Online Professional Development Course

Learning Outcomes

• The participant will participate in a course reading about how to effectively plan for a e-portfolio and how to effectively deconstruct NYS Next Generation standards.

• After the participant complete the course reading, the participant will be asked to choose and deconstruct a NYS Next Generation standard for the first component of their final course resource.

Module I Reading

Rewriting NYS standards as the e-portfolio's learning goals.

Learning goals are typically designed to meet an educational need, solve an educational problem or address an instructional challenge. NYS Next Generation Standards inform teachers of where learners should start, the direction learners should go and where learners should end up. The significance of restructuring the learning goals is to derive learning targets , which will be the components of your e-portfolio, because those targets will measure the learner's achievement within the standard.

Structuring the learning targets to be components of the e-portfolio.

Learning targets, which are your components of the portfolio, should be just as informative to learners as they are to teachers, hence why writing portfolio components in "I can" statements is an effective instructional strategy.

I can statements not only inform the learner of his/her role, job, and expectation of the portfolio component, it also promotes self-regulation, student ownership and a self- image for learners.

Self-esteem is a crucial element of the confidence and motivation learners need in order to engage in and achieve educational pursuits. If students have a nervous and intimidated self-image then those prejudices of self-doubt impair the functioning of the faculties needed to execute effectively, for instance, the ability to think clearly and critically. Learners should be encouraged socially, made aware of their ability to be thinkers and how they learn as they complete components of their e-portfolio.

I can statement(s) has the power to change learners' behavior. This approach to learning provides learners with a positive environment filled with gains and rewards including senses of responsibility, self-efficacy cooperation skills, promoted academic achievement, and autonomy.

"I can determine the area of a 2-dimensional figure given the length and width", emphasizes the important need for learners to find the area given two measurements. This learning target is an example of an entry point for learners to set and balance their own goals, to initiate and self-direct themselves during e-portfolio activities, and what to do if learners work independently. This feature is called self-regulated learning (SRL), and is believed to focus on how learners take an active, purposeful and reflective role in their own learning experience and academic behaviors.

Sample of a deconstructed NYS Next Generation Standard

Components of your e-portfolio are targets derived solely from NYS Next Generation Standards.

Lets take NYS Next Generation standard 6.NS.1 Interpret and compute quotients of fractions, and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions, e.g., by using visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem. For example, create a story context for (2/3) ÷ (3/4) and use a visual fraction model to show the quotient; use the relationship between multiplication and division to explain that (2/3) ÷ (3/4) = 8/9 because 3/4 of 8/9 is 2/3. (In general, (a/b) ÷ (c/d) = ad/bc.) How much chocolate will each person get if 3 people share 1/2 lb of chocolate equally? How many 3/4-cup servings are in 2/3 of a cup of yogurt? How wide is a rectangular strip of land with length 3/4 mi and area 1/2 square mi?

This standard can be written using the following I can statements

1. I can solve mathematical problems involving division of fractions in contexts given visual fraction models and equations to represent the problem

2. I can solve and interpret division of fractions by fractions

3. I can solve and interpret real-world two-step division of fraction word problems involving mixed numbers

4. I can create and solve word problems involving division of fractions by fractions

The targets above would be components of my e-portfolio and measurements of student achievement based on the standard.