Middle is Mighty

The Seven Steps Overall, I think the process of proposing the use of Otus has been thought provoking and a confidence booster. When I say confidence booster, I mean that it has given me the tools I need in order to meet the needs of all of my students. I felt like I was under serving many of my students this past year because our curriculum was not differentiated. By having the time to get to know Otus, I feel empowered and knowledgeable about the tools it features. I am very excited to see what Otus is going to be able to do next year. I think it has so much potential not only for differentiating assessments, but also for formative assessments, warm ups, polls, discussions, and creating differentiated lessons. My goal is to first focus on assessments and learn how to create them well. Then, I will use Otus for more activities in my classroom. Gif from Giphy The most positive aspect of this journey was actually beginning the process to implement Otus with my science departme...

Choosing a Problem: In the beginning of my course on instructional design, I struggled a bit to figure out a problem to propose a solution to. I was thinking more broad in terms of what issues could be solved with technology within the whole school. Being a newer teacher, I think I will have more knowledge of this after more time at Marquardt Middle School. So to make things easier and more applicable to my teaching, I thought about issues on a smaller scale. After adopting a new science curriculum this past year, the science department came up with the goal to better differentiate assessments for students. The assessments presented in our curriculum are wordy, application problems. Many students in our district are not reading at grade level or have accommodations that need to be met. Assessments became a clear issue after students took the very first test. Throughout the year, I tried my best to modify tests by rewriting the online tests by hand, figuring out how to format them in...

As this course comes to an end, I have quite a bit of reflecting to do. I feel as though I am leaving with a multitude of different tech resources that I was not exposed to before. I want to hit the ground running and implement as many as I can, but I know that is not practical for many different reasons. In my opinion, the most difficult aspect of incorporating tech into a classroom is figuring out which tech would increase engagement rather than decrease it. In my experience, students at our school love using their computers to play games, or are engaged at the wrong times. For example, during the first five minutes of class, I have students complete an opening routine that consists of taking out needed materials, answering a warm up question, and then getting to the correct spot to start class, which could mean opening their computer to a site. After this, I always have kids tilt their laptops down because if I don't, I notice them looking at their screens while I am talkin...

It is true what they say: time flies when you are having fun! It is hard to believe that my STEAM course is already half-way over because it feels like just yesterday it began! I feel as though I have already learned a great amount that can be used to improve my teaching and classroom environment . I have already tried to implement a few of the tools we have used in class, as well as be conscious of how I am getting kids to engage in the classroom content. I feel as though without having tools and tricks in the front of your mind, one is missing out on providing an environment conducive to growth. Teachers, just as much as students, need to apply knowledge on a daily basis. One new piece of knowledge or tool I have learned from this course is how to increase student collaboration in the classroom. This is important for students because collaboration is a skill they will be using throughout their lives in different aspects/settings. To increase student collaboration, there were a...