Final Project

Literacy by Design pilot

The purpose for this project is to help me organize and collect the data that I will be gathering this year as I pilot the reading program Literacy by Design by Rigby. I am a third grade teacher and will be working with other third grade teachers as well as other grade level teachers across the district. I would like to use google docs as my tool to collect the data. Last year, the study group I'm was in took notes and and created graphs and charts using google docs. We also took notes using this tool. I think this would be a great tool for the pilot team to try using. I am going to suggest this process to the assisstant superintendent to see if this is something that we could do.

I would like to create some easy tools to collect information. We are all so busy that the simpler the better. I have already created a brief checklist to keep track of how the students at different levels doing. I'm thinking of creating a spread sheet to help keep track of pre and post testing. There should also be a way for the students to respond to this new program. I don't think this project change my teaching practice but it will help me professionally as I will need to continue to use these skills growing more comfortable each day. If the assisstant superintendent agrees to trying something like this, we can use it to communicate on the days we won't be meeting.

Final Reflection

Is it possible to learn so much that you feel your head is going to explode? That's where I am. For the last four days, I have left the class feeling as if I have been through a wind tunnel. My fear is that I am not going to be able to do some of the things that I have learned this week. I hope to be able to continue practicing these skills. It will be difficult to practice as I only have dial up at home. I would like to set aside a certain amount of time each day after school to help me stay fresh.

As I read the blog that I wrote on Monday, I am still going to work on the points in Goal Five from the NETS for Teachers. I want to continue to develop my skills. I will continue to evaluate and reflect on my current level of skills. Through my final final project, I would like to bring some of this new knowledge back to my school and use it with the reading program that I am going to pilot.

How I Will Use RSS for My Professional Growth

I think I would like to use RSS to help me search for information that my students can access for their classroom research. In January, we usually begin working on a biography unit. Each child selects a person to research. In the spring, the class researches a planet and then teaches. I would like to to be able to have access to any new information without having to spend a lot of time searching for it.

For my own professional use, I want to begin using the items that are on my homepage and then add more as I find them. I think I want to search the areas of literacy, math, and science.

Final Project

I think that I would my project to take the professional route. This coming year I am going to pilot Rigby Literacy By Design and I'm thinking that I'd like to try some of this new learning to help me keep track of all the information that I am going to be gathering. It would also be a good way to keep in touch with other teachers, my grade level or not, in my district who will be piloting the same program. Perhaps we can set up some sort of blog, wiki, or use google docs as a way of communicating between the meeting that we are going to need to attend every so often. My thoughts on this are just beginning. I haven't had time to think through everything I may want to do.

Blog Read

I have enjoyed reading several of the Must Read blogs. I found the blog by Maria Knee to be very user friendly. It looks like something that I could actually do. I like the simplicity of the site. There is a brief description of each entry followed by the picture or video. I don't completely remember how to put in pictures and videos but I'm sure that it is something I can easily do.

I found the coolcat to be far too busy for my taste. I wasn't sure how or where to begin reading. It's like trying to read the Magic School Bus books. If you don't decide how to read the pages you lose the story.

I enjoyed the classroom blog site. As a brand new user of this technology, it is very helpful locating blogs that I as a teacher would like to read without having to spend huge amounts of time trying to locate.

Delicious

I think that I want to try using delicious for bookmarking planet sites that my students might want to use when they are researching the planet of their choice. I want to bookmark some sites that I use most often ( professional sites ).The article Tag You're Delicious

Goals for the 2009 - 2010 school year

For the upcoming school year I would like to work on goal five from the NETS for Teachers. Goal five is to engage in professional growth. If at all possible, I would like to allot a certain amount of time to work on my own personal computer skills weekly, which are greatly lacking. Time always seems to be the problem. I need to start by developing my own technology skills. I am constantly evaluating and reflecting on my current teaching practice so now I'll add computer skills to that. I hope to be able to contribute some of my new learning to my school. I hope to be able to work with Kim Flanagin on the local level.


Goal 5 - Engage in Professional Growth

• participate in local /global committees
• develop technology skills
• evaluate and reflect on practice
• contribute to effectiveness of the teaching profession