Instead of making technology the focus point, it should be the piece that enhances the content. What I have noticed is that often teachers get so caught up with the fact that their boss wants technology being used, that they use it in everything possible just to use it and calling that innovative. When in reality students are not learning the content. Instead they are just using technology. When TPACK is implemented correctly, technology is enhancing the content not replacing the content. "Effective technology integration for pedagogy around specific subject matter requires developing sensitivity to the dynamic, transactional relationship between these components of knowledge situated in unique contexts. Individual teachers, grade-level, school-specific factors, demographics, culture, and other factors ensure that every situation is unique, and no single combination of content, technology, and pedagogy will apply for every teacher, every course, or every view of teaching" (mkoehler, tpack.org). As educator's we need to find what works for us. We need to take our content knowledge and find activities and tools that will help get the content across to our students. It has been proven that technology enhances student knowledge and engagement if done correctly. Choose what works best for you and what is best for your current students. Remember what the purpose of your lessons are and then choose tools and techniques to enhance that content and build your students knowledge. Technology and writing is often scary for teachers at the elementary level. Especially grades K-3. When in reality it should be embraced and pushed. Yes, students need to learn how to physically write with a pencil and paper, especially in primary grades. However, I noticed that my third graders were at a disadvantage when it came time to prepping for CAASPP. Third grade is the first time they are required to take a state test that is completely computerized. In this test, students are required to type essays. While of course third grade teachers implement typing skills into test prep for third grade. I believe that typing should be implemented prior to third grade. Preferably in first or second grade. Our goal as teachers today is to help students become college and career ready. Typing is a skill that is required to be college and career ready. Not only is typing going to help students be college and career ready, it will help them be ready to communicate in society in general. Typing is not just about prepping third graders for a test, it is about creating well rounded and 21st century skilled students. There are multiple typing resources online that you can use. I have two free websites that I highly recommend and encourage: for primary grades and typing.com for grades 2 and up. Typing is just one way to begin implementing technology into elementary classrooms. I have also learned the importance of finding tools that can help enhance learning, like storyboardthat.com. Implementing tools that keep student engaged and help students understand the content and standards being taught is the most important thing. Tools like kahoot.com can help test young students in a fun way and give you data about student knowledge. Creating videos instead of having students physically write, can help them work out themes and create a beginning, middle, and end to their narrative. Having student speak what they want into a tool that will put their speech to text is a great way to meet the needs of students who are below grade level. There are so many tools that can enhance learning, it is our job as educators to seek out those tools and implement them. Napa Valley Unified School District's strategic plan for 2019 - 2022 states:
2. Students experience responsive, engaging pedagogy
Create a community of learners that empowers others to reach high levels of performance to achieve the District's vision through feedback, professional learning communities, and use of best adult learning and leadership practices. Canyon Oaks Elementary Mission Statement: Canyon Oaks students will acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to help them develop a lifetime love of learning. Canyon Oaks Elementary Vision Statement: All students will master grade level standards in a learning environment that supports inquiry and collaboration for students and teachers as they make meaning of knowledge. After doing some digging these are statements that I have found, there is not much about technology in the statements. I know from working in the district a short four years, that technology use is highly encouraged. We received new promethean boards this school year and while that is exciting, we did not get much of a training before hand. While I know there were MANY virtual training's when everything went to technology for distance learning. I didn't feel like there was any training's from the district for technology prior to Covid-19. It kinda felt like technology is a great tool, you should use it, but we are not giving you any training's to be successful with it. I truly believe that the District wants to incorporate technology in the classroom, however I believe until all teachers are given the training to integrate it beyond the mandatory programs (i.e. iRead, ST Math, System 44, testing) than the district will not be as innovative as they could be. When it came time to choose our topic I already knew I wanted to focus on writing. It is such an important skill for students and it makes me sad that people really don't know how to write papers. I was one of those people and my skills really didn't develop until my senior year of high school and only because of the teacher that I had. When I was in college I still struggled and even now I don't see myself as a writer. When I started teaching, I really was getting frustrated with not seeing great growth in my students writing. I didn't like how my lessons were going and often writing lessons would get pushed aside for something "more important". I knew that doing this masters program would give me the best opportunity to focus on writing in my classroom because it was going to force me to focus and spend time on it with my students. I am so glad that I did because not only did I learn great tools for teaching my students and I honestly believe my students made significant progress. However, due to Covid-19 I will not get the chance to see my students CAASPP test scores because state tests were canceled with Distant learning taking place of in school sessions.
After completing this program and wrapping up my research rounds, I will be taking all this work and continuing focusing on student writing in the years to come. Next school year I will be teaching first grade and while my writing lessons will look significantly different I know that the basics of teaching writing is the same. Allow collaboration time, give visuals, model model model, and include technology tools for engagement. I'm not really sure how I will bring this work into the world, I am an introverted, shy, person who does not like to talk about herself. I see myself bringing up my work when it fits into the conversation. Jennifer Perkins Capstone
The audience for Perkin's capstone is fellow teachers who are looking for ways to increase performance and motivation in a math classroom. This teacher did a great job at presenting their work. I love her graphics and I enjoyed looking through her lessons page. I think this as a teacher would be the most helpful section when it comes to trying to implement what Perkins is saying. Her presentation of the assessments was also a great way to promote her work. Rafael Garcia Avila The audience for Garcia's capstone is also geared towards teachers. He is talking to teachers who are looking to use coding and robotics in a math classroom. I love how he had students give testimonies on his website. I think that is a great way to help promote his research and give some value behind it. I also love the pictures he added to his website. These images give a great visual to his work and research. Again, I think the lessons section of the capstone is awesome for giving other teachers resources to try these studies themselves. After going through different capstones, I believe my capstone will also be geared towards other teachers. My focus is on how to teach narrative writing to third grade students that is common core and CAASPP aligned. My capstone is focusing on how to teach writing, so I don't see students benefiting from reading or seeing my capstone because they are not teaching, they are learning from what is being taught. I could see administration being a viewer because the lessons or strategies will not always go with the exact curriculum being used and if administration views my capstone and sees the value in my research than that would be important for teacher and student success. However, my core audience would be fellow teachers. |
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