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Monica Findley

ESOL Teacher, Prince William County School

March 2, 2015

INTRODUCTION

My coursework at Boise State University has been intense and rewarding. Over the past two and

one half years, I have put forth many hours, sweat and tears into a large majority of my projects.

This Rationale Paper showcases many of my Educational Technology course artifacts, for which

I have created, during my enrollment at Boise State University. For each Association of

Educational Communications and Technology (AECT) Standard, there is an artifact(s) that is

briefly described and categorized within a specific AECT Standard Indicator.

INDICATOR: CREATING

EdTech 541 - Internet Based Lesson Plan on Plants This is an introductory lesson on plant parts

and their primary functions for the plant’s survival. This lesson incorporates 2.0 web tools &

Internet websites.

EdTech 533 Interactive Video I created this interactive video to be used as an anticipatory set,

for the purpose of activating the student’s prior knowledge of community helpers.

EdTech 541 – Classifying Animals through Language Arts This lesson was created to help

students demonstrate their understanding of physical and behavioral characteristics for various

animals.

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EdTech 502 – Weather Jigsaw I designed this activity, for my 2nd grade students, in order to

facilitate the learning about the various types of severe weather.

EdTech 532 Rhyme Time Game Idea This video game idea was designed for kindergarten &

first grade students, in order to help with the successful acquisition of identifying rhyming

words.

Content Knowledge: Candidates demonstrate the ability to create instructional materials and

learning environments using a variety of systems approaches.

In the Internet based lesson on plants, the students are divided into pairs and use an iPad to scan

QR codes around the room. Each student works with their partner to gather and record

information on plant parts and their functions. They also utilize the Bubble.Us website to

organize their information and create a think map. Finally, the students can create a plant

magazine on the Themeefy.com website. The online enhancements of Bubble.Us and

Themeefy.com created an excitement for learning and a motivation to learn about plants. “The

most popular approach to using web-based learning activities is through what Doering, Hughes,

and Scharber called lesson enhancements. Lesson enhancements are when teachers identify an

online enhancement that augments their curricular goals and use it to extend and deepen their

students’ understanding” (Roblyer & Doering, 2012, p. 238). I was able to facilitate this lesson

with my second grade ESOL students. In addition to learning about plant parts and their

functions, my students were able to engage in listening and participation in peer-to-peer

conversations, read and locate important information, as well as write sentences to record the

pertinent information. Each student was provided with opportunities to access academic content

while developing the 4 language domains of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

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The Community Helpers interactive video was created to activate the prior knowledge of

kindergarten and first grade students on the concept of community helpers. This video is

comprised of several video segments that are linked together in an adventure branching and a

deep link return structure. YouTube Annotations were applied to create an easy navigation

between the videos. Based on the Multimedia Principle, “people are more likely to understand

material when they engage in active learning --that is, when they engage in relevant cognitive

processing such as attending to the relevant material in lesson, mentally organizing the material

into a coherent cognitive representation, and mentally integrating the material with their existing

knowledge” (Clark & Mayer, 2008, p. 71). The concept of community helpers was not a new

concept for my students. Although their community helper knowledge was limited, most of my

kindergarten students were able to recognize some community helpers, especially the doctor,

police officer and firefighter. I was pleased to see that through the use of multimedia, extended

conversations unfolded, from sharing personal experiences, about a variety of community

helpers and their contributions to society.

Content Pedagogy: Candidates apply content pedagogy to create appropriate applications of

processes and technologies to improve learning and performance outcomes.

Classifying Animals through Language Arts lesson plan was designed for my first grade ESOL

students. This cross curriculum lesson provided the students the opportunity to investigate the

fact that animals, including humans, have basic needs and distinct characteristics. By utilizing

technology, the students were able to research animals, construct an online Venn diagram, and to

create a fictional or non-fictional eBook synthesizing their information in a creative manner.

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Learning Environments: Candidates create instructional design products based on learning

principles and research-based best practices.

The Weather Jigsaw activity is a cooperative learning activity that provides the students an

opportunity to learn from their peers. In this activity, the students were divided into 4 groups and

each of the students becomes an expert on one out of four severe weather storms. Then they, in

turn, share their newly acquired knowledge with their peers. I had the opportunity to facilitate

this lesson to my second grade ESOL students and it was a success. This activity fostered

teamwork, active participation, peer coaching, higher self-esteem and confidence for my

students. It also provided the much needed listening and speaking practice.

