Self Reflection is  important for growth. Each year, I set goals for myself and then reflect on my journey toward meeting those goals.  As a department chair, I set goals with my department and we reflection those goals each month during our departmental meetings.

Here is a copy of my portfolio as evidence of self reflection:  Dierdre Watkins’ ePortfolio

I looked at an item analysis report for a quiz on circles and parabolas.  As a teacher, I can use this information to plan activities for a synchronous session and to offer additional resources for students to learn those concepts that were most missed. Looking at the report, there are 5 questions that less than 50% of the students got correct. These are the questions that I would focus on in my reteaching. I can also see how each student performed on each question and create study groups within the class to help students learn the material.

For this task, I was a little confused as to what screenshot I am supposed to be providing.  I understand that a competency structure contains a competency, a learning objective, and activities. The standard that I chose is from PreCalculus. The competency is what I want the student to know, the learning objective is what the student will learn, and the activity is what the student will do in order to learn that part of the competency. A student will have various activities to reach competency, from worksheets to projects.

Standard

MGSE9-12.F.IF.4 Using tables, graphs, and verbal descriptions, interpret the key characteristics of a function which models the relationship between two quantities. Sketch a graph showing key features including: intercepts; interval where the function is increasing, decreasing, positive, or negative; relative maximums and minimums; symmetries; end behavior; and periodicity.

Competency

Sketching the graph of sine and cosine showing key features including the intercepts, intervals of increase/decrease, relative maximums and minimums, symmetries, end behavior, and periodicity.

Learning Objective

The student will be able to identify the key features of sine and cosine

Activities

Identify the key features of the parent graphs of sine and cosine

Given a sine or cosine graph identify the key features between -2π and 2π

Given real world data, sketch a graph, identify whether sine or cosine and determine key features

Kahoots Game- identify key features on a sine or cosine graph

Discussion Question: Compare and contrast key features of the parent graphs of sine and cosine

Quiz: Key Features of Sine and Cosine Graphs

Project: Create sine and cosine graphs (given certain guidelines) and analyze their key features

Looking at the data provided, it seems that the student accesses the content at the end of the course, when the majority of the assignments are done. This may correlate to low grades in the beginning and then trying to play “catch up at the end”.  A teacher may have to include some content study during their synch sessions or create settings that make them read the content prior to completing the assignments, quizzes, or tests. I always look at the data to determine how much time students spend on a task and I use the information to inform the students and their parents as to why they are not performing as well as they should. Sometimes, poor performance is not just about not knowing, it can also be attributed to not spending enough time learning the content. I have ti remind parents and students that the student must set aside at least an hour per day to work on their work. Teachers who do not utilize these analytics have a one dimensional view of the achievement of students in the class.  Looking at the study habits of students helps a teacher to provide customized feedback and help.

Today, I rarely make up my own summative assessments. I rely on a test bank to create tests and quizzes; I use MathXL by Pearson to generate tests and quizzes.  I know that the tests are valid because the questions that I choose measure exactly what I wanted my students to know (the standards). The quizzes and tests are reliable because I am using the same question bank that is used to generate their homework problems.  Test security is always an issue. I always make several versions of the test and they are kept under lock and key until they are given to students. Even though, the questions may be reused, the numbers change.

Accelerated PreCalculus Unit 3 Test FormA-wp4x32

Formative assessments are ongoing assessments. They can be used to assess what the student knows prior to beginning a unit, during the teaching of the lesson to see if students are grasping the content. Formative assessments informs the teacher of what needs to be remediated. During planning, formative assessments are used to create the subsequent lesson plans or modify the current plan. I develop formative evaluations by first looking at what I want my students to learn. After that, I decide what mode of delivery I want to use; I like to use a mix of quizzes, games, projects, and other activities to formally assess students.

This  formative assessment is designed to see if students understand how to analyze a given trig graph and can write an equation for the graph.

Given the following graph:

1. Determine the type of graph (sin or cos). Explain why you made your choice.
2. Determine the amplitude, period, phase shift, and vertical shift.
3. Write an equation for the graph.

I also did an assessment using Kahoots to answer the questions above in a multiple choice format. I would probably have students to complete a free response question that deals with writing a sine and cosine equation for the graph. Trig Graph Analysis

iNacol, the International Association for Online Learning, publishes Standards for Quality Online Teaching.

Consider the following standards:

Standard B: The online teacher understands and is able to use a range of technologies, both existing and emerging, that effectively support student learning and engagement in the online environment.

Standard C: The online teacher plans, designs, and incorporates strategies to encourage active learning, application, interaction, participation, and collaboration in the online environment.

Standard E: The online teacher models, guides, and encourages legal, ethical, and safe behavior related to technology use.

Standard K: The online teacher arranges media and content to help students and teachers transfer knowledge most effectively in the online environment.

The Create module prepared me to meet Standard B by showing my how to create a portable learning object. I had started creating these years ago and I and other teachers liked them. This module, however, introduced me to resources to make my course more interactive and interesting to students. Using various modes to engage students in learning makes learning fun and relevant. The portable learning object module was probably most beneficial for me because it helped me to improve the courses that I had previously created.

Standard C was met via the discussion on Web Tools. I use web tools all the time in my face to face class but I haven’t used them in my online courses simply because the students don’t attend.  I think that I will begin to incorporate Kahoots, Socrative, and others into my online synchronous sessions. Perhaps if students see the fun I’ve planned, maybe they will attend.

Answer: Thinking about instructional design, how does each tool benefit the learner by aggregating and presenting material in a cohesive manner? Are there drawbacks to the tools you researched?

Two tools that can be used to curate or aggregate resources are Pinterest and Evernote. Both are free resources.

Pinterest is great for organizing information and brainstorming ideas.  It is engaging to learners because it ha pictures instead of lists.  You can use Pinterest to compile content, organize ideas, connect and comment on student work, make connections to colleagues, and create group projects. Pinterest is accessible via computer and phone.

Evernote is a digital notebook that can be used to save and share content: text notes, clip web pages, upload images and files. Lesson plans, lesson schedules, notes, web clippings, lesson resources, travel notes and much more. It is accessible from any computer or phone and you can share notes and notebooks with other people.