Looking back to when I started the program a lot has changed. I started this program with cohort 14 that included 5 other colleagues from my school. I was very excited because my co-workers where going to be going through the program with me and we were going to be helping each other out. I learned about so many different technology tools and programs that help with student engagement while also increasing student learning. I became familiar with screencasts and creating interactive videos that I had never done before. Learning all these different tools really opened my eyes to different technology that can truly help my students become better equipped for the 21st century.
Unfortunately I had a family tragedy during my final summer semester and had to postpone my masters. Dr. Redmond was so supportive that she was able to place me in the next cohort 15 so I could complete my program. I was so thankful to her and the professors. Cohort 15 received me just as my past cohort would have and they were very supportive. I want to thank all my colleagues from cohort 14 and cohort 15, I really appreciate all the support and feedback I received. The masters program in education of innovative learning was the best decision I made. Thanks to all the professors from Touro University for helping me become a better equipped teacher for the 21st century learners.
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Touros ValuesRespect for the inherent value and dignity of each individual
Intellectual inquiry, discovery, and passion for life-long learning Acceptance and appreciation of diversity Compassion and service to society Student-centered education Collaboration and sense of community Promotion of interprofessionalism Looking back at all the work I have done and still doing in this program, I can honestly say it all fits into Touro's values. My capstone is about helping bilingual students achieve transliteracy through multi-modal strategies not only using paper and pencil, but using technology, music, and artwork as well. I want my students to appreciate diversity and know that there are multiple ways of learning. My students learned about collaboration and student centered activities throughout my project. It is not just my students that leaned to work together and step out of their comfort zone, I did as well. This program is all bout collaboration, professionalism, discovery, diversity and service to society. As students in the master's program we are constantly working on team tasks and creating presentations using voice overs that before this program I had never done. I was very nervous my first semester when creating these sort of presentations; but now they seem so natural and effortless. I think back to my first two classes and asking myself how will I ever finish this capstone? Well, peer editing and feed back to and from peers was the key to success for me. I couldn't have gotten to where I a now in my capstone with out my colleagues there to support and help guide my driving question. Even though I am not with the same cohort members now than when I started last fall, I feel the same sense of community and support from these colleagues. I will be using my findings support all my students to come and I hope to increase their transliteracy skills in both English and Spanish. TPACK was a new phrase for me when I first started this program. Once we learned more about it then it became clear. It is a balance of technology, pedagogy, and content. It is not enough to bring in technology into the classroom if it’s not meaningful. As a teacher I have to be able to make a connection to the content by using pedagogy skills and by bringing in technology to tie it all together. It is not an easy task it takes time and thought to make it work. Finding the balance is key because if we only incorporate technology without content or pedagogy in mind then it is not meaningful for the students. The same goes if we only incorporate pedagogy and content in isolation. I still struggle to find this balance, but at least I now know there is a balance I am working towards.
Reading those other web pages made me feel better about what I will be doing. It gave me a glimpse of what I will need to upload for my own pages. I am thinking my audience will be for fellow teachers. I am explaining how using GLAD strategies helps students not only increase comprehension, but it also helps keep students engaged and connected to the lessons. I want to share my lessons with other teachers and share the results that my students showed me. I need to showcase that my research was done in a Spanish Dual Immersion classroom so other bilingual teachers can be hooked. I need a very engaging title. I want to include both units I did using GLAD strategies. I will be uploading all the pictures I took of student work and some videos of students' presentations. I am getting excited and anxious because I can see all the work I have to upload to make my pages stand out and that makes me nervous. However I will be asking for help from my professors and my cohort members.
