I am so thankful for this program and what I have learned here and the friends I have made. The final video was so difficult to make because there is so much to say and I am definitely not eloquent on my feet. I feel like the video doesn't do my website justice at all or my research rounds. I put so much thought into the design of my website and the content that would go into it. There were definitely some sleepless nights and am glad we're nearly done. Also, it was really helpful to use other people's websites and posters as a basis.
I definitely applied design thinking in my capstone website, the SITE model, and just plain design skills. My OCD took over and I the white space factor was definitely very important. I think I can take what I've learned and make my students learn the same thing (at least in terms of digital tools). I've learned so much about data collection and analysis and digital tools. I feel like I can go and make videos and graphics galore now! I'm grateful for Touro, all of the instructors, and for Napa Learn's support, especially to my cohort 12 members. Thank you for all of the fun times!
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My video is now completed and edited down to 1:34 seconds (6 seconds dedicated to my logo, crediting work, and acknowledgements to Adobe Spark and Touro/Napa Learns). I had to re-record one of my slides because I noticed some static and realized that my sore throat made me sound different and less upbeat than the slide before and after so I spent (more like wasted) so much time recording my voice over for the slide. I am happy with the end product but am still thinking about some of the images that I used, wondering if I should take my own pictures of my classroom.
My poster is not yet started and I feel overwhelmed about having to condense my 38 page research paper, for most was less than 20 pages. I need to add problem, background, need, and literature but still highlight my research methodology, results, and conclusions while trying to add in my second round of research. I think I just need to dive into it and some kind of divine inspiration will come to me, hopefully! I have just finished the stage in which I chose my background colors and font themes. Now it's time for the real work! I don't have anything to show but wish there was more time so that I could get a critical friend to review what I've got once I've got it. More than halfway done with my website and I still I wish I had more time to do it justice. Building my Capstone website was a very interesting experience. I had to take into account my target audience every step of the way and become a web designer to create the ultimate experience for my visitors. Here is my thought process and reflections.
I have learned a lot about myself as a teacher after having done my research on critical thinking and then exploring personalized learning. Said and done, my job at the end of the day is to make sure that I am teaching my students for the future which requires me to teach 21st century skills. What I realized was that I was teaching in the past and not leveraging technology in my classroom enough in order to teach my students for the future mostly because I was not knowledgeable enough but also because I was skeptical. There isn't an exact science to teaching so I have just been putting my feelers out there. How Technology Can Play a Role in Mastery Learning and 21st Century Learning As a new teacher, my first duty was trying to understand PBL/PrBL. I learned what it was, how to design them, and how to implement them (sorta) so I wasn't really focusing on technology use or how it could support learning in my classroom until I entered the Innovative Learning Program. I liked that PBL/PrBL touched on student engagement, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking but it didn't really address the problems I was experiencing with the lack of content mastery. When you think about the skills you need in order to complete a PBL/PrBL units such as critical thinking, in math students really need to have the necessary knowledge base before they can jump from surface level to deeper learning. However, one roadblock seemed to be that 67% of the nation's 8th grade students are not meeting proficiency levels. Thus, my first task was to make sure my students were mastering the content and I wondered how technology might play a role in that. Why the Skepticism I am starting to sound like a broken record but the math content area is really so different from other content areas. I was very frustrated at the fact that a lot of fancy schmancy digital tools worked in other subjects but weren't really applicable to math. All it took to open my mind was a little exposure to new digital tools and be given the time and motivation (a master's degree) to explore them to see what would personally work for me. A lot of teachers don't have the time or motivation because that means doing it on our own time after contract hours. It is time consuming and frustrating for those who are not friends with technology and I am lucky because I was exposed to technology at an early age but technology can be a game changer, especially for the most vulnerable students. This was important to keep in mind because my target audience are also thinking and/or feeling the same way I used to about technology. It is also important to note that before technology can be used effectively, of course there needs to be sound pedagogy and content knowledge. Bumps in the Road in My Second Round of Research I feel like learning about personalized learning and becoming more knowledgeable about digital tools that can help in a math classroom has