EDLD 5364 course reflect 1

Week 1 course reflection

This week's readings were interesting and gave lots to think about.  The only theory I could not mesh into my brain was the cyborg theory.  The video alone gave me nightmares.  Just the thought of surgical procedures or talking about them tends to shut me down.  

However, I did find the Constructivism and Connectivism theories interesting.  With Constructivism, the learner makes new knowledge from new information attached to prior knowledge perceived as similar.  In the video, they discuss this theory as being subjective: No one will hear or process the information in the same way.  I agree with this theory.  How can we expect any one individual to receive or even perceive information the same way or give the same conclusion.  As individuals that is impossible.  How we process depends on our perceptions.  It is like the question, "Is the glass half full or half empty?" 

Connectivism is equally as intriguing to me.  It proposes knowledge gained as connections made internally AND externally.  The external part is the social networks we create to discuss, study, and learn together.  What I like about this is the social interaction that is involved.  If you think about it, it does make sense.  How do we learn?  It isn't only from a learning environment but also through social circles.  With our society and technology intertwined, the way information is distributed from one network to another, it is how you can stay current with new, relevant information.  My most current information learned has not been in a traditional, educational setting, but with my networks of people and groups I associate with on a daily basis.  

Each theory has equal merit for me.  The key is to allow our students to make those new learning possible in meaningful, deeper ways and with the networking and technology possible. 

EDLD 5364 web reflection 1

Week 1 reflection:

I have to be honest, I probably almost had an anxiety attack when I looked at the project initially.  After watching the web conference, I was relieved when Dr. Sanders and Dr. Cummings allowed us to work in groups again.  Even though I know I am able to figure out what I should be doing, a group allows for a better product.  I loved my group in the last two projects.  They had such great ideas that I haven't even considered.  It made the project enjoyable.  
I understand the premise for the project, but it feels like a daunting task.  I liken it to working with most of my colleagues at my school.  Many of them have no skills in technology and are resistant to anything I have brought as ideas.  I think this will give me some ideas how to approach and coach colleagues in this same boat as the scenario.  

Reflection for EDLD 5366

After been in this program thus far, I hold my passion for technology use into the classroom to be a vital part of education.  I have been one of the few people on campus to be receptive to using technology in the classroom.  I understand the amazing potential the students had at a moment’s notice.  I think I have felt I have been on the right track.  It is difficult to be a lone wolf, knowing how we can explore options for best practices with technology.  As I currently talk with a few of my colleagues and administrators, they are slowing warming up to the idea of technology’s effectiveness.  We see our students become engrossed into their devices daily.  Why not tap into that captive attention for curriculum?  

Andrew Churches published an article in 2008 discussing Bloom’s Taxonomy in a new way.  (Churches, 2008)  I was really excited to see how the technology skills were incorporated into the Bloom’s Taxonomy.  I was very excited how some of the things we may do as teachers with our students (blogging, online responses and critiques to other students) were making it into the HOTS level.  So often, we find it difficult to create a lesson where we can easily incorporate the HOTS levels.  Some subjects have a more difficult time than others.  I began sharing this article with my colleagues and administrators.  

From the Horizons Report, a few of the technologies projected to infiltrate education are already here from my view point. Mobile devices and apps and tablets are enormous with the students.  (2012) I see many students bringing in tablets to use.  I have begun to apply what I have been learning about different technologies in my classroom, trying to show other teachers ways to implement the technology.  I really want to demonstrate and mentor my colleagues into stepping towards technology for education.  

Citations:

Johnson, L., Adams, S., and Cummins, M. (2012). Horizon Report: 2012 K-12 Edition. Retrieved from     

     https://luonline.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-1026609-dt-content-rid-

     7021990_1/courses/EDLD_5362_ENA_2013_90_AP2/2012-horizon-report-K12.pdf

Churches, A. (2007, April). Bloom's digital taxonomy. Retrieved from 

     http://www.techlearning.com/article/8670

"My personal story" reflection

This assignment was interesting.  I used powtoons.com to create my video this week.  The challenge of this program was to time my voice recording with the video.  It was not as simple as I first thought.  The first thing was to script out what I wanted.  That proved the most difficult.  Given only 2 minutes, what was I to show about my life?  What was interesting about my life?  I combed my computer and normal places for my files.  

