Portfolios in the Classroom

Who uses portfolios?

Portfolios can apply to any learner regardless of their education level or work setting.

K-12 Students

Portfolios can be used in many different ways for a K-12 learner. Options include a portfolio showing growth from kindergarten to 12th grade, accomplishments for each IL standard strings or Common Core strings, growth during a course, or growth during a series of courses. All situations create an opportunity to help students organize their work.

College Level Students

Many universities require an educational portfolio from pre-service teachers. As pre-teachers continue through their education courses they create a working portfolio to display their educational philosophy, created lessons, proof of understanding of students, and ability to utilize and communicate standards.

Educators

Current teachers can use portfolios to keep a record of student work, lesson plans including pictures/videos of students engaged in the activities and a reflection of the lesson and analyzing current teaching methods.

Professionals

Professionals can utilize many different types of portfolios.
Engineers use portfolios to display and organize their work.
Contractors use portfolios to show types of designs they have created.
Artists keep portfolios of sketches, drawings and paintings.
Writers keep published or private work in portfolios.
Models keep a portfolio of pictures and photo shoots they have completed.

Regardless of age, education or working atmosphere a portfolio keeps information organized in one location.

What kind of portfolios can I use in my classroom?

E-portfolios

E-portfolios can be any type of portfolio created in an electronic format such as websites, pages, scrapbooks or PowerPoint presentation. Electronic portfolios allow learners to utilize technology while creating a flexible portfolio that can follow the learner.

Currently I am testing two different platforms for digital portfolios. In my classroom we are using a free website creator called Weebly to create websites. We are also using Wikispaces giving each student a page to display work and reflections on a classroom wiki.

Display/Best Work portfolios

Display or best work portfolios display artifacts a learner believes shows off their best learning. Display portfolios provide an opportunity for learners to invest in their work with the knowledge it will be a product they share with others. Both the learner and teacher experience a sense of pride with best work portfolios, learners show what they can accomplish and teachers see engaged learners as a result.

Working Portfolios

Working portfolios have a mixture of completed and in progress work. Many classrooms could implement a working portfolio in their current notebooks or binders used for class. Learners keep artifacts that are complete, like homework and tests that are graded, and work in progress such as classroom projects.

Working portfolios best fit a single content area classroom. Learners would be able to evaluate and analyze the portfolio on a quarterly basis with their teachers.

Assessment Portfolios

Assessment portfolios are used to show what content a learner has mastered in a specific curricular area. Learners complete reflections on each artifact included explaining why the artifact is included in their portfolio and how the artifact shows their knowledge.Assessment portfolios require the learner to select appropriate pieces and be able to communicate the reason behind including the artifact.

What do your students put in their portfolios?

Students have endless options when it comes to artifacts included in their portfolio. Students have the ability to choose any artifact meeting the teacher's established criteria.

Engineering Portfolio Artifacts can include, but are not limited to...

• Engineering journal entries
• Design Sketches
• Inventor Parts
• Inventor Assemblies
• Inventor Drawings
• In Class Activities- pictures or videos
• Program Codes
• Learning Profile

How do students benefit from portfolios?

• Creates self-confidence by displaying best work
• Work is meaningful and will be kept for a time period
• Encourages computer and technology skills
• Engages students in the learning process
• Allows students to have choice in the selection of their work
• Learn organization
• Practice evaluating quality work
• Treated as an individual with a valuable point of view
• Improves communication skills with adults and teachers

How do teachers benefit from portfolios?

• Teaches organization through application
• Helps students see their growth rather than independent grades
• Students are able to review concepts and activities, reflect on the artifact, make connections between portfolio artifacts
• Allows students to be responsible for their learning
• Meaningful assessment displaying thought and knowledge rather than memorized information
• Allows teachers and students to evaluate and assess learning as a team rather than the teacher telling the student how he/she did
• Individuality: Getting to know each student on a more meaningful level
• Splits the responsibility of assessing and evaluating work with the student
• Promotes higher level thinking skills such as Bloom's Taxonomy analyzing, evaluating and creating

How portfolios changed my classroom

Engaged Students

This year was my first year using a website creator with my classes to make website portfolios. I introduced the concept to my students in the first week of school, however we started to run short on time in the classroom. The students had barely set up the websites by the end of the 2nd week of school. As a group, my 6th graders decided they needed an opportunity to learn and practice the website creator with some help from me. I asked them what they thought I should do because we really don't have the time in class. Students came back with a proposal the following day, have a "website party night" on Sunday evening-websites and pizza. I stood there confused for a few minutes...did my kiddos just ask for an extra night at school to do work voluntarily? As a teacher I can't ask for more, my students are demanding more time for education. In less than two days we had permission for an evening school event, pizzas ordered, and parents willing to come help monitor students. In the end, this 3 hour investment was the best and most rewarding thing I could have done for my classroom atmosphere, to get my students engaged in learning, and jump start meaningful relationships with my students.

