Collecting
data and analyzing it to inform instruction is a pretty basic principle of the
modern classroom. One very rudimentary example of that would be to assign an
exit ticket activity at the end of a lesson. Students would be required to
identify key elements of the lesson objective and state them briefly in either
an electronic app-based program or with something as simple as a post-it note
or index card and pencil. Teachers could then use the information to direct their
lesson planning and make decisions such as whether a whole-group review was
required, or maybe follow-up with a small group of students to review before
the next lesson. The information from the lesson exit ticket could also be used
to connect to previous learning at the beginning of the next lesson.
Roblyer
& Hughes (2019) suggests that students might collect and
analyze data from science experiments to test hypotheses or generate box and
whisker plots to visually display data distributions.
Resource
Roblyer & Hughes (2019) Integrating
educational technology into teaching. New York, NY: Pearson.
An effective teacher balances the demands of standards-based
curriculum and the individual needs of each student by employing technology in ways
to:
·Time-manage
·Vary instruction, assessment, and learning artifacts
·Organize collection and analysis of student data (Roblyer &
Hughes, 2019)
Several tools we have at
our disposal to help us comply with both the demands of standards-based
curriculum and the needs of individual students are hardware-based
technologies, such as:
·Wireless network – to access the internet
·Laptop or desktop computers - for administration, teachers and
students
·Hand-held technology – cell phones, tablets, or e-books
·Display technology – used in whole class or large group
instruction from a computer
Other tools are software-based
such as productivity software that allows “teachers and students (to) plan, develop materials, communicate, collaborate,
and keep records. These might include word processing, spreadsheet, databases,
and email programs as well as a variety of other materials generators and data
collection/analysis, graphics, and research and reference tools.” (Roblyer & Hughes,
2019, pg. 8)
A technology-based best practice that
I have repeatedly employed in my lessons is audio-assisted reading. Although it
is found by some to be redundant a drain on cognitive load, and completely unnecessary
(Jonassen, 2008) I have found that in the light of learners with disabilities
and/or special needs it is very valuable. Whether you are working with English
language learners, struggling readers, or emerging readers audio-assisted
reading can increase comprehension, fluency, and sight word recognition (Stevens,
et al., 2017).
References
Jonassen, D., Spector, M.
J., Driscoll, M., Merrill, M.D., van Merrienboer, J., & Driscoll M.P.
(2008) Handbook of Research on Educational
Communications and Technology: A Project of the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology. New York, NY: Taylor
& Francis Group, LLC.
Roblyer & Hughes (2019) Integrating
educational technology into teaching. New York, NY: Pearson.
Stevens, E.A., Walker, M.A., and Vaughn,
S. (2017) The Effects of Reading Fluency Interventions on the Reading Fluency
and Reading Comprehension Performance of Elementary Students With Learning
Disabilities: A Synthesis of the Research from 2001 to 2014. Journal of
Learning Disabilities, 50(5) 576–590, DOI: 10.1177/0022219416638028
In order to provide equitable access to digital technology
for every student, school districts, administration and teachers must ensure
adequate access to resources. (Roblyer & Hughes, 2019) In my school
district, many schools have a one to one ratio of Chromebooks for students. Some
schools only have a 1 to 2 ratio of Chromebooks to students and must share or
rotate devices in the classroom. During the COVID-19 Safer at Home Order, our
school district made sure that all students either had a Chromebook assigned to
them or had access to another device at home to access the internet. In
addition to this, mobile hotspots were provided for students whose families were
unable to acquire internet access of their own.
“Technology equity is a major concern for state lawmakers
and leaders. States continue to work to eliminate a wide disparity among
individual districts as to how they use technology.” (Whitehead, Jensen &
Boschee, 2013) Often educators are left to their own devices to find ways of
meeting their students' needs in the classroom with their own resources such as
utilizing defunct or outdated smartphones to provide applications for extra play-like
practice for struggling learners. Many
districts are fortunate if they have a SMARTboard or other such device in
their classrooms to assist teachers with interactive group rotations, or
video/other media presentations to keep their learners engaged. The endless
uses of the SMARTboard can save those educators hours planning and executing
lessons that don’t have to be recreated by hand on a whiteboard each new school
year.
