Author: Susan Strayer

Badge 19 – Feedback

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Feedback is timely

I submitted feedback for each person right after the lesson if I could, or within a week at the latest.

Feedback relates to learning goals of the lesson

Everyone was great about making their lesson goals apparent as they began.  I strove to leave feedback related to the goals they were trying to achieve.

Comments based on observable behavior; give examples

If someone did something I really enjoyed, I always made sure to mention it as a great addition to the lesson.

Positive comments made first

I think nearly everything I said in my feedback was positive–everyone really did a great job on everything this summer so there wasn’t a lot to be critical of.

Begins with “I” statements

I either started by saying “I thought…” or “I liked…” or I straight out said “You did a great job on this…”.

Relates to each aspect of the microteaching rubric

I did my best to leave feedback according to the criteria in each section of the rubric:

  • Lesson is well planned and organized with clear learning goals
  • Appropriate and meaningful use of technology
  • Attention to Formative and Summative Assessment
  • Effective management of technology
  • Lesson involves classmates in appropriate individual and group activities and discussion.
  • Lesson integrates one or  more elements within Blooms Digital Taxonomy
  • Appropriate differentiation of Instruction
  • Lesson encourages broader exploration of issue

Badge 17 – Video

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Videos:

The Dark

The Rainbow Fish

Narmada created the video for The Dark while I created the one for The Rainbow Fish.

Pictures were taken of the pages and inserted into a movie editing program.  I used Cyberlink PowerDirector10.  Using the same software, I recorded myself reading the book aloud and saved each page as a separate audio file for ease of insertion.  Once the voiceover was in place, I added the movement across each picture and the transitions from one page to the next.  Finally, I found two free audio tracks to provide background music.  One is a recording someone made of a fountain where they placed the microphone underwater.  That was from Freesound.org.  The second file was the music heard; a track called Stems – Island Music Reprise by Ivan Chew, which was obtained from CCMixter.org.  I set the volume level for both the water and music tracks at about 1/4 the level of my speaking voice, for clarity of sound.

I ensured that the images I used were as clear as possible and that the panning and transitions worked well for conveying the story.  I included a title page of my own creation with the creative commons attribution license.

Badge 15 – Microteaching #2

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Planning

Narmada and I went through several different ideas of what we could do with combining children’s literature and psychology.  After I made the suggestion of using The Dark by Lemony Snicket, we stumbled on the idea of teaching self-concept and self-efficacy using this book and The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister.  We met several times to work out the details and to create the videos that we wanted to show to the class.

Our main goal was to show the class how content from another field such as children’s literature can be used to teach difficult or hard to understand topics in another field such as psychology.

Integration of Technology

We created a PowerPoint with the basic information we were touching on from the two psychology concepts.  We also included a number of discussion questions for each concept/book and for overall understanding and adaptation of our idea of cross-content learning.  For each book, we created a video that fit the theme of the story: light and bubbly for The Rainbow Fish and dark and spooky for The Dark.

Lesson Delivery

We made sure through the use of our discussion questions that everyone was following our thought process and that everyone was able to see how the picture books could be used to teach the psychological concepts.  We took turns presenting the information and we both interjected additional thoughts as they occurred to us or as the class brought up interesting points that we wanted to touch on further.

Individualization

We made sure to do a variety of different activities for different learners, from the PowerPoint to the videos and discussion questions.  Although there was a lot of text on our slides, we did not read them word for word but rephrased the content aurally to the class to account for different learning styles.

Badge 14 – Microteaching #1

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MOOCs: Massive Open Online Courses
Planning
Scott and I worked together to create a synchronous online course on MOOCs. Our objectives for the lesson were to have the class be able to explain what a MOOC is, to find them online, and to be able to understand the advantages and disadvantages of this type of course.

We incorporated several different assessment strategies into our presentation:

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Integration of Technology
We created a PowerPoint to use in Carmen Connect and also included a video about MOOCs to provide an outside source with a visual format as a further explanation of the topic.

