Instructional Technology to Improve Writing Skills

Allison Nicole Creech

EDU648: Teaching & Learning with Technology
Instructor: Dennis Lawrence
08/29/2016

The Use of Strategies from One Classroom to My Classroom

Allison Nicole Creech
ECE430: Early Childhood Education Capstone
Instructor: Barbara Segala
02/15/2016

The Use of Strategies from One Classroom to My Classroom

To be honest, I do not remember how my teachers used differentiated instruction in order

to meet the needs of the different learning level within my classes. While I remember different
teacher for different reasons, I have been out of school for over ten years with my last class being
in a college environment. The few teachers I remember, I remember because they made the
learning experience fun and inviting for everyone. However, I dont remember how they made
each learning experience fun and inviting for everyone. In reality, I always felt like those
teachers knew how to connect to the students showing them respect and valuing their opinions.
I feel like Mrs. Ashland uses the same strategy to connect to some of her students in order
to better understand their individual needs. For example, Mrs. Ashland takes the time to ask
Johnny what he likes to do which allows her to connect with him. In connecting with Johnny,
she is able to understand why he often chooses to play alone while at the same time helping her
to realize she needs to encourage him to play and collaborate with his peers. As teachers, it's
important for us to understand that there is so much more to students than the life they lead in
class, and it is important to show interest in a student outside of the day's homework (Edutopia,
2014, para. 1).
In order to meet the physical need and language needs for Jane, Mrs. Ashford
collaborates with Janes speech language pathologist and occupational therapist to ensure Jane is
using the appropriate techniques for each area. When it comes to therapy, a child with special
needs probably will not be able to generalize the skills he works on with a specialist during
therapy time to other times and place where he or she needs the skills (McWilliam & Scott,
2001, p. 1). However, when Mrs. Ashford and the therapists collaborate and share ideas for
helping Jane use the skills developed during therapy within the classroom, Jane is provide with
several more opportunities to practice those new skills. In addition, Jane will not be left out of

classroom activities, she is able to foster social relationships, and both teacher and therapists will
be able to see what methods work and which do not work for Jane.
Throughout the case study, Mrs. Ashland uses observed and documented those
observations of the students to help her access their abilities and behavior on a daily basis.
Observing and documenting a childs work and performance over the course of a year allows an
educator to accumulate a record of the childs growth and development. With this information,
educators can begin to plan appropriate curriculum and effective individualized instruction for
each child (Resources for Early Learning, n.d., para. 4). For example, she observes Jack
demonstrating his strong verbal skills and ability to follow multi-step directions. However, Mrs.
Ashford documents Jack frequently chooses not to follow those multi-step directions.
As Mrs. Ashford observes Jack and documents his actions, she will discover his strength,
weakness, and areas needing improvement. In addition, she will be able to share the information
she discovers with Jacks parents to get feedback from them and offer support. The observation
and assessment process can help a teacher identify the effectiveness of the classroom setting,
specific areas of the setting, specific activities, and the teacher herself.
I would like to use all of these strategies and more in my classroom. I feel each of them
have a benefit for both myself and the students. In connecting with my students, I will be able to
learn and discover ways to build learning environments and curriculums which truly work for
each student while working to reach each student. When teachers take advantage of
opportunities to speak with their students about life outside school, it's an indication to students
that their teacher actually cares about them as a person (Sears, n.d., para. 7). I want my students
to know I care about them as a person, as well as a student.

From collaborating with other teachers to parents to additional resources provided for the
students, I would want to use every source able to me to help my students succeed. While taking
the time to collaborate with other teachers, parents, and resources like therapist can be time
consuming and hard work, the positive effects far outweigh the negatives. Besides building trust
and respect for one another, collaboration can help students develop self-esteem. In addition,
collaboration can provide the student with the best possible environment to learn in, ensure the
student get the appropriate accommodations, and help the student reach all goals set for him/her.
Last, I am a huge fan of assessments and documentation. I love the idea of using a
portfolio to track the students progress from the very first day of school to the last. An
effective piece of documentation tells the story and the purpose of an event, experience, or
development. It is a product that draws others into the experience evidence or artifacts that
describe a situation, tell a story, and help the viewer to understand the purpose of the action
(Seitz, 2008, p. 88). In addition, assessments and documentation are a great way to communicate
with parents, other teachers, and therapist about the students progress. As I document and assess
my students progress, I will be able to adapt the lesson plans to each students needs from
extending time during a lesson to providing visual materials to help a student understand the
information being taught.

