What Did My Students Do This Year? Tracking Student Progress across the Curriculum Using Technology.

By William Worner

Problem: Many times we work with groups of students who have a very slow rate of achievement for different reasons. It may be due to their hearing loss, delayed language development, other issues or a combination of the above that prevent them from learning at a “normal rate”. I am a teacher who primarily works in a self contained environment (resource) with students who are deaf/hard-of-hearing and have other issues that delay their educational development. Many of them are ELL/ESL. Generally, there can be a variety of reasons that make it difficult for them to learn at the same rate as their hearing peers. These may be related to the educational, physical or social makeup of these individuals. Progress appears to be at a stand still and very difficult to measure. This can be very frustrating to teachers who have worked hard with their students using creative methods and materials but just don’t see any significant movement forward. Recording student progress can be difficult and in many cases very objective. I am proposing using computers to monitor the progress students make in several academic areas including technology, reading, writing, art, spelling, and math. I am sure others could be added to this list.

Solution:

The solution is creating a “Student Progress Timeline” in story form by using a program like “PowerPoint”. This method of teaching works for several reasons. First, it creates student interest. Most students are very interested in things that appear to be in a technological or interactive format. This is a “fun” project because we are working on the computer not reading or writing or spelling or counting or doing any of that other school work. We are working on the computer! Second, the teacher can create the goals and objectives for each student. This allows each student to work on their individual education objectives “IEP” and allows each student to move at their own rate of learning. Third, there is short and long term accountability using this method. This is especially important for those students who are extremely delayed in their rate of performance where possibly it is difficult to see student progress. The beginning, middle and final comparisons will definitely show you what you intended to measure and the rate of progress obtained. Actually any point in your project where new objectives are added can be a point to measure student progress. In my project these points are the holidays.

Selecting a Project

In order for this type of evaluation to work the teacher must select a project that is something the students are interested in. It must be something that lasts for a designated period of time. The project I selected was “Holidays”. I used this because they are of high interest to students. We wrote about “Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day, Saint Patrick’s Day and Easter”. Other events could be sport related (football, baseball, soccer, basketball, gymnastics, golf, and skiing, or the Olympics. Still another choice may be directed toward academics such as Art (famous artists, famous paintings or the evolution of art trends and styles), History (wars, battles, generals, exploration, and

Halloween Inside Is

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The DVD Inside Is

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inventions), Literature (novels, fiction series like Harry Potter, and comic book characters like Superman or Spiderman) or Science (people, experiments space flight).

Once a topic is selected the students must know the expectations and rewards for their efforts. From the beginning I explained that each project would be more difficult than the previous and that it would also be larger than the previous. At this time the reward is presented. I show the class a pre-made PowerPoint with all of the “bells and whistles including the case” and pose this question. “Would you like to make one of these and take it home to show your family?” The response in the past has been a very positive “Yes”.

CD Jewel Cases Outside

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Six Student Made CD’s Composite DVD With All of the Student’s Work Complete Works

CD Jewel Cases Inside

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CD’s

Plus

The Complete

DVD Collection

Setting up the Criteria

The following tables are examples of things a teacher may do to cross the curriculum and target specific goals. The targets start with very basic steps and become more advanced as the student masters the previous goal. These are not set in stone and can be modified to meet the needs of individual students.

Halloween Story Criteria

Technology Writing Art Math Reading1. The students will learn the parts of a computer and their function.2. The students will learn the correct technique in keyboarding skills.3. The students will learn how to scan a picture.4. The students will learn how to cut and paste text.5. The students will begin to learn how to use PowerPoint to make a story.

1. The students will learn how to spell words associated with Halloween.2. The students will write a simple sentence.3. The students will write a sentence that is related to their Halloween art.4. The students will give their story a title.5. The students will understand that the person writing the story is the author.

1. The students will select art that can be used to tell a story.2. The students will cut and paste a picture into their presentation.3. The students will understand that a person who creates the art for a story is called an illustrator.

1. The students will determine how many half pages they will need to make a story with three full sheets of paper.2. The students will fold and number the pages for their story.

1. The students will read one story about Halloween to their parents. 2. The students will read the sentences they created for their Halloween story to their parents.3. The students will read their stories to the class and show their pictures.4. The students will take their Halloween CD home and read it to their parents.

