Greg

Gregory Panchik Shippensburg Middle School Technology Education Teacher = September 20, 2012 =

Curriculum Questions v What is a fair curriculum? v What standards should be put first? v How fast should teachers go through the curriculum? v Are there core standards for ALL subjects? v What is the Curriculum? v How do you know what to teach?
 * Too much/too little
 * If a student does not get the main concept, do you hold back the class?
 * Do you teach as fast at the students grasp the main concept?
 * PA has the Standards for Technology Literacy, are the all the same for other states?
 * Do you teach to the Test?
 * Do you teach the book? (Science, Math, Social Studies
 * If you do not have a curriculum, what do you teach?

Instruction Questions v What are the best practices? v How can teachers use differentiated instruction when having 400+ Students? v What is the most modern method of providing instruction? v Do we group students to their abilities?
 * Should teachers use what works best for the students?
 * Should teachers use what works best for the environment?
 * Do we use technology?
 * If so, how do we monitor students?
 * How do you assess students that have different learning styles, abilities, and backgrounds without losing educational time?

= September 27, 2012 =

[] [] [] [PPT] Performance Standards - What is Teaching with Purpose
 * Learning Focused School || Both || Understanding By Design ||
 * * ** Tied directly to the best research based strategies. **
 * ** Looking to incorporate the common core standards. **
 * ** Standard driven curriculum. **
 * ** Development of Advanced Organizers for every unit as well as the use of a student learning map. **
 * ** Uses the “know, understand, do” learning maps **
 * ** Theories are research Based. **
 * ** Unit AND lesson essential questions. **
 * ** Uses extended thinking strategies ** || * Ultimate plan is to have students succeed
 * State objective driven.
 * Performance and Assessment based. (Rubrics)
 * Have strong unit goals.
 * Use a “backwards design”
 * Use of essential questions || * Tied to student thinking and not necessarily tied to instructional strategies and higher level thinking.
 * “Goal of development and deepening of student understanding.”
 * Teachers can assess better if they use the “six facets.” (explain, interpret, apply, shift perspective, emphasize, and self-assess)
 * Likes to use collaborative design, sharing, and peer review in study.
 * Based on feedback from students and teachers
 * Does not use as extensive strategies for higher level thinking.
 * Scoring based on what you want the student to know and do, and not by criteria that does not match the goal. ||

Finland – Technology Education Teaching Trends: O There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland Schools. O Every School has the same national goals. O Teachers spend less hours teaching, and more hours building curriculums and assessing the students. O Finland believes in teaching a subject that “deals with the use of machines, materials, processes, techniques, and tools.” O Finland and the United States both use a design approach using computers and CAD (Computer Aided-Drafting). O Finland’s technology classrooms have a sixteen-student limit. O Finland and the U.S. both teach technological concepts such as communication, construction, energy, manufacturing, and transportation. O Technology teachers in Finland need to get their Master of Education degree of 160 credit units. One credit unit is forty hours of work. O Technology Teachers study various technologies, mechanical and electrical engineering, product design, and research methodology. O Both countries use a innovative approach where students use the problem solving process that leads to selecting the best idea, construction, and testing a prototype. O Technology Education has its own identity.
 * Educators believe that technology education should be design-processed based.
 * Some believe that technology education should have a more “classroom-type” feel.
 * Both Countries believe in technological literacy and have the skills needed to cope in the technological world.

October 4, 2012
Common Core Standards Reaction:

When looking at the Common Core Standards, there can be many different views. I, personally, think that the standards should be more of a guideline. I may be biased toward one point more than the other because I teach a subject that has not adopted common core standards. When I started researching the CCS I thought to myself, don’t we already do this? Don’t we all have standards that we have to hit throughout our curriculum? Shouldn’t we all be on the same page when teaching our youth? Well, I use the Standards of Technology Literacy and got these standards from the International Technology Education Association. (Maybe these are the standards for ALL technology education classes?) Anyways, back to the Common Core Standards for Pennsylvania. As I researched, I found that our CCS only exists in Mathematics and English Literature Arts. Is this a good idea? Yes, you bet that this is a great idea! All the students in America learning the same concepts at the same time! I can move from state to state and my child will not loose on any education! However, what if my student/students on the bubble do not get the concept? Due to the rigor of the standard, teachers have to stay on pace to reach their goals. How can we push students ahead with out building a stable foundation? Not to mention, Pennsylvania has been cutting education leading to higher-class numbers. I have only been teaching for three years, and I can see that my classes with 22 students get a much better education than the classes with 30. When there is a class of 30 students, all with different learning styles and abilities, the classroom becomes a little messy. More students have questions, need attention, and require one-on-one help. So, what do we do? I read that the CCS might require some help from the parents, making them accountable as well. Parents will need to help their children with school work to get them on point with the standard. I know where this is going to go, “My child isn’t getting a good education at --- School. Teachers are not doing their jobs. Why do I have to teach my child?” As for the future of Common Core Standards, I believe that some schools will use the standards DIRECTLY. I think that most schools will use the standards as a guideline. Schools that adopted the standards are going to struggle at first. I believe that the CCS need to start early and build upon one another. Staring in first grade, then first and second, so on and so on. The students need to become accustomed to the standards and learn the bases from grade one. Right now as we implement it all at once, students are already lost due to not getting the previous knowledge that they need in their class NOW.

[] http://www.pdesas.org/Standard/CommonCore

The Vision Thing: It Is That Simple
Who knew that three small factors can play such a huge role in an organization? Vision, implementation, and recognition are what you need to succeed. This article made me ponder a bit. There is no reference to a school anywhere in the article. However, I have heard that “you should always treat education as a business.” One of my professors preached this when I was in school. Therefore, I dissected this article and came to some conclusions.