been a gift. However, I am still struggling with the implementation of it. I have to worry about students having access to devices and internet, that they understand how to use technology appropriately, and that students are able to use their data to create goals independently. With the fires that broke out, there wasn't very much time to roll out my second round of research in the way I wanted to and the amount of time I wanted to dedicate to it. Some students told me they didn't have access to Khan Academy at home, some students weren't motivated to use it because of bad past experiences or just plain lazy, some students weren't familiar with how to navigate Khan Academy, some felt overwhelmed by the amount of assignments from my class and others, as well as for various other reasons. I have collected the assessments, I have graded them, I still need to run T-tests and look through my qualitative data (survey questionnaire). Because of lack of time, I didn't get to experiment with EdPuzzle as much and am wondering if I made my own tutorial videos, if they would've been more effective than Khan Academy or if I was able to embed guiding questions using EdPuzzle, if it would have changed the students' learning experiences. I think there is still a lot more to explore for this research topic. Successes and Frustrations
For my capstone project video, I already have my B-roll in mind and am very happy with my script. The problem with my B-roll is that it is difficult to find stock photos that fit my vision. Therefore, I will probably need to create my own photos and images. I do have a DSLR camera and my cell phone camera is pretty good so I am hopeful that I will be able to produce some good quality photographs and/or video clips but I have yet to experiment. For one of my scenes in which I pan across a classroom with students holding up signs, there is a lot of preparation and planning needed to create something of high quality. I will need to create the signs, think about the classroom layout and whether it will provide the best angle, and experiment with lighting. I will also need to enlist the help of my classes which means I have to take time out of my teaching to do this. In terms of my script, the content is good but I want to make sure that what I am saying has a big impact and will interest potential listeners. My script goes slightly over 90 seconds so I need to cut down some of the language. I already know what I would like to take out or rephrase so I feel pretty confident about my script. I was reading at a slightly quicker pace than I had wanted to so I would like to record it and play it back to listen for any necessary changes which in turn will help me improve my script. I Wonders I would really rather not have a live video clip of me because personally, I am not looking to create a documentary-esque type video. Hence, I am hesitant about inserting a clip of me sitting there reciting lines from a script about the benefits of personalized learning. Who am I and what is my presence going to do for my video? I do not know what effect that would render my video and if it would be a positive or negative thing. Rather than me, I would like to include video clips of classroom engagement and blended learning and I am wondering if I can take clips from videos posted on Edutopia and other educational websites. It would be a pain to stage these clips with my class, it would take time out of learning, and I do not have much extra time to do this before the presentation comes up. On another note, I would of course credit the owners of said video clips I would be using but overall, I do not know if it is frowned upon to add video clips. Most of the time we add stock photos and credit the owners so I wonder if this applies to video clips too. Next Steps In conclusion, I am planning to add my b-roll images, short video clips, words that appear on the screen, my voice over, and background music to create my 90 second video. I will need to create b-roll images that I cannot find stock photos of and I still need to grab video clips if allowed. Guide to Being a Good Critical Friend
At my school site, we refer to critical friend as "friendly feedback" and we utilize a set of protocol that I really love.It loosely looks like:
Desired Feedback from Others For our capstones, the goal is to design a website that draws in visitors. It should contain useful information and be easy to navigate which means the layout and design of the website is a big deal. Thus, color, space, alignment, images/media, organization and content are all important aspects. It is not enough to have information on a page, it should be easy to read as well as understand. Thus, I would like my critical friend to let me know if my content makes sense, if it's too long or too short, and if it presented in a way that is pleasing to the eye. I would want to know if there is too much text, if it is too dry, or if anything looks odd or out of place. I would also like suggestions on how I might make my pages more appealing to visitors. Do I need more images to break up large amounts of text? Do I need to organize the components of the page in a different way for it to be more feng shui? I definitely want to know if something doesn't make sense, if something doesn't belong and needs to be moved elsewhere (to another page maybe), or if things just need to be cut. Last but not least, I would like to know what already looks good so I don't start second guessing myself and unnecessarily revamping and everything in sight. Process In my journey in script writing, first, I listed out each component that would go into my video. I introduced problem and need briefly in various