Week 7 Blog: Write any final thoughts you’re having about your whole master’s experience.
Wow what a year it has been. I can’t believe we are finally finishing our Master’s program and the end is near. I feel like I have learned so much I do not know where to begin. I know that I have learned a lot about incorporating technology into my classroom, which helped tremendously during distance learning. I have learned about TPACK and how valuable it is. I have learned about different instructional design methods which have changed the way I have thought about designing my instruction. I have learned a lot through making my website as well, especially about the power of visuals over words. I have learned about how to create videos on screencast, adobe spark and now wevideo. I feel like each of those websites are different but all very great tools. Finally I know that I will take everything I have learned with my wherever my teaching career takes me. Thank you Touro University and Napa Learns.
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What is your biggest takeaway from the 703 class? What’s been your favorite part of the class? Where did you struggle and what did you do to push through your struggle? How do your skills in transliteracy relate to the TPACK model?
My biggest takeaway from 703 is the making of my documentary and all the skills I learned during that process. I learned a lot from video editing and how to use wevideo. I also learned about how to create good lighting and how to present myself well in video. My favorite part of the class was making the logo. I ended up with like 10 versions because I couldn’t decide so when I finally made a decision it felt amazing. I struggled with my infographic and what to put on it. I had a few other versions but they didn’t feel right so I kept coming up with new ideas until I found one that was good. My skills in transliteracy have improved tremendously. I feel like now I can express my ideas with a logo, infographic, mini documentary and with typed paragraphs. All of those different methods of communicating ideas have been strengthened through this class. Overall, I really enjoyed most of the assignments in this class and everything I learned was very valuable. Touro University California is a university under Jewish auspices founded upon the universal values of commitment to social justice, intellectual pursuit, and service to humanity. As such, Touro University California is dedicated to the following:
Throughout the program at Touro university, my research has fit with many of the values that Touro, but specifically has focused on the following including: Intellectual inquiry, discovery, and passion for life-long learning, Student-centered education and Collaboration and sense of community. The work that I have done with 21st century skills and technology in the classroom will be continued with me in the rest of my teaching career. I will continue to advocate for using technology in the classroom regularly and for teachers to incorporate 21st century skills into their pedagogy. I will continue to share the work I have done with colleagues and other staff within my school. I will continue to make changes in my classroom as technology advances and continue to offer support to colleagues with that as well. Eventually I hope to be able to teach other educators the value of technology and help newer teachers learn how to incorporate technology into their classroom early on in their career. Many of the other values at Touro University are also core values for me as well like: collaboration and sense of community, promotion of interprofessionalism and compassion and service to society. I will continue to demonstrate those values through the rest of my teaching career and also look to continue to better myself along the way. How was it to be in front of the camera? Where was it challenging? Where, in your classroom, do students encounter these same challenges? What strategies did you use to overcome your obstacles? How can those strategies be applied in the classroom?
Being in front of the camera wasn’t too bad, however I was by myself so that made it easier. Just filming myself answering questions with no one watching helped relieve some stress about being on camera. However I do know that later on people will be watching these clips which will eventually bring back some of that anxiety and stress. It was challenging to not have someone asking me the questions because it felt weird interviewing myself. I believe that there are many times our students encounter the same challenges as I felt. They may feel stress about being on “camera” (answering in front of class). This could cause them to become overwhelmed and not answer as well as they would have. Some strategies to help overcome these types of obstacles would be to practice, practice, practice public speaking in front of the class to help relieve some of the stress. Some affirmations that might help you and that foster a growth mindset: “Everyone has to start somewhere. We are all beginners at something.” “If I can risk looking foolish when learning something new, I can show my students that it’s OK to take that risk too” “Things get easier with practice.” Where can you infuse a growth mindset in this project? How often do you personally do the projects that you ask your students to do? Where are you in your learning pit experience right now? Growth mindset is hard to teach someone. I think that sometimes people have more “grit” or motivation than others. However, we as teachers, can create an environment where failure is celebrated and challenges create opportunities for growth for our students. I always tell my students that if they aren’t willing to learn, no one can help them, but if they are determined to learn, no one can stop them. (it’s a sign in my classroom too). I also apply this idea to myself and the struggles I go through. I believe that everyone has the power to do anything they want if they have the right mindset. By developing a growth mindset, we are setting up for a future of successes. Growth Mindset will help in life when failure happens and when one feels like giving up and it can help one push through and persevere. I feel like right now I am almost out of the learning pit, however I know I can easily fall back in. The idea of TPACK is about technology being integrated into pedagogy within different subject areas. The TPACK framework involves the combination of 3 components of knowledge: Content (CK), Pedagogy (PK) and Technology (TK). The first component is content knowledge and this is the knowledge that a teacher has about the subject matter that will eventually be taught to the students. The next component is pedagogical knowledge and this is the processes and practices of teaching and learning methods. The final component is technology knowledge and this is about the knowledge of working with technology resources and tools. TPACK also focuses on the intersections of each of the 3 components and how these intersections form: Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Technological Content Knowledge and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge. Pedagogical Content Knowledge is the idea that pedagogy can apply to teaching specific content and that the teacher can find multiple ways to represent the content they teach and they can adapt it to meet the needs of their students. Technological Content Knowledge is about the interaction between technology and content and how technology can help deliver content or change the ways it is applied. Technological Pedagogical Knowledge is about how teaching and learning can be enhanced by different types of technology.
