Let's Take a Look at the Other End...

1) What is something that surprised you or that you learned from the videos? What myth or prior belief did you find out was false and what is the reality?

I did not realize that the further students are from the mean in intelligence, the worse their social skills tend to be.  It makes a lot of sense to me after it was explained, but I never thought about it that way.  In a classroom when I have gifted kids I think it would be useful to help develop some of those students' social skills as well as their academic skills.

2) How can you use what you learned in your present and future classrooms? How can technology play a part? Be specific.

I will use my new understanding to give students options for assignments.  For gifted students, they may really benefit from working independently on a group project.  However, I think developing a relationship with a student like that will be very important because it can provide an opportunity to push a gifted student to develop their social skills.  Technology can play a part by extending a gifted student's learning.  There are so many valuable resources on the internet and a teacher can offer many of them to encourage student development.  For gifted students, more challenging resources can be offered.

Final Project Discussion

My final project covers a lesson within a unit on states of matter.  I modified a lesson that I actually taught this semester with the intention of incorporating more technology to enhance areas where the lesson was lacking.  One of the things I found that I was most excited about was a pressure/volume online simulator.  It is a great way for students of all levels to get engaged and expand their understanding.  I also incorporated Kahoot in my lesson to engage students and, honestly, to streamline the grading process for me.  Getting feedback quickly is important for this lesson because it will help me see misconceptions to address in class.

Unit 1B Post #3

0. I am really looking forward to using blogs in my future classroom.  They are an excellent way for students to independently display their learning.  I am a big advocate for students taking their learning into their own hands.  Often times this is challenging, but I really think it is worth it because students will connect and hold on to their learning better.  Blogs are great because they can be used as a learning log. Students can display their thoughts before a lesson and refer back to them to see how they have grown.  It is also a great way for teachers to give feedback and both students and teachers can use them in and outside of a classroom.  Students ability to rad and interact with a teacher's blog post will help them navigate the internet more easily.  One of the most challenging parts of using the internet for student learning is avoiding distraction and working with such a huge scope.  Providing links and resources on a blog page allows a teacher to narrow that scope for students.  Students might be constrained by using a blog post if they, like me, prefer working with physical documents.  Being able to feel a page and draw pictures in the margin are not as easy when using a blog.  Also, students with limited internet access at their house would have problems using a blog.
   

Alex Dunphy learner analysis

The TV show modern family follows the extended Dunphy family who live in California.  The main characters include the grandfather, his kids, their families, and his wife after getting remarried.  The show does an excellent job peering into the lives of each individual in the family, following relationship dynamics within the family, and adding plenty of humor to round it out.  The character I am focusing on for a learner analysis is Alex Dunphy  She is a high school student and would probably be considered a gifted student.  She does extremely well in school and is often talking about her Advance Placement classes.

The Dunphy family seems to be in the upper middle class if not upper class.  There are never issues when it comes to the family's ability to house, clothe, and feed the children or parents.  The only time any financial complication comes is when Phil, the father, goes for a long stretch without selling a house for his real estate job.

Alex definitely is engaged in school.  She is very much a self reliant character and member of her family.  Her older sister and younger brother have a much harder time in school which her parents pay more attention to because they know Alex will be fine on her own.  This has led her to figure out how to perform in school, and in life in general, really well independent of major parent support.

Alex's main interests are her school work and music.  She does a lot of reading in the show as well.  She is not interested in fashion and does not have a very strong social life either.  She often gets teased by her older sister about her lack of interest in "typical girl things" and sometimes her parents too.

If Alex was in my class I would do a few things to accommodate her learning.  First, I would give her a prominent role in the classroom.  I would want to let her partner with a struggling student so that she could learn the content more thoroughly by teaching it to another student.  I would also encourage her to learn content in a new way that helps strengthen learning strategies she uses that are not as strong.  Any time that there would be student choice, I would tell her to choose things that do not come especially easy to her.

Alex is most definitely college ready.  She is taking college level classes in high school and does extremely well in school overall.  I would say she would benefit from strengthening her social skills.  College is not only about getting good grades.  Relationships with students, professors, and roommates are a huge factor of college and she could use some growth in those areas.  However, college is an excellent time to learn those social skills, so she is ready for college.

• 
  

Final Course Reflective Post

1) Has your perspective and/or feelings changed about technology in instruction as a result of being in this course? How?

