5. Instructional Delivery

Rationale, Standard Connection, Self-Evaluation

In Spring 2018 I created a classroom flip lesson and quiz in my AEDU 209 Educational Technology class. In a typical classroom environment, the teacher is at the front of the room for most of the time giving a lecture on the content being taught. In a flipped classroom environment, the students can learn about the content outside of the classroom, usually at home. This is possible through online instruction; the students have access to educational videos typically created by the teacher. Since the content is learned individually at home teachers can use class time to gather students into small interactive groups and complete activities on the content they’ve learned. For my Educational Technology class, I was given the assignment to create a flip classroom project that teaches one of the common core standards. My goal for the flip classroom project I’ve created is to assist middle school students to better understand the three main stages of the water cycle. For my presentation I used Screencast-O-Matic (the digital recording of a computer screen, often containing narration) to record my PowerPoint presentation I created. After creating the flip classroom presentation, a ten-question multiple choice quiz was created using Google Forms to better assess the students understanding of the flip presentation video.

The flip classroom pedagogy meets the requirement of Standard 5. The Illinois Professional Teaching Standards knowledge Indicator 5A states, the competent teacher “understands the cognitive processes associated with various kinds of learning.” The visuals in my PowerPoint and audio narration from Screencast-O-Matic show my knowledge of the 5A standard. This meets students auditory and visual learning needs, as opposed to standing in front of a classroom and lecturing. Many students learn through audio and video instruction although, when in class students can learn through kinesthetic learning by engaging in hands-on activities in their small interactive groups. By meeting the various learning needs of students, I have met the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards knowledge indicator 5E that states, the competent teacher “knows techniques for modifying instructional methods, materials, and the environment to facilitate learning for students with diverse learning characteristics.” By using Screencast-O-Matic to audio and video record a PowerPoint presentation, I am enabling students to learn at their own rate. Students can pause, rewind, and replay the video presentation as many times as they like. I am using a differentiated learning method by implementing at-home technology lessons that allow me to engage students overall understanding of the content in the classroom. This meets the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards performance indicator 5N which states, the competent teacher “uses technology to accomplish differentiated instructional objectives that enhance learning for each student.” It is important to understand that each child learns in a different way than their peers. Implementing various ways of teaching and student learning can allow students to obtain a better understanding of the subject being taught. Creating the Google Forms quiz allows me to successfully assess my students understanding of the lesson.

My experience in the creation of a flip classroom lesson was thoroughly enjoyable. I can now fully understand the benefits of a flip classroom setting for students learning. Flip classroom lessons allow teachers to use their classroom time more efficiently by helping the students become more skilled in the concepts being taught. I think that a flip classroom should be used often as it can be personalized for students, adapt to students learning capabilities and allow teachers to better assist their students in class. Google Forms is another piece of web technology that I believe should be used more often. Google Forms enables teachers to develop assessment questions for their students to evaluate their understanding. While creating this flip classroom lesson and Google Forms quiz, I came to the understanding that there are a variety of different learning methods to engage all students with diverse learning capabilities.

Rationale, Standard Connection, Self-Evaluation

In the Fall of 2020, I completed my student teaching at Elim Christian Services in the Bridges Cross-Categorical High School Program. During my time student teaching I completed a detailed lesson plan that includes a written reflection of how the lesson went, how the students met the objectives and what could have gone better. For 14 out of the 16 weeks of student teaching I developed language arts lessons for the students each day. In this artifact, I've included an example lesson of Group 1 from November 24, 2020. The lesson contains a know/dont know vocabulary chart, flashcards, a recorded adaptive book, quiz, and a supplemental sequencing activity.

My two artifacts show my competence in meeting the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards performance indicator 5N that states, the competent teacher "uses technology to accomplish differentiated instructional objectives that enhance learning for each student". The use of the seesaw platforms allows students to have easily accessible lessons to utilize at home during blended learning instruction that is differentiated to meet their individual needs. The two artifacts also show my competence in meeting the Illinois Professional Teaching Standards knowledge indicator 5C that states, the competent teacher "knows how to implement effective differentiated instruction through the use of a wide variety of materials, technologies, and resources". The language arts lesson and instructional example show how I can differentiated one lesson to meet a variety of student needs within a classroom. It is important to differentiate lessons so students of all cognative levels are able to achieve the objectives/goals expected of them.

Throughout my time student teaching I learned that not all differentiated work will be beneficial for students. As an educator I may need to change instruction as my students needs change. For example, my group 2 students are provided with a copy of the book to read while group 1 students provided with a recording/adaptive version of the book. When I began the novel, The Diary of Anne Frank written by Otto H. Frank & Mirjam Pressler, group 2 students expressed to me that the book was difficult. With that said, I decided to differentiate the novel for group one students by adapting the book and recording it without voice. This allowed group 2 students to read the adaptive book and obtain the same information group 1 did. I will continue to differentiate my lessons throughout my career to meet the individual needs of my students.