Final Blog Post

Write a final reflection for the course about what you learned and plan to apply to your professional practice AND a self-assessment about your blog performance throughout the course.  As part of your reflection, propose a grade for your blog - out of 75 points.

This course has by far been my favorite of all the courses in the MET program for a number of reasons. Not only was the organization of the course user-friendly, but I loved that each lesson built upon previous understanding to help build mastery of the content. It was fascinating to see how each assignment correlated with other assignments to create a wide range exposure trip of social media tools that exist. I think another aspect that I loved about this course was almost everything was new to me. I have taken courses in the past where content overlapped from other classes or contained material that I already felt fairly knowledgeable about. This was the first class that I have taken where I was challenged to learn just about everything for the first time. While there are so many highlights I will point out three that really stood out:

The creation of a PLN. What a powerful experience! My PLN was absolutely incredible throughout this course. In fact, in our last Google Hangouts meeting we discussed what a privilege it was to work with a solid group of like-minded individuals. There was a sense of trust that was developed over the course as we weren’t collaborating with peers at random. The PLN experience forced us to be intentional and to get to know one another. As a result, I took to heart the feedback given to me by Jennifer and Renee. They both challenged my thinking, opened my eyes to new ideas, and gave great encouragement. My positive experience has led me to think about creating PLNs within my own classroom. I teach honors English with another teacher and believe that one of the ways we can bridge our distinct classes would to have students create PLNs with students from my partner teacher’s class. This would be a challenge, but an awesome way to connect our students. 

Twitter Chats and Webinars. I never knew so many opportunities existed for online discussion. While the Twitter chats and Webinars were a challenge in terms of scheduling, I absolutely loved the experience. One Twitter chat in particular maintained such a friendly, welcoming, and engaging environment that I have returned to it the past few weeks. I have been toying with the idea of having my students participate in Twitter chats relating to texts that we have been reading in class. I also thought it would be very interesting to have my students participate in a Twitter chat in class. I could be the facilitator of the discussion and ask questions. This would encourage those students who are more quiet to participate and would prepare students for socratic seminars in class. 

Curation. This was my first exposure to the concept of curation and I thought it was amazing. I use Pinterest daily, but on a personal level. I didn’t fully understand the more meaningful idea behind the concept of curation. However, looking at it from an educational standpoint I see the great power that lies behind gathering distinct resources in one place. I plan on introducing this concept when we conduct research for our Issues Research paper (where students argue a side of a controversial issue using academic evidence). My students are strong when it comes to gathering credible evidence from the web and database sources, but lack skills in finding multimedia content. Students would benefit from curating videos, blogs, infographics, and other resources related to their topic. 

These highlights lead me to my justification for why I believe I deserve 75 out of the possible 75 points for my blog performance. Since each module presented a new learning opportunity for me, I believe the depth of my blog is rich and contains vibrant, organic thoughts. I sought to be intimate with the curriculum and really allow it to challenge by ideals. I wasn’t shy about sharing my opinions and maintained a consistent voice throughout my posts. Moreover, each time I posted content I sought to validate my stance with academic evidence and logical reasoning where appropriate. Lastly, part of the blogging experience is reading and commenting on the posts of others. My PLN posted material that was enjoyable to read. I looked forward to their thoughts and ideas on assignments because often their approach was different than mine. I appreciated this because it led to a lot of questioning and critical thinking. I believe I was an active member in this community which justifies my reasoning for why I should earn 75 out of 75 points. 

Project #5: Worked Example Screencast

Here is the link to my narrated script.

I really enjoyed this screencast assignment. I think I always overestimate the simplicity behind an actual screencast. One of the ideas I have been trying to embrace in my classroom is the concept of the flipped classroom, where students receive direct instruction from home and then have opportunity to practice in the classroom. I’m realizing more and more how practical this would all be if I created more screencast videos. If I created instructional videos and posted them in my Google Classroom account I think it would leave room in my schedule to offer more guided practice. 

While I have played with Captivate, Camtasia, and Jing, I actually feel most comfortable using my QuickTime Player. As a Mac user this QuickTime is very easy to navigate and extremely user-friendly. I did attempt to create my screencast using Jing and found that the audio was more muffled; however, when I switched to QuickTime the audio was clear and crisp. 

My biggest challenge in creating this video was using the narration script. I understand the point of having a script to make the video flow more smoothly, but I tend to do better when I speak in the moment. Organic content is far better for me than something that is rehearsed. When I have a generic outline to follow and I speak in the moment I believe it is far more fluid. I also believe my students find it to be more relatable because they realize that things are going to be perfect in videos. 

I also wanted to be sure that this video was meaningful. I use Easybib like crazy in my class and student mastery of how to use this tool is essential. It has actually inspired me to make more instructional videos on how to cite sources appropriately. Time is always the big issue educators face, but I am looking forward to making time to work on creating more worked examples. 

Digital Storytelling

Here is the link to my narration script for this video.

Reflection
This assignment was particularly meaningful for me. To begin the school year I walk my students through several “This I Believe” essays written and recorded on the NPR http://thisibelieve.org website. We discuss the importance of knowing what we believe in and clinging to our core values, while being open-minded to new ideas throughout the school year. It is a great way to allow students to see the change they experience in their freshman year of high school. Students write their own TIB essay at the beginning of the year and at the end of the year they read it again and write a reflection to see how their views on life and the world have changed through the literature, discussions, projects, and experiences of their 9th grade school year. To model for students, I wrote my own TIB essay (to which I update each year) and read it to the class. It is powerful moment and a means of allowing students to see that their teacher is human!

In addition, part way through the school year I teach tone and mood. One of the culminating projects in this unit is the development of a book trailer for one of student’s favorite books. We use the WeVideo app in Google Drive to create the trailers. However, to introduce students to WeVideo they begin by creating a trailer for their favorite fairy tale story. When they have mastered the use of WeVideo we then read a book as a book report and create individual trailers. While I have used this project and found great success, I’ve never spent a lot of time using it myself. Thus, I decided for my digital story to combine the TIB essay assignment and the introduction of how to use WeVideo. I loved the final product!

There was something powerful about attaching images and telling my story of why I believe what I believe. I found the assignment fully embraces the personalized principle because it allows for student creativity and voice, while simultaneously maintains guidelines and expectations for assessment purposes. For example, a student could be more formal and academic in the language they choose to use for their story, or they might be more relaxed to show more of their personality. This also supports Clark and Mayer’s idea that for successful learning to occur the educator is to facilitate the learning, but students are to be their own teachers taking ownership of their learning. It isn’t about the instructor giving instruction and students just soaking it in. It is a collaborative learning effort. 

I learned a ton about WeVideo completing this assignment including the different levels available for use. I also found myself really enjoying the power of storytelling. I intend to incorporate this lesson into my class this upcoming year which makes this assignment ben more worth while!