"Evaluate 3.1.2 Self-Reflection on Teaching Abilities" Quest

"Evaluate 3.1.2 Self-Reflection on Teaching Abilities" Quest

Teaching at GAVS, I maintain a monthly focus on reflection through our ePortfolio requirements. I love this practice because it makes me examine what I am doing right and it challenges me to do even better. By gathering artifacts each month for Best Practices, Differentiation, Professional Development, and Data Analysis, I am able to look back over the year as it ends to see my growth and to plan for more success the coming year. Although I know it takes some time because I always like to try to make my collections interesting, it is worth the effort. Below is a link to my ePortfolio.

My GAVS ePortfolio 2015-2016


I also look forward to receiving evaluations from my QAS. These evaluations help me learn where to better spend my time as an online instructor. For example, from my most recent evaluation, I realized that I'd let my homepage lag a bit in terms of making it as interactive as possible. My goal for this year is to find more ways to bring students to the homepage for exciting activities or videos. Below are screenshots of my most recent evaluation.

The experience of completing the TOOL course has been wonderful. I have enjoyed reflecting on what I know and expanding that knowledge to include new tools that will undoubtedly increase my effectiveness as a teacher. I am without a doubt a better teacher overall for having taught online. Teaching online forces one to take time to reflect because the flow of the day actually allows for reflection, unlike many face to face environments. This has been a bittersweet activity for me, as I approach the coming year of returning to the face to face classroom. When I left the traditional classroom to stay home with my newborn who is now 5 years old and thus began my career as an online instructor, I initially always found myself trying to explain my job and its importance. I felt apologetic at first for not being "in" the classroom. But what I have realized is that I have found a new home outside the walls of education: a home where colleagues are the most supportive I've ever worked with, a space where teachers and students can be equals and respect each other for our talents while helping each other shore up our weakness, and a place where I can explore and experiment and learn and grow and expand my horizons in a way that is not possible in the brick and mortar world. I am sad to be returning to the face to face classroom but thrilled that I can continue my career at GAVS at the same time. My goal is to learn how to combine my two worlds with grace and energy. 

"Evaluate 3.1.1 Differentiation" Quest

"Evaluate 3.1.1 Differentiation" Quest

Below is an excerpt from my ePortfolio where I used the data of analysis to pair students for an activity based on rubric achievements.

Identifying the individual needs of students can lead to greater overall success in a particular course. Needs can be determined by looking at data provided by any assessment, keeping in mind what is being assessed and how it is being assessed. I love that in our LMS, the teacher can conditionally release a News item to correspond with specific performance. If a student does exceptionally well on an assessment, a News item congratulating them by name would be appropriate. If a student does not seem to have mastered the content, a News item sending them extra help in the form of links, video, or extra exercises presented in a different way could manifest itself on their course home page. If a student continuously performs poorly on a certain type of assessment, a News item for differentiation on that assignment could pop up in his/her feed. If a student seems to falter on quizzes yet soars when asked to do a project based assessment, perhaps the teacher could switch the order of assignments due so that the student does the project based assessment first to solidify knowledge before being asked to pass a quiz or test. All of these variables make on line learning a better environment for individualization and differentiation because it is easier for the teacher to manage and because students are typically not aware of the special attention they can receive. 

"Evaluate 2.1.2 Rubrics and Competencies" Quest

"Evaluate 2.1.2 Rubrics and Competencies" Quest


 I chose to implement the creation competencies and association of them with a learning objective and an assignment in our GAVS LMS, BrightSpace. None of the courses I teach at GAVS ever have learning objectives associated with the assignments and there are no competencies either. A a teacher, we've never been taught how to do this. I learned it would take an inordinate amount of time to do this activity for each assignment every semester, so I hope that, should this information be required in the future, the GAVS master course would include this type of documentation.

I decided to use an old course from Fall 2015 to explore this new skill. I selected the following standard and its strands from the Georgia Standards:

Interpretive Mode of Communication (INT) 

MLIV.INT1 The students comprehend spoken and written language on new and familiar topics presented through a variety of media in the target language, including authentic materials. The students: 

A. Identify main ideas, supporting details and various elements, such as plot, theme, setting, and characters, from a variety of texts. 

B. Understand some subtleties of meaning, such as intent, humor, and tone, in a variety of level-appropriate works in the target language that are culturally authentic, such as radio and television segments or literary passages. 

C. Comprehend and react to current events and issues presented through print and electronic media. 

D. Understand simple connected discourse. 

E. Demonstrate Intermediate-Low to Intermediate-Mid proficiency in listening and reading comprehension.

I chose a listening comprehension quiz based on an authentic source as the focus of the assignment to which I would add the competencies. Here are my screenshots of the process:

Once I selected the standard, I created the competencies:

Here is a completed list of the competencies:

Next I created the learning objective:

Finally, I added these elements to an existing quiz that assessed the standards I selected.