First, it has always been instilled in me to make a goal. Since I have been able to write, I was always taught to write down my goals. Isn’t a “vision” the same thing as a goal? I agree that when you have a vision, it is much easier to create a path. IBM has visions, CNN has visions, Disney has visions, you have visions and I have visions. Our visions just need to be funneled into the right places. As for schools, what is our/your/my vision? As long as I have been in this profession, it seems as though each person has their own idea. The vision thing article states that we need to have a broad vision. The US Department of Education says that our vision is “ensuring all students are challenged to meet a high bar that prepares them for college, career, and citizenship.” Of course this is followed by a number of goals and standards. Shippensburg’s mission “is to prepare all students to be productive citizens who:” followed by a bunch of goals. Shouldn’t all schools have the same vision?

Next, we implement the vision. How on earth are we going to make sure that everyone makes the vision a reality. Are we going to do as Max Depree did and “act like a third-grade teacher” by telling our students every day what our mission is? I have to disagree with the piece about “Ken” and his experience with Southwest. If letting a guy get on the plane without an Identification card, just a book is “the best possible service,” I’m scared. I would expect the best possible service would not be a huge joke with high-fives. (This part just rubbed me the wrong way. Don’t quack, just smile and believe everything you read.) I think that our schools do implement our visions in a positive way using the “third-grade teacher” technique. I also believe that the missions, implementation, and positive consequences/ recognition are in the right direction. Recognition in the right places can make a world of difference. I like that not all visions, goals, ideas, whatever word you have for it are being met in a combination of ways. I often see students that have the right idea but have trouble communicating it. I have a hard time telling them that they are wrong when their answers can be write is so many other ways. It doesn’t matter if you take a direct line, or if you fall down, as long as the vision is seen and met.

How do you not “quack” without changing the vision? Is a cashier an accountant? Or, is an accountant a cashier?

Common Ground
The common ground article was excellent. I thought that the article brought out some interesting facts about the state/states we teach in. Not only did the article break down elementary, middle, and high school standard statistics, but also showed how each state had clear standards. “Strong standards create common ground.” This is a pretty bold statement. I do agree that when common, coherent standards are used, it does allow teachers to get a good sense of what students are EXPECTED to learn. Also, when we all are on the same page, each teacher will know what the students have learned in the previous year and what is to come. When I started to look at the “too many states give teachers little to stand on,” section; it was interesting to see that Virginia had the criteria for strong standards on all levels and subjects. I was very surprised to see that Pennsylvania was at the very bottom in the ranking of “strong standards.” I actually felt a little bad and as if I had received less of an education after seeing the data. It was also interesting to see that the high school levels of standards are the weakest. I would think that if we were trying to get students ready for college, high school standards would be the strongest. Standards in the high school failed to meet the criteria due to being repeated, clustered, or had missing content. Hopefully once the common core standards are adopted everywhere, this problem can be eliminated. Also, it would be a great way for all states to have strong standards. So, what do high schools do to improve their standards issue? The article expresses that the high school has many different courses that apply to more than one grade. Once we find out what knowledge that the students need to have before they graduate, we can break down what standards they need to hit. For example if students only need to get to geometry their senior year, why would we make them finish calculus II? Also, how can we test the students on the standards when the standard is different in every school in every state? The common ground article feels like it is bringing out the need for one thing. I feel as if it expresses the need for the common standards. When all the states adopt the common standards and we are all on the same page, we will be able to gain a better understanding what direction education needs to go. It is interesting to see that each state still has their own standards when we are supposed to have common core standards.

Technology and the Global Curriculum
This article really hit the nail on the head with me. Being that I am a technology education teacher, I have the opportunity to use computers every day. Not only do I have the opportunity, but the students do as well. The first statement that jumped out at me was integrating technology into curricula. I liked how the article stated it is up to the teacher to evaluate the technology and determine if it is well designed to strengthen the curriculum. In my case, it is most definitely supports the curriculum. Starting in sixth grade the students learn the basic components to the computer. In seventh grade they learn easy ways to search the web for articles and do a number of web based projects. Therefore, it is important that I have the accessibility to the internet. Under the “A Short History” section, I found a number of items to highlight. I was in the elementary school when the floppy disk drive was a hot item. Once a week our class would go down the library and “play on the computers.” At this time our teachers would tell us to get on and see what games we could find (Oregon Trail), or, get on and type a couple sentences. Today I have the students complete more difficult tasks on the computer. Sometimes I will have them look up definitions (part of my jigsaw activity), other times they will need to find a video that will demonstrate the activity in class. In both cases, the students take the information, pictures, and videos and pretend like they are the teacher and have to answer questions from other students and me. The students get into the projects (mostly because they can find information so rapidly) and they are able to collect an abundance of knowledge. As far as outdated information in text books is concerned, the information is not going to change. It doesn’t matter what algebra book you pick up, algebra is algebra. The only thing that might be updated is the history books. But how can we really update history? Should we just tack on fifty pages every three years? If we need updated information, it is easy to bring up more closely related material from the internet. The topics that are changing rapidly are the items that deal most directly with technology. The new gadgets, software, phones, and tablets are changing, not nouns, verbs, and adjectives. So, how can the internet best be used? I enjoyed where the article said to “fill gaps.” I feel like this sounds horrible, but it really does. The internet can be used to help connect information. Teachers can get pictures and videos to correspond with anything that they are talking about. Also, teachers can use the internet to extend thinking and have students thinking, “What’s next?” The last part of the article, concerns about inappropriate internet content. The way people tag photos, movies, articles, and stores, it is going to be practically impossible to hide all of the inappropriate content. Students might get exposed to content that they shouldn’t, but our schools do a pretty good job of securing the network. Also, through my experiences, students would tell me if they punched a word into the computer and an inappropriate image came up. Most students show me the word and picture so that I can get it blocked.