Changes Classroom Assessment

I believe portfolios have changed my classroom assessment entirely. I am more involved with my students on a daily basis because of their digital content. I can constantly check in on my students and their progress, learn their frustrations and concerns, and examine their growth easily. I no longer depend on tests and quizzes for assessment, instead 3 times during each 9 week course I have one on one conferences with my students. My students are excited to have their conference with me, they want to show and share all they are accomplishing. It creates a time where my students are allowed to brag on their work and hear me tell them how proud I am.

I also use rubrics to help with assessment in portfolios during each course. Students have a list of required elements for each portfolio submission. Requirements include some artifacts I ask for specifically and others students choose based on the required criteria. It allows my students to still have choice in their artifacts but also meeting my needs as far as my curriculum goes.

I feel portfolios have changed my entire grading system. Students are more involved and excited about their work because it has meaning to them. My students take pride in their work and find meaning in each assignment rather than feeling like it is just another worksheet. I see my students working harder and communicating after the implementation of portfolios.

During each portfolio experience I realize frustrations will always happen. Students are coming to my class with different background knowledge and life experiences. However, most of these frustrations come from the lack of skills my students have. No one is teaching students how to evaluate, how to be creative, how to be organized or why they should care about their own work due to the stress and concern of state testing. It is a unique opportunity to be able to teach my students life skills they can use in any job, no matter what that job may be.


Some frustrations I have experienced with my students

• No understanding of what reflection means or looks like
• Students have never created and used a table of contents
• Students need taught how to use dividers and tabs, that papers belong behind the tab
• Some students never find an artifact that shows quality of work
• Organization
• Making meaningful connections in artifact reflections
• Technology skills have never included website creations or using wikis

I believe middle school students are ready for some of the necessary life skills that can be taught through portfolios.

Organization

I see my students who have never used a three-ring binder or dividers learning how to organize themselves, a skill all middle school students need. I could not imagine sending my students to high school having never used anything but a paper folder for organization. My 6th graders needed a 30 minute lesson on how to put the dividers in the binder, label the small file labels, make sure the dividers were in order, and papers go behind the tab instead of in front of the tab. I didn't realize just how new of a concept dividers would be for most of my students.

Reflection

My students are getting better with more experience in reflecting on their artifacts. The process of reflecting on a piece of work, what happened during a class period, or looking back on choices continues to be a challenging topic in my classroom. While my students are mentally capable of reflection, they have never practiced before. I find myself doing think-aloud reflections like math teachers solve problems step by step. My students roll their eyes and think it's silly, but are becoming better at reflecting on their own work. They don't realize this is a skill no one has ever formally taught them, and it takes repetition to get better. I know portfolios make a difference in student reflections when I look at some of the 6th grade beginning reflections and 8th grade final reflection, the growth is incredible. Student's ability to grow in their reflections is one area where I am always surprised with the results.

Student Relationships

We often talk about middle school students as social creatures, which they are. However, most middle school teachers forget their students don't just want to be social with their friends but also their teachers. Middle school students are at a unique stage where scratch and sniff stickers and a good job on their paper is still exciting to them. By utilizing electronic portfolios I have the ability to leave comments throughout the entire course on their webpages or wiki space. Many of my students open their pages and go straight to their journal to see if I have commented before they start working. As a result of these small exchanges students start to share more information and feelings about school, life and connecting the content to real life. They find themselves opening up to me in their webpages and my comments opening myself up to them as well.

Teaching Digital Skills

Now that I utilize websites and wikis, I find myself needing to teach my students what proper online behavior includes. I make sure they understand what information is appropriate to include, how to respond to other people's comments, passwords and usernames, online privacy, and how to respond to peer portfolios in a positive way. While these are all digital skills, my students are learning to utilize these skills in my classroom.



Ash, K. (2011). E-portfolios evolve thanks to web 2.0 tools. Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/06/15/03e-portfolio.h04.html on November 1, 2011.

