PLN

Developing a PLN is valuable because it provides mediums, other than formal seminars and training, for professional development. With the communication tools and private communities available on the internet, one can receive quality information for free. Examples of these communication tools that I used in my PLN were a virtual meeting room, Blogger, and Twitter. Utilizing these tools allowed me to learn about various classroom strategies and to learn how my colleagues view issues such as cell phones in the classroom and online learning. My PLN also allows me to share my thoughts and ideas out with other educational professionals.

Another PLN activity that I participated in was contributing a post to the NBEAConnect Ning. This was convenient since I attended the 2011 NBEA Annual Convention. A link to my post can be found here. In this activity, I learned what true integration was and also learned some techniques for incorporating academic integration into the classroom.

Additionally, I attended an NBEA session. This was also convenient since I was in New Orleans for the Annual Convention. One session I attended was “Create Excitement in the Classroom!” presented by Dr. Linda Hefferin, Professor of Management, Elgin Community College and Mrs. Heidi Eaton, Associate Professor of Office Administrative Technology, Elgin Community College. From this session, I learned several teaching strategies that engage students and make the classroom more fun. Some of these strategies are:

• Onion Peel
• Crossword Connect
• Beach Ball
• Where Do You Stand?


Onion Peel
All students are given a strip of paper and instructed to write a question on the strip of paper. The instructor then randomly collects the strips of paper, crumbling up the first one and then wrapping the next strip around the previous strip. The end product should be a ball of paper strips that resembles an onion.

One student starts with the ball of paper and peels off the outer strip of paper, reads and answers the question aloud. That student then throws the ball of paper to another student who then peels off the out strip of paper, reads and answers the question aloud. This process continues until the paper “onion” is peeled apart.

Crossword Connect
A topic heading is written on the board. Students are instructed to write words that associate with that topic heading in a crossword puzzle fashion. Students can build off of words other than the topic heading. The example below started with the word “PRESENTATION” displayed vertically and the class built the crossword from that word.

Beach Ball
Questions are written on a beach ball. Students throw the beach ball to one another. When the ball is caught the student reads and answers the question that their left hand is on. That student then throws the beach ball to another student.

Where Do You Stand?
Ten position markers are placed around the room and numbered from 1 to 10.



Students are given a prompt such as: “Salespeople are born, not made.” The students must then move to the marker in the classroom that matches their feelings toward the prompt. 10 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree. Each student must then explain their stance.

These active learning strategies can be used as a review activity before a test, as a close to a lesson, or as an instructional activity. These strategies also help develop the students’ critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration skills.

Furthermore, I listened Mr. Ken Robinson gave a speech at a TED conference in October, 2010 on “Changing Education Paradigms”. In his speech he talked about, for the most part, how schools over emphasize convergent thinking. He mentions that students are told that there is often only one answer to questions and problems. Mr. Robinson also states that after years and years of students only thinking in logical, “inside the box” ways, they are unable to make a shift to think creatively and critically, looking at problems and issues from all angles.

I agree with Mr. Robinson that some schools and some teachers only focus on the textbook’s answers and do not accept any variation. However, there are also schools and teachers who focus on project-based learning, problem-based learning, and active learning strategies. These teaching techniques help foster students’ creativity skills, critical thinking skills, and collaboration skills. An ill structured scenario can be developed for any course and given to the students to analyze and work their way through. This requires students to deal with constraints, take multiple perspectives into account, and develop multiple solutions.

Learning Center 2

Learning Center 2: Marketing & Sales

This learning center focuses on the sales process. The learning center lists the eight steps of the sales process which were taught in the latest unit. That part of the learning center was used as a visual during instruction on the eight steps of the sales process. Also included in the learning center is a section on consumer promotion and visual merchandising and display. In the near future, the students will be taking a trip to the Susquehanna Valley Mall where they will need to complete an evaluation of various types of displays, store entrances, consumer promotion, signage, store layout, and a sales demonstration. Upon returning from the mall, the students will write examples of consumer promotion and visual merchandising and displays that they witnessed at the mall on the sticky note under the proper heading. As the students write their examples on the learning center, they must also explain that piece of the mall experience with their classmates. Assessment of student learning through the learning center is done via observation of students writing their examples on the learning center, students explaining their experience with the class, and formal grading of the mall evaluation forms that students will be given.