=October 25, 2012=

Curriculum Design in a Global Society
Dr. Stout defined curriculum extremely well. I couldn’t agree more when he expresses that it is a plan to achieve a goal and that includes experiences both inside and outside of school. I also agree that students learn at all times of the day, as do I learn from new encounters that I have every day. Curriculum is both subject matter and content. Through experience, I have observed that educators have varied philosophies in their teaching methods and style of approach utilized within the classroom. The one philosophy listed in the article that I like most was the platonic philosophy. I feel that my philosophy is very similar. I like the individual to find what he or she is best at, and then help encourage the student to develop better skills in that specific area. I think that is the beauty of teaching outside of a “core” area. I am able to see what students can do outside of the traditional classroom setting. Dewy’s view of education is vital in my eyes. Dewy wants the students to have a “proper end of education.” I think what Dewy’s philosophy is trying to aim for is equal opportunity for all students to see what he or she can use in his or her future. He wants students to be ready to use their best capabilities at the end of education. I also believe that students should be professional and use their talents at the end of a “proper education.” It should not matter if your education ends at eighth grade, twelfth grade, or many years of college. As far as external forces impacting the curriculum, I think that the biggest issue is technology. One of the items in the PowerPoint was “textbooks.” What if you, the student, do not have a textbook? Is not having a textbook a good thing or a bad thing? I love reading textbooks, but only because, personally, reading off of a computer screen is more difficult for me to comprehend the material. Material is now easily so outdated, that it makes it difficult for a person to obtain the most current and up to date information. I thought all three parties that are fighting for the control of the curriculum had some very interesting views. The neoconservative perspective is tied to “traditional values,” and “correct” knowledge. It would be interesting to see what their values and knowledge is based around. As far as the hegemonic alliance, I totally disagree with breaking education down into specific groups. Education affects everyone the same and is interconnected to our daily lives. Educators should not focus on breaking students into groups based upon a student’s race, culture, religion, social class, and ability.

Purpose and Future Vs. Feedback for Learning Magazine

 * **Class Topics** || **Feedback in an Age of Efficiency** ||
 * -Technology (Usage of computers, iPads, and iPhones. Bring your own Technology)

-Parent Accountability

-Parent/Student Value (Knowledge)

-Standardized testing (Country specific)

-College is a goal || -1964 MIT professor created ELIZA (computer that could communicate with a human)

-Parents can check grades instantaneously with new technologies

-Scores around the number of questions students got correct and not their actual knowledge

-Wants to get away from standardized test and assess students by knowledge ||

The topics we talked about in class and the topics in the article were similar in various ways. It was neat to see that in 1964 we had the technology to create a computer that could converse with people. Lately when talking about bringing iPads and iPhones to school, similarly these items have Siri (the intelligent personal assistant and personal navigator for the Apple iOS) As far as accountability for students and parents, technology allows everyone to see grades and scores as soon as they are posted electronically. Online gradebooks allow parents to check their student’s grade and progress in each course. Technology allows students and parents to be more accountable for work, but also only shows statistics. Students and parents need to know that the numerical grade might not show their true reflection of knowledge and potential that the student may have. The last similarity that they two had in common was a change in the system. Although, the article states that we need to have a change in the system for feedback, we discussed that there is a need to change the system of education. Both feedback and education systems are dynamic bringing forth new and creative ideas and meanings.

=November 1, 2012=

Understanding Curriculum Curricular Approaches
The PowerPoint was an interesting read. It provided me insight on the history and types of curriculum. However, I find it difficult to read and then interpret the slides without supplemental notes and/or listening to a speaker highlighting the main points. I found it interesting that education started to meet a “Means-end,” in the 1900’s and now we have terms such as “deschooling.” These two things, to me, do not add up. I always thought that the idea of school was to motivate and prepare students for their future. I never thought that, as a society, we would de-emphasize the formal schooling processes and its importance. I do not understand how we can go from giving an education that means something to the student and will help them grow as people, to what seams as people talking down the education system. I did think it was interesting to see the different curriculum design types. I feel that as an educator, it is important to use a number of design types when creating lessons. Each student learns differently and needs to be reached in a different style. Also, some students may be more willing and susceptible to learn in one fashion than another. However, design types depend most on what the educator’s philosophy is on education. As far as curriculum development goes, I think that the “typical model” and its variation are great examples of what we need to do. If we are going to have the common core standards, the model allows us to have a set of goals, what the students need to know, and how to implement the knowledge. As a whole, there will need to be an effort to use a curriculum development guideline.

=November 8, 2012=

What International Schools are doing to mediate the Curriculum
The article, to me, sounded like a debate. Should we, or shouldn’t we teach different cultures in the curriculum. Do we teach what we believe? If we create our own curriculum, do we include all cultures or the one that we live in addition to the “western” cultures? From my standpoint, I think that we should include other culture’s designs, writings, art, and inspiration in our curriculums. As far as teachers in foreign settings, they should not only include the culture that they currently live in but also their life experiences in different cultures. I think that if you are an American teacher living in Kuwait, you should have to get out and try to embrace another culture so that you can provide as much relevant information as possible. Throughout teaching, educators will teach much of their own culture without putting much effort into it. I thought it was interesting to see that international schools are in “most cases” modeled after American schools. Then we see schools in Eastern Europe that have their students memorize information. If students at these types of schools only memorize information, they are eliminating the need to complete higher-level thinking. Also, the teachers are not able to accommodate for all the students need. The “Curriculum and Language” section bothered me. I feel like the author of the article was suggesting that teaching other languages and their cultures was a bad thing. Why? Schools can afford to send students around the world in an airplane and have them visit each country. So why not have create an international day or week that the students get the opportunity to see and hear about other countries and what their culture is like? We need to mix-it-up a little bit. As far as PTO/PTA’s, do they even exist outside the elementary school? I feel students go through stages. Parents need to stay connected to educators, and see what their students are doing in school. However, there has to be a connection at home where parents need to have a connection with their kids and how they perform at school. But, parents that are involved with the school typically do not have issues with teachers. As far as teaching multicultural standards, parents should not have to interfere, unless they are asked. After reading the responses from the international teachers, I found that most stated that they would or do teach as they would in the states. They also say that it is typically up to them if they want to teach American history, or Arabic history, or Caribbean studies. I think that the teachers should be required to teach the students nationality as a priority and other cultures secondary. Regardless of what people think, we need to share other cultures. As our world becomes more globalized, people are going to be living in places where they never thought that they would. Because of this, we will need to make a multicultural education a part of the curriculum and expand our knowledge into becoming culturally sensitive.

