Please explain how your studies and experiences within the MS in Educational Technology program empowered you to serve as an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Include in your discussion experiences collaborating with all members of your learning community.
During my studies in the Eastern Educational Technology Program I have come realize there are a number of online resources that are available to both me and my students to become better connected to our global and digital society.
As a science teacher I must prepare my students for success in their future science endeavors and make sure they have the skills needed to be successful in science. When writing my paper Developing International Connections in EDU 657 Global Connections in Education, I learned U.S. students science test scores are lagging behind other countries. The United States scored 24th out of 71 countries tested on The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) in science (Desilver, 2017) and only 2% of eighth grade students scored Advanced in Science on the 2015 NEAP assessment in Connecticut (The Nations Report Card, 2015). In an interesting article by Sara Whitlock in Scientific American she explains the reason so many students drop out of science fields is because "we don't fail well" and she also discusses a 2011 study that "looked at resiliency in disadvantaged students in the US, Japan, Korea, and other countries and found that non-US students were more resilient" (Whitlock, 2017). Fear of failure has been something I am noticing more of in my students, they are much more anxious about their grades and there seems to be over involvement of parents to try to intervene to raise their child's grades. I teach 7th grade science, no college is ever going to see their grade, this is the perfect time to challenge my students. I am determined to encourage my students through the tough concepts and provide them with the appropriate resources and let them know science is supposed to be challenging. I am also going to inform parents at open house that I am going to challenge their children but still be encouraging and thoughtful in the way I do it. Science is not a subject like English or math where some students understand instinctively how to do it. Science takes practice and often failure before success can be seen. Challenging our students in science is the only way we as a country going to make progress when being compared to other countries who are known to have high expectation in their science education.
In the future I would like to set up an ePALS connection (which I learned about in EDU 657 Global Connections in Education) between my students and students from another country to discuss and learn about science. It would be great for my students to connect with students who live in an area close to a volcano or an area that has recently experienced an earthquake, which are two units I cover in my Earth Science class.
Another site that can be used to help my students be better citizens is the Teaching Tolerance site where there are even lesson plans for teachers as well which standards those lessons cover. While the lessons cannot be used in science class, I shared this site with both the English and History teachers on my core and they both expressed interest in implementing lessons from the site. The History teacher on my core teaches about different cultures and religions so the site could be very helpful to her. There were also lessons about fair use and copyright and teaching students where digital information comes to you from that my English teacher on core was interested in using.
Sharing the Teaching Tolerance Website was one example of how my Educational Technology Experience has led to collaboration with my fellow teachers. Another area I can collaborate is to be a leader when we implement our new Google Sites next year. Through working on my ePortfolio I feel confident in my Google Site skills and I will be able to help my fellow teachers out with any questions they may have. A third area I can collaborate on is assistive technology through the creation of my Assistive Technology Presentation, I can make other teachers aware of all the features of the iPad we have available to our students to help them with their disabilities. And finally through my studies at Eastern I have gained a familiarity with The Next Generation Science Standards that has made me a leader in the science department. I have been able to share the valuable lessons I have created, The Spreadsheet Project, The Virtual Manipulatives Project, and The Calculator Project with the other 7th grade science teachers which all follow the new science standards. I have also started to do curriculum writing for my department since I have gained so much knowledge on the new science standards.
References
Desilver, D. (2017). U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peers in many other countries. Retrieved from http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-math-science/
ePals.com. (2014). ePals.com. Retrieved from http://epals.com
The Nation’s Report card. (2015). How Did US Student’s Perform on Most Recent Assessment. Retrieved from https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/
Next Generation Science Standards (2013). Next Generation Science Standards: For states by states. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.nextgenscience.org
Sanderson, H. (2018). Assistive Technology Presentation. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/heatherseducationaltechnologys/coursework/edu-612-assistive-technology/assistive-technology-presentation
Sanderson, H. (2018). Atoms, Molecules, and Phases Changes Virtual Manipulatives and Online Software Project. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/heatherseducationaltechnologys/coursework/edu-656-tech-applications-in-math/virtual-manipulatives-and-online-software-project
Sanderson, H. (2018). The Calculator Project. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/heatherseducationaltechnologys/coursework/edu-656-tech-applications-in-math/calculator-project
Sanderson, H. (2018). Developing International Connections. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/heatherseducationaltechnologys/coursework/edu-657-global-connections-in-education/developing-international-connections
Sanderson, H. (2018). The Spreadsheet Project. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/view/heatherseducationaltechnologys/coursework/edu-656-tech-applications-in-math/spreadsheet-project
Teaching Tolerance. (2018). Teaching About Race, Racism, and Police Violence. Retrieved from https://www.tolerance.org/moment/racism-and-police-violence
Whitlock, S. (2017). One Reason Young People Don’t Go Into Science? We Don’t Fail Well. The Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/one-reason-young-people-dont-go-into-science-we-dont-fail-well1/ Sara Whitlock