My perspective has changed because I have seen and used technology for education purposes that I have never used before.  I still am apprehensive about using technology, but I was able to better understand why.  I have found that if my teaching is good without technology, that it is not necessary to add it.  Technology should be used if it replaces, amplifies, or transform students' learning.  If it is not adding to students learning, if it is not improving what you are already doing, it is not necessary to incorporate into teaching.  However, I have learned how much easier it is to incorporate technology than I thought.  

2) Which technologies or tools used in this course stand out to you? Why?
3) Which technology(-ies) are you most eager to use in the classroom? How will you use it? (This may or may not be the one(s) chosen for your final project.)
I am looking forward to using google docs in my classroom.  I have seen my content literacy use google docs in a very unique way that is really engaging.  Google docs are simple enough for students, parents, and teachers to easily navigate, but have endless possibilities.  I also really like how easily students can work on google docs at home and in school. 


I liked using blogs to display learning and especially progress throughout the semester.  It allows student expression and creativity while still hitting the same learning targets.  I also think it is good to allow students to work at a pace that makes sense to them.  Some students were able to get ahead or if students had other things going on in life they were able to work around their schedules.


4) Based on your answer to number 3, do you think you can implement the tech. tool in a planned upcoming lesson that you will be teaching? Or, suggest it to your CT to use in an upcoming lesson? Explain.

I think I could definitely implement google docs in an upcoming lesson.  I think its simplicity and depth is an excellent way to use google docs in a lesson.  Students, teachers, AND parents have access to google docs which helps hold students accountable for their work.  

Unit 6

Please post on your blog the following as a course reflection:

1) Has your perspective and/or feelings changed about technology in instruction as a result of being in this course? How?

My perspective on using technology in the classroom has definitely changed.  I went into this class with very limited experience and honestly very little desire to incorporate technology into my teaching practice.  I learned that technology can be challenging, but it can be very beneficial for student learning when done appropriately.
2) Which technologies or tools used in this course stand out to you? Why?

I really liked the opportunities that allow teachers to interact with students outside of the classroom.  In my placement this semester it seems like as soon as students leave the classroom any sort of learning turns off.  I think it would be really exciting to see students engaged in their learning outside of the classroom.
3) Which technology(-ies) are you most eager to use in the classroom? How will you use it? (This may or may not be the one(s) chosen for your final project.)

I am most excited to really use google docs to their full potential.  There is so much to be able to do with them including hyperlinks, comments and feedback, and easy of access for teachers and students.  I also really like the screen sharing programs that would easily allow me to help students out over the internet.
4) Based on your answer to number 3, do you think you can implement the tech. tool in a planned upcoming lesson that you will be teaching? Or, suggest it to your CT to use in an upcoming lesson? Explain.

I think it might be tricky to implement the tool, but I really want to try it.  I think it will just take a lot of planning to use google docs in a way that is not simply replacing a pen and paper.  I do think though that the planning is worth it.  Ease of access is becoming more and more important in our modernizing culture.

VLOG

For some reason Youtube was not allowing uploads when I was going to upload my Vlog.  I kept getting an error message that said to try again later.
And sorry for the poor quality, in order to upload to my blog the video had to be under 100 MB.  I am happy to send my video to anyone in an email at a higher quality.

1.  Cyberbullying is the use of electronic communication to bully a person, typically by sending messages of an intimidating or threatening nature.

2.  Students who are cyberbullied are often bullied in person as well according to www.stopbullying.gov.  What is especially difficult about cyberbullying is that students could get bullied at any time in the day, even if they are physically not near a bully.  Also, in many cases, cyberbullies can remain anonymous.  They do not have to include their name or could create an "alias" profile in order to have their identity hidden.

3.  According to bullyingstatistics.org, around half of teens have been the victims of cyber bullying

4.  This website (http://cyberbullying.org/resources/educators) is a very good resource for a huge range of types of cyberbullying.  There is information on preventing cyberbullying by creating a positive school climate, something called a Words Wound Curriculum, and Staff Development Questions.  All of these resources are directed toward educators and seem to revolve around making difficult conversations more frequent to make them easier.

5.  Luckily I have not had to deal much with cyberbullying myself or with anyone that I know that I would need to intervene.  What I would imagine would be most difficult is what to do if a student is getting cyberbullied.  How do you intervene?  What conversations do you have?  What terrible things might students say to one another and how does that influence what you would say?  This link is a good resource to give teachers opportunities to prevent cyberbullying, identify it, and navigate difficult conversations.