Since technology has become an integral part of our everyday lives, students of today are very

computer-savvy so bringing electronic games into the classroom makes perfect sense. Games are

at times challenging, fun and very rewarding. They help teach life skills such as, leadership, peer

collaboration or teamwork, strategy, risk taking and problem solving. According to Aldrich

(2005), “Good Educational Games and/or Simulations cover four stages or slates. They are:

background, introduction, engagement, and practice” (Aldrich, 2005, p. 241). The Rhyme Time

Game idea has 3 out of the 4 essential game stages and was developed with several purposes in

mind. The Rhyme Time Game idea is an educational simulation; where the students acquire the

skill of rhyming, through an animated character, in a familiar interactive play experience. This

game idea facilitates learning through music, interactive play and several levels of play, along

with numerous rhyming word practices. Although this is still a game idea, my overall hope is

that a game similar to this one will be created and implemented within a kindergarten or first

grade classroom. Since Gamification can be used as an academic scaffolding tool, I believe that

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this game idea could benefit all students, especially my low level ESOL students who are

acquiring the English language.

INDICATOR: USING

EdTech 502 Virtual Field Trip -This virtual field trip is a tour of five monumental landmarks in

Washington, DC. They are the Washington Monument, Jefferson Memorial, Lincoln Memorial,

the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, and the Supreme Court.

EdTech 513 Inventions from Ancient China PowerPoint Presentation -The following is a

PowerPoint Presentation that demonstrates the Multimedia and Contiguity Principles.

EdTech 501 Tech Trends Lesson Plan – I designed this lesson plan to help my third grade ESOL

students become familiar with academic vocabulary associated with the food chain.

EdTech 541 Relative Advantage Chart – This chart is a collection of technological resources,

geared towards providing comprehensible input for academic concepts, for elementary ESOL

students.

Content Knowledge: Candidates demonstrate the ability to select and use technological

resources and processes to support student learning and to enhance their pedagogy.

The students study Famous Americans in the third grade so I created this Monumental

Landmarks Virtual Field Trip. Each one of the featured landmarks is a national symbol and

represents the contributions of five famous Americans. This virtual tour of Washington, DC

creates an interactive experience for the students. By navigating to the different pages, watching

the videos, and answering the questions, the students will comprehend a better understanding of

these five famous Americans and their contributions to the United States. As an ESOL teacher, I

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often collaborate with classroom teachers from several grade levels. This lesson was shared with

a third grade classroom teacher and suggested as a supplemental instructional material to give the

students a visual representation for the famous Americans being studied. Roblyer and Doering

(2012) state, “virtual field trips can provide students the opportunity to construct knowledge

actively through interacting with historic places, experts, and artifacts” (Roblyer & Doering,

2012 p. 339). As a result of implementing this virtual field trip, the third grade teacher’s

students’ learning was extended. The students were able to visualize a connection between a

famous American and an architectural national symbol, in Washington, DC. This allowed the

students to make a deeper connection to the famous American and how their accomplishments

upheld constitutional amendments and ultimately improved the lives of many people.

Content Pedagogy: Candidates implement appropriate educational technologies and processes

based on appropriate content pedagogy.

I created this PowerPoint Presentation to be used as a supplement to a lesson that focuses

specifically on the inventions of ancient China and how these particular inventions have

contributed to our society today. This PowerPoint Presentation discusses four major inventions

of ancient China: the compass, silk, the kite and gunpowder. It follows the rules of the

Contiguity Principle and the Multimedia Principle. The Contiguity Principle is basically the act

of integrating on-screen text with on-screen graphics, within close proximity of each other. The

Multimedia Principle states that learning is enhanced when text is presented with graphics, rather

than with only online text. Research by Clark and Mayer (2008) supports the fact that “when

words and pictures are integrated, people can hold them together in their working memories and

therefore make meaningful connections between them. This act of mentally connecting

corresponding words and pictures is an important part of the sense-making process that leads to

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meaningful learning” (Clark & Mayer, 2008, p. 105). Due to the fact that each screen has the

online text displayed with its corresponding graphic, the students will be able to comprehend this

concept without utilizing extraneous cognitive processing. Using graphics to support text is a

strategy that is second nature to me. I include visuals in my daily instruction because visual

support is essential in helping to make academic content comprehensible to second language

learners. Prior to taking Edtech 513, there were a few times that I created PowerPoint

Presentations and inserted only on-screen graphics and I thought it would promote learning of a

specific concept. In actuality, those on-screen graphics only provided clarification of the

academic concept topic, rather than promoting active learning. Making the Inventions from

Ancient China PowerPoint Presentation has shown me how important the appropriate on-screen

graphic and corresponding on-screen text needs to displayed together, in order to promote

learning.

The NMC Horizon Report: 2012 Higher Education Edition featured tech trends that would

greatly impact the instructional process and student learning. The Food Chain Lesson Plan was

designed, with this information in mind. In order to making the food chain vocabulary more

comprehensible, the students participated in differentiated tasks involving academic inquiry,

cooperative learning, peer-to-peer conversational exchanges and higher order thinking.

According to Roblyer and Doering (2012), “Multimedia software and interactive (electronic)

storybooks—These technologies, designed to support language acquisition and vocabulary

development, have several strengths. First, they allow teachers to individualize instruction for

students’ differing language levels. Second, they give students an opportunity to interact in

English authentically in a less stressful environment as compared to a face-to-face environment.”

