Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
Goal--create a summative assessment each 9 weeks that incorporates the major genre focused on for the 9 weeks
Actions--research examples of summative assessment; use my Techonology Integration Specialist and/or Liteacy Coach to help design the assessment; gather ideas from colleagues, classmates, members of English Companion Ning
I have made a bit of headway working on this goal. The students will begin working on a multi-genre project this 9 weeks. The project, however, will be completed during the 4th 9 weeks. We will begin on the students multi-genre project by using the inquiry plan that I created in the Information Literacy/Online Inquiry Class. We will spend 3 weeks learning the proper way to perform online inquiries. The product to come from this portion of the assignment will be a concept map organizing the information the students collected during their "hunt." The map must include links, and embed an audio or video clip.
I sat down with the literacy coach and mapped out this 9 week's plans, ideas for mini-lessons, etc. We discussed ways to incorporate technology, but not so much for the final product, more as aids for struggling students. My next step is to sit down with my TIS to gather more ideas, to help firm up some plans, and to schedule some team teaching days.
For the 4th 9 weeks, the students will complete the project by writing anywhere from 7-9 genre to present their information. This will definitely include technology, and may even be fully presented technologically. I have not decided on the assessments for 1st or 2nd quarter yet, and I will be working toward that once I've completed the plans for 3rd and 4th 9 weeks.
Throughout my coursework with Walden, I have been introduced to many programs that I would like to introduce to my students. I just need to sit down and reaccquaint myself with some of them. I shared some of the different sites with the students so they can begin playing with them and familiarize themselves with them, including: http://www.xtranormal.com/ , http://www.wordle.net/ , and http://www.tagxedo.com/ .
Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Goal--turn my LexConnect page from just one of information to one of learning, reteaching, enrichment, and parent resources to help students
Action--look at other teacher's LexConnect page, ask parents what would be helpful items for them to see, ask the students what type of content would be most beneficial for them to see, consult with my TIS to use LexConnect to its fullest capabilities
Sadly, with all of the progress I made on the first goal, I have not made much on this goal at all. Honestly, I didn't even update my LexConnect page this week. What I need to do is gather some information from the parents about information that they would find helpful on LexConnect (my teacher web page). I plan to send out a survey created on http://www.surveymonkey.com/ . Again, I will use my TIS as a major resource. I will ask her (and through her, the TIS learning community) to show me exemplary teacher web pages, so I can gather ideas. I also need to learn more about the capabilities of "Angel," which is the name of the network that houses our webpages. I think it is a lot like Blackboard or eChalk, or maybe be the most recent incarnation of one of them. This is the first year our district is using it, and it has only been up and running since mid-October. So, I will take any advice, hints, tips, etc.!
Sounds like you've made a lot of progress on your goals! Don't be so hard on yourself about the second goal. You just happened to focus more on the first one this past week. We only have so much time to work on implementing new technology! Having your students consolidate their work at the end of the year into a class web site would be a great way for them to showcase their projects and create a time capsule of their work. You mentioned using a former class we took as a resource for implementing some technology. I know in one of our former classes we were put into groups to create a web site which contained different themed pages. Looking back at that course material might provide some ideas or help explain how to create some of the project ideas you have.
ReplyDeleteDebb,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting these sites again. We have come across so many great ideas and websites, but I do not have them all down in one place.
I did remember Wordle and my students use the website to create posters with words they associated with the book they are presently reading. I was talking to one of the other langauge arts teachers on my hall, and she was telling me there is a site you can create character posters. She couldn't remember the name but was going to see if she could find it for me. Now that I have started asking and around and running some of my ideas across other educators, I am gathering some great websites. I will put a list together and pass them on.
Awesome that would be great!
ReplyDeleteYou know for the inquiry class we create a social bookmarking account. Do you remember which one you used? De.lic.ious or diigo? If we can get on the same page and use the same one, we can share links and just continue adding. We can also get colleagues not only from class, but also from our schools and districts to join and contribute. I think we'd build up a pretty impressive list of sites!