Thanksgiving Story Criteria

Technology Writing Art Math Reading1. The students will continue to develop their keyboarding skills.2. The students will learn how to scan their art into a PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will learn how to use spell check on a computer.4. The students will continue to cut and paste text.5. The students will continue learning how to use

1. The students will use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.2. The students will use the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence. 3. The students will use appropriate language related to the Thanksgiving Holiday in their story.4. The students will tell the teacher if their story is fact or fiction.5. The students will

1. The students will decide what art is needed to clarify a point in the story.2. The students will import art into the PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will recognize that art is an important factor in the creation of an idea or thought in a story.

1. The students will calculate the number of pages needed to make a story that has a cover, title page, and story that consists of at least six additional pages.2. The students will fold and number the pages in correct order.The students will number their pages in their project.

1. The students will read and re-read their sentences to make sure that they make sense to an audience.2. The students will read their story to their parents.3. The students will present their stories to the class by reading aloud.4. The students will take their Thanksgiving CD home and read it to their parents.

PowerPoint to make a story.

re-write their work as needed

Christmas Story Criteria

Technology Writing Art Math Reading1. The students will continue to develop their keyboarding skills.2. The students will learn how to independently create a PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will learn how to import clip art from a variety of sources and stored locations.4. The students will learn how to use a text box.

1. The students will use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.2. The students will use the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence. 3. The students will use appropriate language related to the Christmas Hanukah or other Holiday in their story.4. The students will expand their sentences by using descriptive words. (The grumpy old elf took all the candy.)

1. The students will decide what art is needed to clarify a point in the story.2. The students will import art into the PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will create background color that will enhance the clip art in the story using the PowerPoint Tools.

1. The students will calculate the number of pages needed to make a story that has a cover, title page, and story that consists of at least eight additional pages.2. The students will fold and number the pages in correct order.3. Problem: What is the total number of pages used by all students in all stories to date? Please show your work.4. How many different titles have we created so far?

1. The students will read and re-read their sentences to make sure that they make sense to an audience.2. The students will read their story to their parents.3. The students will present their stories to the class by using PowerPoint while reading the text.4. The students will learn how to present using a microphone.5. The students will take their Christmas, Hanukah, or other Holiday CD home and read it to their parents.

Valentine’s Day Criteria

Technology Writing Art Math Reading1. The students will continue to develop their keyboarding skills.2. The students will learn how to download and import pictures taken with a camera into a PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will learn how to import clip art from a variety of sources.4. The students will learn how to make text move by letter, word or sentence into a text box.

1. The students will use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.2. The students will use the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence. 3. The students will use appropriate language related to Valentine’s Day in their story.4. The students will expand their sentences by using descriptive words.5. The students will use irregular verbs in their story.The student’s stories will have a definite beginning,

1. The students will decide what art is needed to clarify a point in the story.2. The students will import art into the PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will create background color that will enhance the clip art in the story using the PowerPoint Tools.4. The students will change the color of the text which does not hamper the ability to clearly see and read the text.

1. The students will calculate the number of pages needed to make a story that has a cover, title page, and story that consists of at least ten additional pages.2. The students will fold and number the pages correctly.3. Problem: If you take the total number of pages from the first three stories and add them to the total pages of this story how many pages would you have? Please show your

1. The students will read and re-read their sentences to make sure that they make sense to an audience.2. The students will read their story to their parents.3. The students will present their stories to the class using PowerPoint while reading and using a microphone. 5. The students will use proper microphone etiquette.6. The students will take their Valentine’s CD home and read it to

middle and ending. work using a diagram.

their parents.

Saint Patrick’s Day Criteria

Technology Writing Art Math Reading1. The students will continue to develop their keyboarding skills.2. The students will learn that film can be used to create events of the past, present and future by changing the setting.3. The students will continue to develop their skills in the use of a digital movie camera and download a film clip into a PowerPoint presentation.4. The students will learn how to make text and graphics move independently or simultaneously in a clip.5. The students will take a movie clip of themselves and import it into a PowerPoint presentation.6. The students will add sound to their presentations that is relevant to the project.

1. The students will use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.2. The students will use the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence. 3. The students will use appropriate language related to Saint Patrick’s Day in their story.4. The students will expand their sentences by using descriptive words.5. The students will use irregular verbs in their story.6. The students will create a paragraph with correct grammar, punctuation, word order and subject verb agreement.7. The students will identify a problem in their story and provide a sensible outcome as an ending.

1. The students will decide what art is needed to clarify a point in the story.2. The students will import art into the PowerPoint presentation.3. The students will create background color that will enhance the clip art in the story using the PowerPoint Tools.4. The students will change the color of the text which does not hamper the ability to clearly see and read the text.The students will use a graduated two color background that enhances the clip art.5. The students will critique their work to make sure it is not too busy. The idea is to have graphics that move with the story line and do not take away from the story line.

