Melissa Blazejak

Strand 2

Designing and developing learning was a difficult task as a substitute teacher, but I feel that when I was given the opportunity to create my own lessons, I used as much of my knowledge from this program as best I could, especially with the limited resources I had.

 

While I was in a long-term ELL classroom, I was responsible for making my own lesson plans and with each plan, I tried to incorporate as much technology into my plans to help engage my students and keep them interested in the lesson. For our district, our plans do not require as much information as the ECSU standard. Most of my plans are just notes for me to go off of while I was teaching.  All my district was concerned with was making sure our lessons met the Common Core State Stanards.

 

My ELL classroom room consisted of many different grade levels. For my first group, called New Arrivals, I had students from first, second and third grade.  These students required additional support because they had been in the country for less than 6 months. “Becoming proficient in a new language is a very difficult transition” (Ybarra & Green, 2003, pg.1) for many ELL students that is why much time is spent teaching them basic verbal skills. 

 

For my new arrival class, I focused on basic skills, like being able to name body parts and locate the words for specific body parts.  I also reviewed the 5 senses with them, which is where I was able to integrate the most technology.  For this lesson (Appendix B) we reviewed hearing.  Part of the lesson focused on sound, which I had to get creative with since Norwich Public Schools has a very strong firewall! 

For this lesson, I went home and downloaded different sounds, i.e. an airplane, a car horn, a train, etc.  I then turned this lesson into a game, the first person that could name the sound correctly won a ticket (Norwich uses raffle tickets for PBIS).  I would play the sound on my phone and the kids would raise their hand, who ever raised their hand first and answered correctly won.

 

In regards to teaching my ELL students and the limited amount of technology we had, for EDU 577 we had to create a technology plan (Appendix M).  For my plan, I created a wish list because Norwich was so limited on resources and funds that it was hard to plan when your district has no money.  Since creating this, Norwich has actually converted two schools into magnet schools and turned one school into a network school.  Due to this, they are now awarded more money in their budget and specifically for technology related upgrades.  I included this artifact because it shows how it is difficult to integrate my knowledge of teaching with technology into a district that has limited funds and resources. 

 

Another instance where I was able to integrate technology was through a classroom assignment for EDU 553.  This class taught us how to integrate technology into all aspects of teaching and I enjoyed the creative aspects of the class.  For one assignment, we were required to create a brochure for our classrooms.  I made a theoretical brochure (Appendix H) for a class assignment.  My fake class would be learning about the font Helvetica and they would be having a mini lesson on it using the brochure I created.  I have been a substitute teacher in a classroom where that was how the teacher prepared the students for a lesson.  

She would create a foldable (using the program InDesign) that introduced the topic and then the students could use that foldable on a quiz.  Even though the information was already provided to the students, they still learned about the topic because they had to figure out how to apply the information to the lesson.  Foldables, even when they’re produced by hand and not on a computer, are a “valuable asset for fostering literacy skills” (Frey, 2007, p. 52). 

 

I have included a reflection piece (Appendix U) from EDU 612 to better show my understanding of how I can apply my learning to my teaching.  Again, everything is theoretical, but I have taken the criticism from my professors and used it to reflect upon what I can change or make better. I was able to reflect upon my use of technology in the classroom and how I still need work mastering the Common Core State Standards.  Reflecting upon my physical lesson plans, those I was able to teach in the ELL classroom, have shown me that I am ready to integrate technology into my classroom and even if I do not have the technology I need, I will find a way to incorporate some sort of technology into my lesson plans! My ELL classroom was very limited in technology, but I was able to find a way by using my iPhone and some pre-downloaded sounds, I was able to engage my students in learning about the sense of sound.  By making a brochure, I was able to engage my students by visually bringing them the history of Helvetica.  Given my extensive knowledge in technology, I feel that I can make any lesson better by using some aspect of technology. I can also help student learn how to use technology by teaching them the tricks of the trade.

      

References

Frey, N. (2007). “Hands On” doesn’t mean “Minds Off”: Using foldables™ to promote content learning. Retrieved from San Diego State University website: http://www.boostconference.org/workshop_pdf/Hands%20On%20Doesn't%20Mean%20Minds%20Off-Foldables.pdf

 

Norwich Public Schools. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.norwichpublicschools.org/

Ybarra, R., & Green, T. (2003). Using technology to help ESL/EFL students develop
language skills. The Internet TESL Journal, 9(3). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Ybarra-Technology.html