Evaluate 3.1.2 Self-Reflection on Teaching Abilities

This blog is a culmination of all that I've learned as part of the GAVS #eTeacherTOOL Training.  The final step toward my Pursuit of a Classroom in the Cloud is to showcase my teaching abilities within the lens of the virtual classroom.

Looking back over my eight years of teaching in a brick-&-mortar classroom I am grateful for the opportunities I've had to develop my craft and to share with my colleagues in the process.  To expand and enrich my own professional development, I have given number of professional presentations that focus on my passion for tech integration to better engage our 21st Century students.  I am also thankful that I have been on the front end of the EdTech Revolution and have wholeheartedly embraced technology as an indispensable part of my classroom.









In my own #6wordmemoir I express that I was born to teach, live for creativity.  I believe this is at the heart of my teaching as I was always drawn to the profession (even as a little girl) and have a passion for presenting my content in an innovative way.  I am appreciative that my teaching and creativity was recognized in 2013 as I was named the Eastside Social Studies Department Teacher of the Year and in 2012 as a Snapping Shoals Grant Winner for my flipped classroom initiative: Bringing the History Classroom into the 21st Century.

The greatest indicators of my abilities as a virtual teacher are in my digital interactions with students.  Not only do I utilize numerous EdTech tools in my classroom on a regular basis- remind, signupgenius.com, and google sites to name a few- but I am confident in my ability to create engaging digital artifacts and to interact with my students in an online setting.

In all, I am excited about opening a new door in my teaching career as I pursue my own classroom in the cloud.  It is my sincerest hope that I can continue to live out my #6word memoir within the virtual community of GAVS.  Born to teach, live for creativity.

Evaluate 3.1.1 Differentiation

In my previous post on The Summative Assessment, I outlined my APUSH Mock Exams as a means to evaluate student learning.  Below is a pie chart that illustrates student performance on the most recent Mock Exam.  Fourteen students scored in the "A" range, 26 students in the "B" range, 19 in the "C" range, and 4 student in the "F" range.  The average score on this assessment was an 80.  Of my 63 APUSH students, 48 of those students are identified as Gifted & Talented.  Finally, with no students this year having IEP's or 504 Modifications, so no testing accommodations were necessary.

This particular Mock Exam included three sections: multiple choice questions, short answer questions, and a long essay question.   On the individual level, I utilized this data to identify students for remediation and small group sessions that focus on specific skills- ie: thesis paragraph development and focused multiple choice practice.  While these focused learning paths are more appropriate for students struggling with certain skills, all students benefit from our whole group debrief of the exam data, including item analysis and corrections.

Moving forward, it is expected that students continue to show improvement in their mock exam score based on the individual and whole group feedback provided.  High caliber work and exam scores are an expectation of a college level AP course and students understand this expectation when they sign up for the class.  Students also appreciate that the Mock Exams are prognostic of their performance on the National AP Exam in May and maximize the data and differentiated feedback to their advantage.

Evaluate 2.1.2 Rubrics & Competencies

Competency based learning is a method that allows for student flexibility and for integration of technology rich assignments.  Rather than students waiting on the teacher's pacing, competency education encourages students to move at their own pace and to advance upon mastery.  In this model, teachers become guides and facilitators of content rather than the deliverer of lectures.

To illustrate the Competency Learning Structure within the e-learning setting, I created the example below for an 11th Grade US History course:

GPS SSUSH11: The student will describe the economic, social, and geographic impact of the growth of big business and technological innovations after Reconstruction. 

• Explain the impact of the railroads on other industries, such as steel, and on the organization of big business
• Describe the impact of the railroads in the development of the West; include the transcontinental railroad, and the use of Chinese labor.
• Construct a Webb Diagram or Mind Map that outlines the impact of railroads on the expansion of the economy and society
• Identify John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company and the rise of trusts and monopolies
• Create a 'Flesh it Out' graphic for John D. Rockefeller

• Describe the inventions of Thomas Edison; include the electric light bulb, motion pictures, and the phonograph, and their impact on American life
•  Current Event Analysis Paper that describes and connects the impact of ONE of Thomas Edison's inventions on American life.

Commentary:
Because US History is an EOC course, I designed my competency structure based on the Georgia Performance Standards.  Students would work through a variety of assignments and tasks to master the competency requirements of this particular standard.  At the end of the competency, students would then take a test that incorporates both multiple choice and constructed response elements in preparation for the EOC.

Included in the structure sample above are assignments students can complete to show mastery of the competency and its associated learning objectives.  An alternative means to attain this competency is through the use of a Choice Board.  For example, a Menu Board or Think-Tac-Toe would be a great method for incorporating student choice and differentiation as part of the competency based learning model.

Evaluate 2.1.1 Data Driven Instruction, Analytics, & Reporting Tools

In the last few years I have served as both the US History Content Leader (an ambassador-like position between our BOE and my school) and the Social Studies Department Chair.  In both capacities, I have been very involved in reviewing and reporting data as a means to drive instruction at the classroom, school, and district levels.  In a virtual setting, my background in analytics would serve as a good foundation to the vast amounts of information available for each student within an LMS & Student Information System.

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Below are three descriptions of how reporting tools and analytics could assist virtual teachers as they practice data driven instruction.

Enrollments & Attendance
An important element in data driven instruction is the use of reporting tools for communication purposes.  In the online classroom, communication goes both ways.  First, some reporting tools communicate to the teacher the enrollment information and gives a snapshot of who is "attending" and how they performing.  Second, virtual teachers must utilize this data to contact students and parents as part of ongoing communication in order to encourage academic growth.