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(Roblyer & Doering, 2012, p. 294). As an English Speakers of Other Languages teacher (ESOL

Teacher), I am always looking for ways to close the achievement gap and to provide effective

instruction and through the incorporation of technological tools, such as the SMARTBoard,

Senteo Clickers, iPads/Tablets and the Pic Collage App, the students were provided with the

much needed support and rigor. As a result of this, they transformed themselves into active

learners. This lesson helped my students, of various English language proficiencies; construct

knowledge about the food chain vocabulary in a variety of ways.

Learning Environments: Candidates make professionally sound decisions in selecting

appropriate processes and resources to provide optimal conditions for learning based on

principles, theories, and effective practices.

Each year I have the opportunity to instruct students from various countries where English is not

their first language. Acquiring basic conversational and academic language, in English, is a

challenge for them. According to Roblyer and Doering (2012), “some concepts are so abstract or

foreign to students that they struggle to understand them; some students find some topics so

boring, tedious, or irrelevant that they have trouble attending to them” (Roblyer & Doering,

2012, p. 55). Technology can help students achieve their academic goals, however, it is

important to understand which technological tools and which methods of implementation are

appropriate to solve specific learning problems. This Relative Advantage Chart was created as a

reference for specific academic areas, for which ESOL students usually have the most difficulty.

This chart identifies areas of learning problems, technologies that can be used for the given

problems, the relative advantage of using the specified technology and the expected outcomes.

This chart helped me organize ways to incorporate technology into my instruction, with the

purpose of meeting the needs of students with several learning modalities. I use it often and it

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also helps me gather additional data to check the students’ understanding of content area

concepts.

INDICATOR: ASSESSING / EVALUATING

EdTech 541 Instructional Software & Relative Advantage PowerPoint Presentation – This

presentation defines and highlights the five types of instructional software and the many relative

advantages for integrating them into the classroom.

EdTech 502 WebQuest – This WebQuest was created to help students solve a math story

problem by following the U.P.S.C. Plan.

EdTech 503 Instructional Design Project - This is a synthesis reflection paper, for which I

designed a Language Arts lesson on Plural Nouns. The lesson was designed for my level 1 third

grade ESOL students.

EdTech 503 ID Table of Bloom’s Taxonomy & Assessment – This is a table of learning

objectives and tasks, as well as its corresponding Bloom’s Taxonomy classification for my

Instruction Design project.

EdTech 505 Google Apps Collaboration Survey - This is the survey that I distributed to my

colleagues, in order to assess their technological skill, motivation to use Google Apps and the

level of collaboration that existed within the grade level teams

Content Knowledge: Candidates demonstrate the ability to assess and evaluate the effective

integration of appropriate technologies and instructional materials.

Instructional software is simply, a computer program that is used to assist in students’ learning of

new academic content. These programs provide a venue for students to practice and improve

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upon newly acquired knowledge, in order to reach mastery. There are 5 types of instructional

software: Drill and Practice, Tutorials, Simulations, Instructional Games, and Problem Solving

Software. The Instructional Software and Relative Advantage PowerPoint Presentation define

and highlight many academic benefits of integrating the different types of instructional software

into the classroom. Technology is an effective and engaging tool that can be used to enhance

student learning. Educational software is valuable to all ages of students for many reasons

including making learning more fun, motivating students, helping with long-term memory of the

material, and providing a thorough educational experience. (Eutopia Team 2008) I believe if

instructional software is effectively integrated into daily instruction, the students’ learning of

academic concepts will be enhanced.

Content Pedagogy: Candidates demonstrate an inquiry process that assesses the adequacy of

learning and evaluates the instruction and implementation of educational technologies and

processes grounded in reflective practice.

A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that

learners work with comes from the web. This WebQuest was designed to have students work

with a partner to work through several tasks, practice using the U.P.S.C. strategy to solve story

problems, and ultimately to create their own math story problem page on a class calendar, which

is created in www.mixbook.com. Solving math word problems is a complicated task. It requires

the students to systematically follow a variety of steps to solve the problem. The U.P.S.C.

strategy helps to guide the students’ thinking process. I created this WebQuest to challenge,

engage and motivate the students to continue working through the problem solving process and

achieve success. MacGregor and Lou (2004) state, “The tasks in WebQuests present a

challenging situation and a higher order of thinking that can motivate the student to achieve the

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learning goals.” (MacGregor & Lou, 2004, p. 161). I had the opportunity to collaboratively

teach a lesson on solving math story problems, with the second and third grade ESOL students.

This WebQuest utilized a combination of procedural and strategic scaffolds and was appropriate

for both grade levels. It challenged the students to focus on discerning the relevant information,

from the math story problems, and to organize using the U.P.S.C. strategy. It also promoted

critical thinking and allowed them in developing a deeper understanding of the problem solving

process. This WebQuest served as a technological vehicle, for which students analyzed and

synthesized information, for the purpose of actively constructing meaning.