Association for middle level education (2011). Assessing and reporting progress through student-led portfolio conferences. Retrieved from http://www.amle.org/Publications/WebExclusive/Portfolio/tabid/650/Default.aspx on November 4, 2011.

Barrett, H. (2003). Recent research on electronic portfolios. Retrieved from http://electronicportfolios.org/research.html on October 23, 2011.

Barrett, H. (2003). The research on portfolios in education. Retrieved from http://electronicportfolios.com/ALI/research.html on October 21, 2011.

Danielson, C., & Abrutyn, A. (1997). Introduction to using portfolios in the classroom. ASCD.

Department of staff development, George counting public schools. (2010). Portfolio assessment. Retrieved from http://www.pgcps.org/~elc/portfolio.html on October 27,2011.


Edtp504 (poster)(2011). Digital literacy-using technology in the classroom. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5ySocUyI7I&feature=related on November 4, 2011.

Kelly, M. (2011). Student portfolios: Getting started with student portfolios. Retrieved from http://712educators.about.com/od/portfolios/a/portfolios.htm on November 1, 2011.

Slidedesigns.net (2011 April). Puzzle [image]. Retrieved from http://www.slidedesigns.net/2010/04/phttp://www.slidedesigns.net/2010/04/page/2age/2 on November 3, 2011.

Teacher vision. (2011). The portfolio process. Retrieved from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-methods-and-management/experimental-education/4537.html?detoured=1 on November 2, 2011.

Venn, J. J. (2000). Assessing students with special needs (2nd ed.). UppeSaddle River, NJ: Merrill.

My Personal Learning Network/ Environment

I was very overwhelmed as I started thinking about my personal learning network. I feel like I have a large learning network, but there are still times I feel isolated in my own engineering curriculum-being in a mix of everything but not always defined! I started to think of what resources and tools I run to when I need support.

The first thing I thought of wasn't technology or my go-to tools online, instead it was my "tribe". My "learning tribe" consists of the people who can give me a little support when my own pep-talks aren't enough anymore. Tribes and their unique impact are described in The Element. "When tribes gather in the same place, the opportunities for mutual inspiration can become intense." The people who give me the most intense inspiration in my immediate environment made by my students and other staff members in my building. However, I also have other connections in my professional communities like my support from Eastern Illinois University, Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics and National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Project Lead the Way, and National Science Teacher Association all give me energy to continue the daily work.

I also thought about the way I get information and communicate my information with others. I thought of gmail, talk, aim, Skype, my blog, twitter, scoop.it, and zite. I have direct emailing, interactive communication IMs, and curation sites.

I feel that I use software in my everyday learning and teaching like Autodesk Inventor, Evernote, Dropbox, iTunes, Excel, Access, Powerpoint, One Note, Word, Powerpoint, and Kindle readers. I create many of my lessons and notes for students in power points and word documents. The software portion of my network is not providing information back to me, however I still find it amazingly valuable in my network of learning.

The section that I felt had the most information and really could have expanded more on was my internet based resources. These are the tools and apps that use the internet. I have so many, but they are not all related to the way I am learning…more the tools I use in the classroom to enhance learning. For this reason, I limited the number of internet-based items I used to RSS feeds, email, youtube, google, ask, digg, delicious, vimeo, teacher pal (app), moodle, flicker, google earth, dropbox, blogger, and edmodo.

In most cases, I have arrows both leaving me and pointing back at me because I contribute and gain information from these sources.

The diagram I most related to was Katherine Pisana because her network was organized and easy to understand, she included common tools, internet resources and her own learning areas. I feel like she was able to give a unique glimpse into all of her learning styles not just internet based.

I believe I would add more to my PLN if it was able to be organized. I would have webs or continuations from my learning tribes including the internet-based tools I use with them or from them, I would have communications connecting to learning tribes and internet-based applications and more than just the basic software on my list. However, I didn't want to overwhelm everyone so I concentrated on the topics that were most important to me currently.

I believe my PLN is a hybrid of sorts because I do have technology based connections but I also include my personal connections outside of the Internet. I think I have a combination of curation tools, information gathering tools, publishing tools, and other software that would cover not only tool oriented learning, but also people oriented and use oriented resources.

Resources

Deleket (poster). 3d cartoon icons pack [icons set]. Retrieved from http://www.freeiconsweb.com/Free-Downloads.asp?id=86 on November 1, 2011.

Eastern Illinois Univerity (2011). Panther logo [picture]. Retrieved from htpp://www.eiu.edu on May 2009.