Monitoring Course Progress with Observational Data & Analytics
It is paramount that virtual teachers use the observational data tools frequently in order to properly monitor a student's progress within the course.  When considering why a student is not performing well in an online course, this is a great place to start.  Similar to when I used Moodle in my own classroom, I could easily distinguish the students who performed well in the course because they were the same students who spent the most time working through the resources and materials placed on the website.  This information is extremely effective when communicated to stakeholders.

Students Monitoring Their Own Learning
The e-learning setting encourages students to become an autonomous learners in many ways: from the acquisition of information through asynchronous assignments to the access of data tools for progress monitoring.  In order for a student to become a successful self-monitor, the virtual teacher must communicate this expectation as paramount to student success and must also provide quality feedback for students to reflect on.

Evaluate 1.1.3 The Summative Assessment

The goal of a summative assessment is to evaluate student learning at the end of a curricular unit by comparing it against a standard or benchmark.  In my on-level US History class, this translates to a series of 3-4 district level benchmark exams and the state-mandated End of Course exam.  Comparatively, my AP US History students must take the EOC, but also have the opportunity to take the National Exam in May.

Thus, the goal of creating summative assessments in my own classroom is to design authentic tests that mimic very closely the EOC and National APUSH Exams.  Making my classroom assessment as similar to the design and parameters of these two exams proves their validity and relevancy.  Further, to maintain their reliability it is essential to review testing data and to consider each assessment as organic- constantly being analyzed and improved to ensure accurate summation of learning.

While the first two factors in summative assessments- validity and reliability- apply equally to both brick-and-mortar and virtual teachers, the final factor highlights a stark difference.  In the e-learning settings, security takes especially careful thought from the virtual teacher. For my own APUSH classroom in the cloud, I would employ three basic practices to maintain security:

1. Establish a very strict time limit that mocks the AP Exam:  55 Multiple Choice Questions in 60 minutes, 4 Short Answer Questions in 40 minutes, 1 Long Essay Question in about 35 minutes, and 1 Document Based Question in 60 minutes.  Note: I would NOT give a 3 hour mock exam in one online sitting.  Instead I would use the time parameters listed above as guidelines.  For example, a 25 multiple choice exam with 2 short answer questions would take students no more than 50 minutes to complete.
2. Draw from an extensive test bank and give multiple forms of the exam.
3. Display one question per page with limited opportunities to go back to previous questions, maybe even breaking the exam into a few sections.

To maintain my own classroom test integrity, I have opted out of posting sample questions from my own summative exams.  However, to showcase the types of questions that I use to create my assessments, please follow the link below to College Board's Released APUSH Exam: http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/ap-us-history-practice-exam.pdf

Evaluate 1.1.2 Quality Feedback

To show the expectations of quality feedback, I've linked a document I created at the beginning of the school year to discuss with my APUSH students the process of writing Short Answer Questions. 

As a summative assessment, students wrote a series of two Short Answer Questions.  After grading and providing individual feedback, including both areas of strength and weaknesses, I created this document.  The purpose of the document was to provide student samples that meet and exceed the S.A.Q. expectations.  By providing students with individual and class feedback, I was better able to clearly communicate specific steps that students can take in order to continue to improve their APUSH writing skills.

Although this example of feedback was based on an assessment conducted in a brick-and-mortar classroom (hence the hand-written responses), I would definitely use the same process in a virtual classroom.

 Follow this link to see the entire Short Answer Debrief on Google Drive: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B03emQtAiOcyZjMyeFBVSzROV3M/view?usp=sharing

Evaluate 1.1.1 Formative Assessment

Every teacher, whether brick-and-mortar or virtual, should provide opportunities for pre-assessment as a means to identify students' prior knowledge.  There are many options to pre-assess student readiness but my favorite method is a quick mind-mapping or brainstorming session.

Once the pre-assessment has been conducted, teachers must develop instruction and assessment that takes into account diverse student needs and learning styles.  For virtual teachers in particular, this means creating engaging instructional experiences that incorporate formative assessments for every 20-30 minutes of student work time.  Thus, varying the methods of assessment is crucial element in online instruction.

To demonstrate the need for varied formative assessments, I created the three examples below based on the Civil War unit I've been developing over the course of my previous posts.  The topic of focus is Abraham Lincoln's life, role in the Civil War, and legacy.  The assessments below are designed to fit into an AP US History course but could easily be adapted for an on-level course, too.

1. Lincoln Logs: Framing the Lincoln Narrative
After viewing several video narratives of Lincoln's life, students will complete a RAFT Activity in which they must contextualize his role in the Civil War.

ROLE: Digital Museum Curator
AUDIENCE: Civil War Enthusiast
FORMAT: 3 minute, mini-podcast via morphbox, AudioBoo, Vocaroo or another digital recording app
TOPIC: Abraham Lincoln's Role in the Civil War


2. The Lincoln Collection: Document Analysis
Students will participate in a close reading of four writings/speeches of Lincoln.  After reading excerpts from the documents listed below, students will complete a graphic organizer in which they "talk back" to the text.  In this process, students will annotate in a double entry journal format and will consider audience, purpose, tone, and rhetorical devices.

Excerpts will be taken from the following documents:

• First Inaugural Address
• Gettysburg Address
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Second Inaugural Address

3. Lincoln Memes: Defining His Legacy
Students will be provided with four images in which they must create a meme illustrating Lincoln's legacy.  Students may choose a quote that they believe best encapsulates Lincoln's legacy or may create their own understanding of his legacy (see samples below).  Students will also be given a list of online meme generators/makers and a rubric.