contexts, some statistical data as evidence, the objective of my capstone, key features and components of capstone providing information about personalized learning, and why students and educators should visit my capstone, describing the benefits of implementing personalized learning with the use of digital tools. Second, I make sure that the sentences in the script are concise but impactful. This ensures that when my images pop up on screen that the script flows smoothly with the image and transitions at a good pace rather than having really long sentences for each image. Third, I wrote a short blurb about what kind of B-Roll image(s) or video(s) I could use for each of the components such as an image of students holding cards up that indicates whether they are meeting proficiency or not in red and green that pans across the whole class or a graph/table or image of the statistics and so on. Fourth, I time myself reading the script to make sure that it will only be 90 seconds long and make any changes necessary. Challenges In producing my capstone project video script, I found out that I had to become a more concise writer especially if I am limited to 200 words or the equivalent of a 90 second video. I struggled with what information was relevant and necessary versus what was extraneous, redundant, or could be information I add to my other pages on my capstone. My problem is I always have too much to say and I need a second pair of eyes to tell me what I can cut out because in my eyes, I feel like my intentions or message may be unclear if I cut out anything. I also learned that for the objective of this video, it is better to use less flowery language and be more direct so that my writing is more concise and not unnecessarily wordy but my meaning is still understood. For the problems I encountered, I used the critical friends protocol where I ask someone to proofread my work and give me constructive feedback. Getting that outside perspective is very important for improvement because I know very well what my intentions are in my head, it is hard to tell if my work is reflecting what is already in my head. In the end, I asked my boyfriend for his advice, continuously proofread my stuff, and did a lot of revisions, editing, and omissions. Video Editor In the end I chose to use none of the suggested video editors. I will be using Adobe Spark because I am already familiar with the features of it and how to navigate. The video you download is also in the right format. One of my favorite features of Adobe Sparks is that it allows me to record and re-record each slide separately as many times as I want so I do not have to record everything in one take. I remember creating my 8 minute 30 second video about critical thinking for one of the classes and I had to record everything in one take and if I messed up, I had to record it all over again. At the end of it my voice and throat were shot. You can upload images that you want as well as any videos you want and it gives you music tracks to choose from. I will be using different image editors to create B-Roll images for my video. I like to use MS Paint, Canva, Logomakr, and even MS PowerPoint for editing images. Logomakr Review In creating my logo, I experimented and ended up choosing to use Logomakr. There were a few pros and cons, but more pros. I think the ease and simplicity of the tool really appealed to me and there is also a way to get a low quality version of it for free just by crediting the website. High quality versions are also available and are just $19 which is comparable to many of the other logo makers around. Pros First, I will discuss the pros. The Logomakr website is very user friendly and offers up a large range of graphics to choose from. There is also a wide range of fonts and styles in terms of choosing text. Users can choose to change the color of any graphic or text simply by dragging the cursor over the color the user want and customize it to be brighter, darker, and so on. Users can also rotate, reflect, stretch, or squeeze graphic and fonts by clicking and dragging. There is a feature that allows the user to see grid lines for easy alignment of graphics and texts when dragging the item around, the lines will appear. Other general features include shapes, paint bucket, undo, trash, and cropping. Finally, there is a FAQ page, video tutorial, and a professional custom logo option starting $195 or $299 for UNLIMITED revisions which would normally cost thousands of dollars. Cons and Loopholes There were a few cons. First, font sizes are not numbered such as size 24 font. Users may drag the corner of a text or graphic to enlarge or decrease the font size but size is generally measured and given in pixel height and width. This may be a given for graphic designers but every time the user wants to add new text and match the original size, they would have to match the pixel height of the original. The loophole around that is to highlight the text box, copy, paste, and edit the text. Changing the color of an item is easy enough but to change each item to the same color creates a similar problem as changing font sizes. When changing the color of each item, the customized color the user has chosen earlier is not saved to a bar for easy access later. Users must note the particular color code such as “60b0f4” which is a type of pale blue and try to match the color code. I ran into this problem when trying to change each letter of a word into a rainbow theme. Each time I circled back to the same color, I had to try to match the same exact red, green, or whatever. Experimenting later, I found a loophole using the paint bucket feature which allows the user to