Overview of Flexible Educational Resources

Flexibility is absolutely the name of the game when it comes to a personalized learning classroom environment. This is due, in part, to the fact that the 21st century students we are teaching today are different than their predecessors and require more from their learning environments. In order to make authentic connections with students, we must change our strategies to fit this new age of students. Today, teachers have a plethora of technology and Web 2.0 tools. The biggest struggle may just be choosing which tool to use with a certain lesson or how to integrate it into the classroom.

Whether identifying student needs or creating deeper new learning experiences, teachers can use a flexible content approach to differentiate their content and classroom environment. The basis for which flexible educational resources is built on is the continual engagement with students to understand their needs and interests and adjust the learning environment accordingly.

With the steady increase in technology tools available to teachers and students, teachers are able to choose, create and organize meaningful and engaging resources to meet the needs of their students. According to learningaccelerator.org, "Research shows that putting great resources in the hands of teachers can have significant positive impacts on student achievement.” Teachers and schools across the world are moving more and more away from traditional textbooks and more toward utilizing flexible resources and instructional materials. A great example of this is the use of Open Educational Resources, or OER. These resources allow teachers to copy a resource and use it as-is, or alter it to best fit student needs.

Curated Menu of Educational Resources

Classlink

My school district, Forsyth County Schools, uses Classlink for both students and teachers. According to their website, "ClassLink’s mission is to remove barriers between students and impactful education content." Classlink is a streamlined, user friendly tool that is used by teachers, students, administration, support staff, ITS's, and parents alike. Classlink allows users to group apps and tools into folders for easy organizing and access for students. Classlink also allows certain privileges and capabilities for teachers and students to be set forth by the account admin, which for us, is our ITS.

Personalized Google Slides

ALLIE_Online Learning 4/13-4/17

While Classlink is a wonderful tool and gives the students access to a plethora of approved resources, it is generic and the same for every student in our school. My role as an IRR teacher is to ensure I meet the individual needs of each of my students and provide learning opportunities that will help them to reach their IEP goals. In order to this, I provide students with many individualized learning opportunities. One example of this can be seen above. This is a week-long personalized learning path for a student that has reading, writing, and math goals. This particular path included assignments and activities that I use for data collection.

Goals/Standards addressed:
ELAGSE1RF2: Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes). ELAGSE1RF3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. ELAGSE2W3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. MGSE2.NBT.1: Understand that the three digits of a three-digit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones; e.g., 706 equals 7 hundreds, 0 tens, and 6 ones. MGSE2.NBT.5 Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

ITEC_Learning Path

This option of curated educational resources is strictly for IEP goal practice. Students access this personalized Google Slide and use the linked resources and tools to practice toward their goals. Typically students will work through these slides for a week, then will use the Slides shown above to actually complete activities that will be collected for data. This was especially useful during the pandemic when students were learning virtually. It has also transitioned nicely to the face-to-face setting as well.

Goals/Standards addressed:
ELAGSE3RL3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. ELAGSE3RL7: Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting). ELAGSE2W3: Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure. ELAGSE1L2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. a. Capitalize the dates and names of people. b. Use end punctuation for sentences MGSE2.OA.1 Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one and two step word problems by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem. MGSE2.NBT.5 Fluently add and subtract within 100 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Because of the nature of my position and the limited time I have with my students to work toward their IEP goals, students are simply selecting content and resources from the provided menu. Unfortunately, my students have several things going against them (age and grade, exceptionalities, time, etc.) that prevent them from truly independently seeking appropriate content and tools toward their goals.

Engaging Pedagogies and Best Practices of Instructional Design

When looking to curate educational resources for student use, it is important to remember and use engaging pedagogies and best practices for instructional design. Doing so will ensure that you are searching for, curating, organizing and implementing highly engaging and high quality resources for your students. If you're anything like me, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with just how many options there are for organizing resources and content to best support student learning. According to Dodd (2021), there are many models that one can apply to ensure the use of best practices of instructional design. Models such as the ADDIE model, Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning, Gagne's Taxonomy of Learning, and Merrill's Principles of Instruction are a few design frameworks that teachers can use to ensure best practices. However, I feel the ADDIE model is the most concise, yet powerful, model to follow.

Copy of Dr. Seuss Reading Room

Dr. Seuss Reading Room

This Dr. Seuss themed reading room is linked on our LMS for Read Across America/Dr. Seuss's birthday each year. Students at my school have to read to earn "steps". Providing themed reading rooms digitally gives this task a fun twist and the students really enjoy it.

Learning Boards

On our LMS, I have curated "Learning Boards" that the students can access at any time. These learning boards are organized by subject area (ELA and Math) and then broken down by topic or standard. Again, all of these learning boards are geared toward the students' IEP goals. On these learning boards, students can access videos, games, anchor charts and practice activities.

In my district, we use a program called Wixie. Wixie is a great tool that allows students to utilize a variety of tools. One of my favorite tools that the program has embedded within it is the ability for students to record themselves. This is great for fluency checks, and as you can see in this example, phonics checks as well. I have several students that are reading at the 2B level in our reading curriculum, ARC. This practice activity allows students to practice the power goal for this level of the single/double consonant rule in a variety of ways.

Monitor & Observe The Effectiveness of Educational Resources

Google Forms

I use Google Forms to collect data, which allows me to truly monitor the effectiveness of the resources I have provided for my students. If I notice a decline in scores, then I am able to adjust the resources as needed. I love using Google Forms because it automatically puts the student's responses into a Google Sheet so I can quickly and easily monitor and calculate scores. This information is also perfect to present to parents at IEP meetings.

Classkick

I found out about Classkick last year and have been obsessed with it ever since. Classkick is an incredible platform that allows you to watch students complete assignments. It is a web-based tool that allows teachers to create a roster and assign activities to that roster. While students are working on that activity, the teacher can pull up the activity on her screen and watch the students work in real-time. This is amazing because it allows you to see where mistakes are being made so you can go back and provide additional instruction if needed.

Quizzizz

My kids ask for Quizzizz almost every single day! They absolutely love it! This gamified educational tool allows students to review and practice their learning. As much as the students love it, the absolute best part of this tool is just for the teachers! Quizzizz allows you to see the student's results and answers and you can even download them. This is such great data that allows you to monitor student progress toward a learning target or goal.

References

Joan, R. (2013). Flexible learning as new learning design in classroom process to promote quality education. i- Manager's Journal on School Educational Technology, 9(1), 37–42. https://doi.org/10.26634/jsch.9.1.2401

Johns, S., & Mike Wolking. (n.d.). The core four of personalized learning. Ed Elements. Retrieved March 3, 2022, from https://www.edelements.com/hubfs/Core_Four/Education_Elements_Core_Four_White_Paper.pdf

About Us. ClassLink. (n.d.). Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.classlink.com/company/about

DeBell, A. (2020, June 9). What is the Addie Model of Instructional Design? Water Bear Learning. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://waterbearlearning.com/addie-model-instructional-design/

Dodd, V. (2021, July 5). Instructional design best practices. Skillcast. Retrieved March 4, 2022, from https://www.skillcast.com/blog/instructional-design-best-practices

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