Homecoming

This is my first year acting as the adviser to Student Government. It's a much bigger job than I realized it would be. I just had no idea the kind of hours I would put in. I must admit that my regular classroom teaching has suffered a bit because of the demands from Student Government. I don't feel great about this, but something has to give somewhere. It won't always be like this... the next couple months should be much less stressful. Thank goodness I have a lot of support.

The Jensen's are a great help!

Julie is co-adviser and a fantastic partner!

The theme for the Homecoming Dance was 'Island Paradise.' The kids voted to have it be more casual and wanted to try some new things. They attempted to host a luau dinner complete with Polynesian dancers for entertainment. That ended up falling apart, but the dance itself was a great success.

The entrance to the building was flanked with lit tiki torches (one of which caught on fire and completely burned). Inside the building we had an arch, created a waterfall and pond, and made a false ceiling that looked something like clouds in the sky.

The pictures simply don't do it justice. We also ordered fresh flower leis from Hawaii, which was a great success. I wish I had been feeling better and would have taken better photos. I've just been running myself ragged and I am now quite ill. I must thank my excellent date for being extremely helpful and putting himself to work. He was wonderful and relieved a lot of my stress. It's rare to have someone take care of me and it felt nice. Thank you, Brian!

Triumph!!!

My school just won its first football game EVER! This is the 5th year the school has had a football team, and they had never won. Sad. This year they have a new coach and he has been working on the personal character of each player as well as creating a TEAM. Obviously his philosophy is working! The team totally kicked butt last night! I was so proud of my kids. They played really hard. After the game my student government hosted a stomp (what normal people call a stag dance) on the football field. It was also a roaring success, obviously helped drastically by the fact that the team won. I was really excited that our first activity went so well. This will really help set the tone for the rest of the year. Go Eagles! (ps. I don't know why the scoreboard picture shows 12 minutes left in this picture... I took it when the clock said 00:00. Regardless, that was the final score!)

Back to School!

Yesterday was the first day of the school year. I did a little song and dance. Literally. I don't know what came over me, but in one class I momentarily burst out in song whilst going over the rules and expectations of the class. In another class I did a little jig. Apparently I was happy to be back at work.

Being a teacher is sometimes a bit like being a stand-up comedian. The kids are staring at you with glassy eyes and look slightly better than zombies. You see their eyes roll back into their heads and you think, "Crap! What can I do to get their attention?" Sometimes you do crazy things. Mostly I crack a few jokes and we're back on track. Sometimes though, you come across a really tough audience. That happened today. After cracking some of my best jokes ever they were still staring at me like a herd of zombies. I looked at them and said, "Hello! You're supposed to be laughing. I'm funny!" I guess it's not very funny when you have to tell people you're funny. Luckily, I was sitting on a tall chair at the front of my room and suddenly slipped off. It was completely accidental (those of you who know me also know that I'm a bit klutzy), but the timing couldn't have been more perfect. I'm OK with making the occasional fool of myself if it gets the class to wake up. I'm pretty sure they think I'm crazy, but that's alright.

So, one song and dance and spill onto my backside later we're ready to go! The year is off to a running start and looks like it will be a good race if I can keep up my endurance.

Student Government Retreat

This year I am the adviser for the Student Body Government. I've always wanted to work with student government and am flattered they asked me. We had a retreat this weekend to bond and plan. It was an excellent experience! I'm so excited to work with these kids. They are really good kids- hard workers, thoughtful, compassionate, good communicators, and a lot of fun. We met at the school and worked on some welcome back gifts for the faculty. Then we went to a ropes course to learn how to communicate and work with each other. This was fantastic- despite my failure to succeed with the "leap of faith" exercise. I know I'll be really busy this year, but I'm finally excited about going back to work!

Project Completion!

Hallelujah! We are done with the project. What a relief! I am very proud of our group and what we accomplished. I am proud to have my name associated with this project. In fact, I think you should look at it!

The other group in our class also completed an awesome project that you should look at. It's about plants and is for younger children.

This semester has completely kicked my butt! However, I've learned a great deal. I'm really looking forward to the next semester, graduating in April, and starting work in a week.

