Sunday, October 18, 2015
Week Four Discussion Two
After re-reading my blog posts, I feel that I can add "over-achiever" and "over-analytical" to my knowledge of me. Now, most people would see that as a negative description of oneself, but honestly, I like those qualities in me. I always strive for the best of the best that I can do and then I go back and re-analyze my decisions and my work to death before submitting or agreeing with myself on a final product. I have found that as a teacher, that helps me because I am extremely well-organized and have planned for many different possible scenarios of a lesson before it pans out, so that if failure occurs (and failure is always an option), I have something to fall back on. Those can also be bad qualities because as a teacher, I tend to want everything to be "perfect" and that just isn't possible or even practical to wish. There are two sides to every coin, especially if that coin is me.
As for adding to my knowledge of teaching in my content area, I have found that a little bit goes a long way and the more technology I integrate into my lessons, the better my students achieve. They are the technology generation, so why not play to their strengths (even if it means I have to learn a few new things)? I have found that with ASL, technology is a necessity, but it can be a wonderful tool and I intend to expand my use with it as I grow as a teacher.
I may make mistakes, but I can only learn from them and get better as I go. :-)
As for adding to my knowledge of teaching in my content area, I have found that a little bit goes a long way and the more technology I integrate into my lessons, the better my students achieve. They are the technology generation, so why not play to their strengths (even if it means I have to learn a few new things)? I have found that with ASL, technology is a necessity, but it can be a wonderful tool and I intend to expand my use with it as I grow as a teacher.
I may make mistakes, but I can only learn from them and get better as I go. :-)
Week Four Discussion One
Technology Standards Self-Assessment
I found two .pdf files on the ISTE website:
However, the second file actually says "NETS" in it, so I am basing my response on that one instead of the first one.
I have achieved the following NETS-T standards:
1A, 1B, 2A, 2C, 2D, 3B, 3C, 4A, 4B, 4C, 5A, 5C, 5D, 6B, 6C, 6D, 6E
I still need to achieve the following standards:
2B, 2E, 3A, 3D, 5B, 6A
My long-term plan for achieving all of these standards is to do research on the technology and resources that really are available to me on my own (and frequently) instead of only relying on my district and/or administration to provide me with information and training. Communication is not very strong between my site and the district, especially in regard to technological advances and training, so I will be more proactive as I work and plan in order to effectively and efficiently incorporate all technological possibilities into my content area. My content area uses a lot of technology already (we kind of have to in order to effectively assess expressive production of the language), but I do not delve much into ethical practices or safety in addition to research and expansion of technology and so I will learn more about those in order to incorporate them into my daily lessons.
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Week Three Discussion Two
Assessments and grading link continuously, especially in my content area (ASL). Even if the grade is a "mental" one (meaning, observations, mental notes, etc.) or a participation grade, assessments are done all the time in ASL, both formally and informally. It is really the only way to accurately assess if our students are understanding and appropriately using the target language and culture. And because learning this foreign language can be a fast-moving process, assessments (and grading assessments) are a crucial part to ensuring our lesson and teaching plans are best following the needs of our students.
As for how assessments and grading link, they work hand-in-hand. Assessments determine how we grade our students and the grades our students earn determine how we assess our students in the future. This is really where authentic assessments come in. If we don't utilize authentic assessments to assess our students, then our grading is not authentic - it cannot portray an accurate account of how well our students are learning. If our grading is not authentic, then any future assessments cannot be either because they are then inappropriately focused. That is why it is important to utilize authentic assessments as often as possible, even though it requires more effort and planning on our parts. For our kids, it's worth it.
As for how assessments and grading link, they work hand-in-hand. Assessments determine how we grade our students and the grades our students earn determine how we assess our students in the future. This is really where authentic assessments come in. If we don't utilize authentic assessments to assess our students, then our grading is not authentic - it cannot portray an accurate account of how well our students are learning. If our grading is not authentic, then any future assessments cannot be either because they are then inappropriately focused. That is why it is important to utilize authentic assessments as often as possible, even though it requires more effort and planning on our parts. For our kids, it's worth it.
Week Three Discussion One
Authentic Assessment refers to assessments given to students (mostly written by teachers or departments) that accurately represent students' knowledge and abilities in a specific content area or topic. Unlike blanket assessments that are often multiple choice or labeled as "written for every student", authentic assessments give a more accurate picture of how well a student is comprehending and appropriately using the material.
Effective teachers in my content area utilize authentic assessments on a constant basis. Because our foreign language (ASL) is a very visual and intricate language that is interpreted from English and NOT translated (meaning, you don't really have sing-word pairs - everything has to be understood in order to be put into the target language and vice versa), we have to use authentic assessments for basically every assessment if we are to get any idea on whether our students are learning the material and understanding the language. We very rarely use multiple choice tests. Most of our assessments are fill in the blank or whole sentence translations (for receptive assessments). For expressive assessments, students individually work to create, write, rehearse, memorize, and film a specific text or concept. We have very specific rubrics that students are to follow that have been compiled by all of the ASL teachers in the district (and modified slightly over the years). This helps us to assess them on every specific and minute detail of producing the language in order to help us pinpoint weaknesses and work on those with our students.