I ended up showcasing my story as a teacher and my pets.  That is where my passion was.  Teaching was my chosen profession since I was a kid.  I always tell my students stories of Bella, the demon child, and Panther, the "special" cat.  

It was simple to import the pictures into powtoons.  The hard part was to edit it with near perfect timing.  After I had the timing down.  I watched the video and recorded different times where I needed my narrating.  I tried several times to record in order to eliminate ghost static.  I will need to look into how to edit audio to help with the quality.

5301 reflection

One of the major things I realized with the action research is how flexible and beneficial it is for all educators to use.  It is an amazing way to personalize his/her professional development through finding topics of interest and researching about it.  What a great way to be actively involved in a professional development that actually interests you.  From my experience of professional development, it has always been droll and mind-numbing without much information that I felt was relevant to my campus and student demographic.  With this idea, I can tailor my research to actual problems focused for my students and campus.  With my first action research, I have chosen the flipped classroom concept.  This is a topic of interest to me.  I was already planning to attempt a little implementation, but can now use this for research and put data with my implementation.  With this I can see how it affects my students learning.  If the research works the way I hope, I will see some improvement in student learning versus traditional teaching.

Revised Action Research Plan

Here it is.  Let me know what you guys think. :) ~Josh

Action Planning Template
Goal:  How does the flipped classroom concept affect student performance, knowledge acquisition, and productivity?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Research ideas and possible implementation strategies for flipped classroom concept 2. Research apps, equipment needed for concept 3. Interview and observe teachers using concept	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica David Henson teacher in Mansfield ISD	September 16, 2013 September 30, 2013	Variety of articles and books outlining concept and implementation Edshelf.com	-Summary of ideas learned from articles and technology researched Interview over experience
3. Outline major topics to implement concept over with other teacher 4. Create a rubric to grade student sample work for different tasks within topics	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica Josh Hadley Algebra 2 level	October 1, 2013 October 15, 2013 October 20, 2013 October 30, 2013	Curriculum guides & reference materials Technology apps loaded	Survey of Algebra 2 teachers for most needed topics Rubric created
5. Conduct first unit using flipped classroom concept 6. Analyze results from first unit	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica	January 7, 2014 January 31, 2014	Videos created and uploaded USB drives & CDs loaded with videos Unit plans various materials for lessons	Assessments and student work samples in both classes with and without concept used
7.  Conduct second unit using flipped classroom concept 6. Analyze results from second unit; compare to first set of results 8. Report findings to PLC group; site supervisor and other admin interested.	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica	March 10, 2014 May 2, 2014	Videos created and uploaded USB drives & CDs loaded with videos Unit plans various materials for lessons	Assessments and student work samples in both classes with and without concept used

My Action Research Plan

Action Planning Template
Goal:  How does the flipped classroom concept affect student performance, knowledge acquisition, and productivity?
Action Steps(s):	Person(s) Responsible:	Timeline: Start/End	Needed Resources	Evaluation
1. Research ideas and possible implementation strategies for flipped classroom concept 2. Research apps, equipment needed for concept	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica David Henson	September 16, 2013 September 30, 2013	Variety of articles and books outlining concept and implementation Edshelf.com	-Summary of ideas learned from articles and technology researched Interview over experience
3. Outline major topics to implement concept over with other teacher 4. Create a rubric to grade student sample work for different tasks within topics	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica Josh Hadley Algebra 2 level	October 1, 2013 October 15, 2013 October 20, 2013 October 30, 2013	Curriculum guides & reference materials Technology apps loaded	Survey of Algebra 2 teachers for most needed topics Rubric created
5. Conduct first unit using flipped classroom concept 6. Analyze results from first unit	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica	January 7, 2014 January 31, 2014	Videos created and uploaded Unit plans various materials for lessons	Assessments student work samples
7.  Conduct second unit using flipped classroom concept 6. Analyze results from second unit; compare to first set of results 8. Report findings to PLC group; site supervisor and other admin interested.	Josh Hadley Valerie Parenica	March 10, 2014 May 2, 2014	Videos created and uploaded Unit plans various materials for lessons	Assessments student work samples