Jessica Beste

ISTC 501- Final Reflection

Analysis and Instructional Decision Making

The two sources we are using is the OWS program offered on Towson
University’s website (www.towson.edu/ows) and WordPress.com. The Towson
website is used to assist students with common grammar and English errors and
provides various exercises for students to practice the exercises. It is an interactive
site for any student to enter and learn a technique they did not remember or
something a professor marked incorrect. WordPress.com is being used because we
have been using it in class and are becoming more involved with the blogging
process. The students are using WordPress.com as their blogging tool because we
as teachers understand how to navigate through the various web pages and can
answer any questions the students may have about the particular blogging website.
As a team we tried to choose something for our lesson that many people have
learned and still do not quite understand the concept of or just need a quick
refreshing session. We did a general search and have research from a previous class
of the most commonly misused words and we chose the one that we felt to be one
of the most common among the list. After we chose to design a lesson around this
idea we found the Voluntary State Curriculum and Core Learning Goals standards
that it addressed and found it to be a common area in any curriculum. Our lesson
clearly meets the chosen Voluntary State Curriculum Standards, the Core Learning
Goals, and the MTTS Standards.

Reflection on Effectiveness

The lesson designed for the practical teaching experience is mainly a based
upon auditory and visual learners. These were two strategies used while planning
the lesson. The main content of the lesson is taught in an auditory style, while the
activities and exercises are taught mainly in a visual and hands on strategy. The
lesson is based around the MTTS Standards to make certain the lesson relates to
more than one of the MTTS Standards. I thought the direct instruction strategy to be
very effective because the content that is being taught is something that must be
interpreted one way from the teacher and not from a variety of groups. If literature
is being taught then varied concepts would be appropriate, but since it is a
grammar lesson all of the information must be universal. The only strategy that I
could predict to have the least amount of effectiveness would be the PowerPoint
presentation. Students in classrooms today see these presentations constantly and
are not likely to pay too much attention to them; however, they are a great idea
because the teacher can post the presentation and the students can refer to the
presentation online whenever they need to.
Reflection of Future Instruction

Two professional learning goals that came from the practical teaching
experience project is MTTS Standard I and Standard V. Standard I is used because a
PowerPoint presentation is created to benefit the students. I would also be placing
the PowerPoint presentation online for the students to have the ability to access the
notes from class. Standard I is being addressed because the PowerPoint
presentation is an easy way to access the content information in an effective and
efficient way. Standard V is being addressed within the lesson because the
PowerPoint is put into the construction of the lesson, but also is addressed because
of the students using technology. Technology is being integrated by the two online
exercises and also the blog assignment. Not only is the technology being practiced
in class, but it is also being practiced outside of class to help the students complete
an assignment, which demonstrates the individual’s mastery of the given content.
There are implications for the future use because the students can use the
PowerPoint example to create their own PowerPoint examples when they have
presentations and the blog is a continuous assignment where students create,
reflect, and respond to various blogs to demonstrate to the teacher the individual’s
understanding of the content.

Reflection on Technology Integration

The students were focused on the learning, but the technology is used as a
tool to assist student learning and understanding of a topic. The lesson flowed
nicely to include the use of technology. The technology contributed to the lesson as
an interactive way to include students in the lesson and also to include hands on
strategies for the learners who employ a visual strategy to learn. The technology
also provides students and teachers with instant results of their activities, which
assists with evaluating what level each student understands is on. The students
were definitely able to understand why the use of technology is so important.
Without the use of technology for the grammar exercises, too much time is wasted
on the teacher walking around the room and stopping to check and grade each
individual paper. Time is saved by using technology because students can work on a
time schedule adaptable for each student.

I believe the lesson could have been accomplished without the use of the
online exercises, but the technology part of the lesson saved time, allowed students
to work at their own pace, allowed teachers to check progress instantly, and also
serves as a way to engage students with the particular activity by doing a hands on
activity. The lesson is possible, but I believe it would be less engaging if the
technology was not present because all of the students were participating. Every
student is sitting in front of a computer and is being monitored by the teacher.
Therefore, each student is participating in using the technology because it is part of
the overall lesson. However, it is tough to decide if every student is benefiting from
the use of technology. From my own observations I would agree that the technology
is benefitting each student because the technology is used to help the students
practice the material more than once. The technology is also being incorporated
with the students’ homework blogging assignment, which is where the student will
demonstrate his or her own knowledge of the content taught in class.