Week 7

We are almost done with our project!!! It's been a tough experience, but I've definitely learned a lot. Our group has worked together very well. I think one reason we worked so well together is because we have known each other for almost a year now and done several projects in other courses. If we didn't have that previous experience with each other this project would have been so much more difficult because we would have been trying to figure out how to work with each other, learn the new technology, and complete the project. So, what have I learned from this project?

1. I was in charge of the web quest assignment and pretty much did that on my own, after a lengthy discussion with the group about the purpose and scope of the assignment. Once we were all in agreement about the project it went very smoothly. This experience made me realize how important it is to plan before executing. It also reiterated the point that goals and objectives are a must. If I would have just started on the web quest without the group discussion and without objectives... it would have been a mess. However, our discussion really helped clarify things for everyone and I was able to complete the assignment fairly quickly as a result. Also, I had my sister complete the web quest and give us feedback so we could improve it. The feedback she gave us was really helpful and I feel like the web quest works better because of it. This reminded me that I need to ask my students for feedback so I constantly improve assignments and assessments.
2. I have learned a lot of new technology tools that I am excited to use in my classroom.
3. I have learned a lot about communicating with team members. Sometimes there are misunderstandings or differing viewpoints. I learned how to better discuss and approach issues. I can use these skills in the classroom with my students as I teach and as they are doing group assignments.
4. I have learned a lot about problem solving and group dynamics. I already have some activities planned for the student government retreat where I will put these to use. I will be teaching a lesson about group dynamics and then we will engage in some role-playing about conflict resolution and problem solving.
5. I have learned a lot about planning a successful project. This will help me in my teaching, particularly with student government. We have to plan all the assemblies, dances, and other activities. I will use the ADDIE principles with my students as we plan these activities. I will also be able to use these skills as I plan and implement my master's project.

Week 6

The Project- We are nearing completion on our project! I finished the Web Quest. I have asked to people to test it for us. We have finished our Digital Story and were able to upload that as well as our instructional video to our website. We have all the lessons complete and uploaded. All of our documents are uploaded. Now we just need to go through and fix our links, fix colors, fix spelling, etc. So, basically we're in the final editing process. This is such a relief! I believe we'll finish that in class tomorrow and then be able to focus on finishing and editing our project report. It certainly is nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak.

The Reading- Well, we finished all of our reading for the course so I have nothing to say about the reading. I do, however, have some other thoughts I'd like to share and questions to ask. This is really the "So what?" portion of this entry. Now that I've learned all of this technology... so what? Well, I'd like to use it in my class.

Digital Stories- I'm beginning my 10th grade classes with Native American Literature. We will be learning about storytelling and attend the Timpanogos Storytelling Festival. I would like to have th students create digital stories as part of this unit. Luckily, I have a computer lab in my classroom!!! I think this will be a great project and I'm really excited about it.

Blogging- I want to incorporate blogs in my class this next year. I'm still not certain the best way to go about it, and I would like outside input. I know I have at least two options.

1. I can have each student create their own blog, privatize it, and then invite myself and their classmates to be readers. This will allow it to be "safe," but they will still have readers and can comment on their classmates writing. I worry that it will be confusing for me to try and stay up on all their blogs and it will be hard to monitor that they are, indeed, commenting on classmate's writing.
   
2. I can create a class blog and make the students all authors. I would still need to privatize the blog. I worry that this option might be cumbersome and confusing to read. It would be easier to grade because it's all in one place... but having 40 posts on the same day might be just as confusing as going to 40 different blogs. I'm not sure how commenting would work with this option.

So, if anyone has used blogging in the class I would really appreciate your input on the best way to use blogs. I want them to publish their writing, read each others writing, and comment on the writing of their peers.

Texting- My little sister will be going to high school this next year. My parents had the option to have texts sent to their phones with school information. I know the school can't possibly be using a cell phone to send all these texts... they have to be using some kind of program where they input all the phone numbers and then send out mass texts using the computer. I would like to be able to do something like this for my students and their parents. I'm in charge of Student Body Government this next year and I think it would be really helpful. Does anyone know of programs I could use that would be free? Is Twitter the best option?