Learning Environments: Candidates use multiple assessment strategies to collect data for

informing decisions to improve instructional practice, learner outcomes, and the learning

environment.

My Instructional Design Project focused on using the ADDIE model to create a Plural Noun

Lesson. The ADDIE model stands for Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation and

Evaluation. All of these components are essential in the instructional design process. The

primary objective, after two and a half hours of instruction, is the students will be able to identify

and write the basic plural form of singular nouns by adding “s” or “es”. They will also be able to

use them correctly in complete sentences. The students will demonstrate their learning through

the iPad Pic Collage App. I carefully designed this lesson to include motivational instructional

strategies appropriate for a variety of learners, with different learning modalities. The specified

goals and objectives were measured by the formative and summative evaluations. According to

Smith and Ragan (2005), “design is distinguished from other forms of instructional planning by

the level of precision, care, and expertise that is employed in the planning, development, and

evaluation process” (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 6). The design of this lesson was based on the

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constructivism theory; where as the students’ knowledge of plural nouns was constructed in an

active and engaging manner, through the utilization of inquiry and technology. The targeted

learners combined this new knowledge with their prior knowledge, in order to thoroughly

understand plural nouns and the appropriate context, in which to apply the plural form of nouns.

Professional Knowledge and Skills:

Setting lesson objectives and designing appropriate tasks to demonstrate mastery of the

objective(s) is extremely critical in the instructional design process. “Some learning tasks are

substantially different from others in terms of the amount and kind of cognitive effort required in

learning, in the kinds of learning conditions that support their learning, and in the ways to test for

their achievement.” (Smith & Ragan, 2005, p. 78) This Instructional Design (ID) Table of

Bloom’s Taxonomy and Assessment states the learning objectives, Bloom’s Taxonomy

classification, the format and description of assessments, as well as sample items of expected

outcomes. Four out of the six of the Bloom’s Taxonomy hierarchy of thinking skills will be

assessed, through this plural noun lesson. This Table of Bloom’s Taxonomy and Assessment

chart was used as an assessment tool to evaluate and gauge the students’ learning, in addition to

guiding my design focus and communicating the expectations to students.

Research:

During the time I was enrolled in EdTech 505, my School District was adopting Google Apps for

Education to be implemented into instruction for all students in 6th-12th grades, as well as all of

the County employees. As a result of this county-wide product adoption, there were to be

several trainings conducted to train teachers on how to best utilize Google Drive, in order to

create collaborative documents, spreadsheets and presentations, with colleagues and students, for

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the overall purpose of increasing student achievement. A variety of ideas and best practices for

streamlining academic tasks were also addressed.

Prior to conducting this Google Apps evaluation, instructional collaboration among grade level

teachers and instructional specialists was a difficult process. In order for the grade level teachers

to share instructional activities, they had to meet face-to-face, communicate through email, or

use the photocopier. In addition to sharing instructional materials or activities, planning with the

ESOL teachers & resource specialists was practically impossible, due to scheduling conflicts.

Since the specialists, at my school, provide services to several grade level students daily, very

few of them have a common planning time with the grade levels that they work with.

I decided to conduct an evaluation on the implementation of Google Drive as a collaboration

tool, within my school. “Evaluations are carried out to decide on the expansion or curtailment of

programs, products, or activities” (Boulmetis & Dutwin, 2011 p.38). The goal of this evaluation

was to access how effectively Google Drive was utilized as an online communication and

collaboration tool, within grade level teams and their supporting resource teachers. In the initial

stage of this evaluation process, I conducted this Google Apps Collaboration Survey. It served

as a needs analysis to determine the technological skill set of my colleagues and to access their

overall use of Google Drive, with regards to collaboration and colleague communication.

INDICATOR: MANAGING

EdTech 505 Far West Labs Proposal – This is a hypothetical evaluation proposal that was

written in response to a request for proposal for evaluation of a company’s training program.

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EdTech 542 Salad Anyone? Calendar - This is the calendar for this Project Based Learning

lesson.

EdTech 541 Social Networking & Community Building Lesson - This lesson activity was

designed to facilitate the collaborative learning of the different types of Severe Weather.

EdTech 513 Worked Example Screencast – This is an on screen demonstration on how to create

an online Think Map.

Content Knowledge: Candidates demonstrate the ability to effectively manage people,

processes, physical infrastructures, and financial resources to achieve predetermined goals.

The Far West Labs Proposal project required me to be the CEO of a consulting firm and to

prepare a proposal, in response to a request for proposal for evaluation of the Far West Labs

training program. As the CEO, it was my responsibility to analyze the Far West Labs company

and determine the evaluation purposes, design the appropriate evaluation method using the

appropriate evaluation model, create and provide a task schedule, manage the project personnel,

and provide a projected budget for the evaluation.

