MAT 675 Assignment 4A- Interactive game

Standards Based Interactive Game

Goal of the assignment: Create a standards-based, interactive game for a subject you might teach to reinforce standards-based instruction.

In my current placement for student teaching, I am in a Kindergarten class. We are in our third trimester and, perfectly aligning with spring, we are learning about plants. The standard for kindergarten on this topic is:

• Standard Life Science: Compare and contrast the behaviors and appearances of plants. Identify the major parts of plants.

We have now learned about the different parts of the plant through informational texts, crafts, readings, etc., and we have also been learning about what plants need.

I created a summative assessment game where students must identify the parts or needs of the plants by looking at a visual aid and selecting the correct part or need based off of the description of it. This doesn't only have to be used for summative assessment, it can be used as a teaching tool also during the unit, but I will use it for my students since we are just wrapping up the unit. I chose to create a colorful picture to help with keeping their attention. This also allowed me to keep it simple for them and is similar to the diagrams we have used in class throughout the unit. I made sure to use vocabulary that we have practiced over the last 2 weeks so that they will recognize the part or need even if they can't necessarily read the entire clue.

Here is what the game board looks like:

Here is how it works:

At the top of the page a clue will appear. There are blue dots all over the picture on the different needs and parts of the plant. The students will select the correct blue dot that corresponds to the clue. If they get it correct, the dot will turn green and the clue will change to the next one until they are all done. They can keep clicking dots until they get the answer right. I added a 10 minute timer on the game only because I don't think it will take them 10 minutes, but if it does then it will be time for someone else to play.

Here is the link to my game. I hope you enjoy!

http://www.purposegames.com/game/parts-and-needs-of-a-plant-quiz

Happy learning!

-Kelli

MAT 675 Assignment 1B- 21st Century Skills

MAT 675 Assignment 1B

21st Century Skills

Prompt: What will you do to become confident of your 21st century skills as a learner and as a teacher in digital literacy?

As a learner in the 21st century, I already feel very confident in my skills. I was fortunate enough to grow up in part of a very wonderful school district, Poway Unified School District, where I feel that they put emphasis on many of the skills I will discuss below. From my k-12 days I moved on to pursue a Bachelor's Degree, am almost done with my Master's degree, and have worked 13 years in the business field. It was during these experiences that I really became confident in my 21st century skills. From both school and business combined, I encompass what I believe makes up the 21st century and digital literacy skills that are needed to be a successful educator.

Digital Literacy Skills for Students:

In previous classes, I learned a ton about crucial 21st century skills and what it means to incorporate them in the classroom.

The term 21st century skills refers to a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The goal of education in the recent years has shifted to ensure that students are prepared for college, careers and citizenship when they finish their k-12 careers.

The most basic way to define the essential 21st century skills are by the 4Cs which was coined by the Partnership, a group of corporations that partnered with the U.S. Department of Education back in 2002. The 4Cs are: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

The prior skills that schools used to teach still apply to students of the information-age, but the list of skills has expanded. The older skills included:

• knowing a trade
• following directions
• getting along with others
• working hard
• being professional-- efficient, prompt, honest, and fair

In addition to these skills, it is important that educators focus on also teach students how to:

• think deeply about issues
• solve problems creatively
• work in teams
• communicate clearly through multiple medias
• learn ever-changing technologies
• deal with a flood of information

States and government have stepped in to help schools and educators to adopt new standards that will promote these ideas.

For classrooms, this means there is change to be made. Examples of what to expect in classrooms that promote these ideals would be:

• Classrooms that have clusters of desks rather than rows to promote collaboration.
• Curriculum that is integrated where there is less information dispensed, but where students are asked to generate knowledge.
• Teachers will likely move away from traditional pencil and paper quizzes or assessments and instead use more alternative assessments such as projects, or even have students model a situation.
• Complex, real-world problem solving skills will be used with the curriculum.

According to Linda Krulock and Elizabeth Hofreuter-Landini, writers from the online periodical, The Intelligencer, "21st-century skills are far more than technology skills put to use in the classroom. This is real world learning that will equip children with the skills to survive in the 21st century in jobs or careers that we cannot even imagine right now" (2011).