Web Quests- I have some thoughts about units that I can use Web Quests in. I would really like to have my students complete a few Web Quests and then have them create their own. Maybe that's biting off more than they can chew, but I don't think so. I teach 10-12th grade students and I think they can handle it. I'm especially thinking of having my AP Literature students create Web Quests about either the short stories or poetry we read. Anyone have thoughts on this?

Well, I think that's it for this entry. I'm sure I'll have more to say next week!

Week 5

The Reading
We have finished our textbook reading. This is nice and will allow us much more time to finish our project. The thing that stood out to me the most in the reading this week was

The first step in establishing an instructional development service within an organization is to recognize that systematic planning can make an important contribution to education or training.

Designing Effective Instruction, 5th Edition, 2007. Morrison, Ross, & Kemp. pp. 385

I think too often teachers don't systematically plan their instruction. I'm embarrassed to admit that I have often flown by the seat of my pants. My goals for this coming school year are

1. Set objectives for each course that are aligned with the state curriculum
2. Systematically outline my curriculum for the year
3. Each unit/lesson will meet the course objectives

The Project
We have met several times in the past week and things are moving along nicely. We are ready for people to evaluate our curriculum. We finally have the majority of the components completed and now just need to finish up all the little details, revise, etc. That is a huge relief. After we complete the curriculum we will be able to finish the project report. It's nice to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Hallelujah!

Week 4

Group Project Status-
My group met twice in the past week. We finished the rough draft of our report and are in the development phase. Unfortunately I encountered some technical difficulties this week and lost several files, including the PowerPoint pictures for our digital story. I completed the PowerPoint again and we are almost done with our digital story. I have completed the lesson plans for the instructor portion of our website. I will now begin work on the Web quest assignment. I thought I would be over the panic mode by this point, but I am not. Just when I feel like I have a handle on things and my stress level drops, something else is added that shoots my stress back through the roof. I had no idea how involved the Web quest assignment is, and now I’m worried about completing everything on time.

Reading and Class Discussions-
This week we discussed Assessment. I thought the discussion on writing effective exam questions was particularly interesting. I didn’t know the official terms for many of the different types of questions. I was able to see how I can improve many of my exams. I have tended to give short answer and essay exams because I feel like the students have to know the information better, but I can see how that doesn’t allow for successful testing experiences for all the students. I would like to try writing some good multiple choice exams.

Whatever evaluation approach is used, there must be a direct relationship between instructional objectives and assessment measures. Multiple data sources are particularly valuable in providing a more accurate and comprehensive picture of a particular outcome than any single measure could provide.

Morrison, Ross, & Kemp. Designing Effective Instruction, 5th Edition. 2007,
pp. 258.

This quote illustrates the reason I like Backwards Design for unit and lesson planning. It forces me to think about how I will assess my students while I am planning my lessons. Too often assessment is an afterthought... and I have been guilty of that.

Another thing in the reading I found particularly helpful was figure 12-4 on page 323. It is a sample of a survey used to gather subjective responses about the effectiveness of a course. I liked the checklist at the beginning. Students are asked to check words that describe how they feel about the projects and other course materials (ex. interesting, dull, worthless, useful, etc). I think this form could be very helpful in my teaching practice. I'd like more student input about my curriculum and teaching practice.

Week 3

We are now in the Development Phase of our project. Our group met again, which is extremely helpful. We accomplish at least double the amount of work when we meet face-to-face as we do when we try to communicate through email, chat, or other virtual means. We have a unit outline and have divided responsibilities for the major parts of the project- essentially we've completed our prototype. Now we are working on the specific lessons and curriculum. We have a basic blueprint for our website made and our digital story is half complete.

Something that really interested me in our reading this week is

The Role of the Course Developer

A good course developer understands both instructional design and training delivery.

When the course developer creates content, two questions are paramount:

• Does this material meet the learning objectives?
• Will the material work in the classroom?

For example, an instructional design document might call for an activity where learners gather into small groups and discuss case-based scenarios. It's the course developer's responsibility to write scenarios that will interest the learners and promote discussion. If the course developer doesn't understand classroom dynamics, those scenarios might fall flat or seem contrived.