The Salad Anyone Project Based Learning project calendar is the project timeline, for the

duration of the entire project. It is stated that the Project-based learning calendar is a reframe,

ensuring that all teaching strategies and tools are aligned to an authentic project (Miller, 2015)

The dates for several things are included in this calendar, such as the Entry Event, group check-

ins, daily teaching and student tasks, assessments, presentations, and the completion date. This

Project Based lesson was designed to take three weeks to complete. This calendar is a resource

that the students and teacher can use to stay on target, with the project timeline. While in the

design stage of this Project Based Lesson, my colleague and I realized that it was essential that

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all teaching and learning tasks need to be strategically planned and noted on the project timeline.

In order to do this as accurately as possible, we needed to concentrate on the driving question,

the VA Standards of Learning objectives for the Diversity Unit. By beginning with the “end” in

mind and designing backwards, my colleague and I were able to schedule all of the essential

teaching and learning tasks, within the three-week period.

Content Pedagogy: Candidates manage appropriate technological processes and resources to

provide supportive learning communities, create flexible and diverse learning environments,

and develop and demonstrate appropriate content pedagogy.

The Social Networking and Community Building lesson provides the students with the

opportunity to collaboratively work together in small groups, in order to brainstorm the

characteristics of different types of severe weather. The students will record their characteristics

on the Padlet website and then they will create a VoiceThread. This lesson enabled my students

the opportunity to access the academic concept of weather, as well as develop their English

language proficiency, within the four language domains of speaking, listening, reading, and

writing. This lesson put a different twist on brainstorming for them because I usually facilitated

brainstorming verbally, with my students. My students took a special interest in recording their

prior knowledge on the specific temperature, climate, and weather conditions, characteristic of

severe weather. Collaboratively, as a class, the students verbally shared and elaborated on their

previous experiences with severe weather. From this brainstorming activity, the students were

able to search the Internet for pictorial representations and to collectively construct sentences,

within their groups, to thoroughly describe their type of severe weather. The best part of this

lesson was observing the amount of student engagement involved with recording their voices and

creating their VoiceThread.

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Unfortunately, I was not able to create a class on the Edmodo website because it is a blocked site

within our school District. However, I have heard that my School District will be approving

certain social networking websites next year and Edmodo is one of them. Hopefully, I will be

able to fully implement this lesson next year.

Learning Environments: Candidates establish mechanisms for maintaining the technology

infrastructure to improve learning and performance.

A worked example is an example problem that is worked out step-by-step. They work well in

areas with well-defined tasks and problems. My worked example screencast was a demonstration

for my second grade ESOL students on how to create a Think Map, on the Bubble.Us website. I

created a Matter Think Map, using Camtasia, for the demonstration. After the demonstration, in

the video, the students were required to create a Resources Think Map. I utilized this worked

example as a quick “check for understanding” activity, after covering the Resources Unit in

Social Studies. This worked example provided a step-by-step model for creating a Think Map on

Resources and most of my students were successful. Technology was an effective tool to use and

helped to engage my students in showing me what they learned. This activity also helped me to

identify the students that were still struggling with the concept of Resources. This activity

required my students to recall, reflect, and record the information learned about Resources.

INDICATOR: ETHICS & DIVERSITY

EdTech 502 Netiquette -This webpage provides appropriate Netiquette rules for public

employees with sending emails in the workplace.

EdTech 542 Salad Anyone? PBL project – This is a Project Based Learning lesson on diversity

and how diversity influences the people of the United States.

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EdTech 502 Copyright Scavenger Hunt - This webpage was created for educators. It is intended

for teachers to familiarize themselves with the basics regarding copyright & fair use, particulary

as it pertains to instructional purposes.

EdTech 541 Adaptive Assistive Technologies - This PowerPoint Presentation was created to give

Educators assistive technology options for students with special needs. These are the at-risk,

gifted & talented students and students with physical, cognitive, sensory disabilities.

EdTech 541: Acceptable Use Policies - This document contains a detailed definition of an

Acceptable Use Policy and four examples.

EdTech 501: School Summary - This is a summary of the level of technology integration within

a school, in the fall of 2012.

Content Knowledge: Candidates demonstrate the contemporary professional ethics of the field

as defined and developed by the Association for Educational Communications and

Technology.

This Netiquette webpage was designed for Educators and all Public Employees. I created it to

address the appropriate email etiquette in the workplace. There is a definition of Netiquette, four

basic rules and a call-out box with information on the Freedom of Information Act (FIOA).

Besides instructing students, composing, sending, and checking emails fill our workdays. I

shared this Netiquette page with the faculty at my school. As a result of this, many of my

colleagues have become more cognizant of how impactful an email can be and have composed

more professional, as well as less emotional messages in their emails.

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Content Pedagogy: Candidates design and select media, technology, and processes that

emphasize the diversity of our society as a multicultural community.

