EDUC 5313 WeeK 1 Blog Assignment

Introduction

Hello, my name is Trecia Genius, and I work as an Elementary educator in New Jersey.  I have four years of experience teaching second grade, and this is my second year teaching fifth-grade Language Arts. It has been a great experience teaching, interacting, and learning from these young minds   

As a change agent, I am passionate about impacting young minds as they develop the knowledge, skills, and discipline required to function and contribute to society as good citizens.

My current professional goals include completing a Master of Education in Curriculum & Instruction – Educational Technology degree by 2025 and achieving a fifteen to twenty percent improvement in the overall New Jersey Student Learning Assessment score for my school in the Springs with the collaborative efforts of my colleagues and other stakeholders.

In addition, I am also working on acquiring a certificate of eligibility for teaching students with disabilities.

One of my future goals is to become a Director of Curriculum Instruction for Kindergarten to sixth grade within the district where I work. Achieving this goal within the next three years would enable me to coordinate curriculum instruction, design the scope and sequence of content materials, and conduct professional development related to curriculum instructions.

Pursuing a doctoral degree after completing the Master’s in Curriculum course would allow me to conduct research that can be used to improve the delivery and quality of instruction.

This career advancement will positively impact my personal growth and development, allowing me to better balance work and personal life and eventually receive a higher income to improve the quality of life for myself and my family.

I am married and have two children. My son will be graduating from college in May and my daughter is a seventh grader. In my leisure time, I enjoy reading, traveling, and spending time with my family.

For this course, I am excited to engage with the course material, collaborate with my classmates, and enhance my knowledge of integrating technology in an effective way that will engage students, enhance their comprehension, and extend students’ opportunities for real-world connections that will improve the quality of instruction which, will maximize students' success.

Best wishes to all my classmates as we embark on this journey together.

Part 2:

Knowledge Constructor indicator 3c requires students to curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions. Students in 5^th grade Language Arts class will be able to execute standard LA.RL.5.3 by comparing and contrasting two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text.

The students will create a digital storyboard using comic strip format in Canva to retell the story highlighting the story elements and how the two main characters change throughout the story. They will also utilize or create interactive graphic organizers in Google Slides to compare and contrast the characters. Students will create or explore the library in Quizizz or Kahoot to respond to reading comprehension questions about the story. Students will collaborate to grade their storyboards and provide constructive feedback. The digital tools incorporated in these activities will enhance teaching and learning and foster creativity.

Part 3:  

The lesson idea was generated to incorporate technology to improve the quality of instruction and learning. These digital tools engage the students in the content to meet the targeted learning goals. The students' learning is enhanced by using a variety of tools through differentiation to meet the needs of a diverse class population. Supporting or scaffolding technology creates opportunities for children to deepen their learning through social use (e.g., Hirsh-Pasek et al., 2015; Guernsey,2012; Takeuchi & Stevens, 2011). 

The activities used in the lesson also extend students' learning and allow them to make real-world connections based on the content.  Researchers believe that technology tools need to encourage meaningful learning, where the technology is extending the learning from student’s preexisting knowledge and helping them create new knowledge (Wartella, 2015). 

 

 

 

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017). ISTE Standards

For Students: A Practical Guide for Learning with Technology. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zMEIfOW8gm6aoiXSQ6l1YQ5Rt7aKWTff/view

Kolb, L. (2020). Triple E Framework. https://www.tripleeframework.com/about.html

New Jersey Department of Education. (n.d.). New Jersey Student Learning Standards for English Language Arts Page 1 of 13 Grade 5. https://www.nj.gov/education/standards/ela/Docs/2016NJSLS-ELA_Grade5.pdf