Week 13/14 Journal Reflection- Facilitating Live Meetings

Before the M.E.T. program, I had never attended live meetings. I have now attended live chats, webinars, used conference tools, and really participated in the online learning environments. It has been a huge learning curve for me because it is all completely different than what I am used to. When I first attended the live chats, I didn't know how I felt. I attended Simple K-12 chats and live Twitter chats. The Twitter chats were very fast pace and hard to keep up with sometimes. I felt like the Simple K-12 chats depended on the audience. I attended 5 different chats and they were all completely different. The environments changed by the number of people, the type of conversations (casual vs professional), and the flow of discussion. I really enjoyed the webinars, well, some of them because of the way the presenters did their lessons. I loved the presenters that were engaging and motivating. The webinars I did not like were like that video we watched last week, monotone and no enthusiasm. Last, the web conference tools have been wonderful because I didn't really know how to use them. I knew they were out there, but didn't get the hands-on experience. I have liked learning how to use them and getting more comfortable with them. It is fun to learn the tools available. I like being able to switch from video chat to screenshots, to even just changing to chat.

Week 12 Journal Reflection-Live Lesson Delivery Ideas

First off, that video was awful to watch. I absolutely do not like monotone professors. It is so hard to stay engaged and motivated. I think it is important to know that learning doesn't always have to be direct instruction, lectures, quizzes, or written assignments. I truly try my hardest to make it so that my classroom is student-centered. I love having my students discover new things and learn throughout the activities. I still have direct instruction for parts of my lessons, but the majority is student-centered. I try to create lessons that encourage students to participate, think outside the box, and problem solve. I also try to create a variety of assignments and assessments that are not just written on paper. A few ideas for live lessons include:

Scavenger Hunts

Polling

Online Storyboards

Sticky Notes- Pinup.com

Concept Mapping

Blogging

Discussion Forums/Boards

Gaming

Interviews

Jigsaws

Socratic Dialogue

Webquests

Week 11 Journal Reflection-Self Evaluation

As I did the self-evaluation using the Asynchronous Lesson Rubric, I noticed the area I can work on is engagement. My lesson is organized and has students working on interactive features, however, there are no "creative risk-taking" tasks. I have been trying to come up with an activity that would be more risk-taking, but I haven't been able to find one yet. For my lesson, my students watch a video, work with groups during research (filling out a Google Survey), create a video, watch videos, fill out a note-catcher, and take a quiz through Kahoot. Both creating a video and using Kahoot are motivating and interactive features, however, I feel like it's not too risky. This lesson was created for a blended environment.

I do feel that my lesson does meet the criteria for content, learner-centered, differentiation, and assessments. The teacher mostly guides and facilitates the activities. The students really take control of their learning. Differentiation is met through the variety of products, processes, and content. Last, my students are assessed with both formative and summative assessments. The formative assessments are through peer evaluations, reflections, and self-assessments. The summative assessment is provided through a quiz.

Week 9 Journal Reflection-Brainstorm Technology Use Strategies

Alright, here is a list of online technologies and instructional strategies that I feel would be best for my learning preference and for learning preferences that are different from mine:

Auditory:

Podcasts (Scholastic, PodOmatic, PodcastDirectory, ProfCast, etc.)

Audio Books

Audacity

WavePad

Project Playlist

Natural Reader

Live Presentations

History and Politics Out Loud

Visual:

YouTube Videos

MindMesiter

PowToons

Adobe Spark

Bubbl.us

Scooch

Picture History

KartOO

Kinesthetic:

Kahoot

Quizlet

ClassMarker

SparkNotes

Google SketchUp

Education Place

Padlet

Prodigy