EDLD 5326 - Progress Report

Action Research Project Title: Using Online Curriculum for Test Remediation Blog URL: leersanchez.blogspot.com Number of AR Project Documented Hours: 40 AR Project Summary (at least 250 words): My action research project is over the use of technology in the classroom. Our school uses two web based programs that students use for remediation, tutorials, and for test preparation. The programs that our district currently uses are Odysseyware and Study Island. Our district uses Odysseyware that the high school level for credit recovery during summer school. The district has used this program for two years. Study Island is used mostly at the junior high level and at elementary for their tutorials. The purpose of my action research project was to find out if both programs were effective. I taught world geography and had students who failed the world geography end of course exams. These students were supposed to retest even though they were not going to be taking a world geography class. I started to think about how these kids were going to be ready for their world geography test while preparing for another social studies end of course. I teamed up the response to intervention teacher and I told her about my plan to have those students who failed the STAAR end of course use the Odysseyware for their remediation. I had to change my research subjects during the summer after the state decided to cut the number of end of course tests from fifteen to five. I had to include junior high students where used Study island as part of their tutorial programs. During summer school, students who failed parts of the STAAR were brought in for remediation and I had them use Odysseyware for the few weeks they were in remediation. I am currently gathering the final test results and will complete the action research project next month.

EDLD 5362 Week 5 Assignment

EDLD 5364 - Week 5 Reflection

I thought the Pitler reading assignment was good.  I have always stressed to my students that putting forth effort will help them in their studies and whatever activities they choose to do later in life.  I liked the spreadsheet idea and have students see what effort looks like and asks them to rate how much effort they put forth in their classes. This is a great idea and students can see for themselves the relationship between effort and their grades. 

 The videos were interesting and got me inquiring about the future of education.  We have to be ready to allow students the freedom to take ownership of their education. However, we must also be aware of the dangers of using digital media in our classroom.  The Howard Gardner video was good in explaining why teachers  have to model the safe and ethical way to use digital media in the classroom. I think his five ethical issues are important, and  all people who use digital media should utilize them. Good Play is to look at five ethical issues, sense of identity, sense of privacy, sense of ownership-authorship, trustworthiness and credibility, and what it means to participate in a community (Edutopia, nd). 

Edutopia.org (nd). Big Thinkers: Howard Gardner on Digital Youth. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-howard-gardner-video

EDLD 5364 - Week 5 Web Reflection

I attended the final web conference of the course.  I found it very informative.  Dr. Borel outlined what we needed to do for the week five final assignment.  She explained what each part of the assignment required and reminded us to submit our assignments to TK20.  After she talked about our current course, she stayed around to answer questions that many of us had about upcoming courses and requirements for the program.  She talked about how to get in contact with supervisors and when our second online meeting was supposed to happen.  She explained how the course embedded portfolio worked and how and when to submit them.  I only missed one of the web conferences but was able to view it later in the week.  I found all conferences very helpful and an important part of the course and program.  

EDLD 5364 - Week 4 Reflection

The videos were great.  I got many ideas from watching the videos that I want to try in my classroom and share with others on my campus.  The reading assignments were also great.  I enjoyed the Pitler reading.  I like that it gave us resources to use for using cooperative learning in the classroom.  I liked the Web 2.0 book and how schools could help teachers integrate technology in the curriculum.  This was a busy week for me, and I am glad to part of a group that keeps me up to date with what is going on.  The website has turned out great, and I am ready to see the final product at the end of this week.  

EDLD 5364 - Week 4 Reflection Webconference

I was not able to attend the video web conference but watched it later in the week.  I liked that Dr. Borel showed us a an example of what to include in our Google site.  I would hope that other instructors would do this in future web conferences to show us where we should be and give us an idea of how the assignment is supposed to be like.  I like that they give us examples, but to actually show us during the web conference, will give us the ability to ask questions while we have the instructor available.  This was the best web conference for this class.  

EDLD 5364 - Week 3 Reflection

The UDL Lesson builder was a great tool to use.  It was very user friendly and would be a valuable resource  for any teacher to have.  I like the format and it guides you to include all the material you will need to make a great lesson.  The other tool that we used was the UDL EBook.  It was very user friendly and had a lot of neat things to include in your EBook.  I like the little characters you could add to the presentation  to read the content or just give them some help in completing the assignment.  It was very easy to share the EBook with others or go back and edit.  This was a busy week, but it introduced us to some tools that will be beneficial to any teacher to help their students learn.  The videos and the reading assignments for week three were great in showing us what is capable if we let the kids become involved in their learning.  We can allow them to create their lessons or choose how to complete them.