=November 15, 2012=

High Stakes, Low Stakes Testing: Do Stakes Really Matter?
As far as high stakes testing I don’t see where school districts that have great schools need more funding. If your school scores low on the testing, don’t you think that they should get more funding? If the schools that score low get more funding they just may be able to get a few more aids or teachers to help struggling students. With the rewards going to the schools that score higher, the gap between proficient and basic schools is getting bigger. The information in the article sounded a little contradicting to me. Under “testing practices,” the article stated that schools averaged “less than 7 hours a year” and then later went on to say that all the textbooks are correlated with the test. From the sounds of it to me, the entire year is test preparation. The “teaching to the test” section got to me. I had a hard time wrapping my head around the person said that they don’t want students to spend hours studying materials on which the will never be tested (in multiple choice form). How does this teacher know that the student will not be tested? Just because the question is not on a standardized test, does not mean that the student might not be faced with the challenges outside of school. A test is a test whether it is written down on paper or not. Students need discussion, problem solving, and creative activities that have students think outside the box. I understand that teachers are pressured to have there students do well on the test and they are also pressured to “teach to the test,” but according to the article the text books are correlated to the test and standards. Honestly, do stakes really matter? A standardized test is a standardized test it my eyes. Both high stakes and low stakes both provide feedback to the teacher and parent if the school is providing a good education for the student. If the student scores high, GREAT! If the student scores low, shame on the teacher. The only difference is that high stakes test are published, and low stakes test are not. It seams that in both cases teachers ignore all the sections that help students understand the relationship between what they are learning and how they see it in action every day. The three main points I got from this article are simple. One, teachers skip pages of information so to provide more material. There is no time to teach important concepts because the paper test comes first. Two, text books are “correlated” and “aligned” to the test and standards. How can you tell someone to not teach to the test and then give them a book that directly connected to the test. Hello! Don’t teach to the test, but, teach to the test. And finally three, high stakes – low stakes are “similar.” Personally I think they both are designed to give back the same information, they both have questions that can be paralleled, and they both are correlated with the book. The last two pages left me thinking “characteristics similar…… similar….. very similar….similar”

= Curriculum Design Project = 6th Grade Technology Education Teacher: Gregory Panchik I will each student 15 times per nine weeks. This is an overview of the class including the Unit Essential and Lesson Essential Questions. KEY LEARNING: Students will learn how to use proper techniques on the QWERTY keyboard as well as find what technology is.

UEQ: Why is it important to learn proper keyboarding when using technology to communicate? LEQ: What fingers must I use to gain speed and accuracy when typing? (Standard 12.6.J (In this section students will use a computer program that will help assist with typing correctly.)  UEQ: What is Technology?  LEQ: What are the different categories of Technology?  LEQ: Is Technology Good or Bad? (Standard 1.6.G, Standard 3.6.D)  (In this section we will discuss that there are numerous types of technology. Technology is used in everything from Power and Energy to Agriculture.) UEQ: How does innovation impact technology?  LEQ: How can you use innovations to solve real world problems? (Standard 10.6.G, Standard 14.6.G)  ( In this section we look at pieces of technology that have innovated over time. Students then are able to innovate their own idea to solve a current real world problem) IMPORTANT VOCABULARY: Posture, Home Row, Technology, Engineering, Communication Agriculture, Biotechnology, Manufacturing, Assembly Line, Quality, Innovation, Invention, Discovery, and Serendipity.

7th Grade Technology Education Teacher: Gregory Panchik I will each student 15 times per nine weeks. This is an overview of the class including the Unit Essential and Lesson Essential Questions. KEY LEARNING: Students will see the relationship between hardware and software in computers. Students will see how simple machines can be used to create a vehicle powered by a mousetrap.

UEQ: What programs/ applications do we use on a computer? LEQ: What is the difference between hardware and software? (PA Standards 3.6, 3.7) (In this section students will navigate the computer and distinguish what is considered to be hardware and software.) UEQ: How can simple machines be used in technology? LEQ: How can we use simple machines to propel a vehicle? (Standard 18.8.G) (In this section students will design and construct a mousetrap tragster. Studetns will go through the engineering design process as well as be given limitations) UEQ: How can I Use PowerPoint to my advantage? (PA Standards 3.6, 3.7) LEQ: How can I use PowerPoint to show my Knowledge? (In this section, students will create a PowerPoint on a piece of technology of their choice.) IMPORTANT VOCABULARY: Hardware, Software, Motherboard, Toolbars, Format, Excel, Graph, Cell, Animation, Template, Lever, Pully, Screw, Wedge, Incline Plane, Wheel and Axel.

8th Grade Technology Education Teacher: Gregory Panchik I will each student 15 times per nine weeks. This is an overview of the class including the Unit Essential and Lesson Essential Questions. KEY LEARNING: Students will learn basic photography techniques as well as the components of a camera. Students will learn different engineering approaches to creating a strong structure. Students will document the engineering design process and create a movie with their photographs.