What to expect as a teacher in the 21st century? I plan to learn and use the following 8 characteristics of highly effective 21st century teachers as outlined by Andrew Churches:

1. Adapting: being able to adapt the curriculum and requirements in order to teach the curriculum in imaginative ways. Also, educators must to be able to adapt hardware and software into tools to be used by a variety of age groups and abilities.
2. Being Visionary: "Educators must look across the disciplines and through the curricula; they must see the potential in the emerging tools and web technologies, grasp these and manipulate them to serve their needs" (2009).
3. Collaborating: leverage tools such as Blogger, Wikispaces, Twitter, RSS, etc. to enhance and captivate learners.
4. Taking Risks: take risks and sometime surrender yourself to the students' knowledge. Identify the goals and facilitate the learning.
5. Learning: Teachers must continue to absorb experiences and knowledge and also become life-long learners as you expect your students to become.
6. Communicating: 21st century teachers must be fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and collaboration.
7. Modeling behavior: The expectation is that teachers teach values, which also means that we must be models of the behavior we expect from our students. This includes modeling tolerance, global awareness, and reflective practice.
8. Leading: leadership is crucial to the success or failure of any project.

Digital Literacy Skills for Teachers:

In my own classroom I just want to focus on being innovative and adaptive to technology and the needs of the students and requirements of the curriculum. I am a huge fan of incorporating technology as often as possible since it is very prominent in our everyday lives. I also am fortunate enough to have been in the business world for 11 years so I have experiences that I can share with my students that are practical. I also plan to use my colleagues to help me be inventive and creative.

The skills embedded in the classroom require a transformative shift in the way teachers present information to students, the way students interact with their learning, and the way students collaborate and share their learning with their peers. Students today need a repertoire of knowledge and skills that are far more diverse, complex, and integrated than any other previous generation.

Tools I want to use in my classroom:

Just for Laughs:

References

Churches, A. (2009, September 4). Teaching Skills: What 21st Century Educators Need To Learn To Survive. Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://www.masternewmedia.org/teaching-skills-what-21st-century-educators-need-to-learn-to-survive/

Integrating 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://edison.dpsk12.org/integrating-21st-century-skills/

Krulock, L., & Hofreuter-Landini, E. (n.d.). Why Are '21st-Century' Skills Important? Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/552994/Why-Are--21st-Century--Skills-Important-.html?nav=505

What are 21st century skills? (2015, August 17). Retrieved January 17, 2016, from https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/FAQ/what-are-21st-century-skills

MAT 671 Assignment 3A- Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation

Describe an event in your schooling in which you were inspired to perform.

I went to school at California State University San Marcos and pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration. Everyone in that program is required to participate in a group project in one of their last semesters called Senior Experience. This was one really memorable event in my schooling where I was really inspired to perform and there were a few reasons why. I was really motivated for this project because I was able to work with a group of up to 5 students and we were able to pick our own groups for this project. I enjoyed finding teammates that were hard working so that I could count on them throughout the project. I also enjoyed this project because we had a say in the assignment.

The basic idea behind Senior Experience is that each group will get paired with a company who has a need. There are all different types of companies and all different needs. As a group, you are able to sit down and read about each company and pick your groups top 3 choices for what companies they would like to work with for the last semester. The administrators of the course paired groups with companies as best they could.

What also made this exciting and motivating is that this was a real-world assignment. After all our schooling, we were required to take the skills we had learned and apply them to this company’s need. We met with a representative from the company and heard what they were looking for, we met with an advisor to go over our progress throughout the process and were able to bounce ideas off of them as well as get honest feedback, but we were able to choose what we wanted to do and also how we wanted to present our project. The freedom along with the practical assignment was so fun for me. Our team presented to the company and were happy to see they actually wanted to put our ideas into action. Very satisfying and rewarding.

Describe an event in your schooling in which you were completely deflated.

On the flip side, I recently had a professor in my teaching program who clearly was not up to speed with the way National’s program is run. It was a class we were required to take on campus so I was excited to go and meet some other students in my cohort. After the second class session I felt completely defeated. Students would ask this professor about what was expected of us on certain assignments and the teacher could not clearly answer. Class after class we left not feeling like we were really learning anything practical.

This particular teacher had retired from teaching quite a long time ago and had no experience to offer us for the modern classroom, it was all how things were done in the past. As someone who wants to teach elementary school, I know that the way teachers taught us when I was growing up is extremely different now and as a classroom management class, I was looking forward to hearing about how to manage a classroom now with cell phones and all other sorts of challenges that were not around when I was growing up.  

Because of the lack of knowledge on the topic he was teaching, along with the wavering answers about assignments and points in the class, I truly felt defeated. The only thing that kept me going to class was the fact that I needed to get through it because I wanted to move on in my program in order to Student Teach this term, and also that I paid the tuition for the class and was not about to pay that amount twice.

