Reflection Module 5b

This module has helped me think about self-directed learners and the role of differentiation in the following ways

I have a very involved plan for my Project Based Lesson and I can see where specific and direct instructions would be needed for students with special needs. This blog post explains what I would like to do for those students. I will discuss accommodations for students learning english as their second language, students with learning disabilities, and gifted students.

Nonnative Speakers

These students are one's who are learning English as their second language. Students who are learning a new language and at the same time learning complex biology concepts, have an extreme disadvantage. But, with assistive technologies, many of these struggles can be overcome. I have seen google translate work well for one of my Japanese speaking students. At times, I have translated powerpoint text from the slides to Japanese using google translate. This is definitely something I would like to use for my unit plan. Another specific thing I can do in my PBL is to constantly check for understanding. I will ask questions such as "Do you understand the instructions?" or "Does that make sense to you?" I would also like to give the student a copy of the CFQs in their native language. This might clear up some major communication issues.

Gifted/Talented Students

For these students, I want to make sure that I keep them engaged. I might offer them a more difficult task for their project. I might give these students the option of creating a movie instead of a presentation. This might allow the gifted students to have more of an open-ended approach, which would satisfy the higher order thinking that they crave. I would direct students to websites that have more of a scientific literature approach. These would pose more of a challenge for them to read, but at the same time the knowledge would enrich their project. Careful placement of gifted students is key to keeping the students engaged in the lesson. I would make sure that the student or students isn't in a group that requires too much of a load, meaning the student needs to be in a group that balances the work well.

Special Needs Students

Whether students have hearing impairments, visual impairments, reading impairments, physical disabilities or learning disabilities, all these students need a fair chance to learn no matter what their disability. Here are some accommodations I could use them:

• Redirecting students if they become off task
• Make sure to include prior knowledge activities to help students relate to the topic
• · Ask the students to repeat the instructions back to the instructor
• · Give students with speech imparities voice software
• · Provide students with graphic organizers with their thoughts for their own project
• · Students with visual imparities may use magnification options for their computers
• Dictation for students who have trouble writing

I feel like these accommodation is an essential part of my Unit Plan. Now you have a look into my Unit plan accommodations. I will not only use some of these strategies at the same time, but I will make sure that I use some of them for my other students, because they might benefit from these. Assistive technology is found everywhere. They are also found built into your computer, or maybe it is a device that assists the student navigate on the computer, such as a joy stick. I hope this plan will allow me as an educator to become more self-aware of students with learning challenges.

Reflection Module 5a

This module has helped me think about student-centered assessment in the following ways

Student Feedback

I learned that students have an active role in assessment in a student-centered classroom. I have completed projects in my class before, but I can't say that students were involved in the feedback process. I think I can see how this would benefit my students. If they can receive some peer feedback during and after the project, they can see another's point-of-view rather than their teacher's.

Challenge

A challenge that I will be facing is not developing an assessment plan that works for all students. This seems like an impossible task, but I will use the tools that I have gained from this module to help me. Student feedback and meaningful learning will be my focus on this project.

I must say that I completely failed the formative assessment in this module. On reflecting on how I assess higher order thinking, I can't say that I do a very good job. I know I have students working on activities to help them master a concept, but I'm not sure how much higher order thinking is taking place. I certainly need to work on how I assess students in this way.

My Ideas of Assessment

I have found some great resources through the Intel Education eReader. I think these assessments are just as helpful to the students as it would be for me. The checklist I found was great. It shows how students go through the steps of the scientific process. There were also conference questions that would be a great guide for me to use for students to see where they are in their project and give them feedback on what they need to work on. There was also a great rubric that can be given to students so they may see what is acceptable in their project.

What does my Assessment Plan look like?

The Assessment Planning table really helped me find and create some great ways to assess my student learning throughout the learning process. Here are some of the tools I will use:

• Critical thinking Checklist
• Diseased Ecosystem graphic organizer 
• Prior Knowledge Journal
• Conference Questions with groups
• Final Product Rubric
• Scoring guide

Final Thoughts

I have had concerns in the past about how I would assess student learning in a project based lesson. This activity has shown me some strategies and tools I can use to do just that. So much of my fears on project based learning are how will students receive a grade? What will I add to the grade book when students are finished with a project like this? I am still struggling with this, but now I have some great ways to assess my students.

Module 4 Reflection

Here are my thoughts on student samples and how I can assess and support student learning using technology.

Here is the Essential Question for our course this semester:

How can technology be used most effectively to support and assess student learning?

Students use technology everyday because it is a part of their lives. I believe we can make learning much more meaningful to students if we use their strengths. Technology is definitely a strength for the majority of students in schools today. Allowing the students to use technology as a learning tool opens the door for more meaningful learning. I think about my project-based lesson and try to imagine how it would have been without the use of technology. My students' projects would be limited to what they could find in a text book. But, by allowing students to use the endless sources and communication that is available through technology, my students can produce a product that is worth something to them.

Technology can be used for collaborative communication with google hangouts or google documents. We can use technology that allows students to create a multimedia project that expresses a student's own perspective on a topic. Technology is a great source for students to gather information and organize it by using websites like Symbaloo. One additional way technology can be used is to keep students on task and focused. This can be done by using online checklists, providing peer feedback, and by teacher comments on blogs.

I also believe that learning is not all about the technology. In order for technology to be effective, teachers must identify what technology tools will be the most useful in a particular project. We must allow students to be creative and express themselves in different ways. Technology is great for this, but we don't have to use technology exclusively. There are many ways that technology can be used in a project-based lesson that are used for support of the project development instead of the main focus.

When planning my student sample, I really had a hard time picking what the sample should be. Should I have a presentation that shows a summary of the student's findings or a news article that explains the students findings as a publication. I decided that the presentation would be the most appropriate choice, since the students assume the roles of scientists. This would give them more of an authentic experience presenting their findings to the community instead of adding an article in a newspaper.

I also quickly realized that I must keep the project open enough to where the different groups have different products, but there are clear expectations as to what should be included in their presentations. I'm still trying to find the best way to relay those expectations to my students, so that is a work in progress. I need to make sure that my students include our Curriculum-Framing Questions with answers in their presentation. I have already changed some of my content questions because of my student sample. I also want my students to add the objectives to this presentation so they know what they are expected to know by the end of this project.

Here are my 21st Century Skills I hope to cover in my project-based lesson:

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
Leadership and Responsibility
Productivity and Accountability
Communication and Collaboration

I believe that using groups and asking the groups to present their findings will cover these 21st Century Skills. The students must think critically in order to design a response plan to eradicate a disease. The students will assume the leadership role as a scientist, explaining and teaching the community. The students will be held accountable with checklists and understanding checks throughout the project. The students will communicate with one another and come up with the best solution for their disease response plan.