Effective teachers in my content area utilize authentic assessments on a constant basis. Because our foreign language (ASL) is a very visual and intricate language that is interpreted from English and NOT translated (meaning, you don't really have sing-word pairs - everything has to be understood in order to be put into the target language and vice versa), we have to use authentic assessments for basically every assessment if we are to get any idea on whether our students are learning the material and understanding the language. We very rarely use multiple choice tests. Most of our assessments are fill in the blank or whole sentence translations (for receptive assessments). For expressive assessments, students individually work to create, write, rehearse, memorize, and film a specific text or concept. We have very specific rubrics that students are to follow that have been compiled by all of the ASL teachers in the district (and modified slightly over the years). This helps us to assess them on every specific and minute detail of producing the language in order to help us pinpoint weaknesses and work on those with our students.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Week Two Discussion Two
When I first started teaching, I wasn't really a fan of warm-up activities because I couldn't really find one that worked for ALL of my kids or that was something they all could enjoy. After a little over a year of experience now teaching ASL, I have found the perfect warm-up activity that we do once a week, the day before the weekly Friday quizzes (so, Thursdays). It's always review based on the new vocabulary they have learned that week (as there are over 100 new vocabulary words and phrases they have to learn every few weeks, the constant review is necessary and helpful).
Students already have designated "shoulder partners" (that I chose) and groups of 4 (that they picked themselves), so depending on the amount of vocabulary in the warm-up, they may be in either pairs or groups of 4. Regardless, each group gets one set of vocabulary cards. Half of the cards are signs (written in English) and the other half of the cards are images of them being signed. When the bell rings, the students know that that's when the timer starts. They have to work with their group to pair up all of the vocabulary words with their signs (correctly) as quickly as possible and lay them out, face up, on their desks. When they think they are correct, they raise their hands, and I sign to them their time (e.g., 2:04). [If it's a period where one of my TAs is there, I have the TAs sign the times to the groups so I can walk around as they work on making the vocabulary pairs]. The faster they can pair them all correctly, the more "beads" they get (the beads are participation points, which are a grade each unit). Each minute that passes is a bead less. When most or all of the groups are done (they all usually finish within the same 1-2 minutes), I come around and check them for accuracy. If they are all correct, they get all the beads possible for their time. If they are not, I tell them how many are incorrectly paired or sometimes tell them to look again at a particular row on their desks to help them find the error and then they have another chance to get them correct. If they find the error and fix it, they still get all the beads possible for their time. If they do not before the warm-up is over, they still get all the beads minus just one. (I found out very quickly that if I DIDN'T take any away for inaccuracy, they just paired up anything to get the fastest time.)
Once the warm up is over, I have them all hold up their "trouble cards" (words they had difficulty pairing) and we quickly go over them before moving onto the day's lesson. I have found that it is not only successful because it's a fun game, but it also is a competition - something they CRAVE in my class. It's also an awesome activity because I can use the cards in other ways. I have them play Memory with them, I have them create stories in ASL with them, and I sometimes even use them for pair quizzes by giving them a phrase in English and having them create the phrase in ASL using the image cards. It's a great activity and they are re-usable every year! :-)
Students already have designated "shoulder partners" (that I chose) and groups of 4 (that they picked themselves), so depending on the amount of vocabulary in the warm-up, they may be in either pairs or groups of 4. Regardless, each group gets one set of vocabulary cards. Half of the cards are signs (written in English) and the other half of the cards are images of them being signed. When the bell rings, the students know that that's when the timer starts. They have to work with their group to pair up all of the vocabulary words with their signs (correctly) as quickly as possible and lay them out, face up, on their desks. When they think they are correct, they raise their hands, and I sign to them their time (e.g., 2:04). [If it's a period where one of my TAs is there, I have the TAs sign the times to the groups so I can walk around as they work on making the vocabulary pairs]. The faster they can pair them all correctly, the more "beads" they get (the beads are participation points, which are a grade each unit). Each minute that passes is a bead less. When most or all of the groups are done (they all usually finish within the same 1-2 minutes), I come around and check them for accuracy. If they are all correct, they get all the beads possible for their time. If they are not, I tell them how many are incorrectly paired or sometimes tell them to look again at a particular row on their desks to help them find the error and then they have another chance to get them correct. If they find the error and fix it, they still get all the beads possible for their time. If they do not before the warm-up is over, they still get all the beads minus just one. (I found out very quickly that if I DIDN'T take any away for inaccuracy, they just paired up anything to get the fastest time.)
Once the warm up is over, I have them all hold up their "trouble cards" (words they had difficulty pairing) and we quickly go over them before moving onto the day's lesson. I have found that it is not only successful because it's a fun game, but it also is a competition - something they CRAVE in my class. It's also an awesome activity because I can use the cards in other ways. I have them play Memory with them, I have them create stories in ASL with them, and I sometimes even use them for pair quizzes by giving them a phrase in English and having them create the phrase in ASL using the image cards. It's a great activity and they are re-usable every year! :-)
Week Two Discussion One
The sources provided
unfortunately don’t have much in the way of resources for ASL except for a ton
of songs interpreted into ASL (by what appears to be a hearing teacher or
interpreter), which though useful for a few things in the upper level ASL
classes, isn’t much use to me in my lower level classes. However “regular”
YouTube has a plethora of useful videos by Deaf people that work great with the
content I teach in my ASL classes. The video I chose is by Rob
Nielson, a popular Deaf teacher, where he has written an example of an ABC
Story in ASL. There are six types of stories in ASL and one of them is known as
an ‘ABC Story’, where an entire short story is told using handshapes that are
formed with the letters of the alphabet in order from A to Z (and sometimes
backward too). Because it is one of the most popular types of stories and the
easiest to create yourself, I have my students create their own. Therefore, I
not only model one for them ‘live’ that I wrote, I also show them a handful of
others by Deaf authors and instructors. This is one of my favorites because of
the Non-Manual Signals (facial expressions and body languages) that he uses –
something beginning signers struggle with. They don’t realize how much they use
them when they talk and so, when they sign, they think so hard about doing them
that they forget to let it naturally happen. So, this video is good for showing
that naturally happening as the ABC Story is told. This story is about chess
and I encourage you to watch it, even if you don’t know ASL, because I bet you
will understand most of it. THAT’S how expressive it is and that is why it is
such a good resource for teaching this concept in ASL.
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