As a teacher, what will you be certain TO DO, and certain to AVOID in motivating young people?

In my own classroom I would like to be a teacher that is a role model by delivering information with energy and enthusiasm and passion. I learned in my business experiences, especially doing a little bit of sales, that if you don’t even believe in the product you cannot expect someone else to believe in it. I also want to just get to know my students to that I can make sure I am connecting the content to their interests whenever possible. I also want learning to be fun so I will do my best to incorporate visual aids or field trips or anything I can to enhance student learning.

I actually really liked learning more about Project Based Learning because I want to use student active teaching activities that engage students in the material and allows them to learn through problem solving and discovering. I feel like that type of learning is really satisfying. I also will make sure I incorporate cooperative learning. If there is one thing I have learned over and over in all my prep classes for teaching is the benefits of cooperative learning. I do think that type of learning can be motivating for students.

 I never want my students to feel like I don’t know what I am talking about so I will make sure to always come to class prepared just as I expect them to come. I do not want my students guessing about their expectations so I will make sure to be very clear with my communication with them and also transparent with their parents or guardians.

Not having much time in the classroom yet I feel like I am only scratching the surface on what makes up a motivating teacher and I am sure I will learn more strategies as I student teach and as I have my own classroom one day and hopefully even through professional growth opportunities.

MAT 671 Assignment 3B- 21st century skills

21st Century Skills in the Classroom

The term 21st century skills refers to a set of abilities that students need to develop in order to succeed in the information age. The goal of education in the recent years has shifted to ensure that students are prepared for college, careers and citizenship when they finish their k-12 careers.

The most basic way to define the essential 21st century skills are by the 4Cs which was coined by the Partnership, a group of corporations that partnered with the U.S. Department of Education back in 2002. The 4Cs are: collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.

The prior skills that schools used to teach still apply to students of the information-age, but the list of skills has expanded. The older skills included:

• knowing a trade
• following directions
• getting along with others
• working hard
• being professional-- efficient, prompt, honest, and fair

In addition to these skills, it is important that educators focus on also teach students how to:

• think deeply about issues
• solve problems creatively
• work in teams
• communicate clearly through multiple medias
• learn ever-changing technologies
• deal with a flood of information

States and government have stepped in to help schools and educators to adopt new standards that will promote these ideas.

For classrooms, this means there is change to be made. Examples of what to expect in classrooms that promote these ideals would be:

• Classrooms that have clusters of desks rather than rows to promote collaboration.
• Curriculum that is integrated where there is less information dispensed, but where students are asked to generate knowledge.
• Teachers will likely move away from traditional pencil and paper quizzes or assessments and instead use more alternative assessments such as projects, or even have students model a situation.
• Complex, real-world problem solving skills will be used with the curriculum.

According to Linda Krulock and Elizabeth Hofreuter-Landini, writers from the online periodical, The Intelligencer, "21st-century skills are far more than technology skills put to use in the classroom. This is real world learning that will equip children with the skills to survive in the 21st century in jobs or careers that we cannot even imagine right now" (2011).

What to expect as a teacher in the 21st century? I plan to learn and use the following 8 characteristics of highly effective 21st century teachers as outlined by Andrew Churches:

1. Adapting: being able to adapt the curriculum and requirements in order to teach the curriculum in imaginative ways. Also, educators must to be able to adapt hardware and software into tools to be used by a variety of age groups and abilities.
2. Being Visionary: "Educators must look across the disciplines and through the curricula; they must see the potential in the emerging tools and web technologies, grasp these and manipulate them to serve their needs" (2009).
3. Collaborating: leverage tools such as Blogger, Wikispaces, Twitter, RSS, etc. to enhance and captivate learners.
4. Taking Risks: take risks and sometime surrender yourself to the students' knowledge. Identify the goals and facilitate the learning.
5. Learning: Teachers must continue to absorb experiences and knowledge and also become life-long learners as you expect your students to become.
6. Communicating: 21st century teachers must be fluent in tools and technologies that enable communication and collaboration.
7. Modeling behavior: The expectation is that teachers teach values, which also means that we must be models of the behavior we expect from our students. This includes modeling tolerance, global awareness, and reflective practice.
8. Leading: leadership is crucial to the success or failure of any project.

In my own classroom I just want to focus on being innovative and adaptive to technology and the needs of the students and requirements of the curriculum. I am a huge fan of incorporating technology as often as possible since it is very prominent in our everyday lives. I also am fortunate enough to have been in the business world for 11 years so I have experiences that I can share with my students that are practical. I also plan to use my colleagues to help me be inventive and creative.