Saelee: Her audience are other teachers that are looking for different ways to help their students not fall behind. Personalized learning was her solution, student centered and more student collaboration. Her resource page was amazing. She had all her references divided into sections, blogs, math websites, books, academic papers, everything she used was easy to follow. I feel that she did a great job engaging her audience, I could not stop reading. What caught my attention was that instant connection I made to her comments yes, yes that is happening in my class so what can I do; I was instantly hooked. Gottfried: It was a little harder for me to make out who the audience was. I think it's a bit of both for the teachers and for the students. She is talking about teaching students how to effectively write a blog. What I liked about her website is that she has videos to support her lesson. I think her point gets across and how students can connect with the outside world is incredible. Her reference page was similar to Saelee's that she has it broken down into sections. Ellison: Her audience was a mixture of students and teaches. She wants to empower students to play video games while actually learning content. Her website gives lots of information about gamming with lots of videos. Teachers can get great ideas of how to engage students to the content, with gamification/gamming. Something that bothered me was that the home page had a lot of extras. I mean she talked about her original plan and research and I feel that it took away from her final project. I don't think her home page was as effective. I really loved her reference page because she has descriptions of her recommended websites. This is very helpful because it saves time and you don't have to go into the site to find out what it's about. Avrukin: Her audience are teachers. Her goal is to help teachers differentiate instruction. She has a lot of lessons that we can click on and it takes us to them. Her website is less intimidating and after looking at it, it makes me feel a sense of relief that I might be able to get this done. Her reference page is different from the others I saw because she has a lot of video clips in-place of a website or books. Her reference page is more "hands on" for the viewers. References Abidin, Mohamad Jafre Bin Zainol Author Information; Ping, Joyce Low Soong; Raman, Premadevi (2012) Using Web-Based Resources in Reading Comprehension in a Rural Primary School: Malaysian Journal of ELT Research; Seri Kembangan Vol. 8, Iss. 1, (2012): 119-152,4. Barnyak, Natalie Conrad; Mcnelly, Tracy A (Sep 2016). The Literacy Skills and Motivation to Read of Children Enrolled in Title I: A Comparison of Electronic and Print Nonfiction Books:Early Childhood Education Journal; New York44.5 (Sep 2016): 527-536. Bennett, Jessica G; Gardner, Ralph, III;Ramnath, Rajiv;Council, Morris R, III (May 2017). Second-Grade Urban Learners: Preliminary Findings for a Computer-Assisted, Culturally Relevant, Repeated Reading Intervention: Education & Treatment of Children; Pittsburgh40.2 (May 2017): 145-185. Ciampa, Katia(Fall 2012). ICANREAD: The Effects of an Online Reading Program on Grade 1 Students' Engagement and ComprehensionStrategy Use http://caaspp.edsource.org/ https://www.ed-data.org/school/Solano/Vacaville-Unified/Edwin-Markham-Elementary (school demographics) https://www.ed-data.org/district/Solano/Vacaville-Unified (district demographics) "An Introduction to Technology Integration" (teachertube.com) Project GLAD OCDE (R) Reading those other web pages made me feel better about what I will be doing. It gave me a glimpse of what I will need to upload for my own pages. I am thinking my audience will be for fellow teachers. I am explaining how using GLAD strategies helps students not only increase comprehension, but it also helps keep students engaged and connected to the lessons. I want to share my lessons with other teachers and share the results that my students showed me. I need to showcase that my research was done in a Spanish Dual Immersion classroom so other bilingual teachers can be hooked. I need a very engaging title. I want to include both units I did using glad strategies. I will be uploading all the pictures I took of student work and some videos of students' presentations. I am getting excited and anxious because I can see all the work I have to upload to make my pages stand out and that makes me nervous. However I will be asking for help from my professors and my cohort members we will do this together.
Saelee: Her audience are other teachers that are looking for different ways to help their students not fall behind. Personalized learning was he solution, student centered and more student collaboration. I feel that she did a great job engaging her audience, I could not stop reading. What caught my attention was that instant connection I made to her comments yes, yes that is happening in my class so what can I do. I was instantly hooked.
Gottfried: It was a little harder to make out who the audience was. I think it's a bit of both for the teachers and for the students. She is talking about teaching students how to effectively write a blog. What I liked about her website is that she has videos to support her lesson. I think her point gets across and how students can connect with the outside world is incredible. Ellison: Her audience was a mixture of students and teaches. She wants to empower students to play video games while actually learning content. Her website gives lots of information about gamming with lots of videos. Teachers can get great ideas of how to engage students to the content, with gamification/gamming. Something that bothered me was that the home page had a lot of extras. I mean she talked about her original plan and research and it took away from her final project. I don't think her home page was as effective. Avrukin: Her audience are teachers. Her goal is to help teachers differentiate instruction. She has a lot of lessons that we can click on and it takes us to them. Her website is less intimidating and after looking at it, it makes me feel a sense of relief that I might be able to get this done. Hello everyone, my name is Mayra Cindy De la Torre and this is my 5th year of teaching. I am married and have 3 children, my oldest daughter is 14 years old, my middle daughter is 5 years old, and my son is only a year and a half old. I received my teaching credential through Sac State while the BMED (Bilingual Multicultural Education) program was still there. I have done all of my student teaching in Spanish dual immersion classrooms, and I currently teach in a Spanish dual immersion kindergarten classroom.
Working with English learners is a passion of mine. I love helping EL students achieve their goals. Growing up as an English learner myself I know how hard it can be for students. I was always afraid of writing because I was self conscious of my spelling; and I was terrified of reading in front of class because of what my accent sounded like while reading. I have experienced first hand what English learners go through and I want to help students overcome these fears. Working in a dual immersion classroom I have a variety of Language learners. This inquiry was done last fall and spring in my 3rd grade Spanish dual immersion program. During English weeks I scaffold for my English Learners, and during Spanish weeks I scaffold for my English only students. I find myself always looking for different and better strategies to use that will help my students comprehension skills in whatever language we are working in. So far the students that I have taught have had trouble retaining important information form our readings. I want to improve students comprehension skills, so that they can apply it not only during reading time, but also during writing, social studies, and science time. When I heard that two of my colleagues were signing up for an online Masters program I was interested. Once they told me it would be in innovative learning I was sold. I know how technology engages students and wanted to learn different ways to be able to help my students succeed with reading comprehension using some new technique. Being so close to the end of my masters program I feel as if I made the best choice for my students. I have learned so much and my students have better retained information and their comprehension has increased. |
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November 2018
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