I can't believe it's here. Cohort 18 we have done it and made it through likely one of the most stressful school years. COVID-19 has thrown us all for a loop, and on top of it all we have been working on completing our masters. When I sit back and look at all that we have done and completed I am amazed and how we have all grown during this journey. This program forced me out of my comfort zone and made me work with new digital resources that I never would have even tried. I felt at ease when Digital teaching was thrust upon us because I have had first hand experience with learning and teaching through a digital model. I was then able to support teachers to use various digital resources to teach their students. Also, I felt at ease with using Zoom. Who knew that Zoom would become my main mode of communication and my work life? Thank you Touro and NapaLearns. Thank you for everything!
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The work I have done fits in Touro’s values because it focuses on growing the intellectual capabilities of both students and teachers. My research was used to set out to support a group of students who struggle with academics. The research is student centered, even though it focuses more on teachers. The work with teachers is specifically done to support the English Language Learner students to increase their academic achievement in math. This is important since this population of students is achieving below their English Only and Reclassified peers. This project accepts the diversity of students and teachers because it gives teachers an opportunity to develop a plan that fits their own teaching style that will best fit their students and their academic needs. This type of freedom and choice for teachers allows for the respect for the inherent value and dignity of each individual. This project also promotes interprofessionalism because it has teachers from different subject areas working together to reach the goal of increasing student achievement in math. The work of the teachers in both subjects is student centered as it is looking for engaging ways to provide students with an opportunity to learn and work with the math vocabulary.
TPACK: Technology, pedagogical, and content knowledge. My TPACK journey has enlightened me to how technology can enforce what students are learning, and not just something fancy and fun on a computer that has little educational advantages. I have learned how if our mindset is changed slightly and with a willingness to try something new, educators can really improve their teaching practices. TPACK is also going to be incredibly important with distance learning. We don’t know what the next school will look like and learning how to incorporate technology, pedagogical, and content knowledge together will help teachers to teach. With traditional teaching methods not possible, it is time teachers take the leap and try new apps and websites to increase a students learning, even if it is all done through distance learning.
Investigate your district’s mission statement and policies around technology and 21st century learning? What is it? It’s an all-encompassing or does it need a gentle nudge from you? Analyze and comment.
The district’s mission statement is “Transforming lives by instilling and inspiring lifelong learning in every student.” (I think this is the mission statement. I had a hard time finding all of this.) I know the district is working through some rebranding right now so I wonder if they are still working on completing a full mission statement. NVUSD has a 1to1 device policy for all middle and high school students. Also, 21st century skills are at the heart of most everything. The website does have a page for technology, https://www.nvusd.org/tech, and right now they have all the necessary information for families to deal with technology during distance learning. My big I Wonder, is how was this section changed once we found ourselves involved with distance learning. I did see on Melissa’s blog that there used to be lots of other information up on the website about technology and 21st century skills. I think our current atmosphere has changed what information is available. At https://www.nvusd.org/about there is a lot of information in there about the strategic plan and in the strategic plan it often mentions how the different plans are connected to the 21st century skills. I do believe that it is all-encompassing at this point. I know that the district leaders are connecting their goals to 21st century skills and ensuring that students leave the district with these skills. Where I can help is the how we get this done. What a lot of the district has are all ideas, but no specifics. As a school leader I have the opportunity to work with teachers on finding the best “hows” that truly work in practice and not just theory. I’m not going to lie, I have had many struggles trying to produce my Capstone Project. I am struggling with the creative side of things. I’m not an incredibly creative person and I am finding this side extremely difficult and frustrating. I am working through it all, but it’s been tough. I think what is the biggest frustration is as I go through my work I see holes and want to do it all over again with changes that will increase the effectiveness. Also, COVID came at an incredibly important time in my research. Right as everything was catching stride it was stopped dead in its place with the closure of school. As a result I am struggling to find my focus and voice that I need to create things like a logo, infographic, and documentary. However, I am trying to take this struggle and embrace it as part of my journey. I am trying to imagine what would have happened had COVID not occurred. Also, I am really struggling with my logo since the app and computer programs are not doing what I want! In addition, I don’t have the knowledge of how to fix these problems to get the logo I envision in my head. I will work through this as well. As I watched the mini-documentaries and the past capstone videos I see how you can use the voice overs with videos and pictures. Since school is no longer in session, I will have to rely heavily on pictures and video of myself talking. These videos gave me ideas on how this is possible. I am creating my documentary for academic coaches, administrators, and teachers. The most essential points will be how I worked with various teacher groups to have them work across the subject divide to focus on a single goal. This is an important part of my story since having ELD teachers focus on the vocabulary that was provided in math class is a new idea and made many of the ELD feel out of their element. It is important to show how teachers go outside their comfort zone because they know it is best for the students they work with.
Ellison: The audience is anyone interested in learning about gamification in education. This could be an administrator, a teacher, a parent, or an individual who wants to learn more about the subject. She was effective in presenting to them on every page because each page provided information about her journey, how she grew, and where her inspiration came from. I like how she shares how her focus changed throughout the program. It seems like she was very honest about her journey and I felt it as I read through her site. She doesn’t use lots of teacher jargon, and writes for a general audience, which is why I thought her audience included noneducational individuals.
Garcia: The audience is focused on teachers, administrators, and anyone else associated with the teaching profession. The author uses language that sounds like a teacher presenting to fellow teachers or administrators. I think this individual was effective in presenting as I found the topic very interesting and I was looking through the different sections. I like her visuals that she uses to share information. For example I liked the visuals that are used to show how robotics and math was linked with attendance. The quotes from students at this point that are used are incredibly insightful. As someone who has taught math for the past 6 years, her work intrigued me. The visuals and the way it was organized made the information easy to access. My audience is teachers, administrators, and academic coaches. I believe they will be my audience since my work is more focused on how to work with teachers to support their teaching. These groups are the individuals whose work is more focused on working with teachers to support students, instead of working with students directly. Teachers are part of the audience as well because the work also provides ideas and supports how they can teach math to ELL students. |