Effectivefive (poster). Social media icons set [icon sets]. Retrieved from http://www.freeiconsweb.com/Free-Downloads.asp?id=1582 on October 31, 2011.

ICTM (2011). [picture]. Retrieved from http://www.ictm.org on November 1, 2011.

NCTM(2011).[picture]. Retrieved from http://www.nctm.org/ on November 1, 2011.

NSTA (2011). NSTA logo [picture]. Retrieved from http://www.nsta.org/ on November 1, 2011.
Pizana, K. My ple [wiki post]. Retrieved from http://edtechpost.wikispaces.com/PLE+Diagrams on November 1, 2011.

Robinson, K. & Aronica, L. (2009). The element: How finding your passion changes everything. Viking Adult

*ipad app icons came from screen shots.

Curation: Bringing a personalized paper to you!

Tweeted Times

Paper.li

Scoop.It Engineering Materials

Scoop.It Classroom Resources

Scoop.It My account


I do like my paper.li paper from CI 484, when I started it was ok but not great. Now, I am finding more content and like the format of my paper.li paper. However, I really like Scoop.it much more! Considering the alternative of curation is RSS feeds like google reader, it was love at first sight for curation and I. Once I started curation, I never considered the option of just a feed again.

I really like how both Paper.li and Scoop.it will email you the "updated" paper. The set up of paper.li is a little more like a traditional newspaper with the headings to categorize your feeds. I do feel like this is one of the best qualities that paper.li offers!

I am starting to understand how scoop.it works and functions, now I am beginning to think I would like to introduce my paper to my students. I don't want to ask my students to curate, I just want my curation to be a "resource". Using my paper would be a guided google search for my students. If I put pages in for a web quest, approved sites for research, or help sites my students can use the paper instead of being bogged down by a google search.

I had a hard time getting my scoop.it to get my RSS feeds, but once I figured it out….it's easy! So for those of you who are using scoop.it…..click on your paper, then manage, manage sources, advanced. This lets you add any RSS feed, any single twitter person or a twitter list. This was neat! I was a little frustrated because scoop.it didn't have any help on this, so I started clicking around (and secretly hoping I didn't kill my paper).

As I am experiencing more with both curation options, I am still very hesitant to bring this into my classroom! As I was working on my paper, I found a topic that was entirely inappropriate. It didn't fit any of my content, but somehow was put in based on someone who I follow on twitter. I not only removed the person from twitter, but then had to remove the content from my curations. However, I do think I have more control in scoop.it than paper.li. This incident happened in paper.li, but wasn't easy to get rid of the article. When I use scoop.it, it contains articles and websites that I "scoop" with the icon in my web browser. It also brings in articles and content based on other papers I subscribe to. If you have content that you want removed it is much easier to remove through scoop.it. I will not be asking or introducing my students to their own curation pages until I have full control of their dashboards. I can't control who my students are linked to, following, or receiving posts from. If one student gets the wrong piece of information, that means I expose my entire school!


I think scoop it is the only curation tool I am ready to bring into my classroom. I can make as many papers as I want, so if I want to create a paper for robotics I can have that. I am currently creating a paper for a presentation at a training for my program focusing on the importance of e-portfolios in my classroom. Right now, this is a collection of articles and websites I find to support my topic. I see this as an option for my classroom since I can have a paper for STEM education, robotics, flight and space, motion and physics, chemistry, etc. I can basically create my own source pages for my students to use as research or suggestions to guide them. I plan on starting I my trial with my 8th graders in Robotics in January. If they can handle it, then I will continue with the rest of the topics and courses.


My previous post on curation:
I am not sure that I like either of the two sources for curation. I think the concept is awesome; I like the idea of things coming in and being organized before you even have to worry about how many new posts there are. We all know the scene, the kids are gone, staff has stopped coming by to chat and plan, you open your email and there are 40+ messages. Your heart just sinks! Same thing when I open the feed reader. The idea of not having that overwhelming number of items show up in your email or reader is really nice. I think if I had 2 more hours in my day I could commit to reading weekly. The curation tool at least makes it an option to read all my feeds!

Curations like Tweeted Times and Paper.li narrow your sights into the topics that you really want to see and picks up on the tags that you request. I think using a curation tool would be helpful for me because it limits the number of items coming in and allows me to focus on the ones I really want to see. I really liked being able to pick the people or the items that are similar to my interests.

