Cait's+Plan+for+Increasing+Tech

Through the Edtech assessment, I discovered I was part of the Developing Tech group. I am really interested in learning different ways to improve my tech skills so I can become a teacher who understands her students and can differentiate her instruction for them. My areas in which I would like to learn more and improve my skills are:

1. Assess Student Progress

In order to better assess my students’ progress, I need to look at what areas I would like to evaluate. I have grades on papers and quizzes I could look at, but what does that tell me about the effort they are putting into the class. I liked the resource about creating online behavior report cards found at http://www.jimwrightonline.com/php/tbrc/tbrc.php. This would be a great way to reward students who are participating actively and appropriately in class, as well as, a good way to document students’ inappropriate behavior. When it is tracked through a source like this, it is available for the students, parents, and teacher to see. This means, reward systems can be established, and behavior plans can be made for reoccurring actions. I could see this as a great method of keeping my hyperactive students’ behaviors in check. When there are rewards or check-ins, they strive to maintain good performance, so with reminders of these weekly forms, they may adapt or maintain their behavior in the classroom.

2. Communicate with Parents and guardians

Right now, I communicate with students’ parents during parent teacher conferences and the occasional email. I would love to have a better system to keep parents up-to-date on what is happening in class and the progress of their child, in addition to their effort and behavior as a whole. One resource I could use for this would be the behavioral report cards listed above. Another way to increase communication would be to create a class website like this resource at http://teacher.scholastic.com/homepagebuilder/index.htm. I have been toying with the idea of doing something like this for a while. It is often difficult for my students with language-based learning disabilities to keep their materials organized and in one place. When one student misses a class, it can be disastrous for them to monitor what they missed and catch up. This website would allow parents and students to see the class agenda, get missed materials, and see examples. I would love to implement this for my students, so that they will never have the issue of forgetting to write down a homework assignment in the future.

3. Plan and Deliver Instruction

While I didn’t score the lowest in this area, I included it in my plan to increase technology in my teaching because I feel it is an area I can always include more. I really enjoyed the resource about 1001 uses for a digital camera. I teach a writing class, and it is important for me to go beyond the keyboard and monitor to help my students brew up ideas and organize thoughts. Even though some of these activities were geared towards younger students, I can see how they could really be helpful for my organizationally challenged high school kids. The visual preparation for the writing process can really get the creativity started. Also, I haven’t yet had the chance to work on a Smartboard, but I am excited about the opportunity. I think the advice on [|www.teachlearning.com] is a really valuable way to keep all students engaged and participatory.

Link to my Project