highlight the items they desire to be the same color without having to match the color code. However, even though this is a solution, it is only a partial solution. The paint bucket feature will allow users to change an item to another color in its entirety but not individual letters of a word. Lastly, there was no upload option to add a user’s personal graphics that I could see but there is an option to get customized logos for $195+ in which the user is matched with a project manager that consults with the user. User Guide Steps for getting started include searching for graphics, deciding on the text font, style, size and color and background color if desired (such as a blue background behind the text and graphics). Play around with the graphics using reflect, rotate, sizing, and coloring. Save your logo which takes you to a page to purchase the logo, save it for free by giving Logomakr credit, or saving the link provided at the bottom of the page for future edits and alterations. (Also, check out the screenshots below.) Educational Technology Mission Statement At American Canyon Middle School we do not have an educational technology mission statement nor is there anything explicitly mentioned within as observed by the following, “Inspiring and preparing students today for the possibilities of tomorrow by instilling the 4 “C”s (Critical Thinking, Communication, Collaboration & Creativity) in a respectful, safe, collaborative community by utilizing clear expectations and focusing on strengthening relationships.” Although our school does not mention educational technology usage within our vision statement, American Canyon Middle School’s vision and goals are aligned with the Napa Valley Unified School District vision and goals which states, “Our mission is to transform lives by instilling 21st Century skills and to inspire lifelong learning.” Under this statement and in more detail, the NVUSD website describes the district as a student-centered and 21st Century school district that emphasizes instruction that enables student ownership of their learning, use of technology to enhance learning, and ensuring student active participation and engagement in personalized educational experiences. There is also emphasis on technology-rich classrooms that engage students in relevant, rigorous inquiries aligned to Common Core standards. Specifically, there are three goals: (1) preparing all students for College and Careers, (2) providing equitable access and opportunities to close the achievement gap, and (3) instilling 21st Century skills. Under each goal, there is emphasis on technology. Under the first goal, STEM, computer science, coding and robotics are emphasized. Under the second goal, use of technology to support differentiated instructions for intervention is emphasized. Under the last goal, technology is regarded as a teaching and learning tool used to increase student engagement and provide authentic real-world tasks. NVUSD is a BYOD (bring your own device) district which allows students to bring and use their own personal electronic devices at school. Students may use their devices in the classroom to access and save information from the Internet, collaborate with other learners, and utilize productivity tools available to them. The purpose of the BYOD program is to help students practice responsible use of technology at school as well as learn ways to use technology for productivity, time management, research, and creativity to become responsible digital citizens part of the global online community as well give students authentic experiences to build their 21st Century skills. As part of NVUSD, American Canyon Middle School is also a BYOD (bring your own device) school. Devices are provided to students who do not own their own device. Under the BYOD technology guidelines, devices are to be used appropriately and responsibly as proper digital citizens. Violations of these policies will result in confiscation and may be subject to disciplinary action or reported to local authorities in cases of serious offenses. In summary, the educational technology mission statement encompasses the goal to infuse technology into the classroom to prepare students for College and Career in the 21st Century which means utilizing technology to engage students, provide opportunities to practice the 4 C’s (or 6 C’s—communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, character, and citizenship) through authentic real-world inquiry, and to differentiate, remediate or advance learning. I think that these goals are necessary to prepare students for the jobs of tomorrow and they align with my own personal practices. Mission Statement and My Personal Practices Since my first year of teaching and now in my fourth year of teaching, infusion of technology has significantly increased probably ten-fold. Implementing technology into my mathematics classroom was not easy. Knowing that I wanted to incorporate technology for richer learning, collaboration, creativity, communication, and critical thinking did not help me with the actual implementation. Initially, I did not know how to create lessons that incorporated technology in a way that enhanced learning mainly because I had no exposure to the kind of tech tools available to me in my content area. I wondered what tools were out there that aligned to my curriculum and content standards. I never felt like I had enough time to explore or learn about anything well enough to implement. Moreover, I was afraid that the tools would be more of a distraction or liability than an asset. Those fears still exist but knowing how technology can fit into my curriculum has allowed me to infuse my classroom with