I don’t know that I would be brave enough to do this with my students yet, the main reason being that I don’t know how to monitor what is coming in to all their accounts. From a teaching perspective this is a big disadvantage not being able to control anything with the students. They could be following people on twitter or Facebook who post comments that are not at all appropriate for school. I also can’t control if there is someone posting good content with a connection to someone who is not, then my students have access to the appropriate and inappropriate content. Even with my good kids I would need to worry that their connections are good connections with appropriate material all the time. I have to worry about the kids who don’t follow directions and end up with inappropriate content.then share that with the rest of the class since they would all be connected followers. Until I can go in, edit, control, and view all student dashboards I do not see this as something I can use with middle school students. They are so smart and creative with ways to get around the rules, I don't want to put myself in that situation.

I think there are other disadvantages depending on the curation tool you use, I didn’t have much luck with paper.li gathering my feed information. That didn’t help me get any new information or organize what I did have. Tweeted Times was slightly overwhelming visually; everything felt like it was just blobbed together. While the information was what I asked Tweeted Times to gather, it still wasn’t organized by person or topic. This left me feeling like I was having all of my good information dumped on me, just a little bit more organized when it was dumped compared to the RSS feed.

I liked in Paper.li the option to bring in only certain feeds I had subscribed to, choose certain keywords, or to just bring in tweets from one person you are following or everyone associated to your account. I felt like this gave me more of an option in controlling what I wanted to see and when. Between the two curation tools I would say Tweeted Times worked better only because paper.li didn’t grab any of my information. I assume part of the issue was some of my RSS feeds are not updating very often, but that doesn't explain my twitter connections. It didn’t grab any information from the last 24 hours. I even had a few feeds from this morning that it didn’t recognize as new. I am not sure what setting needs to be adjusted but I know that isn’t right.

I don’t feel like either one of them really did much for me. I have never used any type of curation device so I had no reference point, but I was really disappointed. Then I tried scoop.it. I love scoop.it. It has a ton of cool features that I thought the other two would be offering. Scoop.it makes a tool in the toolbar that lets me link any website that comes across my browser to my “paper”. I also like the fact that you can find other papers you like and follow them. I don’t have to keep subscribing to feeds that I only get one or two good things a year. I found some people who had the same types of articles and feeds that I did so I can just follow their feeds instead.

I think I would much rather use a curation tool rather than an RSS feed due to the way it filters my information. I really appreciate the way it organizes and offers me information relevant to me. The RSS feed was really overwhelming since everything was just dumped in my folders. I can’t even say that I would consider going back to the RSS feed when I have an option like this.

Camtasia: Media Creation Tool

I decided to use Camtasia Studio as my media creation tool.

One of the struggles I have in my classroom is creating independent problem solvers while still providing my students the opportunity to review skills they learned in a whole group setting. In Design and Modeling, my students learn to use AutoCAD software called Inventor. We do one whole class project to give students experience with the new software and it's basic abilities. The software comes with a "help wiki" students can use to review the basics, but isn't very easy to navigate for my students. I also have resource books in the classroom but they are HUGE and scary for the kids to go use as a resource. For me, this resource is amazing! I can create basic video tutorials and my students can watch them anytime they want to.

The following movies are all individual files so students can watch a portion they are confused on, but still try the next section or part on their own. I like the sense of independence these movies create for students!

Resources needed: Jing (free) or Camtasia capture software, computers, microphone (if wanted, internet connection

I don't believe I would assess this since it is more of a resource, but I would ask my students if they felt this helped them or was useful for my own knowledge. All students do an exit survey in each unit/class, I would be able to get feedback between courses.

Fin

Main Body

Assembly for Air Skimmer

Education: what to keep and what to change.

In the year 2025, I would expect to see many changes in K-12 learning. I think classrooms would be more like a learning center rather than a lecture classroom. In 2025, I would hope to see students who are being engaged, collaborating, and have access to appropriate learning materials for all student-learning styles. I believe learning will become more student centered focusing on individualization, personalization, choices, and independent learning. Students will have more choice in their learning products and processes. Teaching will be moving from the “basics” of classroom subjects to problem solving, social skills, and information gathering. Current teaching can’t be left behind entirely; there will always be a need for students to understand reading, writing, mathematics, science and history. I do think the process and content will change in the future of education. Students will need to be utilizing the basic skills across the categories and classrooms primarily learning life skills that are supported by the basics of classroom education.

