EEND 677 Reflection

I have deeply appreciated this course overall. I found that it provided so many practical resources that I was able to utilize with my students. I also found that the structure of the class was ideal for learning new concepts and attempting creation of our own material. It was nice to be able to practice together in class and if we ran into any challenges or questions we had the adjunct there ready and willing to help. I also found a lot of value in the in-class discussions Mr. Hagedorn led. It was much more organic and authentic to have the importance of conversation in person versus through a screen where thoughts and responses can become so scripted.

I genuinely appreciated all the things we learned through this course...except that I had to listen to myself on recording. Argh. I cannot believe I sound like THAT?! However, my favorite program I used in this course was ScreencastOMatic.  Instantly within minutes of having students utilize the short videos I created, I saw it beneficial to their comprehension. In particular my strugglers and ELLs. I found this helpful for the students because they were able to pause or replay the video as often as they needed to. Allowing them this differentiation proved to help their accuracy and success in the skill we were learning in math. THIS is definitely a tool I will continue to use with my students.

This course has left me more optimistic about future classes, and less anxious about my abilities. I am hoping that the following class is just as beneficial as this class.

Create a Screencast

EEND 667 Artifact 2:  Create a Screencast

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment was to create a video that could help enhance student learning in the classroom and/or experience a sense of what a Flipped Classroom is.  Screencasts also help students listen to the lesson at their own pace, and/or pause and rewind as needed. I have found this to be extremely beneficial for my ELL students who often need you to repeat directions because they did not catch it the first time. This eases their anxiety of asking you to repeat yourself because they have unlimited access to the lesson and can replay the steps over and over.  I asked the handful of students I had use the video if it helped, and they were extremely happy they had access to the lesson and requested I make more videos that could help them in the future.

Challenges: Some of the challenges I faced with this assignment was finding a website that the our district did not have blocked. Also finding ways to upload the finished product to share with teachers and students. I used Screencastomatic.com and found it extremely user friendly and basic, however, I appeared to run into issues with uploading it to Youtube.com. After numerous attempts, I just decided to share the video by using the embedded link.

How it was Used in the Classroom: I utilized this screencast with my students that were struggling with remembering the steps to take when adding or subtracting mixed numbers.  I gave my entire class access to the five minute video and told them to use it as needed. What I noticed was that my ELL students really utilized it to their benefit. I also saw them display understanding by completing their next set of problems accurately. Not to mention them telling me they found it helpful and useful made me smile :-)  Maybe, as I continue to utilize this program, I can start launching it with students, and they can record themselves solving problems to display their understanding and/or confusion.

Reflection and Growth: This is definitely a program I see myself utilizing more often.  Especially because it does not take very long to put together a video, and the program is extremely user friendly.  Additionally, knowing, and seeing how it has helped a handful of my students feel less anxious about lessons really motivates me to use this more in the classroom.  

Graphic Design and Typography

EEND 667 Artifact 1:Graphic Design and Typography

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment was to create a sign and/or poster that you could use in the classroom with your students. I created two posters for my students, one was an anchor chart for fraction math steps and the other was a poster for their endangered animals paper. The math fraction poster was created to remind students of steps to take when creating equivalent fractions, and the endangered animal poster was an example of what I wanted students to create for themselves in google draw. Each student chose an animal to research and at the end of their research they were to create a poster that represented some of the knowledge and information gathered in their research.

Challenges: For this particular assignment, I did not see many challenges. I felt that the program was very rudimentary and it being a Google program, it was extremely user friendly for both teacher and student to learn.

How it was Used in the Classroom: I used Google Draw in the classroom to create an anchor chart for equivalent fraction steps, and I also used it as a ¨cover” design for their informational paper.

Reflection and Growth: I like the basic concept of this program, and can see how it would be beneficial for students. It helps students slow down and reflect on the most important information they want to visually display in their papers to their audiences. I also found this to be useful as a colorful tool students could reference when needing a reminder of the steps needed when creating equivalent fractions.