Young Students and Online Learning

Online learning is not a fix-all solution. Whether the classroom is physical or virtual, there will always be high achieving students and not so high achieving students. Compared to the physical classroom, online classrooms face the same hurdles along with a new challenge. Three issues that need to be addressed regarding online classrooms are:
1. Gaining and retaining student interest and focus.
2. Motivating students.
3. Teaching students to work independently and use the Internet responsibly.
In the perfect world each individual student would receive a customized project, topic, and environment that would enable them to perform and learn at 100% of their ability, but developing a custom learning plan for each student is impractical if not impossible. If a student is not interested in a subject, the use of virtual devices, tools, applications, or resources would not make much of a difference. Sure the virtual devices, tools, applications, and resources are cool and interesting, but the subject is still boring. If a student is not interested in a subject, they will get distracted and lose focus. Once focus is lost, it is far too easy for the student to open a new window and check Facebook, shop online, or play games when they should be working on an assignment.
Students might be more motivated to “attend” school in online classrooms simply because they do not have to physically commute to and walk into the school building, but they can still be mentally absent in an online classroom. Just because they are electronically logged-in does not mean they are mentally focused and ready to learn. Students can simply “go through the motions” in an online classroom as they do in a physical classroom. In addition, the lack of physical one-on-one contact between teacher and student may hinder the student’s motivation to complete an assignment. Sure webcam communication is available, but its effectiveness is not the same as the teacher standing right next to the student in a physical classroom. Physically attending a live concert is a much different experience than watching that same concert performed live on YouTube.
For the use of online classrooms to be fully effective, students would need to mature and be able to use the internet independently and responsibly. The ability to work independently and the concept of net citizenship would of course need to be taught in school, but can these skills be taught and refined through a virtual classroom, when distractions are only a double-click away?
Online learning is a good supplement to physical classroom learning, but it is not currently fit to replace the physical classroom entirely.

Cell Phones & Learning

Yes, cell phones should be used in the learning process.
1. Students have an interest in and enjoy using their cell phones. Educators can capture that interest and enjoyment by using cell phones as an instructional tool.
http://www.scrippsnews.com/node/22695

2. Students are familiar with the concept of a cell phone and know how to use/navigate their phones. The program, software, application to be used with the cell phone may need to be taught to the students, but no instructional time is needed to teach the operations of the cell phone. http://www.helium.com/items/1862166-cell-phones-in-education

3. Cell phones are versatile and can be used in many ways to enhance and support the learning process, e.g., calculator, take photos of notes on board, take photos of applications/examples of content outside the classroom, and ability to research information without computer access.
http://thinkingmachine.pbworks.com/w/page/22187713/Think-Mobile-Phones-for-Learning

Peer Review

The video peer review was very valuable. It allowed feedback to be given and received without the pressures and consequences of a formal observation or evaluation. The videos also provide insight to what resources our peers have available to them and what their classroom environments look like. We get a snapshot of what other schools have to offer.

The positive feedback from the video review identified strengths that I overlook and helped increase my satisfaction and build my confidence. The negative feedback was given in a very nonthreatening way. It is easier to accept criticism from peers because they are going through the same experiences at the same time.

Students peer reviewing one another’s work allow the students to evaluate themselves compared to their peers. It also allows the student to take an authoritative role and evaluate their peers’ work compared to the given performance expectations. Students have a good connection and understanding of one another. As a result, the feedback from peer might be accepted more easily that if it came from the instructor. In the classroom, students should be encouraged to ask for and provide one another with assistance regarding technology issues. They should also be encouraged and required to seek and give feedback to one another regarding the clarity, design, layout, and overall quality of assignments and projects. Students can review one another’s work using the same rubric that the teacher will use to ensure that all components are met before the “final” evaluation occurs.

Learning Center 1: Introduction to Web Page Design

This learning center is a reference guide for writing html code.  An html code reference guide is necessary since there is no html textbook for the students to use. The learning center is saved as a webpage and is located in the student drive on the school’s network.  The learning center includes major html code concepts that are taught throughout the course.  During instruction, the learning center is used as a visual to introduce code functions, start tags, attributes, and end tags.  This reference guide provides students with a simple, uncongested view of individual pieces of code.  When students forget a particular piece of code while working on a class assignment or project, they look up the piece of code in the learning center.  Assessment of student learning through the learning center is done via observation of students having the learning center open and formal grading of daily assignments and projects.    

