My Year 2 Projects

I would love any feedback or comments you may have to offer as I look at completing the following activities during the 2009-2010 school year. I am looking for relevant research, blogs, websites...

Thanks!

Year 2 Qualifying Exam Preparation:

Definition of Educational Technology and Personal Niche:
o Revision 3 in Progress -

Original definition: Educational technology is defined as any technological tool used to enhance curriculum and instruction in any type of learning environment.

Reaction to the chapter, article and resource: The article by Dr. Sebastian Foti addresses the definition of the term technology. He defines it as anything that relates to change. He raises multiple questions as to the place of technology within the education system and concludes with the notion that as educators, we are also learners in our own right. The AECT defines educational technology as “ the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.” I find that my definition is not too far off the mark. The AECT did word their definition better than mine, but to be fair, they thought about their definition for probably more than one minute.

In the article “New Literacies Instruction in Teacher Education,” the authors consider new media and how it is transforming the teachings of reading and language arts teacher, or at least how it should be transforming the teachings of these teachers. The new literacies include technology literacies, information literacy, media literacy, global literacy, and social competence and responsibility literary (Hsu, p. 24). In the article, educational technology was mentioned to increase students’ interest in learning and enhance the learning environment (Hsu, p. 24). I think this mirrors the intentions of educational technology as defined by the AECT.

New Definition: Educational technology is a combination of the technological tools and innovative approaches used in any type of learning environment to enhance instruction and deepen student mastery of the set standards and objectives.

Citation:

Hsu, H., McPherson, S., Tsuei, M., & Wang, S. (2007). New Literacies Instruction in Teacher Education. TechTrends, volume number 51, issue number 5. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from http://web.ebscohost.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ehost/pdf?vid=2&hid=12&sid=ad086a1c-e3a5-4d90-927f-ef3757411336%40sessionmgr8.


Annotated Bibliography - will post soon
o Technology-based Student Note-Taking to Raise Reading Levels of Secondary Students:
How Organizing Thoughts with Technology can Translate to Increased Reading Abilities

Two Scholarly Activities
o Scholarly Activity 1 (a conference presentation or article) – Creating a professional development portal for training secondary educators. This professional development portal will included in an article sent for publication to the International Reading Association or FCTE/NCTE. Objectives of training:
*RTI Intervention
*Reading Across the Content Areas
*Daily Assessments for Learning
*Best Practices for an Instructional Classroom
*Delivering core curriculum components
*Using technology as a venue for teacher collaboration

Current Progress:
• Designated Content Area Liaisons for each Subject
• Designed PD Portal at www.manateelearn.com
• Uploaded tools to help teachers find and use student data from previous assessments including the FCAT, SRI, etc.
• Met with principal and curriculum specialist to design lesson plan template and method for electronic submission
• Developed common language to use on the website and in all school curriculum based materials
• Set-up meeting with content area liaisons to train on how to use PD Portal
• Identified 4-hour time to train teachers on the objectives. The PD Portal will be the venue for the training and well as the mechanism for continuing support and collaboration throughout the school year.


o Scholarly Activity 2 – Using a blended classroom environment to implement effective reading strategies in an English II classroom for 10th grade students who have been identified as reading below grade level on their 9th grade reading assessment test.

Question 1 – will supplementing a 10th grade English II curriculum by training identified struggling readers on how to analyze text using technological tools such as note-taking applications, blogging, PLN’s, etc, for a 8-week period, meeting every other day in a block schedule format, increase the students ability to comprehend, analyze and synthesize text at a 10th grade level?

*Note-taking skills to increase comprehension of written texts
*Blogging
*PLNs
*Daily assessment tools

Question 2 - Will supplementing a high-level text such as Antigone with a choose your own adventure style wiki that incorporates reading strategies increase the level of comprehension of the text in a blended classroom environment?



Professional Curriculum Vitae and Online Presence
o www.inteched.net
o Twitter
o PLN
o Wiki - http://lauriekitchie.pbworks.com/FrontPage
o Planning to develop Blog site
o Designated Instructional Designer on Campus
o Technology Committee Chair – Professional Development Lead
o Presenting at FCTE Fall 2009
o Attending FETC 2010
o Applied for grant to attend SITE/Spring 2010 – Grant Through NEA