The skills embedded in the classroom require a transformative shift in the way teachers present information to students, the way students interact with their learning, and the way students collaborate and share their learning with their peers. Students today need a repertoire of knowledge and skills that are far more diverse, complex, and integrated than any other previous generation.

References

 

Churches, A. (2009, September 4). Teaching Skills: What 21st Century Educators Need To Learn To Survive. Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://www.masternewmedia.org/teaching-skills-what-21st-century-educators-need-to-learn-to-survive/

 

Integrating 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://edison.dpsk12.org/integrating-21st-century-skills/

 

Krulock, L., & Hofreuter-Landini, E. (n.d.). Why Are '21st-Century' Skills Important? Retrieved January 17, 2016, from http://www.theintelligencer.net/page/content.detail/id/552994/Why-Are--21st-Century--Skills-Important-.html?nav=505

 

What are 21st century skills? (2015, August 17). Retrieved January 17, 2016, from https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/FAQ/what-are-21st-century-skills

Week 2 Assignment 2B- Project Based Learning

Project Based Learning

Project based learning is a new way of teaching students by allowing them to develop deeper learning competencies which are designed to prepare them for success beyond high school for example in college courses, or in their careers, etc.

The project I chose is designed for 5th graders and is taking their math skills to a practical level. This PBL uses the following math skills:

• Decimal operations
• Measurement with fractions
• Graphing ordered pairs
• Fractions, decimals, and percentages
• Real-life math skills

Since it is getting close to Valentine's Day, I chose for students to do their math PBL on designing their own candy store. This PBL will take approximately 2 weeks to complete.

Part One:

To get students excited I would show them some videos from YouTube of large candy stores around the world. This will help to give them inspiration for their own projects and get them to start asking questions about the topic. In this phase we will begin reading about entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. I will also read them the book "Little Suzy Opens a Candy Store" by Amber Raudabaugh. This is all to build interest, show them what has been possible for other entrepreneurs, and it will allow for discussions.

One of our main discussion points will be about checkout counters. Some key points to discuss will be:

• What is the purpose of a checkout counter?
• What are some of the benefits of a large checkout counter? What about a small checkout counter?
• How will you utilize your checkout counter to help make more sales?
• How is a checkout counter related to customer satisfaction?

I would then show them examples of different checkout counters so they can brainstorm ideas of what they want their tables to look like. I would also provide time for students to measure tables and counters around the classroom to get ideas.

The driving question for this entire project is:

What mathematical skills are needed to plan and run a candy store?

They will use yardsticks, or rulers for measurement. We would begin to use graph paper and start planning out the spacing of their candy shop true to scale.

Once the Main area is graphed out, they will continue with the remainder of part 1.

Part 1 used remembering, understanding, and applying from Bloom's Taxonomy.

Part 2:

In this part, students will be choosing the candy displays they want to place inside their store. At this time, I would model how to graph on a one foot scale and how to graph fractional pieces. We would likely do a mini lesson on length and width and the difference between feet in inches and square feet. Once students understand that each side of the box measures one foot, it will be easy for them to start placing their candy displays.

To include writing, in this part students will write about why they chose their types of candy for their store and how they organized their displays. We will continue reading about kid and adult entrepreneurs to make real-life connections to our project.

Discussion points:

• How much room is needed between displays for people to walk?
• Why is it important to have a variety of candy for sale?
• Does it matter where each type of candy is placed? Will candy sell at different rates in different parts of the store?

Students will be aloud to move desks in the classroom to create aisles to try to get accurate measurements on how wide an aisle should be and how much space is needed between displays. Students will work in pairs or small groups to check over each others work. I would have students draw in pencil first so they can make edits as needed.

Students will work on math worksheets to begin mapping out what candy they want to have in their store.

 Part 2 used understanding, applying, and analyzing from Bloom's Taxonomy.

Part 3:

This third portion is about making money and learning about profit. Students will need to know what profit means before going into their worksheets. Students will then use division and subtraction so a pre-assessment might be in order before we work on the following worksheets.

Discussion points:

• How much profit is enough to cover other expenses such as employees, rent, and electricity?
• How much would you be willing to spend on each candy? Would you still buy it if it were priced above this amount?
• Why is correct pricing so important for your business?
• What would happen if your friends candy store nearby sold their candy for a lower price?
• Is their any other way that stores can provide value to their customers other than just selling them something? (compare customer service at a more expensive store to a discount store).