Resources
Roblyer & Hughes (2019) Integrating
educational technology into teaching. New York, NY: Pearson.
Whitehead, B. M., Jensen, D. F., &
Boschee, F. (2013) Planning for Technology. Thousand Oaks, CA: CORWIN
In our text, Roblyer & Hughes (2019) tell us that the
effective teacher balances the demands of standards-based curriculum and the
individual needs of each student by continually seeking to acquire and maintain
technological, pedagogical and content knowledge skills that will prepare them
to meet each new challenge as they arise in this ever-expanding digital
educational age.
In our reading this week Jonassen (2008) speaks to several tools we have at our
disposal to help us comply with both the demands of standards-based curriculum
and the needs of individual students. Hardware-based technologies, such as eye-tracking
technology provides evidence of the learners’ attentiveness to the lesson by
tracking what they are looking at on the computer screen. This eye-tracking data
can be used as the foundation for supervising and supporting learners during
the learning process, guiding their learning to increase engagement. This information
could allow teachers to redirect those who are off task, possibly without the
learner realizing they are being redirected.
The best practice I am
implementing in my classroom regarding technology, ideally, is to create a
classroom culture that is enthusiastic and supportive of technology use. If my students
see that I am comfortable and confident in using my chosen tech devices, then those
feelings will convey to my students also. My excitement and confidence in
utilizing technology will be contagious. (Catucci, 2020)
Jonassen, D., Spector, M.
J., Driscoll, M., Merrill, M.D., van Merrienboer, J., & Driscoll M.P.
(2008) Handbook of Research on Educational
Communications and Technology: A Project of the
Association for Educational Communications and Technology. New York, NY: Taylor
& Francis Group, LLC.
Roblyer & Hughes (2019) Integrating educational
technology into teaching. New York, NY: Pearson.
Some
important things I have learned this past week:
-If
you loan your car to someone to drive out of state, notify your insurance
company beforehand.Common sense, Traci.
Hello.Insurance companies get a little
testy about stuff like that.They will
grill both you and the driver individually, recorded deposition style and make
you feel like a common criminal to get at the truth.Fortunately, our (true) stories matched.(AND we are sticking to it!)
-If
you loan your car to someone to drive out of state, make sure you have copies
of all those important papers in the glove box.You may never see them again and insurance people may hound you until
you hunt down the receipt from your most recent oil change for verification of
the true mileage of the car. (Right!David has always changed his own oil.) Fortunately the Civic was in at the dealer this summer for a recall on the airbags so we have that to fall back on.
-Keep
copies of all service records and receipts separate from the vehicle, not just
shoved in the glove compartment.If your
car is totaled and you have bought a new battery or tires (or other things) in
the last year and can prove it with receipts they will add that prorated amount
to the total value of your vehicle!
-It
is very fortunate that I had thought ahead enough to text the driver our
electronic insurance cards prior to leaving on the trip.That little detail probably went a long way
toward convincing the officer who worked the accident that the driver had permission
to have possession of our vehicle and operate it.Even for day to day use I think it is
important to keep an electronic version or picture of both sides of your
insurance card available in an app on your phone.Maybe a good place to keep medical insurance
cards too.
- First-Aid kits, emergency blankets and other 'In case of' items are important. Make sure your vehicles are stocked. A cold, dark, wet night on the side of an interstate would be a lot more pleasant if you had a way to keep warm and help keep yourselves from going into shock.
