Category Archives: blogs

Some reflection…

As I am working as a teacher and taking classes for my teaching certification at the same time, I am really overwhelmed and stressed out. With the intensive class modules, I need to become multi-tasking and absorbing new stuff quickly. As I am taking one psychology class and one tech class, I kinda feel that the two hemispheres were separated into Psy part and Tech part. It seems that my schemata cannot be activated at the same time, but with social constructivism, I need to adapt to the environment so that I can survive. Well, I have to say that after twists and turns, I am finally here, and sometimes it is a struggle, but at least, I cherish the opportunity I have and I am moving towards my ultimate goal, becoming an elementary school licensed teacher. Thanks to supports at home, at school, and far afield. I love you all!

By the way, this noon, my ex-colleagues and I were on Apple event website to register Apple training courses for teachers. All of a sudden, within 5 seconds, all coursed are full! I was eager to learn more Apple tech skills as I am a Mac user now, but I was disappointed that all the rooms are occupied. I need to keep updating my knowledge about both Microsoft and Mac systems because no matter where I teach, I need to equip my tech skills with me.

That’s it for today. Good night : )

The SMAR model

As a teacher who majored in curriculum development & instructional technology, I strongly feel that we, as teachers, are always too busy for everyday routines and class prep to keep updated on the technology trends. It’s a pity that we miss the opportunity to use technology to make our lives easier. Therefore, since COVID-19 pandemic began, we need to adjust ourselves to switch to online teaching. It was chaotic at the beginning. It’s good to know the SMAR model when implementing online teaching.

What is SMAR? The SAMR model lays out four tiers of online learning, presented roughly in order of their sophistication and transformative power: substitution, augmentation, modification, and redefinition.

Substitution: means replacing traditional activities and materials—like in-class lectures or paper worksheets—with digital versions. There is no substantial change to the content, just the way that it is delivered.

Augmentation: This level involves incorporating interactive digital enhancements and elements like comments, hyperlinks, or multimedia. The content remains unchanged, but students can now take advantage of digital features to enhance the lesson. EX.digital portfolios and Kahoot

Modification: At this level, teachers can think about using a learning management system like Google Classroom, Moodle, Schoology, or Canvas to handle the logistical aspects of running a classroom, like tracking grades, messaging students, creating a calendar, and posting assignments.

Redefinition: Learning is fundamentally transformed at the “redefinition” level, enabling activities that were previously impossible in the classroom. Ex. Virtual field trips, invite the author to chat about their work and answer questions.

References:

  1. Common Sense Education. (2020, April 29). Introduction to the SAMR Model. https://www.commonsense.org/education/videos/introduction-to-the-samr-model
  2. Terada, Y. (2020, May 5). A Powerful Model for Understanding Good Tech Integration. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/powerful-model-understanding-good-tech-integration

What and how to make assessment?

As I learned types of assessment previously, I would like to share my reflection of what I read through just now.

How does the assessment work? It begins with planning on how will we know learning has occurred, so rubric sand criterion has been created. Then we, teachers, apply different types of assessment to investigate students’ learning outcomes. The questions involves how students demonstrate their learning, what kinds of formative feedback they received, and what steps of learning. Then, what activities enable students to learn? Finally, teachers provide summative feedback to students. After all these compoenets has consisted a cycle, students learn from self reflection and feedback. Then, it comes to goal setting. Next, The other leanrning cycle begains again. During the process of learning take place, we learn based on previous experiences and accumulate the connecting dots to constructive the new knowledge based on the old ones. This is how learning happened. 

Then, Involving students in the assessment process becomes an infulencal issue. One of the best ways to help students understand what will be assessed is to establish the assessment criteria with them. Working with students to develop rubrics and other assessment tools is a powerful way to help students build an understanding of what a good product or performance looks like. It helps students develop a clear picture of where they are going, where they are now and how they can close the gap. This does not mean that each student creates his or her own assessment criteria. The teachers have a strong role to play in guiding students to identify the criteria and features of understandings they want their students to develop.

A second way to involve students in a meaningful way in the construction of assessments is to work with them as a class to identify what good work looks like. What is the difference between strong and weak work? What performance criteria do they think are important? Does everyone understand what to do to attain the expected outcomes? This type of student involvement takes time and teachers may need to encourage students to contribute in meaningful ways.

Last but not least, there are still many competencies that can not be measured by tests or assessments. These traits are as important as learning and academic performance.