According to Hallermann and Larmer (2011), Project Based Learning is defined as “a systematic

teaching method that engages students in learning important knowledge and 21st century skills

through an extended, student-influenced inquiry process structured around complex, authentic

questions and carefully designed products and learning tasks” (Hallermann & Larmer, 2011, p.

5). This Project Based Learning lesson is the result of a collaborative effort with a colleague.

This Social Studies lesson on diversity was created for second grade students. In this lesson, the

students will collaboratively work, in small groups, as Cultural Researchers. They will have to

research diverse cultures, customs and traditions, in order to answer the driving question: how

does diversity influence what it means to be an American? Throughout the course of three

weeks, the students will keep a journal, work collaboratively on research, complete a daily

check-in form, and ultimately create a multimedia presentation. Researchers, such as Hallermann

and Larmer (2011) have found that “well-designed and well-implemented Project Based

Learning can be more effective that traditional instruction and improving the performance of

lower achieving students, improve students’ mastery of 21st century skills, and improve students’

retention of knowledge over time.” (Hallermann & Larmer, 2011, p. 13) I have never designed a

Project Based Learning lesson. During this process, my partner and I quickly realized that

Project Based Learning allows teachers to work more closely with active engaged students doing

high-quality, meaningful work, and in many cases to rediscover the joy of learning alongside

their students. It focuses on a problem or an issue or topic that is relevant to students’ lives. The

topic of diversity is very relevant in the lives of our students. Approximately 80% of both of our

schools are filled with a diverse population of students with different ethnicities and cultural

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backgrounds. This lesson was designed to elicit the students to use the 21st Century skills of

communication, collaboration and critical thinking. The lesson’s ultimate goal is for the students

to develop an authentic presentation on how diversity influences being an American. I

thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with a fellow colleague to design this lesson. Unfortunately, I

was not able to implement this lesson. With there being so many State Standards that need to be

taught, throughout the school year, I am struggling with is envisioning how Project Based

Learning projects fit into a "jam-packed" instructional pacing calendar, already set by the grade

level curriculum. This will be something that I will work on figuring out, during the next school

year.

Learning Environments: Candidates foster a learning community that empowers learners with

diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.

I created a Copyright Scavenger Hunt and introduction video for educators. The purpose of this

scavenger hunt is to dispel the myth that all materials, graphics, information, videos, etc., from

the Internet, can be downloaded and used without permission, from the author. It was also

created to familiarize educators on the basics of copyright & fair use, particularly for

instructional purposes. There are links to helpful and informative websites with corresponding

questions, a worksheet document and an answer key. I offered this webpage to the New Teacher

Mentor, at my school. I thought it would be a good activity for new teachers to work through, in

order to familiarize themselves with the established laws against using protected or copyrighted

works without the author’s permission. I also created a short video clip on copyright and fair

use, to give some comical relief to a serious matter.

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Diversity of Learners: Candidates fosters a learning community that empowers learners with

diverse backgrounds, characteristics, and abilities.

The Adaptive/Assistive Technologies PowerPoint Presentation gives a clearly defined

description of specific students, with special needs and provides several technological tools to

help Educators meet their academic needs. These technological tools will help break down the

crippling barriers and allow the teacher to assess what the students CAN do and provide the

necessary scaffolds for academic progress. In my teaching career, I have worked with high-risk

students and occasionally with gifted students. I often use Kidspiration and readwritethink.org

websites to help the students organize new knowledge and to expand their academic vocabulary.

In working with gifted students, I often use storybird.com, storyjumper.com and themeefy.com

websites to help enrich the students’ narrative, expository, persuasive, descriptive and creative

writing skills.

Professional Knowledge and Skills:

An Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) is a document that is agreed upon by all parties within a

network community. This document states the acceptable use and the consequences for non-

compliance of the agreement. This assignment required that I find and record a few examples of

an AUP. There are four examples. In my search I found out that Acceptable Use Policies are

written for different types of organizations.

Research:

The School Summary Evaluation examined technology integration in a school on several levels.

It addressed the following five filters. The Administrative Filter focused on the technology

policy, planning, and school budget. The Curricular Filter focused on the electronic information,

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the way technology was integrated into the curriculum, the level of student and teacher use, and

if technology was used as an assessment tool. The Support Filter focused on the technical

infrastructure, the level of Administrative and Technological support, along with the level of

stakeholders support. The Connectivity Filter focused on the type of connectivity within the

school: LAN, WAN and Internet access capabilities. The Innovation Filter focused on the

motivation for acquiring new technologies and comprehensive technologies. After evaluating all

of these filters, I was able to determine the areas in which this school could improve technology

integration.

INDICATOR: COLLABORATIVE PRACTICE

EdTech 501: Digital Inequality Project - This PowerPoint Presentation evaluated issues that

cause a Digital Inequality/Digital Divide in today’s society and how those factors affected the

school.

Candidates collaborate with their peers and subject matter experts to analyze learners, develop

and design instruction, and evaluate its impact on learners.