more engaging lessons and opportunities for my students to practice their communication and collaboration. The Mission Statement and My Capstone Goals The district technology goals align with the goals of my capstone perfectly. The goals of the district emphasize differentiation, remediation, and enrichment of student learning as well as engagement in personalized educational experiences. My capstone is about personalized learning which at the heart of it is about Competency-Based Learning (CBL)--helping students master the content at their pace and in the way they learn best. I am infusing my research of the benefits of metacognition and what I have learned about personalized learning to create my capstone. I would like to see how digital assessment tools that provide hints, videos, feedback can help students master content and with reaching their personal learning goals. How to Support This Mission To support this mission, in the future, I would like to focus more on using data from digital assessments to inform goal-setting for my students. I want them to be more aware of the process or goal-setting which would include helping them figure out what content they will need to master (the standards), creating a SMART goal based on where their learning level is at, and planning how they will go about accomplishing that goal. Moreover, last year I did not spend much time on digital assessments as a remediation tool and would like to pursue this more as I cannot provide one-on-one support as much as I would like. For example, I might have students work on Khan Academy 20 minutes a day or every other day or assign it for homework, mandating that they use the videos or hints when they are stuck. I can also create my own EdPuzzle videos that embed metacognitive questions, helpful hints, and videos as support. For now, this is my answer but I am sure that my solution will continue to evolve as I continue to learn and grow like that of my students. Audience and Why The audience of my capstone is inevitably going to be fellow educators, in particular, educators in the mathematics content area. Although I ultimately wanted to address my students in my capstone, I realized that my goal and probably every other educator’s goal which is to promote social justice, achieve equity and to close the achievement gap would better be achieved by spreading knowledge to other educators. My hope is that my fellow educators will find what I have to offer worthy of implementing in their own classroom and therefore supporting and affecting more students than I can do alone. Mathematics can be intimidating and downright challenging. Some issues we face in the math classroom are the fact that students are not achieving procedural fluency of skills and concepts and many are left behind. For many of our students, it is in one ear and out the other or they never learn the concept but it is on to a new thing. No matter what the roadblock is, we as educators have to find the most effective instructional methods to engage students, deepen learning, and to prepare them for the 21st century. There are still so many educators who are stuck on traditional instruction whether it be because they do not know any other way (have not had any substantial professional development or training), they are scared, they have no time, or whether they feel it’s too much work to learn something new. These are the educators I want to reach. If I can make implementing digital tools and innovative learning more simple, I hope that I can convert them. Ideas for Content of Learn More Pages In my Learn More pages, I hope to include various lessons to teach students about digital citizenship first as well as mathematical content lessons, assessments, PrBL units (cognitively complex tasks), how to videos, math tools and resources, and other resources like graphic organizers and so on. Ideas on How to Engage and Teach My Audience
To engage and teach my audience, I think having a short description of each thing is important. If there are too many links to choose from and I get frustrated and don’t know where to start, I personally sometimes skip a lot of things or leave the page. If I can see a short synopsis of the item and I can use that to determine if the content is going to be helpful to me, I am more likely to stay on the page and explore. I think thumbnails are also very helpful. For math teachers, pre-made lessons and worksheets that are well-made is like finding treasure so I think having those available and highlighting those will be effective. I also think providing descriptions of the math tools almost like a short review, pros, cons, what it’s used for, tutorial how to video, and maybe an accompanying lesson would be very engaging. I think data demonstrating how it was used in a classroom and the results can also be used to engage and teach my audience. A lot of the charts, graphs, statistical data, and qualitative data may be compelling for my audience. Without being able to survey other educators in my content area, I am pretty much going off of what I would like to see as an educator in the math field. I like it fast and simple. Tell me what you’re offering. What it does. Show me that it has been effective in your classroom. Tell me how I can implement it and finally, provide all the materials and resources and I am happy. I am interested to hear what my colleagues and other educators would like to see whether they are in the math content area or any other content. |
Nai Saelee
Middle school math teacher preparing the leaders of the future. Inspiring curiosity, creativity, collaboration Archives
December 2017
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