Week 8 Reflection

I am pleasantly surprised that the INACOL standards align with the standards that any good teacher should expect to achieve in the classroom. In reviewing these standards I believe that standard D maintains the most importance. The standard reads that, “The online teacher promotes student success through clear expectations, prompt responses, and regular feedback.”  This standard holds such great significance because teachers must be constantly setting the bar high for student achievement. If students are provided quality feedback and asked to turn in quality work then they will find themselves successful in the classroom. I don’t believe there are any standards that can’t be transferred to the traditional teaching setting. All standards reflect the expectations for quality teaching, except these standards pertain more specifically to the online environment.

In the readings this week I felt I was exposed to a plethora of potential digital resources. I continue to toy with the concept of blended learning, but found myself particularly engaged in the Discovery Education site. The topics/lesson plans available are all relevant and applicable to the classroom. I was particularly challenged to figure out how I could take the traditional classroom (to which I teach) and push students to participate in an online learning community.

Thus, I began researching different avenues for creating a virtual lesson that would logistically pan out with my limited available to digital devices. I’ve always been fascinated and thankful for the lesson plans posted by the New York Times. All of the lessons are current, relevant, and most fit into the pedagogy of my classroom design. However, majority of these lessons are catered to the traditional classroom setting and don’t involve using technology. My challenge has been to take these traditional lessons and transform them to incorporate technology. This week I was encouraged to do this yet again. I’ve played with Prezi, Edmodo, and Google Plus, but the lesson plan I created really pushed me to coordinate and figure out how I could logistically use it in my classroom to develop a learning opportunity that is fully online. My goal has been to develop something that would be completely virtual and would logistically work out. I will be putting this lesson into practice tomorrow, and after seeing it play out I will be able to assess the lesson’s value more accurately.