Here is a great resource for responding to cyberbullying.  It is a quick list of ten ways people can respond to cyberbullying.  I like that provides concrete steps or advice to help navigate cyberbullying.

Are learners confined to learning styles?

There are many different ways of looking at learning styles.  I was interested in learning more about learning styles because my mom has always talked about how people learn in different ways.   What is most important is that people do learn in different ways and each way is beneficial to students in some capacity.  Some may gravitate towards certain methods of instruction, but all instruction methods have pros and cons.  For a long time research in this field has been associated with “learning styles”.  However, current research is suggesting a slightly different wordage with “learning strategies”.  I like the change in terminology because it does not put students in a box.  If a student knows which learning style they prefer, it gives them an opportunity to mentally check out if a teacher is not catering to their learning style.  However, with learning strategies students can engage no matter what learning strategy is being used.  This goes back to the idea that every strategy has strengths and weaknesses.  One is not better than the other.  To further understand how to implement learning strategies, researchers have looked at them to characterize them and suggest best methods of approach.

            In the book Learning as a Generative Activity the authors outline eight generative learning strategies.  First of all, the word generative means someone or something is capable of production or reproduction.  So a generative learning strategy would be a way of presenting material so that a student could produce or reproduce a result.  With that in mind, the eight generative learning strategies are summarizing, mapping, drawing, imagining, self-testing, self-explaining, teaching, and enacting.  In summarizing the teacher develops a written or oral summary of the material.  For mapping the teacher develops a spatial map to depict important information from the lesson.  In drawing the teacher creates a drawing to visualize the material.  Imagining is the same as drawing, but without a physical drawing.  Self-testing is when a teacher gives a practice test. Self-explaining allows the teacher to explain a part of the lesson that was confusing to students.  Teaching as a generative learning strategy has students teaching the course content to others.  Enacting is when teachers act out some portion of material from the lesson.  Each of these strategies is a strategy to teach students that does not isolate a student to a box, but allows them to learn in a variety of ways.

            In an article about how learning strategies connect to learning outcomes, authors Moldasheva and Mahmood identify ways in which to describe learning strategies.  The main strategies they use in their research are rehearsal, organization, elaboration, critical thinking, effort learning, time and environment management, help seeking and peer learning.  The difference between these and the ones presented before is that these are student strategies.  These are ways in which students demonstrate and participate in their learning.

Fiorella, L., & Mayer, R. E. (n.d.). Learning as a generative activity: Eight learning strategies that promote understanding.

Graf, S., Kinshuk, & Liu, T. (2009). Supporting teachers in identifying students' learning styles in learning management systems: An automatic student modeling approach. Journal of Educational Technology & Society, 12(4), 3

Moldasheva, G., & Mahmood, M. (2014). Personality, learning strategies, and academic performance. Education & Training, 56(4), 343-359. doi:http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/10.1108/ET-10-2012-0101

Yang, T.-C., Hwang, G.-J., & Yang, S. J.-H. (2013). Development of an adaptive learning system with multiple perspectives based on students' learning styles and cognitive styles. Educational Technology & Society, 16(4), 185+.

All About Me

Taking field notes on a field trip for Petrology

        My name is Andy Sparks.  I have been honestly enjoying my time here at Grand Valley State University.  I am excited to finally be in the K-12 classroom putting things I have learned and talked about for the past 4 years into practice.  I am an Earth Science major and History minor.  I have always really enjoyed spending time outside which helped me decide on the major.  Swimming, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, and other activities are some of my favorites and I even enjoyed collecting and classifying bugs as a kid.  I picked a history minor because I wanted to have a "diverse" resume.  I am interested to see how that strategy pans out as I pursue teaching jobs next year.

My wife, Christina, and I in Norway

       I was placed at Vista Charter Academy for the semester in a 7th and 8th grade science class.  The school is a K-8 charter school and is part of the National Heritage Academy schools across the country.  I have gotten along very well with my cooperating teacher and the rest of the teachers in the wing.  I am looking forward to teaching a lesson on mixtures and solutions next week!  I also had a great time at the boys soccer game Wednesday afternoon.

Enjoying time with friends in Bristol.

 

Following the footsteps of Rey from
StarWars: The Force Awakens
off the coast of Ireland

   

      I was very happy to celebrate my 3 year wedding anniversary in August with my wife, Christina.  We both love to travel and had a blast in the late spring on a 4 week trip to Europe.  Our favorite stops were the west coast of Ireland, a national park in Norway, and spending time with good friends of ours in Bristol.