I would like to continue with my path of STEM education and discovery learning. Students are discovering the possibilities of science, technology, engineering and math on a daily basis in my classroom. I am not lecturing on the mathematics or physics of motion, but instead my students are conducting experiments and using the prior science and math knowledge they have to understand concepts that are well above their grade level. Students aren’t just learning the basics, but learning how to problem solve and work collaboratively in the classroom.



Some of the changes that I would like to see in educational environments would focus on technology. Ideally, I would like to see changes in the number of technologies and websites that are not allowed in school districts. I would like to see IT leaders focus on the value of using technology in education to help students learn rather than blanket coat what websites are appropriate and blocking the rest. There should be more education for both IT leaders and teachers on using technology to enhance instruction rather than replace a teacher teaching.
There is a huge potential for change in the way a teacher can present text to students. Many students are held to the same textbook because the school owns 30 of them, but with new technologies like e-readers, teachers can use more meaningful texts to engage students and individualize student instruction.

The changes ahead will have an impact on everyone involved. Teachers will be asked to be risk takers, think outside the box, never settle for the minimum, be continuous learners, and learn from their students. Students will be asked to make more choices and take more responsibility for their own education. Parents will be asked to be more involved in their child’s education and learning community. Getting your child to school is no longer enough from the parent. Parents will need to commit to their own learning so they can help their children make important educational choices during their K-12 education. Most parents in my area do not have an education over 8th grade, so our schools will need to offer more parent education and community education. Schools will need to change the structure of the building to include more opportunities for experiments and hands on learning. Schools and administration will need to step up to inspire staff and create an environment that promotes change. Unfortunately for administration, this means they will also be required to do some extra “remediation” skills for teachers who aren’t willing to change and aren’t willing to teach any differently than they have in the past.

In the end, everyone involved will need to be movers and shakers, never settling for just ok. I have used these two videos before, but I think they both bring out the main points in what it takes to really change a large system like education. We need people who are willing to say ok isn’t good enough and we need leaders who will risk it all to make a change for students.





So I guess the question is…how will you react when education is “stuck on an escalator”?





References:

CaptDate (Poster).Escalator Engineer [video]. ( 2007, February 4). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S8P5HhHg8w&feature=related .

leemijeehoon (Poster). Honda ok factory ad [video]. (2006, October 29) Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9B9UD5Hlp4 .

JayMJ23 (poster). Michael Jordan “failure” nike commercial [video].(2006, August 25). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45mMioJ5szc

Whitehouse (poster). A STEM education, tools to change the world [video]. (2010, September 16). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biWQZlUl-vE.

What do you do with a kid who knows everything?

Have you ever had a student who constantly interrupts, wants to be the class clown, doesn’t turn in homework but is still one of the brightest kids in your class? We have one of those in our 6th grade class this year. Our sixth grade team has four new teachers to the building and two first year teachers. This particular student has decided what classes and teachers he can identify with, the rest he does not try to behave. One of the first year teachers has had enough of his behavior and couldn’t take it anymore. She has given him referrals to the office 4 days in a row. During our daily team meeting we started to address this student’s behavior. The idea that came to mind was nothing less than inspired.

This student LOVES my class because he is a hands-on learner and is continually challenged to do more than the minimum. He wants to use technology for everything and doesn't understand why it isn't an option. He has even gone as far as telling a few of the new teachers they don't know how to teach because they don't use the classroom technology they have. He insists he would do his homework and be better in class if they used technology. With me, his class is typically one to two days ahead of all my other classes. So...I thought why not have him teach my rather difficult (behavior) 7th graders. This class has chronic issues with students shouting out answers, they aren’t in the seats during a lesson, not following directions and continually talk when they shouldn’t be. Hmmm…sounds just like his behavior.

Here is how it all played out:

Wednesday

· He is totally pumped about this idea. He thinks it is going to be so easy!
· He was given the 20-page packet that I made for the steps and process of creating a toy in our Inventor software.
· He was given a PowerPoint presentation that would be given at the start of class.
· He was given a lesson plan outline that he had to complete and return Thursday after school to be ready for his lesson Friday.