The Digital Inequality Project was a collaborative effort with 3 other classmates. In this

hypothetical situation, my group formed a fictitious Digital Inequality Task Force. We were

provided with seven options to read, evaluate and rank, in order of importance, listing

advantages and disadvantages. My group also came up with one alternative option. I created a

video on http://www.xtranormal.com to introduce digital inequality and digital divide. While

working on this assignment, I couldn't help but think about my students. Digital inequality and

digital divide is a reality for them. I work in a Title I school where 80% of our students receive

free and reduced lunch. Since there were many families without a household computer, our

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school partnered up with a nearby high school to provide some of our second language learner

parents with refurbished, desktop computers. They were given training on how to use it and

some academic websites, which would provide curriculum content practice, for the

students. “Technology is important to student learning. The impact of the World Wide Web on

education and in every aspect of our community is profound. As the students move through the

educational system and into the workforce that increasingly relies upon the use of technology, it

seems likely that limited opportunities to utilize computers and technology for educational

purposes could represent a serious disadvantage for some children in terms of achieving

educational and professional success.” (Block, n.d.) Recently, a BYOD (Bring Your Own

Device) policy has been implemented. Unfortunately, there has been a very small amount of

students to participate because most of our students don't own their own mobile technological

devices. On the bright side, we have SMARTBoards in every classroom; we have three laptop

carts, as well as iPad carts available for instructional use. Due to the fact that technology can

connect people to a wide range of learning opportunities when access is equitably distributed, I

am a firm believer that accessibility will lead to an increase in knowledge.

INDICATOR: LEADERSHIP

EdTech 541 Using YouTube in the classroom video - I created this video to show how

YouTube videos are being used in several types of classrooms, at my school.

EdTech 533 Interactive Video - I created this interactive video to be used as an anticipatory set,

for the purpose of activating the student’s prior knowledge of community helpers.

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Professional Knowledge and Skills: Candidates lead their peers in designing and

implementing technology-supported learning.

The Using YouTube in the Classroom video and the Community Helpers Interactive video have

both been used to help my colleagues with using technology in facilitating instruction. The Using

YouTube in the Classroom video showed different educators, within a variety of instructional

settings, discussing how they utilized YouTube videos, effectively, to support their instruction.

This video was shared among the staff and it helped generate a conversation, filled with a

multitude of ideas on how valuable YouTube videos can be.

The Community Helpers video was created to activate the prior knowledge of my level 1

kindergarten and first grade ESOL students. The students demonstrated limited knowledge of

community helpers. Activating their prior knowledge expanded their thinking and helped them

make meaningful connections. Hill and Flynn (2006) support the research that states,

“Activating prior knowledge is important for everyone, but ELLs need special attention

connecting prior knowledge to content presented in a new language” (Hill & Flynn, 2006, p. 44).

In creating this interactive video, I used hand puppets to role play a few scenarios, in order to

illustrate the roles of community helpers. The Community Helpers interactive video is

entertaining and includes a high level of relatablity for kindergarten and first grade students. This

video was also shared with several of my colleagues. It demonstrates another way technology

can be used to activate prior knowledge and initiate vocabulary rich brainstorming for extensive

comprehension of an academic concept.

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INDICATOR: REFLECTION ON PRACTICE

EdTech 504 Constructivism Theory Paper - This paper was written to demonstrate the success of

incorporating student-centered activities in the classroom, based on the Constructivism Theory.

Research: Candidates analyze and interpret data and artifacts and reflect on the effectiveness

of the design, development and implementation of technology-supported instruction and

learning to enhance their professional growth.

In EdTech 504, I was introduced to different learning theories. I was required to choose a

learning theory and write a paper. I chose the Constructivism Theory. Learning Theories state,

“Constructivism is defined as an educational philosophy, which holds that learners ultimately

construct their own knowledge that then resides within them, so that each person's knowledge is

as unique as they are.” (“Learning Theories and Transfer of Learning,” n.d.) Basically,

Constructivism is the belief that students construct their own learning through their authentic,

real-world experiences. The teacher is automatically placed into a role of an instructional

facilitator and the students become active participants in applying their existing knowledge and

real-life experiences, with the purpose of acquiring new academic knowledge. A student-

centered learning environment allows students to construct meaning, from the supportive

activities that simulate real-world experiences. “Environments enriched with technology tools,

resources, and scaffolding facilitate student or self-directed learning by enabling students to

productively engage complex open-ended problems that are aligned authentically with the

practices, culture, or processes of a domain”(Jonassen & Land, 2012, p. 3). My Constructivism

Theory paper explored how an “I-Play” center, in a kindergarten classroom, supports the

Constructivism theory and demonstrated how the students were actively engaged in their

learning, developed the ability to work collaboratively with their peers, and in addition to

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expanding their basic interpersonal communication skills (BICS), the students were able to

conduct more vocabulary rich conversations with their peers and expand their cognitive

academic language proficiency skills (CALPS), in English.

