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Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences
and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:
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2a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate
digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
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I believe that students are more apt to learn when they are actively
engaged in their own education. In our classes, we have discussed many ways to engage students, and I have tried to put some
of those ideas into practice. I have adapted many of my lessons by adding technology, both to the teacher and the student
versions of the lesson. Instead of my former, traditional lecture based lessons, I now use a variety of delivery methods including
Power Point and Smart Board presentations. My students are more involved in the lessons, even to the point of taking the role
of class expert on a section and then sharing their 'expertise' with the rest of the class. The students use the
internet for research and then use Power Point, Microsoft Publisher, Photo Story or Movie Maker to share their research results
with the class. I use the Intel Tools in several of my lessons. These free tools encourage students to use reasoning and thinking skills as they work together
to create a project. I also created a Zoomerang survey to find out what my students thought about using timelines as part of my timeline research. My First Americans Unit Plan,
Land Rights Unit Plan, and Battle of Champion Hill lesson plan all show ways that I am integrating technology into my classroom. I also created a Jeopardy game to help my students
review the Illinois Constitution.
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2b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable
all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals,
managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
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As part of my district Technology team, I helped create a plan for
our students to develop their own learning portfolios. The students start their portfolio in 5th grade, then add to it each
year. When the students leave our Junior High building at the end of their 8th grade year, they burn their portfolio
file to a CD which they keep. This gives them a progressive record of their educational projects during Junior High. The
project ran into difficulties last year as our grant ended, taking time and money from the project, and we had a large
turnover of teachers in the district. We plan to restart the project this coming year.
I used an "All About Me" project to introduce Power Point to my students and to have them design
a presentation, and the Land Rights Unit Plan encouraged students to collaborate on a project and then assess their results.
I created a Seeing Reason map rubric (linked in the box below) using the INTEL Tools for Teachers so that my students could evaluate their Seeing Reason project and know if they met my expectations on the project.
We also used Study Island for curriculum review and test preparation. Students could work at their own pace and the records section allowed them to
monitor their own progress.
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2c. customize and personalize learning activities to address
students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
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Nicholas Negroponte said
“We may be a society with far fewer learning-disabled children and far more teaching-disabled environments than currently
perceived. The computer changes this by making us more able to reach children with different learning and cognitive styles.” Many
learning-disabled students can be successful in the regular classroom if they have appropriate technology available and have
the necessary skills to be able to use that technology effectively. I’ve seen the most improvement in the area of creative
writing. Word processing programs allowed our students more freedom and ease in writing without having to struggle with
handwriting and spelling issues. Students whom I used to have to push even to write a simple paragraph are now writing effective
essays. They don’t mind having to edit and make corrections since it is easy to do on the computer. One of my students
said to me "I never knew I could write so much!" After using Inspiration 8 to make an outline before writing an essay, another student said "I
always knew I had a lot to say, but I didn't know how to organize my thoughts. Inspiration made it easy and fun to do!"
I also made a Jeopardy
game to help my students review for the Illinois Constitution test, and I designed a website for my unit on geometry. I used the Web Design Document (linked below) to identify the needs
of my audience (my students), and to design a website that would address those needs.
During my Technology Leadership
class, I collaborated with other students to complete a case study of a student with learning disabilities. Through this activity
I learned there are numerous resources online for learning about disabilities and finding tools and methods to help disabled students
succeed in class.
I have a CD version of my Social Studies textbook.
I am able to show pages from the textbook on my Smart Board, which allows me to visually highlight or circle key points from
the text. This helps my visual learners who need to see what I am trying to draw to their attention. The CD version of the
textbook also has a narration available. The narration is beneficial for my students who have difficulty reading the text
on their own. They can read along with the narration and have access to the information even though their reading skills are
below level.
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2d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and
summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
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I was a member of the Assessment Committee that chose to purchase
Study Island for our school district. This program is a good supplemental resource and is valuable not only for test preparation but also
for assessing student progress. Students are able to proceed at their own pace and review as necessary to reach mastery of
grade level subjects. As a teacher, I especially like the reports that show time spent on a question, number of attempts,
level achieved, and areas that need to be reviewed. I also am in the process of putting my tests on the Senteo program. Students use our clickers when they take a test, and they have immediate feedback on their results.
My students use rubrics to assess their own work and to check to see if they are meeting expectations.
I also used Microsoft Word to develop checklists for assessing individual skills. One example is my checklist for reasoning
skills. I can use this simple checklist to evaluate my students as they work on projects. The speaking assessment (linked
below) is a checklist for oral presentations.
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Comments or questions: glister@westerncusd12.org
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