UEQ: What are the basic components of Photography? LEQ: What are the essential parts of a camera? LEQ: What is Photographic Composition?(Pa Standards 3.7, 3.8) (In this section students will learn the basic anatomy of a camera as well as be able to photograph the six guidelines to photographic composition.) UEQ: What is the relationship between construction and engineering? LEQ: What similarities exist between bridges and buildings? LEQ: How do I solve for structural and economical efficiency? (Standard 9.8.G, Standard 8.8.F, Standard 11.8.J, Standard 20.8.F) (In this section students will construct a truss bridge. The students will then destructively test the bridge and find the structural and economical efficiency.) UEQ: How can we use movies to communicate our ideas? (Pa Standards 3.7, 3.8) LEQ: How does a story board help keep sequence in a movie?

IMPORTANT VOCABULARY: Lens, Pantone Color System, Shutter, Viewfinder, Composition, Roebling, Architects, Truss Bridge, Prototype, Efficiency, Storyboard.

=Final Prompt=

When it comes to the future of education about teaching and learning I wonder what education will have to offer. I wonder if we are going to regress and go back to the simple style of learning where each student has a book (not a iPad) and needs to use simple strategies, techniques and reading to find answers instead of searching [|www.google.com]. However, on the other end of the spectrum, I wonder if we are going to have all cyber schools. Maybe students will only go to school until they are competent enough to use a computer. After they get their computer they will be able to teach themselves and once they reach a certain level, they can apply for their diploma. I wonder what a teacher will look like in twenty years.

When it comes to the future of education about teaching and learning I believe that students should receive a well-rounded education. Students need the essential classes as well as the electives. Not all students are going to be rocket scientists as well as not all students are going to make it through public education the whole way. I believe that students need to find their niche by having a variety of opportunities and seeing what the world has to offer. I believe that we do need the core standards. I believe that we need them not just for math and English but also for all subjects. Each subject is important and they all should be part of the core standards. Especially due to the explosion of technology and the rate that it is consuming teachers and most importantly the students.

When it comes to the future of education about teaching and learning I wish teachers, administrators, parents, students and community shared the same value in education. I wish that all schools were able to have class sizes that were manageable so that each student could get time spent with them each class to make sure that they understand the concepts. I wish that schools had funding to provide each student with the highest education possible.

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”

=January 31, 2013=

**Philosophy of Assessment**

 * Class Participation**- Class participation plays a huge role in my class towards their total grade. If a student arrives to class prepared with a writing utensil, their folder with their technology education class work inside, and can correctly remember and sign on their computer using the their password, they will get full credit for the day. I feel that a student who comes prepared and ready to learn should be rewarded.


 * Student project**- Student projects take up fifty percent or more of their total grade. Most student projects take more than three days to complete. I like to use project-graded assessment because it allows the students to demonstrate the skills that the have learned in the classroom. After the lesson has been taught, the student is then capable of using the learned skill to complete the task using a hands-on-type of learning. I think that projects allow more learning and carry over compared to the student’s level of understanding when assessed through a multiple choice or memorization test. Upon completion of the project, the students are then able to assess themselves by using a grading rubric that is provided with the assignment.


 * Quiz** – I use quizzes as a way for the student to recall what was in the previous lesson and how they are going to build upon the skill. If I give the students a quiz I will tell them to look over the most important points that I had them write down the previous class. Only after students find these points do I give them the quiz. I think it is important for students to learn, recall, use, and then build the skill they are learning about.


 * Test**- I do not necessarily like to give the students tests. When I think of a test, I think “multiple guess.” I had a teacher that called multiple-choice tests multiple guess tests and it has stuck with me ever since. I do not like to use multiple-choice tests because students might not know the answer, but are able to “guess” the correct answer. I believe that is not the best way to assess a student’s ability to comprehend the information, which was provided in class. I believe in not using tests as the main method to assess a student’s comprehension of material, because it is a project based class. Technology Education is very hands on and philosophical based. My tests are not multiple choice or true or false, they are based on what you think will work the best, testing, and then reporting on what worked, what did not work, and what they would do different next time.


 * Late Work**- When it comes to late work, I will always accept the assignment. I always give students the ability to turn work in. I typically take of five percent each day that it is late. I believe that if a student does the work late compared to never, they will learn at least one thing from the worksheet or packet. If they do not learn from the assessment, it will be good practice. Students who do not turn in a piece of work at the end of the nine weeks will be penalized, and result in a zero for their score.

Learning to Love Assessment
As I was reading the “Learning to Love Assessment” article, I found that Carol and I are a lot alike. In her first paragraph, she talked about life as a new teacher and creating and acquiring all the necessary skills and items that you need to be a successful teacher. However, Carol and I both did not understand the correct way to assess students and create the best learning environment for the students that we could. Carol goes on to say how she “played school” because she was only imitating what she had seen previously. In her first understand about the classroom she talks about giving test. I know for a fact that some students do poorly on tests, but are very bright and intelligent but fall short on their test taking skills. The student may not get a high percentage on a test, but if you let the student tell you what they know in an informal way, they might just impress you on their knowledge. Carol also goes on to say that she never settled for a single assessment as a representation of what the student knew, which I also agree with. I give students an array of ways to demonstrate their skills, knowledge, and abilities through a variety of methods in the classroom as far as assessing their academic performance. I administer small quizzes (two or three questions) and then allow the students to show me their knowledge using a hands-on approach. This is where I am able to “guide” students instead of just “assessing students” (Understanding 2). I really enjoyed the segment where Carol talked about “spot-checking” for students comprehension. I also find myself utilizing this in my own classroom. While students are completing their class-work, I walk around and see who is having trouble with the assignment. When I find a student that is struggling, I will help them with the task. Likewise, when I find a student that is doing what is above and beyond what is expected, I provide them with the opportunity to engage in task more challenging to promote higher-level thinking. Understanding five, discusses pre-assessments. One thing that I love to use in my class is a pre-test. I don’t normally give tests, but this is a way that I can gauge what the students know beforehand so I can tweak my lessons towards their level of thinking. It also allows them to see some of the language that I will be using in my classroom. The pretest offers an introduction to some vocabulary terms and language that may be frequently seen or used during the class. This allows the opportunity for the student to make a connection later on, while the lesson is being taught to reflect back to the pre-test, and make sense of the term once viewed. I really liked this quote stated by Carol: “The best teaching is never so much about me as about us.” During my class, I find myself constantly trying to get the students to think of innovating ideas seen and done by previous classes. I use videos and work completed by prior classes to ask the students to think of ways to improve upon the class-work and projects. This strategy allows me to push the students to new heights, and students enjoy me saying, “I have never had a student try this. Try it out and lets see how it works.” It seems that when teacher and student are on the same page and trying new ideas together, we open ourselves up to learn and achieve more. I really enjoyed the “Learning to Love Assessment” article. I feel that Carol and I share some of the same viewpoints on assessing and educating. The article provided me with relief, knowing that what I am doing in the classroom and what was discussed in the article have worked for Carol as well as me. I am wondering how many students she was assessing each day for her to collect this amount of data with the results provided? I also wonder if she would change her view or have a longer list of understanding today?