To incorporate other subjects, this would be a good time to cover economics such as mini lessons on income, revenue, profit, loss, goods, trade, and more from social studies content. Also, students should have time to work on the artistic part of their project by designing what the pricing signs can look like, or even a store front or other store items.

One way that social studies/economics and technology could be used in this section is by having QR codes set up around the classroom. Students could work in groups, pairs, or individually to go around scanning the different QR codes that have been prepared by me and will provide them information about the pre-selected topics. Each station can have an activity or questionnaire to ensure active learning.

Here is what a QR code is:

These QR codes can be scanned by phones, or iPads which many schools now have access to for students to use.

Once students are up to speed, they should continue with the project.

Part 4 and 5:

In this part, students will be converting between fractions, decimals, and percentages. We would need to do some sort of lesson on these ideas. One way would be to share books with students about statistics. Some examples would be The Cartoon Introduction to Statistics by Grady Klein or Sports Illustrated Kid Stats (2013). We could also use bandy and baggies to have students count and create fractions, decimals, and percentages as a more hands on learning. Another great visual would be to show them how to create a graph to display the data. This would incorporate technology.

These sections are a great introduction to converting between fractions, decimals, and percentages so we would start with benchmark fractions, decimals, and percentages during this lesson because many of the students will already recognize that .25 equals 1/4 which equals 25%.

Project Outcome:

By the end of this project, students should show that they have a good working knowledge of economics vocabulary such as income and profit. They should also be able to explain the math concepts they used.

Students would show mastery by creating a portfolio where they explain each step they took to complete the project and how they know their math is accurate. All of the filled-in student pages are to be included in their portfolio next to the corresponding reasoning and proof page. They will also create an advertisement for their candy store (poster, video, etc.) of their choosing where they include pricing, sales, and any other reasons why people should visit THEIR candy store.

After they complete and present their portfolios, they will be asked to reflect on their project and the experience. We will do some of this as a whole class or small group discussion, and then students will write about it in their journals.

Parts 3-5 used all of Bloom's taxonomy levels: remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

Rubric and Grading:

Grading will be based on completion, accuracy, neatness, and creativity. Students will be expected to present their completed project to the peers and myself.

I did a simple 1-5 grading for each category. I used a simple format so that I can have space to write in the corresponding column my support to why they are receiving that grade. I also leave room for additional feedback at the bottom so that each rubric is personalized for each student and they have a chance to review at the end my thoughts on their overall project.

I hope you enjoyed my Project Based Learning ideas. :]

-Kelli

MAT 671 Assignment 1A

Hello and welcome to my blog. Let me start with a little about myself.

My name is Kelli and I live in Escondido, CA. When I am not doing school work or working, I love to work out, spend time with my boyfriend, friends and family, and am usually listening to country music.
Here is a picture of my boyfriend and I at the UF football game. Go Gators!

I have worked in the finance industry for the last 11 years so transitioning to teaching is going to be both nerve-wracking and exciting. I am, however, definitely looking forward to the change. I also own my own Wedding Coordination and Floral company. One of the best parts about going into teaching is the time off in the summers and on weekends will still allow me to enjoy the wedding industry. I am so fortunate to have found 2 careers that make me excited to work each day.

I think I can meet the needs of the diverse learners in my class by bringing in my creativity, and attention to detail. I know that much of the success I will have in the classroom will be due to the hard work I put in preparing the lessons to make sure that I am meeting the needs of all my students. I strive to be innovative and know that I will challenge myself to find creative and fun ways to teach the curriculum.

I would definitely describe myself as a leader. I learned this when I was in a business fraternity in college. My pledge class was a mixture of 26 different personalities, but I was always able to find a way to be motivating and encouraging and found myself contributing helpful ideas towards our goals. I plan to use what I have learned through my experiences as a student, as a leader, and as a business woman in my classroom.

When taking the Teaching and Learning styles survey the results showed me that I was balanced between being an Active and Reflective learner. I am definitely more of a sensing learner than an intuitive learner, a much more visual learner than a verbal learner. The results also showed that I am a moderate sequential learner over a global learner.

Since I am more of a sensing learner and enjoy learning the facts, I will need to work on allowing students to be more intuitive learners because that is the way common core is expecting them to be. This is one area I might be challenged with when it comes to teaching and hope to find ways to accomplish this as I have time in the classroom. Being a visual learner myself will be good for my students because in my classes I have learned that graphic organizers and visuals can definitely support the learning, especially for ELL students. I think being more of a sequential learner will help me keep the information I am teaching in a logical order for students to learn.

That's all for me for week one. Hope you enjoyed learning a little about me. :]