NETS-T+++1

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
//Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers://
 * b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

Reflection:
This worksheet comes from teacher resources for our Business Math classes. We have formatted our curriculum to match the lessons and tools in Dave Ramsey's personal finance course. This particular lesson is focused on using financial calculators to create an investment plan. Our kids have really enjoyed this course because the instruction is so individualized. They are able to set their own goals and explore real-world issues that will effect them over the next 20 or 30 years. This particular lesson allows the kids to manipulate on-line financial calculators as they try to figure out how much money they should be saving at the current time and in the future. Our students don't often stop and think about their futures so this is a good way to force them to look forward and plan ahead. All of these technology standards will force us to continue our own professional growth. Since technology is an ever evolving landscape, so is education and we need to continue learning about the newest and best ways to educate our students. I feel comfortable incorporating on-line lessons like this in to business classes but I do struggle to find ways for kids to apply concepts in classes like Trigonometry. For this academic year, I have set some professional goals and they include finding more hands-on learning activities for our core classes. This could include projects that actually involve creating objects by hand or it could be that the kids apply concepts to authentic problems on-line. This whole process needs to start with me doing more research on the tools that our math department has at their disposal.


 * d. model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

Reflection:
This artifact is a portion of our group chat staged during EDUC 582. Our assignment was to take on different roles evaluating five webquests. This activity provided my first opportunity to study a topic and then collaborate with others to make a decision. It was interesting to "hear" other educators' opinions on a topic and then work together to reach a concensus. The format of the chat on Blackboard was a little cumbersome because we couldn't tell who was typing at any given time leading to comments showing up out of order and not always seeming on topic. But I did think that the activity was engaging and very rewarding. From a technology standpoint, I feel like I'm becoming a more educated on-line learner. In my other current graduate course, we are using Moodle to post responses to our instructor's question of the week. These responses, both to the original topic and also to our peers' posts, help to construct knowledge about our current chapter of study. This interaction isn't quite as intensive as our group chat but it still helps to develop a better understanding of the material. I feel fairly comfortable with this type of interaction and I really think the collaboration helps engage students more than independent learning. I would like to engage in virtual collaboration at Forest Hills but I don't know how other schools have implemented that type of technology. Possibly, we could use collaboration to link our courses of study together and also team up on our syllabus design. I need to do more research on how to make virtual collaboration meaningful to my district.