Assessing What Matters
The “Assessing What Matters” article was a very interesting read. Robert Sternberg had some very interesting ideas on assessment. I feel that he had some very valid points on what skills students need to be successful in life, but I also feel that he had some points that were not exactly on the same track as many other educators. Sternberg states that it is important to have skills such as ”: creativity, common sense, wisdom, ethics, dedication, honesty, teamwork, hard work, knowing how to win and lose, a sense of fair play and lifelong learning. But memorizing books is certainly not one of them.” When I think of memorizing, I think of remembering information necessary for a brief period of time to be successful. Unless I need to know the information daily, I would then in turn end up memorizing for one of the skills that Sternberg is saying we need. I believe when Sternberg mentions “memorizing books” he is exacerbating. The skills he talks about will be acquired through the learning process in student’s schools. I did like the WICS model. I think it is important for students/workers to be able to create a vision, explain, execute, and have wisdom to create a better environment. I thought the way he explained his questioning through each subject area was awesome! How you can take a subject and as a question different ways to see if the students could come up with a correct answer. Sternberg goes on to say that a student who is assessed soley for memory, perform better when taught broadly than just for memory. What does Sternberg mean by broader? Is Sternberg referring to broader teaching techniques/methods or a broader curricular? I found the statement of: “Students who were better at one multiple-choice test tend to be better at others a s well. This result suggested that using multiple-choice tests consistently tend to benefit some students and not others” to be interesting. Well, yes, if the student knows the information that will be assessed, then the chances will be greater that the student will do well. If the student does not know any of the information then the student will most likely not get a passing grade. I became confused when Sternberg started discussing detail about the Rainbow Project. Sternberg went on to say how the number of applications went up, his scores went up, and applicants became more qualified after taking his test. But I ask, on his test, how much relative information do the students have to know. It seams to me if you are a creative person you will do well on his rainbow test. He grades these test “through a well developed rubric.” Were there others to see the rubrics before the test was administered, such as students or teachers? Or do the students just have to come up with a creative response that fits the fancy of the grader? In conclusion, I get that Sternberg wants to strengthen the minds of our youth. He wants them to be able to think logically creatively and get the skills they need to live in the 21st century. But I do not think that making assessments “broader” at the middle and high school levels will help the students become successful. Most of the information that the students learn in these levels is factual and the information will help them succeed in college or a career. I believe that his tests with the broader assessments should be taken later in life after school.

=February 7, 2013=
 * Assessment Structures ||
 * Finland || State (Pennsylvania) || S.A.M.S ||
 * * No mandatory tests or exams
 * Assessments do not use numeric grades but descriptive feedback
 * Students are not to compared to other students
 * The National Board of Education does not dictate standardized tests
 * There are no rankings, comparisons or competition between students, schools or regions
 * Every school has the same national goals || * PSSA – English Language Arts and Mathematics assessment taken by grades 3-8. Science in grades 4 and 8.
 * Keystome Exams – Used for high school accountability and will serve as a graduation requirement in 2017. || * Assessment has a grading scale of 100%-0%
 * Students cannot receive a grade lower than 55% except in the final marking period.
 * If a student fails more than one core class they are not permitted to the next grade.
 * Encouraged to use a variety of differentiated assessments.
 * Assessments need to have frequent and formative feedback.
 * Class needs to have a fair balance of formative and summative assessment to emphasize mastery and understanding of skills and content. ||

The Best Value in Formative Assessment
After reading the article I found myself wondering why it ended so abruptly after it started heating up with some great information/ideas. Other than that, the article did a great job breaking down summative and formative assessment. My eye immediately was attracted to the benchmark testing. My school uses a form of benchmark assessments at the beginning of the school year. Because we are able to test at the beginning of the year, and the end of the year, the students progress can be easily tracked. The tests are great in that they provide us information on what units need to be hit a little harder. This ultimately always leads back to, “ are we teaching to the test?” I find it interesting that the article goes on to say that “assessments will continue to be labeled formative or summative, how the results are used is what determines whether the assessment is formative or summative.” I don’t exactly understand what this means, especially when the next paragraph goes on to say that the summative assessments purpose is to measure the program success. Following the summative assessment it goes on to say that formative assessment is more frequent and allows student and teacher to measure student learning. How are they both as one and one as both? The article then lost me for a little bit. The next thing that got my attention was the questions that the students can ask to find out how they can improve themselves. Under the assessment for learning paragraph, I really liked how the article said that students could use evidence of their current progress to manage their own learning. When a student is accountable for their grade, they are able to see it daily and can use this as motivation to progress into a better student. “Where am I going? Where am I now? How can I close the gap?” These three questions are a great way to help students become more accountable for themselves. I feel that having the students become more accountable for their school means that they will be able to assess themselves accordingly. If their assessment and the teacher’s assessment align, a relationship can form and feedback will be more personal. The students will also be able to have more ownership of their success. After reading this article I feel that both types of assessment are important. I do feel that students are not accountable enough for their work. I find myself asking how can we make students more accountable for the summative assessments? I know from previous testing that some students will draw pictures in the bubbles on state tests because they quite frankly do not care of the outcome. The students know that the outcome does not necessarily connect to them directly.