Thursday

· He finds me before school to say he has questions about this lesson plan when can he ask me. We plan on study hall time.
· During study hall he spends 40 minutes talking through how to create a lesson plan and make notes on his handouts.
-He took the PowerPoint and added audio, uploaded to authorstream and has his video ready for class. I was impressed that he wanted more than a PowerPoint, he thought the kids would like a video more! Of course, we had to do this together but a great way to get him to use technology in the classroom.
- He comments on how he had to read this and work on his plan for over 60 mins working on understanding the handouts last night. He wanted to go to the homecoming parade and had football practice and it was really hard to do all of it.
⁃ We talked about how teachers do this every single night and he looked at the science textbook and realized how little information was included in a teacher edition compared to student edition.

Friday

· I was doing hallway duty in the 7/8th grade hall. (I switch between 7/8 and 5/6 depending on where people are needed) He was going ballistic looking for me everywhere (6th grade hall) and flipping out that he couldn’t find me, he needed to create his starter page on my laptop. (I was thinking that this was a good panic for him, he needed to know what it felt like to need a question answered but no one available to do that.)
· He came in before school to create the starter page to display on the board when students come in to the classroom.
· He had to come in early from recess to be ready for his class (that couldn’t be planned better).
· He stood at the door taking attendance and letting students in as they were lined up and quiet.
· He monitored students and their progress on the starter, reminding them of certain steps he could see were not yet done.
· He did an excellent job at reminding students politely to check step 4 they missed something. Very proud of his patience here, patience is not usually his strong point!
· He started the lesson; the classroom was quiet and confused as to what was really going on. Many kids were asking me why he was teaching when he was a 6th grader and I kindly ignored him. Finally, he said I’m the teacher you can raise your hand and ask me if you have a question. Miss Watson is just observing today!! P.S. This was so funny for me!
· As the novelty of the situation began to wear off the students started behaving more like themselves, not raising hands, shouting out answers, not following along, and asking questions that didn’t relate to the lesson.
· I was starting to worry they might be too overwhelming as they were asking questions about why he was there or why they should listen to him.
- He asks why he should listen to one of his new teachers often, I like that students asked him but I didn’t want to shut him down.
- He answered the same way I would, he asked the student “is that going to help us in this lesson right now?” the kid answered no and he said “you can stay and talk to me after class if you have a question then”. I was so proud
*After the lesson and time to think, my student said he would not have known how to answer this question if he hadn’t heard me say it a million times to him. I am glad to know he is starting to process things and reflect at this point.
· He expressed his biggest fear was the students laughing at him. I want to make sure we go back to this point in our after the lesson conversation.
- I believe all teachers feel like this at some point in their teaching experience. We don’t want our kids to think we are stupid, make silly mistakes, don’t know what we are talking about or be laughed at. This is a fear tons of teachers have!

After the lesson

· He was given some reflection questions to think about and post back to me through his classroom website blog.
-In his blog he talked about how hard it was to create technology resources to use in the classroom when students aren't cooperative.
· He cannot stop trying to share all his feelings with the students in his class and his teachers. I had to actually tell him to stop talking about it and sit down so we can start our class!
· He went home and told his mom everything for about 50 minutes, I called to make sure she knew about the reflection and she thought he learned a lot of important lessons today.
· When he went to the football game on Friday night he couldn’t stop telling the counselor (his best friend’s mom) all the things the kids did and how they behaved. He wouldn’t stop talking!


Follow up

This cannot be the end for this student. He is amazingly bright and capable of doing anything he wants. We need to start differentiating his classroom materials so he is not just bored and following along in a textbook. Part of the challenge will be helping the new teachers understand that his behavior is a result of not being challenged. There is nothing wrong with pre-testing a student and challenging them to do more than the average student. I think we have a clean start with this student if we can show him that we care about him, we know he is smart, and we are going to challenge him appropriately. He needs more connections in the building with teachers who are willing to be a support for him. I believe my staff and my building is made of teachers who are willing to reach out and support him.

What I learned

I learned a lot in this process myself. I thought about my own instruction and how I incorporate technology. I have yet to convert all my previous powerpoints and notebook files into a more exciting application. I don't run to prezi because it takes so long to change content from PPT to prezi. I just haven't had the time to do all of them in a movie format either, I hesitate because there are not many times I just lecture. The times I really do have a powerpoint I have to alter the presentation depending on the group I have. Some require more information, some less, some more examples, some need longer wait time for questions etc. I found the video very engaging and the kids liked it, but they were not all paying attention either. I use an interactive whiteboard, I use technology and computers on a consistent basis, but there are still kids that are not engaged. The web 2.0 tools I asked him to use for this project really changed how he viewed academic content. He was loving his blog, his website and using authorstream to change a powerpoint to a movie. After all of this he suggested changing more of the interactive whiteboard notebooks and powerpoints into movies. I may try more movies that will create a more individualized lesson to engage students. I agree with his statement that teachers should use more technology, but now he understands how difficult it can be if your students fight you.

