"Reflection about EDTC 6020"

Over the past five weeks this class has kept me very busy. EDTC 6020 is my third online course towards my MaEd-IT. I am really glad I only took EDTC 6020 during the summer II session. I took two classes during the spring semester and was teaching full time, but for some reason this class seemed more demanding. Probably because of the 5 week time frame. Anyway, I learned a lot from this class. Upon entering this class I felt very confident, but once it began I was a little intimidated. I had difficulty with the chapter summaries and some of the ID pieces. Another thing about EDTC 6020 is the whole Instructional Design Process. As a veteran technology facilitator and teacher I do many parts of the ISD process already, but have never really looked at it from a Instructional Designer's point of view. When I teach, I typically look at the NCSCOS, decide on a lesson, and then I deliver the instruction. This class helped me realize that I should put more emphasis on analyzing the learners prior to instruction. In my classroom I do various things, such as interest inventories, but that isn't the same as doing a learner analysis for every lesson or unit I teach. Obviously, teachers are very very busy and the reality is we cannot do a formal instructional design for every lesson, but this class has shown me various ways to improve my instruction. My ultimate goal is student achievement and this class has given me some tools to enhance my classroom learning environment.

The part of the class I enjoyed the most was using all the online tools. Before this class I was familiar with blogs, but had never created one. Next year, early on I will have my students create their own blogs. This will be a great communication tool for myself and my students. Another part of this class I benefited from was the connecting process to practice. It was helpful to have real world scenarios that related to the chapters. I also found the ID insights and professionals in practice helpful. Without these two I would have been very lost. Overall, this class opened my eyes to the instructional design process and how it works. Also this class helped me recall and revisit theories I studied 10 years ago in undergrad. Lastly, this class was challenging but worth it.

P.S. Hope some of us will be in other classes together. I will be taking two online courses in the fall. Enjoy what is left of summer everyone!!!!!!!

"Ever heard the question "How will I be graded?"

Throughout this course I have learned a lot about the Instructional Design Process. In my teaching career, I have taught infants to adults and evaluating them is always a very important. Learner assessment is crucial to lesson planning. When planning assessment strategies I ask myself questions. What is the age of the learner? Are the goals and objectives attainable and measurable? How will I measure success? During and after the instruction I am I ask myself, "Is this going well?" or "Did that go as planned?" Evaluating yourself and your students before, during, and after instruction is what separates good teachers from great teachers. Another determining factor is the ability to adapt instruction "on the fly." In my teaching, I try to adapt my evaluations to best meet the needs of all my students. One example of this is I use in my classroom is anonymous surveys and questionnaires. This allows learners to voice their opinion about instruction in a non-threatening way. I then analyze them and plan accordingly. Obviously, since I teach 740+ students a week, it is not always feasible, but I try to give the learner's this chance as mush as I can. Lastly, Formative and Summative Evaluations are important everyone involved: instructors, learners, clients, and subject matter experts.

"Being Evaluated"

I just finished my 8th year of licensed teaching and have been observed and evaluated many times. When I graduated from Indiana State University in 1999 I was very excited to start my first teaching job. After sending my resume to many school districts in Indiana I was getting a little frustrated, but about one month into the school year, I got a call for a unique teaching position. The job was technology and reading enhancement position and I gladly accepted. It all took place really fast. I received the call on a Thursday, interviewed on Friday and started on Monday. I even had to live in a hotel for most of the first week. Anyway, upon starting the job I felt I was use to being observed and evaluated, since all through college I was observed and evaluated. However, I soon realized that Principal and District evaluations were different than college professors. One reason I chose teaching as my profession is that I am very comfortable with being evaluated on performance. I have no problem getting up in front of people and leading a lesson, but the part I struggle with is the paper pencil stuff. My first couple of evaluations that year weren't stellar by any means. I had difficulty with classroom management and pacing guides. My principal and other teachers gave me advice and helped me greatly. Overall that first year was difficult, but my principal stood by me and supported me and by the second half of the year I had things under control. Towards the end of the year I found out that my position was not going to be funded the following year. Uh-oh what now? Now that I had one year under my belt I felt very confident that I could get a new teaching position. My wife and I then decided to move to North Carolina because she would be starting graduate school at Duke. Finding a teaching job in North Carolina was much easier than Indiana, after many interviews, I was offered four jobs. I chose to become a Technology Facilitator at Hillandale Elementary and haven't looked back. I was evaluated and hired by a principal who was retiring at the end of the year. When the school year started I wasn't sure who my principal and assistant principal would be and how they would evaluate me. As it turns out, they have been great and are still at my school. They were wonderful in helping me through the ILT (Intially Licensed Teacher) program. They are always fair and constructive when observing and evaluating me. I have been very fortunate to have administrators that care and want to see me succeed.

