EDU 6990 Reflection One Standard 3

Med. Program Standard 3

Teacher leaders will improve teaching and learning through the use of education research at the classroom, and school levels.

Courses Aligned with Standard:

EDU 6979

EDU 6980

Original Assumptions:

Before coming into the program I did not have much knowledge about research in the
educational setting. In my undergraduate studies I understood the purpose of a study and
how the basic scientific process was. While teaching I found the term to mean something 
different. I have always heard from administrators and other district officials starting a new 
claim with,“research shows…” and continue onto something about a new system being 
implemented that may or may not be effective in the school. From those experiences I have
 not thought of any research highly because of what districtsuse with the information. What I 
did not know was the discovery that researchers go through with its vast data collection,
 literature review, and conclusions they make based on the data.

Learning Experiences:

Over the course of the program I looked at two classes which focused on my learning on
educational research. From EDU 6980: Applying Research in the School Setting I learned
about the critiquing and understanding of research by different researchers and their studies.
In almost all of the readings for the class we have went through there was quite a bit of
information that has helped me learn more about applying action research. The idea of action
research has been shown to be an integral part of improving teaching and reflection (Fishman,
Marx, Best, & Tal, 2003).  For example, the use of action research is a process in which the
teacher identifies a certain problem, creates a solution, implements the said solution, and finally
assess what the outcome would be (Ravid, 2011). From the course I took what I learned and
applied it to a topic For my class it was the idea ofunderstanding a mathematical concept and 
see how a student views it and how they perform on solving equations. Now I have been applying
 it into my classroom by identifying issues that have arisen then researched, implement the strategy
 and look for an increase in assessment. Enclosed is the final from the course on how effective the 
study was and potentially the flaws that may be there.

The other course, EDU 6979: Action Research in the School Settings looks at the idea of
applying action research in the classroom and how it can be useful toward our teaching. The
main goal is to focus on the practice of what I am doing in the classroom and how I could
apply the strategy of action research so I can refine my teaching strategies. The norms and
practices that support professional inquiry have a major impact on student performance
(Reeves, 2010). From the class I wanted to learn how I could create best practices for my
students. We truly expect that every participant will experience success if this theory of action
is implemented as displayed (Sagar, 2011). With that I look at how my students are doing in
the classroom and what I can do to help create a stronger educational experience that my
students can thrive with. The goal of performance is not who is doing it, but, rather how are
they being done (Senge, 1990).

For the class I decided to look at action research with my instructional practices of the

use of iPads. Specifically how the iPads in differentiation had an effect on the my students’
math assessment scores. I used last previous years scores as a baseline to show how I taught
before using an iPad when I differentiated instruction then tried it again that year with my
students. Overall, there was a positive growth. Now I implement it in my classroom whenever
I differentiate the instruction and work with groups of students. Enclosed is the findings I found
while using action research in my classroom.

Value of Experiences

From all these experiences I have learned quite a bit. The two biggest ones are the use of action
research and the use of analyzing research. From the action research I have learned how to
properly implement it into my classroom and be able to analyze the data of it. With the goal to
see whether or not it should be useful to continue with or does there need to be any
modifications. With critiquing actual research I can tell what has been good research versus
what is not. That bit of knowledge can help with creating new strategies that can be effective
when implementing them into my classroom. Overall I found these classes to be very effective
in my understanding of different types of research and their purpose.

Sources Cited:

Fishman, B. Marx, R.,Best, S., & Tal R. (2003). Linking teacher and student learning to improve
professional development in systematic reform. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International
Journal of Research and Studies, 19, 643-658.

Ravid, R. (2011). Practical Statistics for Educations (4th ed.). Landham MD: Rowman & Littlefield
Publishers, Inc.

Reeves, D. (2010). Collaborative action research for professional learning communities. Bloomington,
IN: Solution Tree.

Sagor, R. (2011). The Action Research Guidebook: A Four-Stage Process for Educators and School
Teams. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Seng, P.M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art of practice of the learning organization. New York:
Houghton Mifflin.

EDTC Blog Post #5

Question: What online formats could I use to help create collaborative projects in mathematics.

I enjoy finding innovative methods to help my students learn mathematics. There are plenty 
of methods to do so. Many of which are inquiry-based or direct instruction-based. One 
method I want to use in class is for students to work together in order to solve challenging, 
non-routine problems that has students applying a plethora of concepts from the course. 
I also want my students to work with others in my class or from the school. I also hope for 
them to work with other students around the world.

To answer my query I looked for different multimedia tools that can help students on 
collaborating  with others. In my opinion one of the best tools has been a whiteboard. 
In my class it has been used for students to visualize a problem where others can add 
to it with their own dry erase marker and work constructively toward a solution. I want to 
know if there are programs that allowed it to work. I found two: Twiddla and Aww.The first, 
Twiddla is an online interactive whiteboard. The website gives this information:

It does gives you a chance to test the premium version as you see below allows for:

• Multiple people working at once.
• Uploads of documents that are in docx and pdf.
• Add in shapes and colors.
• Allows for tablet to computer compatibility

Major issues I see are the lack of text support. There isn’t a textbox on the page to put on. 
There is a chat feature. For the computer use it is hard to draw. It does have a bit of a learning 
curve. The layout isn’t user-friendly.

This brings the next virtual collaborative tool, AWW. It is a virtual whiteboard  and with a certain 
code to access it, students can work together.

It has the same features as Twiddla plus:

• Teachers can access it.
• Teachers can create problems for certain students to solve. Which is great for differentiation.
• Can be used as formative assessments

Even though it is user-friendly there are still issues with the computer because the mouse isn’t
as useful as the tablet.

My district is thinking about using the AWW app since they were looking for a collaborative tool.
 I will definitely have to try this out if the district does decide to use this tool.

EDTC Blog Post #4

Question: What problem-solving tools online can be used to help my students learn?

Teaching math I push to teach problem-solving whenever applicable. To get students to think 
about reasoning our district uses the system called, “Number Talks”. The website shows examples
 in elementary to middle school, but it can go all the way to high school. I have used it a few times 
each year since we adopted it. The program is great for students to learn about others thinking and 
opens them up to new ideas. I highly recommend that teachers of all grade levels use this strategy 
or something similar to teach reasoning. The sooner the better so the students can master more 
difficult reasoning strategies when they get to algebra, geometry, and algebra two.

With technology being introduced into the classroom it has let me work with students in a 
differentiated approach to help them with their problem-solving abilities no matter what level of 
reasoning they may have. What I wanted to find are apps or websites that could help me teach 
problem-solving strategies, Vanessa found a good resource that is applicable toward a multitude 
of different classes. The resource, “Curriki” provides teachers with modules comprising of:

• Introduction to Computational Thinking
• Decomposition
• Pattern Recognition
• Abstraction and Pattern Generalization
• Algorithm Design

All of these different modules are good sources of professional development. From the website it 
says that each module contains:

• One or more short videos containing content about the topic, the role it plays in Computational
  Thinking and practical implementation methods in the classroom
• A “Take Home Messages” guide to the video(s)
• A printable/downloadable Self-Evaluation and Answer Key to check your understanding
• A collection of vetted resources—links to open source teacher- and student-facing activities

A good resource for elementary teachers to teach problem-solving through fun, enrichment apps is 
from the website, “firgur8”. It gets students to think about non-routine problems with games that get 
the students engaged. My question didn’t really get answered for my specific subjects or grade level, 
but I found more resources that would be helpful for the elementary and middle school teachers 
looking for enrichment activities that will help students learn about problem-solving.