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"Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience."
"Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from experience."
Three papers are aligned with Proposition Four.
Three papers are aligned with Proposition Four.
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(1) Using Technology with Inclusion Education. EDU 721. July 2017. "Evaluation of Kahoot!"
Rationale: This is a good example of a technology that can work for a variety of students in an inclusion setting. There are opportunities for team work, individual work, and whole class work, opportunities for flipped classrooms, and interactions with a global community. When using Kahoot! in the inclusion classroom, if students work in teams, the student with the quickest motor skills can select the answer, while the others provide advice or assurance. Students can also create Kahoots for the class on their own time or using class time, with one or two introductory presentations to get started. Teachers can conduct formative assessments of how students work in teams, how they work individually with a new technology, and many other opportunities for formative assessment around Kahoot! in the classroom. Teachers can learn, as I did, from the variety of experiences you can have using this software/app in the classroom.
Reflection: Kahoot! is a program I evaluated for the classroom. I first learned about the program from colleagues in my UNE courses. I decided to give it a try in a volunteer position teaching, and I was impressed by the international connections that could be developed by using already created Kahoots and by the opportunity to create Kahoots tailored specifically for the classroom. I found students enjoyed the Kahoots as much as I enjoyed creating them! There is a learning curve to getting started, but it is actually not that difficult to learn - you can learn enough in one day to create a simple Kahoot and give it a try in your classroom the next day. Go ahead and tell you class that you Give a Kahoot! And enjoy!
(2) Action Research Study. EDU 690. "Transference of Organizational Writing Skills: Middle School Summarization and the Three-Paragraph Essay."
Rationale: Action research requires research and teaching skills combined. The setting for action research can be any workplace or other real life situation that provides context, place, and real-time subjects of the study. In this case, the context was an 8th Grade English Language Arts classroom, with 18 students in the 7th grade, held at a private school in a southeastern state. The research was conducted in the fall over a five week period during the 2017-18 academic year. All of the research observations and findings were supported by teacher observations and student perceptions, the gathered through questionnaire and in-person discussion. I kept a journal of my work for record-keeping as well as reflections. The research process represents systematic thinking, in which a study design was developed during 8 weeks prior to the start of the research project, and learning from experience, including reflections during and after the research process ended.
Reflection: I have added a separate tab in the e-portfolio for additional work product and reflections that I continue to be engaged in, such as separate lesson plans that I am in the process of developing based on this research, a reflection paper on gender and middle school writing, also based on this research, and any other work product that flows from the action research study now and within the upcoming year.
Action research is something that I hope to try again as a teacher. I talked with other teachers at the research site who were also interested in research, and some who felt it would be a burden. Both of course are valid opinions! Research is different than teaching. It requires research questions and hypothesis testing, whereas teaching involves planning and a wide variety of assessments, both summative and formative, with ongoing re-evaluation and considerable flexibility. I like both. Action research provides a good opportunity to blend the two.
(3) Portfolio. EDU 695. "The Homework Debate: A Supportive Classroom Response."
Rationale: I drafted this reflection paper after reading about a recent school decision in New York to stop giving homework. It represents an opportunity that I saw to learn more about the homework debate and to let that new knowledge guide my own homework policies.
Reflection: There are five research-based questions that I include to guide homework policy in the classroom. I hope to use those questions to frame my own homework policies. I was aware of the NEA 10 min/grade level rule, but there were new ideas in this research review that were helpful to me, such as validating something I had noticed, that parental collaboration is often necessary in order to help students develop good study habits at home and clarify parental involvement. I was also surprised to learn that the homework debate went back to the 19th century and was equally as passionate as it is today for different reasons (e.g., allowing children to work in the 19th c. versus 24/7 internet in the 21st c.), but also for similar reasons (e.g., parents need to have quality time with their children after school). Understanding how to combat stress and build study habits is a key part of the teacher's role, in addition to linking homework to classroom goals & objectives and observing the NEA time limits.
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