Intulogy- ADDIE and Developing Training Materials

I was reminded of my work situation. My head-honcho boss is an idea man. He dreams big and has "vision." However, he doesn't know how to put those ideas into practice in realistic ways. Unfortunately this means his ideas often fail. I think he forgets to ask himself those questions- "Does this meet our objectives?" and "Will this work in real life?" Also, he has no education experience, but refuses to ask for advice from those that do. He could save himself a lot of trouble and embarrassment if he were to ask advice from experts and those in the trenches. Just as development teams might call in experts for parts of projects, he could get expert advice before throwing everything into chaos every year.

I am reminded of my work situation in another regard. I need to remember to ask myself the question, "Does this meet my objectives?" while planning every lesson. I ask if it will work in the class, but sometimes I forget about those objectives. I know it will help my curriculum be more focused and helpful to my students if I will do this.

Week 2

Truth be told, I'm quite a nerd. I really like analyzing processes and figuring out how to make things faster and more efficient. While these things seem boring to the average person they are interesting and exciting to me. This week our group was presented with an unique opportunity, which I'm quite excited about.

As previously mentioned, one of our group members is an instructional coach for a local school district. She has been asked to help create training material for the Alternative Route to Licensure (ARL) teachers in their district. We get to help! We will be designing the curriculum for the portion of the training that teaches them how to write lesson plans. I think this is exciting because I have the opportunity to really put my learning into practice in a very applicable way.

One of the key steps of the design process is defining the content needed to address the instructional need or problem. This content is then used to identify the objectives, design the instructional strategies, develop test items, and create the instruction (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2007, pg. 94).

Our group met this week, which was very helpful. I had been feeling quite lost, and still do to some extent, but having something concrete to focus on really helped. We divided up responsibilities and work on the Analysis Phase. I am in charge of writing the objectives, which I've been working on. While this did reduce some of my anxiety, it also created some new anxiety. I'm just not sure that we can really complete all of this in the time frame... at least not to my standards. I have the highest standards for myself and would pretty much rather die than give this school district sub par curriculum. I don't want my name on something I'm not satisfied with.

This was an important step in our group meeting. I found it difficult to really do anything until the project was completely explained to me and I could identify the instructional need/problem. Knowing exactly what the need is, and what I'm expected to do to fill this need, gives me direction and purpose. Now that I understand the full scope of the project and what our part is in the completion of this project I can fulfill, and hopefully exceed, expectations.

The objectives indicate what a learner is expected to do after completing a unit of instruction, and they are expressed in precise, unambiguous terms (Morrison, Ross, & Kemp, 2007, pg. 124).

As previously mentioned, I am in charge of writing the objectives for our unit. This is a bit more difficult than one might initially think. The chapter in the Morrison, Ross & Kemp text was helpful, but the Mager text was extremely helpful. I really wish my copy of the text would show up (I contacted the seller and he says it shipped... but I have yet to see it)! I'm grateful to have been able to borrow the text from a group member. The main thing I got from all this reading about objectives is that they should be verb driven and define what the learners should be able to do after the instruction. I think objectives are often vague, such as, "I want my students to learn." What does that really tell anyone and how do you measure something like that?

In conclusion, I think this project is very beneficial because it shows I understand the content in my program and have experience creating curriculum for a real-world client. I am extremely interested in moving from teaching to curriculum development for a corporation, textbook company, or perhaps my church. Having this on my resume and as part of my writing portfolio will be quite helpful. Regardless of where my career takes me, I think this complete project will be more beneficial than the hodge-podge we would likely have ended up with because of our group's different specialties.

Week 1

We will begin Week 1 with Analysis including Learner, Needs, Content, Context, etc. We will discuss and offer readings regarding this stage of the project.

What?
This week was a bit of technology overload. Now- I'm no technology dummy, and I already had accounts with most of the sites we'll be using in the course (facebook, twitter, engrade, googlesites, and blogger), but it definitely caused some anxiety for me. I feel like there is a huge learning curve with the technology aspect of the course, and I hope this doesn't overshadow the rest of the course because I'm very excited about it. In fact, this course was a major reason I chose this particular degree- I wanted to learn about Instructional Design. I'm hoping that I'll quickly be able to use the technology with which I'm unfamiliar. That being said- I do think there are a lot of great things technology can do for the classroom and I'm excited to see how I can implement it more effectively with my students. Besides the technology, we were exposed to the basics of Instructional Design and ADDIE.