Correlating standards with assessments is something that (hopefully) all teachers do for everything that they teach. I know that when I design a unit, I start with the essential question, then I make a list of standards that are being taught. Finally, I design assessments to determine what has been mastered. 

"Evaluate 2.1.1 Data Driven Instruction, Analytics, Reporting Tools" Quest

"Evaluate 2.1.1 Data Driven Instruction, Analytics, Reporting Tools" Quest

An Overview of the Sample Course Provided

Enrollments and Attendance

Detailed description:There are 3 courses named: AP Microeconomics with 1 section and 23 students, Economics with 3 sections and 49 students, and American Government with 2 sections and 43 students. Students are categorized by type of education and information is provided on if the student has completed the orientation course, has dropped the course and if the course has an EOC. The communication log affords teachers the ease of recording notes about calls and emails by type and the submission is recorded by date and time.

Teacher adjustments: Using the information above, teachers can be on the lookout from Special Education Teachers based on if the student is listed as Special Needs. Teachers can remove students from the class email list when a dropped notice is listed. Teachers can contact stakeholders if students have not taken the orientation course in a timely manner. Teachers can peruse the communication log to refresh their memories of incidents that may still need their attention.


Monitoring Course Progress 

Detailed description: Student activity in the course can be viewed via a course tool. Teachers can see when the course is accessed and for how long as well as which assignments and assessments have been submitted.

Teacher adjustments: Using the information above, teachers can send out communication to stakeholders if a student has not logged on consistently or for a long enough duration, has not submitted work consistently, or has not performed consistently.



Students Monitoring Their Own Learning

Detailed description: Students can see all of their grades and feedback, often in synchronous time.

Teacher adjustments: Using feedback, teachers can encourage students and set forth expectations every day, can provide reminders and resources, and can provide remediation as well as differentiation.

"Evaluate 1.1.3 The Summative Assessment" Quest

"Evaluate 1.1.3 The Summative Assessment" Quest

To demonstrate mastery of the ability to read authentic texts, to comprehend authentic audio files, and to write a persuasive essay, students are asked to select a topic within one of the 6 AP French themes. The student researches the topic, collecting one article, one graph and one audio or video file. The student completes a graphic organizer. The student writes a persuasive essay on the topic, integrating references to his/her collected sources. Finally, the student creates a Prezi presentation to showcase the sources and the graphic organizer. The Prezi also includes an embedded narration of the topic with a summary of the sources used. The student submits the Prezi and the persuasive essay to the discussion forum, where they are also required to critique and comment on others' posts.  Below you will see a link to the actual Flipsnack with the directions for the project, a screenshot of the Flipsnack for visual interest :-), and a student Prezi sample.

Link to Flipsnack with Project Directions

Student Sample Prezi

"Evaluate 1.1.2 Quality Feedback" Quest

"Evaluate 1.1.2 Quality Feedback" Quest

Best practices for providing quality feedback should focus on using personalized comments that pinpoint where the student is succeeding as well as where there is room for growth. I generally color code my comments in green to indicate something well done, while items that need attention remain in black and are accompanied by links to video or written explanation or practice exercises relating to the weakness. I keep account of common errors and make an effort to comment when those errors are continuously repeated. Sometimes it can feel like you spend so much time giving pithy feedback and wonder whether it is being used can be disheartening. Most of my students tell me at the end of the semester that they have never received such thorough feedback and that they learn so much from my comments. I am glad to know when they read the comments and visit the links for help. It is often apparent in the subsequent submissions.  

"Evaluate 1.1.1 Formative Assessment" Quest

"Evaluate 1.1.1 Formative Assessment" Quest

Formative Assessment is on-going in the virtual classroom, just as it is in the face to face classroom. The students in the newly revised AP French course at GAVS are provided with in-line learning objects, such as matching games and categorizing activities, that actually encourage them to assess their own learning status. In addition, self-assessments, which are basically ungraded quizzes, are integrated throughout, based on comprehension of reading and listening items.

In my live synchronous sessions, I like to use Quia activities as formative assessments. Here is a screenshot of a Quia activtiy that I use to determine their readiness for the vocabulary section of the final exam:

This is a game that students can play on their own once provided with the link but during the live session, I share my screen and students answer in the chat box. The first student to answer correctly wins a point. I also take note of which students are not answering. This indicates to me who needs extra support and I follow up with individual emails with helpful tips and links to encourage them to study more.