Digital Blog Post #E

Digital Blog Post #E

Student learning objectives, Digital teaching portfolio, and student participation systems



Student Learning Objectives

One of the first things a teacher must do when beginning a lesson plan is to make student learning objectives clear. A student learning objective is the what the student should know by the end of the lesson. Take my group project of Animal and plant cells for example. When teaching students about animal and plant cell structure, some student learning objectives should be,

created in powerpoint by Nicole Roberts

It is important that as a teacher, you should understand that each student's learning ability is unique to them and may not be the exact same as the student seated to the right of them. Once this is understood, it is a teacher's duty to create different kinds of lessons with in the plan to ensure the success of every student. Student learning objectives should be cohesive with these lessons and activities. Teachers such reference such learning statements like; how much, how often, how will it be measured, when, what and who. This statements will help a teacher identify which teaching methods that will be needed in the lesson plans to ensure student learning objectives are achieved. It is also important that a teacher created different assessments to measure the success of student learning and performance. These assessments should be able to tell right away whether a student has met the student learning objectives. Using multiple, clear student objectives will not only ensure the success of my students but my teaching abilities as well.




Digital Teaching Portfolios

Just as students are assessed throughout their learning careers so are teachers. One of the ways that teachers can be assessed from before they are even a hired teacher to the very end of their teaching career is through their digital teaching portfolio. This is the teacher's collection of resource materials used in their classroom, that they have stored electronically. Each teacher's portfolio can be vastly different with the subject matter but the very core of the material is usually the same. Power points, video clips, audio clips, photos, and even just digital copies of hard copy paper material. But a teaching portfolio is not just include that material but also serves as a guide through out their teaching career. Just as an artist puts together a collection of his works to show case his talent, a teaching portfolio does the same thing for teachers. A teacher's portfolio may be started before a teacher gets their license. A well structured portfolio can land a hopeful soon to be teacher their dream job. Often their portfolio will include their resume and references, along with other achievements that show case their teaching talents. Once hired a teaching portfolio should grow larger and will serve as a key piece of information on an evaluation so it is important to have a creative structure to the portfolio, Where a teacher can use it to reflect and grow their teaching methods. If you have no idea on where to start, this may be a good starting point. This site can give tips and insight on what is needed and not needed in a teaching portfolio. Just by taking this class, I have already begun to develop a teaching portfolio to not only help myself land a teaching position but to also ensure my success as a teacher.



Student Participation Systems

Student participation systems are a new electronic tool being utilized in the classroom. These systems use the technology of wireless remotes to create electronic exchanges of information from teacher to student. Think back to a time when a particular game show was popular during prime time television. Can you name the game show that used this technology? That's correct, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire! Now do you remember where in the game they used this type of technology? It was used when the contestant was having trouble with a question, the contestant had the option to ask the audience. The audience when then use the remote device by their seat to answer the question and the results were instantly shown to the contestant.  Just like the television game show, teachers can see students responses within seconds. 

photo credit to pbworks.com

This technology promotes active learning for students and require them to participate in group discussions. Another benefit of such technology is that it creates and promotes a student's critical thinking skills. Students are able to interact with other students and share information with each other and ask questions. I believe I would use this technology to create practice quizzes in the format similar to a game show. It will better prepare them for what is expected on the actual test while creating a fun and stress free learning environment, perhaps even calming those with test anxiety.




Resources

Maloy, Robert, Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park 

(2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Do I Need a Digital Teaching Portfolio? (2014). Retrieved April 02, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-teaching-portfolio-edwige-simon

Chemistry- Student Response Systems (clickers). (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2016, from http://innovations2010unco.pbworks.com/w/page/31108315/Chemistry- Student Response Systems (clickers)