We have already read 194 pages in the textbook, some of which I've had to skim. This is actually quite disappointing to me. I find Instructional Design fascinating and the textbook is really interesting to me. I wish that I had time to read the book in depth. I have found that a lot of the information is really useful and could help me in my classroom. Really, though, this points to a larger problem.

In another class I am currently taking we are discussing the idea of ZPD and scaffolding. I feel like my prior knowledge of Instructional Design is minimal at best, and my knowledge of the technology required for the course is sorely lacking. This might not be a problem if we weren't so crunched for time (the course is only 8 weeks long) and had time to scaffold so I could reach the optimal level of development necessary to perform well. As it is, I am concerned that I will spend an inordinate amount of time teaching myself how to use the technology and I will miss out on some really important, interesting, and useful points in the reading and about Instructional Design in general. I truly want to learn how to design the most effective instruction possible so that my teaching practice can improve. I would like practice identifying needs, problems, analyzing tasks, creating objectives, and creating a sequence. I strongly feel these are important skills for me to hone, but I lack the knowledge to make the necessary changes to my current teaching practice so my instruction is the most effective.

So What?
We're beginning a group project.

Scenario ::

Due to the recent pandemic, we have decided to close our schools down until the danger is reduced and we can guarantee our students' safety. We have decided, as an administration, to continue the school year via the web. As teams/departments, you are requested to put a weeks worth of instruction online. The instruction should include information, pre-test, post-test, activities, higher-order thinking skills, and a summative exam. We will proceed with the school year week by week until we return to face-to-face instruction.

My group is kind of a hodge-podge, which should be rather interesting. I teach high school English and my group members consist of a 6th grade teacher, an instructional coach for math teachers in a local school district, and a former teacher who currently works in the Multicultural Department at UVU. Luckily we all get along well and work well together. Unfortunately, our project may not be as "put together" as any of us may like. I think this will provide some interesting opportunities for our group.

Now What?
Well, now I suppose I will work my tail off to complete this project and receive an "A" in the class! I am the Student Body Government Advisor this coming school year, which provides a lot of opportunities and challenges...and I hope to incorporate a lot of the technology from this class into our government and school activities. Also, I look forward to creating a blog or website that I can use with my classes next year... I just need to decide which medium best fits my needs. I definitely want my students to blog, so that will be incorporated, but I do wonder if a website might be able to address more of my particular classroom needs... this is an example of how I could use training in identifying needs and problems so that I can choose the best medium for my classes.

Homework Assignment

I am currently enrolled in a M.Ed. program at Utah Valley University, studying Models of Instruction. I am taking an Instructional Design course (EDUC 6300) and am required to blog on a weekly basis. I've been thinking about making a blog about teaching for some time now, and this was the motivation I needed to actually do this. I will include posts about my personal teaching practice, but also include my assignments. So, here's the assignment outline...

Your blog will consist of weekly reflections of what we learn in class, the instructional design process, and how you will apply it in your classrooms. Your reflections should not be a summary of what we talked about in class, rather an overview and synthesis of your personal and class experience and insights and ideas for future use. I want to get a feel for your passion of teaching; if something you learn strikes you as fascinating, please express. Your reflection can cover anything you're learning about in your curriculum class but should be more than just a play by play of your week. You may find it easier to think of in terms of What?, So What?, and Now What?

What tasks are currently being performed? What stage is the team in currently? What jobs and tasks are currently underway?

So what does this mean to the project? Team? Course? How will what you have learned feed into the current project? How can you as an individual help the team perform better?

Now that you have completed to-do items, instructional event, module, how will this work into your classroom long-term? How will you use what you have learned in the future and with future teams? How will your teaching paradigm change due to your current experiences?

These are starter questions...you are encouraged to add your own reflections to your blog.

I hope someone out there enjoys this!