INDICATOR: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS

EdTech 504 Integrating Constructivism and Emerging Technologies in the Classroom -

This paper explores the power of an effective incorporation of modern technology into a

constructivist teaching practice and on student learning, all within a classroom setting.

EdTech 503 Instructional Design Reading Quiz - This is a visual presentation of a variety of

the overall concept of Instructional Design.

Research: Candidates demonstrate foundational knowledge of the contribution of research to

the past and current theory of educational communications and technology.

The Instructional Design Reading Quiz was an EDTECH 503 assignment. This activity required

me to delve into the concept of instructional design. As a result of creating this presentation, I

was able to research, record, and visually represent Instructional Design in an overall manner. I

explored the history, the definition, conceptual model and the learning theories associated with

Instructional Design. I was also able to explain my understanding of how Instructional Design

relates to Educational Technology.

The premise behind writing this Integrating Constructivism and Emerging Technologies in the

Classroom paper begins with how classroom instruction has changed over the years and

technology constantly evolves, inspires and makes learning relevant to real life. Technology

opens the whole world to students beyond the classroom and it helps the students interact with

the world, via technological devices: iPhones, iPads, laptops, face time, videos, ebooks,

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blogging, Internet, etc. Technology provides students with numerous opportunities for

demonstrating their understanding through images, sound, and text. For these reasons, it is

critical that technology is an integral part of instruction and that instruction should be based upon

the Constructivism Theory, in a student-centered classroom setting.

INDICATOR: METHOD

EdTech 504 Annotated Bibliography - This is a collection of research that supported my belief

that integrating constructivism theory practices, along with technology can enhance classroom

instruction.

Research: Candidates apply research methodologies to solve problems and enhance practice.

According to Bisignani & Brizee (2013), writing an annotated bibliography can assist with the

preparation necessary for a research project, formulate a thesis and gain a good idea about the

various perspectives of a topic (Bisignani & Brizee, 2013). This annotated bibliography contains

a collection of peer-reviewed resources that discusses constructivism and how web 2.0 tools are

utilized in a constructivist manner, within the classroom. It is structured in the appropriate APA

format. The focus of my research was on how the theory of constructivism and emerging

technologies are utilized, as well as practiced, in the classroom. This annotated bibliography

helped me to organize my thoughts and support my position throughout my research paper.

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CONCLUSION

The artifacts described in this paper represent a wide variety of knowledge, skills, and resources

that attributes to my experiences in the Master of Educational Technology program, at Boise

State.

Professionally, I am constantly in search of ways to develop my craft. After participating in the

Boise State University M.E.T. program, my approach to teaching has changed and I have

become more technologically skillful and mindful of how to integrate technology, in order to

meet the needs of students who have different levels of English language proficiencies and

learning modalities. Technology is no longer an after thought; rather it has become an important

component. My lesson planning process involves implementing technology in the most

appropriate ways, on a daily basis. I incorporate technology effectively; in order to help all of my

ESOL students develop their knowledge of academic language, in the content areas and utilize it

as a motivational tool to encourage the development of the basic interpersonal communication

skills. I have steered away from paper/pencil assessments and have implemented more

technology project-based assignments, where the students are required to create or develop

something, in order to demonstrate their learning. I am excited and motivated to continue

utilizing my acquired technological knowledge to facilitate academic progress for my students.

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References

Aldrich, C. (2005). Learning by doing: A comprehensive guide to simulations,

computer games, and pedagogy in e-learning and other educational experiences.

San Francisco, California: Pfeiffer Publishing.

Block, J. Distance education and the digital divide: An academic perspective.

Retrieved from http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/spring131/block131.html

Boulmetis, J., & Dutwin, P. (2011). The ABCs of evaluation. San Francisco,

California: Jossey-Bass Publishing.

Clark, R. C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction.

San Francisco, California: Pfeiffer Publishing.

Eutopia, Team. (2008, March 16). Why integrate technology into the curriculum?

Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

Hallermann, S., & Larmer, J. (2011). Pbl in the elementary grades. Novato, California:

Buck Institute for Education.

Hill, J. D., & Flynn, K.M. (2006). Classroom instruction that works with english

language learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum and

Development.

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Learning Theories and Transfer of Learning. (n.d.) Retrieved from

http://otec.uoregon.edu/learning_theory.htm

MacGregor, S.K., & Lou, Y. (2004). Web-based learning: How task scaffolding and web

site design support knowledge acquisition. Journal of Research on Technology in

Education, Research Library Core database. Retrieved from

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ690967.pdf

Miller, Alan. (2015, April 1). How to Build a Calendar for Project Based Learning.

Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-build-calendar-pbl-summer-pd)

Bisignani, D. & Brizee, A. (2013, May 10). Annotated bibliographies. Retrieved from

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/614/01/