This student and I have a unique opportunity, we have three more years together. He will get to see my changes with technology and I can’t wait to see what he is like in 3 years.

Creating Websites as a Learning Portfolio

During this first quarter of school, I decided to try something new with one of my well-behaved group of 6th graders. I suspect most of these students will decide to continue with engineering during their middle school career and possibly even their high school career.

I thought, hey it would be cool to have a digital portfolio with my 6th graders to help them keep all their engineering information together from 6th, 7th, and 8th grade! The last thing a senior engineering student completes in engineering is a portfolio showcasing all of their work from their first course in 6th grade to the last course as a sr. To do this I decided to use a website creator that allowed me to monitor student websites and blogs with ultimate control being mine.

I tell my students about this project and they are pumped! They think this is the best thing they have ever heard and are very interested in how they will do it, what they will use, when they get to use it, etc. Then I realized just how much time getting these sites to a usable place was going to take. I stopped talking about them for about 5 school days. I wasn’t sure what in the world I was going to be able to do! Then, in class, one student raised his hand to ask when they would get to use their websites. GULP! I explained we just don’t have time to stop and set them up. I really wanted to do it, we just don’t have time to set up websites right now. Then he suggested maybe doing it after school or one evening. I thought yeah right, no one wants to do that! The kids all agreed. I was shocked. We looked at the calendar and realized there wasn’t a single day without a baseball, softball, soccer or football. Someone suggested doing a website party on Sunday night. So with the number of kids agreeing to attend, I set up our Sunday night event. Sunday night rolls around and 16/20 students are in my room working on websites. How many times can you get a class of students to come in and do EXTRA work willingly?

So here we are, 6 weeks into school, 3 weeks until the first unit of engineering is complete. Looking back at the idea of websites, I still think it was a good one. The entire idea has had its hiccups along the way. However, I think I have learned a lot in this experience. I was terrified to start something new and unclear especially with kids that I want to keep in my program!

Pros of student sites
• Kids are engaged
• Excited to share their learning
• Creating a community of learners
• Sharing information in their blogs they normally wouldn’t verbalize
• Creating a personalized learning space that has meaning to themselves
• Simple communication and display
• Love the website features (makes for easy websites and free publishing on their domain)

Cons of student sites
• In the start of blogs, my students were commenting and writing on random topics rather than what they should be.
• Takes time to set up and prepare each student
• Students need instruction to handle the website creator successfully
• Not always classroom related materials being put on the site

Examples of Journal Entries students are sharing with each other:

Example 1)
Today we got to upload our first picture to our site. My was a "Nerdy Smile." If you go to the parts section you can see it and a paragraph to go with it. Please go see it. I can’t wait to see what everyone else is making. I really like being able to use Inventor to make whatever I want. I am a little worried about making the pegboard, it looks kind of complicated. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do it by myself. Miss W has started to let us do things on our own, now I’m not sure that was a good idea!


Example 2)
Today I learned a lot about Inventor, but I feel that Inventor has many things that I have not learned about, like IAM. The fillet tool is amazing because it helped me make a car without sharp edges. I finished the checklist, and I saved four files; three were extruded, and one was a robot. I had trouble revolving, and drilling holes.

Example 3)
Today we worked on inventor again. We began our pegboard toy. I think I'm going to have fun on this project. I never realized how complicated it was to make something as simple as a baby toy, let alone a gadget such as an iphone or computer.

Students are starting to share their realizations, fears, questions, concerns etc. The other students are starting to respond and create discussions about topics that I don’t have time to cover in 9 weeks. They are creating personal connections to our material in a way I couldn’t even plan. I am finding my students are much more willing to put questions and fears out there when other students are responding to their blog pages. This experiment (that I was ready to throw out 3 days after I introduced it) has really changed the dynamics of my classroom. The students are creating more connections and honest evaluations of classwork. To me, this is an advanced skill for a 6th grader. So while there are occasional comments that remind me they are 6th graders, the overall content outweighs the random comments everyday.

Now, looking back, I don’t regret any of the days I gave up to make these websites an option for my students. I hope as they mature through the years their websites will become a reminder of where they started and where they want to go. I hope they are able to find this as a resource to communicate and partner with other students in our class and find inspiration from their peers.