Reflection #1:

This week, we did not have a reading for our first week. Instead we had a couple of
videos to watch. One video we watched as Sir Ken Robinson and his view on education. Sir Ken
Robinson believes that we need to allow our students to be creative and be able to show their
creativity. We need to light that spark in each of our students. I am going to implement this into
my classroom. I want to allow students to be in charge of their learning. I am going to slowly
implement this idea and allow my high students to participate in an interest project. The learners
get to choose their topic and a question they can research. Students are going to collect their
research and then choose a way to present the information they have found. Students are in
charge of their learning; they got to choose their topic, how to present the information and what
the final project looks like. As teachers, we need to engage students and engage their curiosity
and creativity. Students need to use higher-level thinking and creativity to discover and learn.
This week, we also had to look into an educational tool and teach it to our classmates. I
chose Padlet because it was a new educational tool my third grade team was going to implement.
Padlet is a way for teachers to display information for students and it can be used for students to
collaborate with one another. I am going to implement this tool into my classroom in a variety of
ways. I am going to use it as a KWL chart and students can add to the class Padlet. I am going to
use it as a Venn diagram and students can add the similarities and differences of a topic to the
Padlet. I am going to use it as a communication tool for parents so parents can see what reading
unit we will be interacting with. It will be used as a tool that students can access at home to
access the reading story, spelling words and vocabulary words. The technology tool helps both
the teacher and the student. The tool helps the teacher communicate with parents what is being
taught and read in class. The tool helps create a space for students to collaborate with one
another and the teacher can monitor and see what students are adding to the Padlet. The Padlet
can help students learn because they can collaborate with one another and communicate through
the Padlet. The Padlet is an interactive educational tool that students can use to present
information for other students.
Reflection #2:
This is the first week we have engaged with the class text. This first chapter in our
textbook was about the technology use in classrooms and how teachers and students need to
become 21st century learners. The text laid out multiple different standards that can be used to
assess the type of technology being used in the classroom. We also took the time to read and
research about the different standards that assess the use of technology in our classroom. With
our discussion group, we had to decide which set of standards we found more appealing and
would use in our classroom. The set of standards that I thought best-supported giving teachers
the skills to successfully integrate technology into teaching is the NETS standards. My group and
I agreed that the NETS standards were the best choice. I am going to implement the NETS
standards into my classroom and use the standards as a guideline when implementing and
integrating technology tools into my teaching.
These standards help me, as a teacher, to choose the best technology tools to integrate
into my teaching. But the standards also help the students because it will help them become 21st
century learners. There are standards for students and I can use these standards to make sure

students are successfully becoming 21st century learners. And I can use the standards made for
teachers to make sure I am meeting the needs to reach the learners in my classroom.
Reflection #3:
This week was revolved around deciding if multiple intelligences theory is correct or if
learning styles exist. I took the stance that multiple intelligences theory exist; that everyone has
types of intelligences that can be used for learning. Gardner dismissed the idea of learning style
because he said that all people have multiple intelligences, just some might be stronger than
others. After doing some research, I found myself agreeing with Gardner. While researching, I
found a research that was done where the learning style was changed each time a topic was
presented and the learner showed to retain the same amount of information each time. In
conclusion, it doesnt matter if a student is learning with the preferred learning style or not, they
are going to learn and retain the same type of information. I agree that some people learn in
preferred ways. Some students like performing hands-on activities and learn in a kinesthetic way.
But when given the same topic in a visual way, the learner will still show the same amount of
learning. That is why I lean towards Gardners argument that multiple intelligences exist rather
than learning styles. My group came to the conclusion that multiple intelligences theory was
more accurate but we could not dismiss learning styles because students might engage more in a
preferred style of learning.
Another activity we did this week was find principles for effective teaching. This activity
was very helpful because it made me evaluate my teaching and decide what the most important
principles were in teaching. I analyzed my teaching and my goals to help complete this project.
Since I just went through student teaching using the Danielson model, I relayed on the model to
help lay out principles for effective teaching. The school I teach at uses the Danielson model so it
was a good choice to use for this project. What I found is the most important thing in teaching is
connecting with students, building that respect and rapport and creating a safe environment
where students feel encouraged to learn. This is the most important principle and that is why I
make sure to spend time getting to know my students in the beginning of the year and
performing many team building activities to make the class feel like a team or a family. I also
make sure to hold a morning meeting every morning to ask the students how they are doing and
what they did that weekend or last night. This builds rapport and shows that I care about each
and every one of my students.
Reflection #4:
This week was mainly focused on the ASSURE model and writing lesson objectives.
One thing I am going to take away from this week is writing lesson objectives. I found this
activity very useful because it challenged us to stick to the ABCD model (audience, behavior,
condition and degree). These types of objectives tell exactly what the learner is going to do and
how it is going to be assessed. Though in our school we do not use objectives like these, I will
implement into my own practice to make sure that I always have a behavior, condition and a
degree for my lessons. My school uses brief I can statements so students can discuss what they
are learning. Writing the objectives as an ABCD model will help me when I am teaching the