The video: MOOCs and Beyond

Lesson Delivery
Scott and I both made sure that we could hear everyone and everyone could hear us on Adobe Connect.  We also went in and checked on students in the breakout rooms to make sure that they had everything they needed to continue their discussion.  Because of the short time frame, we made sure our PowerPoint was clear and specific to the points we wanted to make about MOOCs.

Individualization
Scott and I wanted to make sure everyone could see how MOOCs might be valuable to their own interests.  We tried to find examples of a variety of different MOOCs and, had we had more time, would have had the class attempt to find a MOOC related to a topic of interest to them.

Badge 13 – Student Led Lesson

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Wordle
Process:
As I started the plan of my lesson, I went through the collection of documents on Carmen to get an idea of what should be taught to my classmates. As I read, I jotted down the associations and ideas that came to mind. I was very interested in the digital storytelling aspect of video and wanted to share my personal knowledge of vlogging with the class as well. I created my PowerPoint and selected the videos I shared with this in mind.

Main concepts:
I felt that the class was probably already familiar with what a video is and what it can be used for. Instead of rehashing information they might already know, I focused on expanding on whatever level of knowledge they had already attained. To this end, I had them apply the use of video to Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy, and on the Creative use of video in particular. Once we had brainstormed creative uses, that enabled me to naturally branch into the topic of Digital Storytelling. That topic led me to my connection with viral videos and vlogging, which enabled me to share some more video examples of both of those.

Discussion questions:
To start, I had the class list all of the word associations they had with the term “video” and we shared them to hear the
differences and overlaps in all of our knowledge, as well as to see how broad of a category it was.

I then had the class brainstorm uses for video using each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Throughout my presentation, I tried to get the class to relate the usage of video to their own fields of study and to get us all talking about our own interests.

Videos:
TED Why Videos Go Viral
Vlogbrothers
Crash Course

Reflection:
After looking through the feedback, I was a little surprised by the enthusiasm and support of my classmates in regards to the lesson. I have a low level of self-confidence when it comes to my teaching, so hearing that they were engaged and interested was heartening. Hearing that I have a “command of the room” was completely opposite of my expectations and makes me wish I knew how to do that on purpose. If I were to give feedback to myself, I would say that I needed a little bit more of an overview of the topic before jumping in and that a greater variety of activities for the class would have been nice. I’m happy that I was able to relate the topic back to my own interests and to share some things that the class had never encountered before.

Badge 11 – Creating

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As part of our Mobile Learning activity, Carla, Josh, and I brainstormed apps that can be used to promote each level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

Creating:

  • Google Drive/Buckeye Box- have students collaborate together to create presentations, videos, etc. to present content learned in class and teach to the rest of the students (CJ & SS)

  • Wiki- Have students create a course wiki that arranges the content learned in a logical manner and provides a place for them to look back and review what they have learned, or teach a concept to a fellow classmate. (SS)

  • Google Docs – As mentioned above it can be very tricky trying to use in a large classroom setting.  However, in a small group like ours, it works extremely well for collaborating with colleagues on projects.  Use it in concert with Google Drive/BuckeyeBox for student projects. (JG)

Badge 10 – Evaluating

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As part of our Mobile Learning activity, Carla, Josh, and I brainstormed apps that can be used to promote each level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

Evaluating:

  • Discussion Boards- review material and collaborate, hypothesize, etc. on the content delivered (CJ)

  • Twitter- Limited to 140 characters, so an easy, quick, non-intimidating way of facilitating discussion around a topic and between students. (SS)

  • Reddit – A private subreddit for a class would allow for the posting of any format of material (youtube, images, documents, etc) and provide a place for evaluation (up or down-voting). (JG)

Badge 9 – Analyzing

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As part of our Mobile Learning activity, Carla, Josh, and I brainstormed apps that can be used to promote each level of Bloom’s Digital Taxonomy.

Analyzing:

  • Lucidchart- Organize course concepts, create dichotomous keys, mind-mapping etc. (CJ)

  • Wordle- Check to see which key concepts or words are sticking in student’s memories, and what new associations they may be making with the content. (SS)