=February 14, 1013=

Fair Isn’t Always Equal
The Fair isn’t always equal PowerPoint was very intimating. It was packed with great information and examples. I read through and picked out some of the slides that stood out to me, then I went back through and picked out the ones that I liked the most out of them. The first interesting table was on teacher action and the result on student achievement. I believe that it is very important that teachers should not just tell the students the number of questions they got correct and incorrect, when you go over the information and have them come up with the answer of course their knowledge is going to increase. They will most likely remember that question more than the others. Marzano’s table proves this theory. “IF we don’t count homework heavily, students won’t do it.” Well I do agree with this, students will most likely do their homework if they get points for it. What about the athlete that has an away game and does not get home until ten o’clock? What about the band member that plays in the local orchestra and does not get home until late? What about the student that has to cook and fend for his younger siblings because mom and dad are at work or could frankly care less if their children do their homework? I believe homework should only be given if the student does not understand the concept. I read, “Tackling the Homework Dilemma,” by Lee Jenkins that took an interesting angle. He gave homework everyday but, if the student understood the concept they did not need to complete it. Jenkins would pick out two problems from the homework and use it as a quiz. If the student knew the concept they would get the problem right, if the student did the homework they would know how to complete the equation. This method of homework makes sense to me. Rubric Idea: “only give the fully written description for the standard of excellence.” If this is the only thing they see and fail, how do you categorize or define what they didn’t reach? I like the idea of a rubric, I use them often in my classroom, however I believe that it is important for the student to see and know where they are if they do not reach “excellence.” Imagine the reverse… This slide brought out a great point. When anyone looks at the 100-0 scale they would be in disbelief. Personally after reading many of the assessment articles, I will never give another zero. If the student makes an effort and completes some work but never turn in the worksheet, they do deserve some credit. When a zero is received, its hard to bounce back. Not only that, it kills a lot of motivation in students. I hear students say it all the time, “they gave me a zero, I’m going to fail. I might as well not even try anymore.” The last thing that I really liked in the article was the way to set up gradebooks. I really think that I am going to make an effort to change the way that I assess and grade my students. All grades should be based around the main objectives, benchmarks, and standards. Grades should not be based on the hidden knowledge that some students may get and others may not.

=February 21, 2013=

Formative Assessments: Measuring and Managing Student Learning
The first couple slides in the presentation made little impact on me. Most of the information was given as a statistic with not follow up information. The first slide that I found informative was the BASRC Findings. It showed that high achieving schools tested students a few times a month and even weekly. I believe that this statement is absolutely true. When students know that they will be evaluated on a regular basis, they realize that the information is important. The information will be built upon and be assessed in the future. This not only provides the students with feedback quickly, but it also allows the teacher to see what the students comprehend. I found through the reading that it is important to create teacher-owned assessments. I wonder what kind of assessments are the best? Do we create multiple choice, true false, fill in the blanks, or open ended tests? We want to provide good feedback for the student and also keep them conditioned to the assessments they get from the states right? Or is it that we need to keep the students on their toes and give them a variety of assessments? In my class, I ask that the students create projects. I use project-based assessment along with a rubric to provide the most appropriate feedback. Every other class I may give the students a three question quiz or an open ended question to open the lesson or as a ticket out the door. I find that this is a great use of formative assessment. “Inside the Black Box Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment” was interesting. When giving many different formative assessments, the gap between the average students and low achievers was reduced. If the “low achievers” can benefit because they can see their progress, I think that the average student will benefit just as much. The second question had to do with evidence of improvement. Of course there is always room for improvement in any aspect of education (and life in general). I noticed that one of the problems was that “questions are typically developed by the individual teacher and not reviewed.” I have to disagree with this statement. If all the 7th grade math teachers are supposed to be on about the same lesson, shouldn’t they be able to create and use each other’s tests? If a student is removed from one class and put in another because of some occurrence, all teachers teaching that subject should be close to one another in lessons/book. Also, by sharing test, it would be easy to create the best assessment possible. This article showed the importance of formative assessment and provided a lot of great information to support it. Although I did not completely agree with everything that I read, most of it made sense and made me think how I can incorporate quick little formative assessments in my technology class. The “Assessment: Two Purposes,” chart at the end is something that all teachers should keep at their desk. I personally would like to review the “Assessment FOR Learning” often to make sure that my students are getting the best education they can each day in the classroom.