same lesson next year. I will know what my behavior is, the condition and the degree in which I
am assessing students.
This week we also presented ways to evaluate and revise lessons. I really analyzed my
own teaching and my own evaluation strategies to help with the project. Assessments are very
important and the data collected can drive flexible intervention groups and drive personal
learning. Assessments should happen prior to the lesson, during the lesson and after the lesson. I
found a couple of different technology tools to help me evaluate my students. I will use Prodigy
to assess students on math topics. I will assign assignments to students and use as a pre
assessment to what will be taught in class and I will use as a post assessment to see what
information was retained after the lesson has been taught. Depending on how the students did on
the assessment, I can use the data collected to drive my flexible groups. I will also use the tool
Socrative to use for pre assessments, ongoing assessments and post assessments. The on going
assessments interest me the most. Students will have access to iPads and will answer quick
questions during the lesson. This will give quick data to see what students understand the lesson
and can perform the tasks individually and what students need more support and practice.
One last thing that I want to implement in my classroom is the use of evaluation sheets. I
want students to be in charge of their own learning and use self-evaluation sheets. This will give
students time to reflect on how they thought they did. I also want to give teacher evaluations to
my students so I know what their thoughts were on how I taught the lesson.
Reflection #5:
This week, we are leaning about a variety of learning instructional strategies that
teachers implement into teaching. There are 10 different ones: presentation, demonstration, drill
and practice, tutorial, discussion, cooperative learning, problem-based learning, games,
simulations, and discovery. As teachers, we need to decide which instructional strategy is most
appropriate for the learning and students to help them become 21st century learners. After reading
this chapter, I want to implement more problem-based learning. I have just started an interest
project with some of my students but this is more like project-based learning. Since my students
are so young, third grade, and we are still getting into a routine, I dont want to implement
problem-based learning yet, but it is something I want to strive for this year. As I look at the list
and analyze my teaching strategies, I integrate these different strategies: presentation,
demonstration, drill and practice, discussion and educational games. When I analyze my
teaching, I integrate more than I thought I did while reading the chapter. I would like to integrate
more to allow learning to be more fun and new for the students. When integrating problem-based
learning and discovery, students are in charge of their learning and the teacher now becomes the
facilitator.
When exploring the different games, simulations and gamification tools and reviewing
my groups examples, there are many gamificaiton examples that I want to implement into my
teaching. The one tool I found was Socrative and it a quick assessment gamification that I want
to start integrating into my teaching. I want to set it up as teams competing against one another
during the quarter. I also want to utilize the quick question and exit ticket tool. I think another
simulation tool I would like to explore is GoNoodle. It looks like a great resource to utilize and I
think my students would be engaged with it. I have recently started using ClassDojo in my
classroom. I created an account awhile back after finding the behavioral management tool on

Pinterest. After reading one of my group members examples, I tried implementing ClassDojo
into my classroom this week. The class seemed to love the idea of receiving points and receiving
awards for positive behavior. The main problem that I have in my classroom is blurting. After
using this tool for one day last week, I had less students blurting out because they did not want to
receive negative points.