Rubric Creation Reflection

In the Rubric Creation project, I learned how to make those oh-so-helpful rubrics using a super simple website, rubistar.com! I have always loved rubrics. They made doing projects in school so organized! They left no questions to be asked, and they are great for checking to make sure all the requirements of the assignment have been met. They are also great for teachers to make grading faster and simpler. I was extremely pleased to find that making these rubrics could be as easy as they are.

I think my rubric is clear about the requirements of the assignment. The students were assigned to make a reproduction of a scene in Shakespeare's Hamlet. My rubric provides the time students have to do the presentation, their participation in the group, as well as an explanation that staying in character is important! My rubric is easy to read and I feel as though my students would be able to be well prepared for their presentation with this rubric.

I might have included that each group should act out only one scene from Hamlet, but since I would explain this in class, I'm not too concerned with this. Other than that, I think it worked well!

I'm excited to add this information to my list of technology skills. Making rubrics, especially with this easy tool, will make my life as a teacher so much easier!

RSS Reader Reflection

Before this project, I had always heard of people updating/filtering through/deleting their RSS feeds, but I never really knew what it meant. I think this project was extremely helpful and I feel as though I have a lot more resources for my classroom now that I have subscriptions to all of these great blogs and websites.

I think I found some great pages to subscribe to. I especially love the teacher blogs. They give a real glimpse into my future career (both the trials AND tribulations!). I can find great lesson plan ideas, compare my classroom to those of other teachers, and share my ideas all because of one fantastic website!

The only think I'm frustrated with is not being able to find that PERFECT subscription. I found a lot of teacher blogs, but I haven't found many sites that focus solely on English or Literature in the classroom, at least not at the secondary level. However, I'm sure a bit more time surfing will fix that problem in no time.

This new information definitely shows my growing skills in technology because I am utilizing this great resource to my advantage. I am connecting myself to teachers across the country, and even across the world, sharing information and stories.

Assistive Technologies Reflection

This project opened my eyes to all the different resources available to teachers who have students with various disabilities. It was also an exploration of Google Docs for me, as I had never used it before. I'm glad I can maintain access to this document for future use. I know I'll probably forget about it, but when I really need it, I'll be glad it's there.

It's great to have started this list of assistive technologies available to me as a teacher. I can also add to the document if I stumble upon or am told about any other resources that could "level the playing field" for students with disabilities. Most of the resources I have listed are those already available to students who have either mac os or windows.

I don't think I found as many resources as I could have, however. I definitely need to add to my list if I want to have a really successful list of resources. I also think it could be a bit more organized, but as I said before, I can always add to and modify this list.

This project shows my knowledge of the problems facing students with cognitive, physical, hearing, and visual disabilities and the technology available to help them succeed in the classroom and beyond. It shows my ability to use technology to my advantage to help my students and myself in making my class a comfortable place to learn for everyone.

Technology Supported Lesson Plan Reflection

I have never made one before, so making a technology-supported lesson plan was definitely a learning experience for me. I knew that teachers needed lesson plans to keep their schedule organized and to make sure to stay on task within a lesson, but I didn't know that lesson plans act as proof for the teachers' implementation of the ISTE standards and the State Education standards. I also learned that lesson plan templates are a huge help in organizing the lesson plans. Teachers already have enough work on their plate just trying to figure out how to create a successful lesson that meets all the standards and is interesting to the students without having to create the format of the lesson plan.

I think I got all of the ISTE and Idaho standards I needed for this lesson plan. I love Heart of Darkness, so it was fairly simple for me to think of a lesson plan involving the novella. I made sure we had an in-class discussion about the knowledge I wanted the students to have for their projects. The students were then asked to use technology by posting a video speech to their blogs. I think it was a pretty good integration of technology into a lesson plan in which I normally wouldn't have thought to use as much technology.

I would definitely have to adjust a few things after applying this lesson into an actual classroom. I'm not sure if the school in which I teach will have access to webcams, or will even have enough computers for my students to use. If the majority of my students don't have access to webcams outside of school, this lesson plan will probably have to be modified even more. Christine suggested the use of podcasts as an alternative to video speeches. I like this idea, and will have to research podcasts further (or just wait until we learn about them in class!).

This project shows that I know how to integrate the technology we are learning about into an actual classroom setting. I feel the actual application of these tools is the whole reason for taking this class, and I feel as though I've successfully executed this.