Online Teaching

1. What does the research say about this?
• From the article "Why K-12 online learning isn’t really revolutionizing teaching?" it stated that there is a significant increase in the use of technology in education. It is estimated that about half of the schools will eventually be online. This could be a good or bad thing. Since this big leap in technology it made some schools rush to build online courses without really evaluating their online course. This resulted in some online courses are not the best learning experience for students. Other online lessons can really help students understand if done right, such as blended lessons, or a hybrid class. This helps to differentiate the lesson for students.
2. How can this be effectively integrated into your teaching?
• I can use an online lesson in class to check for each students' understanding. I can make an online lesson while I am in class so that each student is on the same page. This could be used to learn some math content that is not as fun to learn but is needed. I could also use this if I have a sub or there is something that makes it unable for the students to come to class.
3. How will this help your students?
• This will help to differentiate the learning for the students and to give the students more autonomy in the class. It will also help the students to not lose a day if I am sick or they are not able to come to class.
4. What are your goals with regard to this topic?
• I want to plan two to three online lessons a year so that students can learn how online lessons work and how to take an online class. It will also give me time to walk around to all my students and answer their questions.
5. How does this shape your vision for empowered learning for your students?
• This helps my students to take responsibility for their learning and to help them make sense of content in their own words. This also helps me to give students one on one attention where they might not get that before and helps the students who don't like to talk in class a voice.

Blended/Hybrid Teaching

1. What does the research say about this?
• The article A Beginner’s Guide to the Benefits of Blended Learning in CTE & Elective Courses says, "Blended learning is unobjectionably beneficial for students. Here are five of the many reasons why blended learning should be a part of your teaching strategy:
1. Increased student engagement
2. It’s fun
3. More flexibility and better time management for teacher
4. It’s cost-effective
5. Performance assessments in the classroom"
• The article also states that a lot of teachers are afraid to use it because they think that the blended lessons will replace them or that online learning is just for online classes and cannot benefit their actual classes. These beliefs contrast reality. Using online resources and a blended lessons help teachers to give variety to their lessons. One teacher in the article has not taught the same way twice after 28 years. You don't have to start all at once and through away everything you developed just add one or two things at a time to your classrooms and see how students respond.
2. How can this be effectively integrated into your teaching?
• I think adding an online lesson one a unit or every other unit at first would help me and my students out. I have to try it out first before adding too much in at once. I definitely want to add this and there are many different resources online for math.
3. How will this help your students?
• This will help engage my students since it adds variety to the lessons and it teaches them responsibility. They are the ones that are responsible for watching the videos and going through the online lessons.
4. What are your goals with regard to this topic?
• My goal is to add one online lesson a unit or every other unit my first or second year of teaching. I don't want to stop there. I also want to expand the online lessons throughout my years of teaching so that each lesson is meaningful and engages the students.
5. How does this shape your vision for empowered learning for your students?
• This helps students to learn math in a fun new way. It also helps students to take on some responsibility in being motivated to learn the content. They have to come prepared to class having gone through the lesson so that I can help them with whatever they don't understand.

Sources are linked to the title of the article.

STEM Integration

1. What does the research say about this? (Integrating STEM subjects within themselves and/or across subjects - e.g., STEM in Language Arts - and teaching students coding and, more importantly, computational thinking)
• From the video "What Most Schools Don't Teach" there not not enough people who know how to code or what is behind a program. There is only 1 in 4 schools that have coding classes. With the increase in technology today everything is on the computer but there is not enough people to fill jobs that require programming or coding skills. Teaching coding or robotics or something like that in a class can change how students view computers and coding. The students may find that they like coding and can get a head start in high school before finding out about it at a college level. The article "Integrated STEM Education through Project-Based Learning" states that bringing these STEM project-based learning in our classrooms help students to reason and solve problems. The students learn to work with others and build real solutions. They also will remember more about what they learned since they will have their hands on it and are making something. They are also having fun doing it which helps our brain to remember it more.
2. How can this be effectively integrated into your teaching?
• Since math is my area I think that I can integrate it pretty easily. We look at real life problems that involve math and using coding to find solutions to the problem. It also helps student to reason logically to think through problems and think how they can solve it. I would bring in small robots and we can illustrate solutions to real life problems using those robots or even tell a story about parabolas and how they are used.
3. How will this help your students?
• This will help my students with communication skills, working with others, thinking through problems logically, and to have fun learning new math concepts in an unconventional way.
4. What are your goals with regard to this topic?
• My goal is to make sure to include more about coding and computers in my class. The more the kids have exposure to the more they will learn and be prepared for life outside of school.
5. How does this shape your vision for empowered learning for your students?
• This helps students to have a felling of accomplishment since they built the solution or object with their own two hands. There is not much that feels better than having built something that works with your hands.

The sources that I used in 1 are linked to the title of the article or video.

UDL: Action & Expression

1. What does the research say about this?
• The UDL guidelines state, "Learners differ markedly in the ways in which they can be engaged or motivated to learn. There are a variety of sources that can influence individual variation in affect including neurology, culture, personal relevance, subjectivity, and background knowledge, along with a variety of other factors." This means that students engage in the content in different ways and that we should be providing different styles for the students to engage in. The UDL guidelines also say that learners differ in ways that they can express their knowledge and there is not one way that is best for all students to express their knowledge. This means that we have to give students a variety of ways that they can express themselves not just a test every time.
2. How can this be effectively integrated into your teaching?
• I can give a variety of lessons in which students can learn the content I am teaching. We can do project based learning, direct instruction, a lesson that involves different cultures, and so on. If I do just a project based learning class or just a direct instruction class then there will be a lot of students that will become uninterested and miss out on the learning. I also need to give students an opportunity in different ways that they can express their knowledge. If I just do a summerative test every unit then that will just measure some of the students' knowledge and won't be best for all my students. If i give the students a choice in how they want to present what they learned then that will help a lot more students to be able to express what they know.
3. How will this help your students?
• This will help my students to be able to learn the materials using problems in real life and hands on learning instead of just memorizing a bunch of equations or methods. It will also give students a chance to choose how they will express their knowledge and add things that they have learned instead of me choosing what they have learned.
4. What are your goals with regard to this topic?
• My goal is to bring in different styles and methods to teaching my content. I don't just want to do direct instruction for all my lessons and I want to get away from doing a worksheet everyday for me to gauge what students have learned.
5. How does this shape your vision for empowered learning for your students?
• This shapes my vision by having the students more involved in their learning. They can have more autonomy by choosing how they want to present a project and what styles of learning work best for them.

Sources:

http://udlguidelines.cast.org/action-expression

http://udlguidelines.cast.org/engagement