 Web
Page Design

Quick Reference Guide

Structure Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
HTML File	<html>		</html>
File Header	<head>		</head>
File Title	<title>		</title>
Body	<body>	bgcolor="color"	</body>
		text="color"
		link="color"
		alink="color"
		vlink="color"
Formatting Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
Heading	<h1-6>	align="left/right/center/justify"	</h1-6>
Paragraph	<p>	align="left/right/center/justify"	</p>
Line Break	<br />
Horizontal Rule	<hr>
Bold	<strong>		</strong>
Italic	<em>		</em>
Form Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
HTML Form	<form>	alt="alternative text displayed"	</form>
		method="get/post"
		action="url to send data to"
Input Information	<input>	type="checkbox/image/password/radio/text"	</input>
		name="name of input"
Drop-down List	<select>	option="available option(s) in list"	</select>
Multi-line Text Input Control	<textarea>	name="name of textarea"	</textarea>
Push Button	<button>	name="name of button"	</button>
		type="button/reset/submit"
Frame Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
Set of Frames	<frameset>	src="url of source"	</frameset>
		name="name of frame"
One Frame in a Set	<frame />	name="name of frame"
		target="_blank/_self/_parent/_top"
		src="url shown in frame"
		rows="number of rows"
Inline Frame	<iframe>	src="url of iframe"
		name="name of iframe>
Image Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
Image	<img>	src="url of image"	</img>
		alt="alternative text displayed"
		width="pixels"
		height="pixels"
Link Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
Anchor	<a>	href="url to link"	</a>
		target="_blank/_self/_parent/_top"
		name="location"
List Tags
Function	Start Tag	Attributes	End Tag
Unordered List	<ul>	type="disc/circle/square"	</ul>
Ordered List	<ol>	type="1/I/A/a/i"	</ol>
List Item	<li>		</li>

 

A Blog to Follow

Teacher Beat - http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/

Stephen Sawchuk is a former federal education beat writer.  In this blog, he interprets and explains the policies and politics that affect teacher preparation, teacher contracts, and teacher evaluation.

I selected this blog because it appears to be one of the least sided.  The author also provides several references for the reader to obtain more information on the topics discussed. 

D.C. Contemplates Different Teaching Standards  http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/teacherbeat/2011/01/dc_different_teacher_evaluatio.html

This post states that Washington D.C.’s mayor, Vincent C. Gray, has concerns about the city’s IMPACT teacher evaluation scale.  The mayor mentions that IMPACT does not take student/school characteristics into consideration when evaluating teachers across the city.  Mayor Gray points out that teaching in a school located in the Northwestern part of the city is not the same as teaching in a school located in the Southeastern part of the city.  The atmosphere of the communities and schools are completely different.  Things such as past performance and poverty can affect a teacher’s evaluation ratings.  As a result, how can teachers from both school atmospheres be evaluated on the same scale?

Sawchuk points out that IMPACT actually has a device that factor in student/school characteristics, when evaluating teacher effectiveness; although, this device isn’t perfect.  Sawchuk also brings up the questions of whether the teachers’ union would support an evaluation system that is not consistent across the city.

The quality of school resources and facilities along with the resources that students bring to the classroom has a huge impact on how effective a teacher can be.  It is difficult to teach students who are absent, malnourished, or of ill health. It is difficult to teach 21^st century technology without 21^st century technology in the classroom.  All teachers cannot be evaluated on the same scale.

Assessment 2.0

The current practices of formal state assessment are ineffective and outdated.  Multiple choice tests only test what students know, not what they can do. In addition, students receive feedback months after taking the current assessments, making the feedback useless.  There are more effective forms of assessment which can be used to track student learning and teacher/school accountability.  

This Assessment 2.0 will consist of smart technology which can adapt testing to fit individualized students.  It will test critical thinking and problem-solving skills needed to be successful and competitive in the 21^st century.  Results of Assessment 2.0 will show whether students possess the cognitive ability to enter college or the workforce.

I support the Common Core standards.  If all 50 states implement these standards, students from across the country can be evaluated on the same scale.  The publication of state-wide test results causes school districts to reform their teaching practices so they can become more competitive in the state.  This same theory can be applied to nation-wide testing.

On paper, the Assessment 2.0 seems to solve the problem of common assessments for students in all states being both valid and reliable, while adapting testing to fit individualized students.  In practice, however, I’m skeptical that an assessment can be both common and individualized.

The implementation of national science/technology and mathematics standards and assessments can have a big impact on business education. Some courses that may be affected are computer applications, business math, personal finance, and career development. Standards and curriculums may change. BE teachers may be pushed to plan lessons much more efficiently – ensuring that the adequate width and depth of content is covered by the time of assessment.     

The First Days of School

It is critical to pour a strong foundation on the first days of school.  Connecting with the students, establishing classroom policies and procedures, and setting the pace and expectations of the class early create a solid base to build a successful school year.

Some tips for the first days of school are be prepared to hand out all necessary materials, start class on time, let students voice their questions and concerns about the course, and walk the talk – make sure established rules and procedures are followed throughout the year.

Icebreakers are great activities for the first days of school.  Icebreakers lessen the tension between the teacher and students and the students and one another. 

Classroom Management - http://www.4faculty.org/includes/108r2.jsp

University of Oklahoma Instructional Development Program -http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/firstday.htm