=February 28, 2013=

Learning and Transfer
I feel like this article states a lot of the obvious. One of the first things that it says is that no one is born with the ability to function competently as an adult as well as it is better to educate people than simply train them. But isn’t both educating and training one in the same? I feel that educating is little training sessions that you can get feedback and learn from. I really liked the “Understanding verses Memorizing,” article. I feel that having a base knowledge will help students much more than having them memorize knowledge. The darts example was great. Students that had the previous knowledge that water will skew their view of the target did much better. They didn’t memorize how the water changed their vision, but they were able to see and figure out their throws on their base knowledge. Then we come back to the obvious, “world-class chess master require from 50,000 to 100,000 hours of practice to reach that level of expertise.” Well if anyone practices anything for that amount of time, they are going to become proficient at it. It does not matter if you are previously skilled or knowledgeable in the area, you will be pretty knowledgeable about that subject after an average of 75,000 hours. Therefore, unlike the article states, I believe that it is not just talent but major investments of time. Beyond time, the article states that we need active monitoring or monitoring involving “attempts to see and use feedback about one’s progress.” (formative assessment) I really liked the next section of the article. The motivation to learn and step out of you comfort zone. The inter city kids remembered most about the learning tacktics that were unnatural. Getting out and tutoring younger children, making presentations to audiences and working with professionals to build playhouses, all these activities could be very useful to my class and me. They are things that I could use to help my students have a better understanding. I liked how the article complemented subjects working and being taught in other context. One of the new big pushes in technology education is STEM. In my class I DO try to incorporate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics on a regular basis. I believe that if students can see a need for the other subjects as well as mine, they will be able to get a better grasp visually and mentally. As people learn and transfer information, it is hard to realize that we do not all conceptualize the same way. One person may see everything as numbers, and another may only see patterns and shapes. I do think that it is very necessary that at a younger age, teachers need to guide students to connect every day knowledge with subjects taught in school. Now that we have the technology, showing how it is relevant is much easier. When teaching a subject that may require much thought and not man visuals, it is easy to bring up a picture on google to provide a picture. The article states that only under certain conditions lectures are good. I believe this to be true. However, if you lecture for a small time and then have a corresponding activity, the students can then see what they have learned in action. The ultimate goal is to teach students how to use what they learned in school in their every day life. Whether it is working collaboratively, solving problems, or using new technologies, students who go to school will most likely succeed in the real world. By the time they graduate and go on to the workforce, hopefully they will see the light. If they do not see the relevance in school, once they are out, students will look back and remember what worked and what did not work. Its sad to say though, some students find out the hard way. I believe that they all take something from their schooling and use it in a positive way.

=March 6, 2013=

Feedback That Fits
There are many ways to provide effective feedback. The article states that if you are studying facts and concepts, it is important to provide feedback immediately. It also states that if it is a concept that takes a little bit longer, to read into the student before providing feedback. I think that it is important to provide feedback as necessary. If the objective is learning facts and the students are being given a quiz, they can assess themselves without any written feedback. However, if the concept may take a while to comprehend and needs practice it is more important to give appropriate feedback as necessary. During concepts that take longer students may need directed more than memorization. It is important to remember to ask engaging questions to help encourage the student to learn. How much feedback should we provide? In my class I often times give the students a choice how they want to learn. Some of the times they choose to a brain buster activity, some times they want to watch a small introductory video. No mater what they choose, there is always certain information that I want them to take with them. At the end of the video, or the activity I have them reflect on what they saw. Then I have them write down the important information that they will need in the lesson. I emphasize the points that the students will need to know in the near future. When the students do the summative activity, I am able to provide quick and effective feedback in the same fashion as the article. I try not to give the answers to the students, but prompt them and have them find the answer by themselves (self-referenced feedback). I ask questions that lead them to think in a different way and could possibly spark innovation in the project. In giving feedback, I am guilty of the “good job,” phrase at the top of a paper or assignment. This is one thing that I never realized that students probably see a lot of. I need to make the feedback more personal and direct to what they did really good or what they need to work on. However, I feel that I do give great verbal feedback. I try to work and talk to each student at least once a class period. Assessing my students with projects allows me to provide formative feedback verbally on a regular basis. Feedback that fits gave plenty of great information on how to improve feedback to the students. I like seeing that it is a good idea to provide feedback with questions and not always provide the answer. I just wonder how much questioning is too much questioning? This article also made me want to become more creative with the way I assess students as well as provide more direct and specific feedback.

=March 28, 2013=

__**Analysis of AYP Data**__

Overall students scores have went down from 2011. However, trends show that students in 8th grade have gone up from 78% to 85% proficient in 2012. In grades 6th and 7th, scores suffered. Typically female students have scored higher than the male students on this portion of the test. As far as student groups, white students outscored others by over ten percent. Scoring lowest in the mathematics category is the IEP and economically disadvantaged students. Students in the IEP category did not reach the target for 2012.

Reading scores in 2012 in general were much higher than the scores in 2011. The only grade level that suffered was the 6th grade that fell six percent. As a whole, reading results are on the rise. Again in this category, female students typically scored higher than the male students. Scoring highest were the white non-Hispanic students followed by economically disadvantaged students. Scoring lowest in there reading were the IEP students.

As far as attendance is concerned, Shippensburg has met the attendance goal of 90%. Latino/Hispanic topped the charts at 94%. The lowest groups were IEP students as well as economically disadvantaged students at 92%.

In doing my research, I did not find the 2011 statistics of test participation. I did find it interesting that almost 100% of students took the mathematics part of the tests where 99% of the students took the reading portion. The reason being that maybe one or two IEP students did not participate in the reading portion. Were there any suspensions that would effect how a student would do on their test? Did the school provide interventions for students that were struggling in a particular subject? Were all IEP’s followed correctly and appropriately when giving the test? How many students had substantial absences throughout the year, missing vital knowledge that is needed for the test? How do we know what students did their best on the test/how do we know if the students just filled in bubbles to get finished with the test? (ill send you the document, the charts won't upload)
 * Open questions:**

=April 11, 2013=

Class and School Wide Grading Structure.
Participation – 50% Participation is most important in my class. Students participate by being prepared and completing tasks using the methods taught. Projects/In-Class Assignments 25% - 30% Projects and class assignments play the other big roll in my grading system. Students are to complete the assignments in a timely fashion using methods that I have taught them. Test 10% - 15% Most tests are multiple choice and true and false. Most “test” are considered to be in class assignments. Quiz 10%-15% Quizzes are used at the beginning of class to get students prepared for the days work. Students are also required to recall key objectives from the previous lesson. Homework5%-0% Homework is often not given. When given, it is not worth a great amount of points.