In short, be more diligent in your record keeping and accident preparedness than I have been! We are so thankful that the accident wasn't any worse than it was. Thankful for friends to be able to call on to help us pray for safety while they waited for help to come. Thankful both precious driver and passenger were unharmed except for bumps and bruises despite the fact that none of the airbags deployed. (!) Thankful our insurance company didn't deny the claim.
Last month I was approached by the director of marketing for the Dave Thomas Foundation. She asked if we would share our adoption story for future Wendy's Wonderful Kids promotions in Wendy's restaurants in central Indiana. I love sharing our stories of adoption. Of course I knew I had to participate and support this incredible opportunity to encourage others in their adoption journeys.
First Overnight Visit, December 2013
In the early
spring of 2013 I sat at my desk in our schoolroom one day in our rental house
near Greenwood, Indiana.Our three
seventh graders were working quietly on their school work while I worked at my
desk.I took a break from my work and
flipped through Facebook for a minute.While I was there I was compelled to click on a link to the
AdoptUSKids.org website.Soon I was
scrolling through a list of children eligible for adoption through foster care.I looked around me at the huge house we had
been blessed with and was overcome by the knowledge that we had it within our
power to do more than we were currently doing.I paused on the profile of a sibling group and thought…with just a few
tweaks we could adopt again.Just need a
little bigger vehicle, a couple sets of bunk beds.It was totally doable.My girls noticed I was teary and sniffing and
they asked me what was wrong?I said,
what would you think about adopting again?
Fast forward to
the late summer that year.David and I
had finished up our foster care/adoption home study.Our family had been Special Needs Adoption
Program certified.David and I had
already interviewed for one sibling group of three…but there were several
families that were interviewing for that group.We were in ‘wait and see’ mode.I
went out to the mailbox that day and had a little packet from a Wendy’sWonderful Kids recruiter.She introduced
herself and congratulated us on this big decision to grow our family through
adoption.She also included a number of short
biographies of current WWK children and encouraged us to read through them and
see if we felt any sparks.I flipped
through the pages.Most of them were
single adoptions.All were older
children with varying medical and or behavioral issues. One page stood out to
me.Two little brothers who loved Legos,
Star Wars and Star Trek.As I’m telling
myself there is NO WAY, I picked up my phone and called our WWK recruiter.I remember leaving her a voice mail and
telling her we wanted more information about Elijah and Nate.
Emails were exchanged.Our recruiter sent me pictures and
videos.In one of the videos Elijah was
holding a few Legos that he had fashioned into the shape of the starship
Enterprise.His foster Mom was asking
what characters he liked on the shows and he said: “I love all the
Captains.All the heroes.”We are huge Star Trek fans, and that kinda
cemented it for me.Their WWK recruiter
tried to explain to us as best she could about their challenges, medications,
doctors and background.We made an
appointment to meet with the boys’ team including their CASA and their case
worker.We found out later that the boys
had been eligible for adoption for a couple of years.They had been through eight previous foster
homes and two failed pre-adoptive placements.Their challenges were many, behaviorally and educationally.David and I walked out of that meeting that
day and said to each other…These boys need us.If not us, who?If not now,
when?We knew the other sibling group we
had interviewed for had several other families interested.The boys did not have that luxury.David and I both felt convicted this was what
we were to do.
Visits were
initiated pretty quickly after that.We
had the boys for overnight weekend visits for 4-5 weeks and then a longer visit
over several days at Christmas.Our
placement date was MLK day in January 2014.We never looked back.Every month the boys’ CASA and case worker
would make visits to us.Every month
they would look deep into my eyes and ask me how things were going?I would tell them the truth.The challenges.The sweet moments.The homework struggles.Every month I think they were looking to see
if or when we were going to cry ‘uncle’ and try to escape our commitment.I didn’t see that as an option then.I only had one goal in site:
Finalization.In November of that year
we finalized their adoption on National Adoption Day.November 21st, 2014.It was on that cold and drizzly day just
before Thanksgiving that we officially became a family of seven.
Anniversary of D, B and HJ's placement July 1, 2017