The concept of TPACK was part of the inspiration behind the topic of my research. I decided to focus on making technology the center of my learning environment in the classroom. This is the main focus of TPACK. I also wanted to make sure that I was integrating technology within content as well as using good teaching strategies along the way. There were many times in my journey where I felt like I was doing well and helping my students really get the content. However there were also times where I felt like giving up because technology became a distraction for my middle school students. I believe that the right balance of technology, pedagogy and content can create a great learning environment for students. Give us an honest appraisal of your journey around trying to produce your Capstone Project. What problems have you encountered? How will you solve them?
My journey has not been what I expected it to be. Throughout the entire Innovative learning program at Touro University I have learned a lot from my research and from the other classes I have taken, that will help me in producing my capstone project. I have learned about many different tech tools that I can use in the classroom and show on my capstone website. Some of the main tech tools I now use because of this program that will be shown on my website are edpuzzle, adobe spark, screencast, quizzizz, kami, google classroom, google slides and docs, pear deck, and the list goes on. I know that because of this program I will continue to explore technology tools to use in the classroom with my students. I have also learned about 21st century skills and what a 21st century classroom should look like. I am excited about everything I have learned and how it has helped me to become a better teacher. I have encountered problems along the way but I was able to overcome them with a little perseverance and growth mindset. What aha’s have you encountered as you watch mini-documentaries and past capstone videos? How are they different? Think about who you are creating the mini-documentary for? What essential points will be most important to them and how will you address them in your storytelling? Watching these mini documentaries and the other past capstone videos have been great. I like to see what others have done for their capstone and how a documentary should look. I will be creating my mini-documentary to inspire other teachers to take their small ideas and push them to do more with them. My documentary will show my thinking throughout this research journey and why I decided on my topic. I think the most important part of making a documentary is showing the heart of the people involved which is what my video will do. I am very excited to continue to develop my documentary and show everyone my journey through this program. Investigate your district’s mission statement and policies around technology and 21st century learning? What is it? It’s an all-encompassing or does it need a gentle nudge from you? Analyze and comment.
When first looking into this blog I decided to search NVUSD’s mission statement on google and it took me to the NVUSD Website linked here. I decided to copy some of the important pieces of information from the website then I will discuss them below. Here is NVUSD’s mission statement: “Established in 1965, Napa Valley Unified School District serves the communities of American Canyon, Napa City and Yountville. The district is comprised of 29 schools serving more than 17,000 students in Transitional Kindergarten (TK) through Grade 12, and in Adult Education. Our students are all individuals, with their own talents, interests, needs and goals. That means that we nurture and challenge advanced learners, who want to expand their learning horizons, as well as students who have physical, emotional or cognitive challenges that require more support. We offer rigorous academic courses, robust Career Technical Education options and diverse extracurricular and athletic programs. Our students can learn in traditional neighborhood schools, magnet schools, independent study, dual immersion English-Spanish programs, online options and more.“ Also according to the website, NVUSD has 6 goals they focus on:
Diving into the first goal listed we see that there is mention of technology within that goal as well as focus on 21st century skills. Taken directly from the website were the following points:
I feel like the mission statement and the rest of this section of the website were organized well and were very clear. I do feel like our district could put into the mission statement something about using technology and the idea of 21st century skills. Write a blog review of the logo making software you chose and what hurdles you encountered and your overall experience.
I decided to use google drawings for my logo making. Overall my experience with the website was great. I felt like it was easy to use and pretty straightforward. I have only used google drawings a few times before but I was still able to figure out how to use it easily. The only hurdles I had were trying to find pictures that were transparent png versions to add to my drawing. I am still working on my logo and it will probably end up looking completely different than it is right now. But it's a place to start and I can work from there. I like the idea of using a computer screen and putting images in the screen that have to do with my topic. Right now I just have a compass to represent the idea of technology “navigation”, however I will probably be adding images or words having to do with 21st century skills which is the other main idea of my research. 1. What was the big reason that you committed to research the topic you did? Why did it appeal and resonate with you?
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Krista LoperHarvest Middle School Archives
May 2020
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