ARCS: "Motivation Is The Key To Success"

After reading many articles about ARCS model I learned some important facts. No matter what you call your attention-getting device, they all basically refer to the same things. Here are a few examples I have used in my teaching. It could be called: The Hook, The Catch Phrase, The Introduction, The Attention Getter, etc., but I have come up with my own name. I call it "The Grabber." This name is appropriate because it states one of the most important parts of a successful lesson. In my classroom, I spend a lot of time in the early stages of planning coming up with "The Grabber." Since getting the learner's attention is of utmost importance, as teachers we have to constantly adapt attention grabbing for different students. Obviously, each year or quarter, or in my situation, each section of each grade level, we have different students, so what works with some classes could completely bore other students. Grabbing attention is very important, but I feel maintaining is more difficult. In my teaching, some of my most successful lessons have taught are because I made it relevant to my students and their lives. This can be difficult, but it is well worth the effort. One way I achieve this is by doing interest inventories of for each class at the beginning and middle of the year. This allows me to keep current with what my students are interested in and I plan accordingly. Formal and informal feedback throughout the entire lesson helps build the learner’s confidence for attaining the desired skill. Last, but not least I use rubrics in my classroom. Only I create some and students help me with others. This allows my students, early in the learning process, to understand my expectations. This way they cannot say "I Can't Get No Satisfaction"(Rolling Stones) because they are completely aware of what needs to be done to satisfy the lesson objectives.

Designing Instruction is like "Buying a Home

To me, Designing Instruction is like buying a house. ADDIE steps are represented by the house purchasing process. Okay, let me explain what I mean. The analysis is searching for a house and deciding which house to purchase. This step needs to be completed in order to continue the process. How large does it need to be? How much am I willing to spend? What location do I want? Also during this stage the purchaser needs to qualify for a loan. Once these questions are answered the buyer can move on to searching for the home. The design is setting up appointments to view properties that meet your requirements. The development stage is where you have made a decision on a home. The purchaser needs to need make an offer. For example, your Realtor and you will give the seller a written offer ($200,000). This is the negotiating stage of the process. Then, when you and the seller are both comfortable with the price of the home, you can proceed. It is important to remember that when the offer is accepted you have entered into a contract. Next the implementation process begins. This is the actually signing of all the papers to get the key to your new home. This important step is called closing and I call it the "Congratulations Stage." Now that you have purchased the home you are going to evaluate . Obviously, throughout this whole process you have been evaluating the home and the feasibility of the purchase. Since you are moved in you will continue to evaluate the home for years to come. Now that you have completed the home buying process you can you can live happily ever after, but eventually, you may need to start this process again. Reflecting on your purchase is also part of the evaluation stage.

"ABCD Objectives and Me"

After reading the articles about objectives, I thought about my process for creating quality objectives for my classroom. Objectives are at the core of every lesson. Knowing the audience, behavior, condition, and degree are crucial to creating great lessons. Through the years I have created a process for objectives. Early on in my career I learned that having a multiple goals for a lesson is important. Since I teach five sections of each grade level in an elementary school setting , I have the opportunity to teach the same lesson multiple times per week. This allows me to continually tweak my objectives. Obviously, classes do not move through objectives at the same rate, so I adapt my lessons, by adding what I call "Enhancement Objectives." These are extra credit assignments for students who complete material ahead of the alloted time. I also have "Review Objectives," these objectives are for students who are struggling with the main assignment. The third type of objective I use in my lessons are the "Main Objectives." The main objectives are very much in line with the NC Standard Course Of Study. Since I teach in a computer lab I try to keep things current and on the cutting edge. Every year I purchase new technologies and adapt my teaching to help my students accomplish goals and objectives. Overall, I feel objectives are the the driving force of my lessons.

"Visiting WikiHow"

The topic I chose to look up was auto racing. A brief search returned many possible topics for this blog post. The article I chose is "How to Race Your Car." The article consists of 13 steps and some tips and warnings. The objectives and goals do not exist. However, the directions for getting started in racing are clear. The quality directions give good information and are well written. Racing can be very dangerous and safety is always the most important thing. The article recommends taking a drivers education course before taking your car to the track. It is crucial to learn the basics before you go wide-open for the first time. As with anything the more you practice the better you will become. This article did not have clear specific objectives.
Here is my list of objectives for this topic:
1) The driver will be aware of all safety guidelines.
2) The driver will be able to steer the car successfully through the course.
3) The driver will know all the rules for the race.
4) The driver will know all the flags and what they mean.

These objectives are clearly measurable and if attained you can HAVE FUN racing a car.

"Breaking Down Simple Tasks, Busy ,Busy, Busy"

After reading this website, I thought about my everyday life and how many things I do without really thinking about all the steps involved. The first thing I do when I wake up is brush my teeth and use the restroom. If broken down these two tasks probably have more than 20 steps. Next I take a shower and that has at least 20 more steps. Then getting dressed, making breakfast and eating breakfast has more than 50 steps involved. When doing a task analysis on my morning routine I realized that even very simple tasks can become complex if broken down into a step by step process. In the first hour of each day I complete over 100 steps successfully. After analyzing my morning I analyzed the rest of my day and realized that the amount we as humans accomplish in a day is phenomenal. So , if your ever feeling like you don't do much, do a task analysis of your day task by task and you will soon realize that you are accomplishing many many things without even knowing it. Go ahead and break it down you are one busy person.