1. The students will calculate the number of pages needed to make a story that has a cover, title page, and story that consists of at least twelve additional pages.2. The students will fold and number the pages in correct order.3. Students will calculate the total number of stories that will be burned to the CD.4. Problem: How much memory is on one CD and where can you get that information?5. Students will calculate the total memory used on a CD by multiplying the total amount of memory used in each story with the total number of stories on the CD. They will have to determine if a CD has enough memory for the burn process.

1. The students will read and re-read their sentences to make sure that they make sense to an audience.2. The students will read their story to their parents.3. The students will present their stories to the class by reading aloud.4. The students will present their stories to the class using PowerPoint while reading the text.5. The students will take their Saint Patrick’s CD home and read it to their parents. (If they can go through their presentation error free.)6. The student’s will present their stories to the Kindergarten and firsts grade classes as a warm-up activity. 7. The student’s will present their stories to their peers who are hearing and must use language that is appropriate, clear and interesting.

Easter Criteria

Technology Writing Art Math Reading1. The students will learn how to use a digital movie camera and download a film clip into a PowerPoint presentation.

1. The students will use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence.2. The students will use the correct punctuation at the end of a sentence.

1. The students will decide what art is needed to clarify a point in the story.2. The students will import art into the PowerPoint presentation.

1. The students will calculate the number of pages needed to make a story that has a cover, title page, and story that consists of at least

1. The students will read and re-read their sentences to make sure that they make sense to an audience.2. The students will read their story to

2. The students will learn how to make text move by letter, word or sentence into a text box.3. The students will take a movie clip of themselves and import it into a PowerPoint presentation. 4. The students will add sound to their presentations.5. The Students will learn how to save a file using the “save” and “save as” options on the computer. They will also learn what the different options are and what they do to become more “user friendly”.6. Students with the teacher’s help will transfer the CD’s to a long playing DVD that will have the complete works of all the students for the entire year.

3. The students will use appropriate language related to Easter in their story.4. The students will expand their sentences by using descriptive words.5. The students will use irregular verbs in their story.6. Students will understand that a prop can enhance the quality of a story. The students will use prop to enhance their stories and clarify the text. They can use objects that represent people, animals, things and places. 7. Students will begin to notice that writing is an art that involves reading, writing, art, thinking skills,and other cognitive processes that aid in the learning process.

3. The students will create background color that will enhance the clip art in the story using the PowerPoint Tools.4. The students will change the color of the text which does not hamper the ability to clearly see and read the text.The students will create a two color background that enhances the clip art.5. Students will make sure that all clip art, movie downloads and other media are relevant and consistent with the intent of the presentation.7. Students will assist in the burning and labeling process to develop DVD’s that can be opened and read at home or in the public libraries.

fourteen additional pages.2. The students will fold and number the pages in correct order.3. Problem: We need to set up a view schedule. We want to invite four classes to watch our show. How much time do we need to allow for each show? 4. What is the total show time for all shows that day?

their parents.3. The students will present their stories to the class by reading aloud.4. The students will present their stories to the class using PowerPoint while reading the text.5. The students will take their Easter CD home and read it to their parents. (if they can go through their presentation error free.)6. The students will use clear speech during their presentation.

But Did It Work?

Comparison from Level 1 Halloween and Level 6 Easter

I have taken the Title Page, Page One and Page Two from the first and the last story that was created by the same student for the comparison. Unfortunately, the reader will not get the full benefit from the experience because the last level is very animated and has a lot of the target goals playing in the program. The child’s full name appears in the CD’s and they would have to be taken out in order to provide the full viewing. Please see the limited examples on the next two pages.

Level 1 Halloween Story

This is an example of the kind of work that you will begin with. The sentences are very basic and simple in the beginning. This student did have some training from me in another situation and had fairly good computer skills. As a result, I could expect more from her on the title page.

Level 6 Easter Story

This is where the teacher can check the objectives as outlined above. There is a built in checklist that can be checked off to show the progress. The Teacher also has a running record by burning the CD’s for each assignment. Most of the expectationshave been met and I have documented proof of the students post and present performance. This story is very animated and provides samples in a variety of academic areas.

Questions or Comments:If you have any questions, concerns Or want more information, please feel free to contact me atwilliamw@usdb.org or leave a message at (801) 646-4912 or(801) 263-6051.

William A. Worner M.Ed.