References
Edutopia. (2014, February 24). 3 ways to make meaningful connections with your students.
Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/make-meaningful-connections-withstudents-nick-provenzano
McWilliam, R. A., & Scott, S. (2001). Integrating therapy into the classroom. Individualizing
Inclusion in Child Care, 1-6. Retrieved from http://csd.wp.uncg.edu/wpcontent/uploads/sites/6/2012/12/Integrating-Therapy-Into-Classrooms1.pdf
Resources for Early Learning. (n.d.). Early childhood assessment. Retrieved from
http://www.resourcesforearlylearning.org/fm/early-childhood-assessment/
Sears, N. (n.d.). Building relationships with students. Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/tools/29469.htm
Seitz, H. (2008). The power of documentation in the early childhood classroom. Young Children,
63(2), 88-93. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/Seitz.pdf

The Use of Strategies from One Classroom to My Classroom (Revised)

Allison Nicole Creech
ECE430: Early Childhood Education Capstone
Instructor: Barbara Segala
02/15/2016

The Use of Strategies from One Classroom to My Classroom

To be honest, I do not remember how my teachers used differentiated instruction to meet
the needs of the different learning level within my classes. While I remember different teacher
for different reasons, I have been out of school for over ten years with my last class being in a
college environment. The few teachers I remember, I remember because they made the learning
experience fun and invited for everyone. However, I don't remember how they made each
learning experience fun and invited for everyone. In reality, I always felt like those teachers
knew how to connect with the students showing them respect and valuing their opinions.
I feel like Mrs. Ashland uses the same strategy to connect to some of her students to
better understand their individual needs. For example, Mrs. Ashland takes the time to ask
Johnny what he likes to do which allows her to connect with him. In connecting with Johnny,
she is able to understand why he often chooses to play alone while at the same time helping her
to realize she needs to encourage him to play and collaborate with his peers. "As teachers, it's
important for us to understand that there is so much more to students than the life they lead in
class, and it is important to show interest in a student outside of the day's homework" (Edutopia,
2014, para. 1).
To meet the physical need and language needs for Jane, Mrs. Ashford collaborates with
Jane's speech-language pathologist and occupational therapist to ensure Jane is using the
appropriate techniques for each area. "When it comes to therapy, a child with special needs
probably will not be able to generalize the skills he works on with a specialist during therapy
time to other times and place where he or she needs the skills" (McWilliam & Scott, 2001, p. 1).
However, when Mrs. Ashford and the therapists collaborate and share ideas for helping Jane use
the skills developed during therapy within the classroom, Jane is provided with several more

opportunities to practice those new skills. Also, Jane will not be left out of classroom activities;
she can foster social relationships, and both teacher and therapists will be able to see what
methods work and which do not work for Jane.
Throughout the case study, Mrs. Ashland uses observed and documented those
observations of the students to help her access their abilities and behavior on a daily basis.
Observing and documenting a childs work and performance over the course of a year allows an
educator to accumulate a record of the childs growth and development. With this information,
educators can begin to plan appropriate curriculum and effective individualized instruction for
each child (Resources for Early Learning, n.d., para. 4). For example, she observes Jack
demonstrating his strong verbal skills and ability to follow multi-step directions. However, Mrs.
Ashford documents Jack frequently chooses not to follow those multi-step directions.
As Mrs. Ashford observes Jack and documents his actions, she will discover his strength,
weakness, and areas needing improvement. In addition, she will be able to share the information
she discovers with Jacks parents to get feedback from them and offer support. The observation
and assessment process can help a teacher identify the effectiveness of the classroom setting,
specific areas of the setting, specific activities, and the teacher herself.
I would like to use all of these strategies and more in my classroom. I feel each of them
have a benefit for both myself and the students. In connecting with my students, I will be able to
learn and discover ways to build learning environments and curriculums which truly work for
each student while working to reach each student. When teachers take advantage of
opportunities to speak with their students about life outside school, it's an indication to students
that their teacher actually cares about them as a person (Sears, n.d., para. 7). I want my students
to know I care about them as a person, as well as a student.

From collaborating with other teachers to parents to additional resources provided for the
students, I would want to use every source able to me to help my students succeed. While taking
the time to collaborate with other teachers, parents and resources like a therapist can be timeconsuming and hard work, the positive effects far outweigh the negatives. Besides building trust
and respect for one another, collaboration can help students develop self-esteem. In addition,
collaboration can provide the student with the best possible environment to learn in, ensure the
student get the appropriate accommodations, and help the student reach all goals set for him/her.
Last, I am a huge fan of assessments and documentation. I love the idea of using a
portfolio to track the students progress from the very first day of school to the last. An
effective piece of documentation tells the story and the purpose of an event, experience, or
development. It is a product that draws others into the experience evidence or artifacts that
describe a situation, tell a story, and help the viewer to understand the purpose of the action
(Seitz, 2008, p. 88). Also, assessments and documentation are a great way to communicate with
parents, other teachers, and therapist about the student's progress. As I document and assess my
students' progress, I will be able to adapt the lesson plans to each student's needs from extending
the time during a lesson to providing visual materials to help a student understand the
information being taught.

References
Edutopia. (2014, February 24). 3 ways to make meaningful connections with your students.
Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/make-meaningful-connections-withstudents-nick-provenzano
McWilliam, R. A., & Scott, S. (2001). Integrating therapy into the classroom. Individualizing
Inclusion in Child Care, 1-6. Retrieved from http://csd.wp.uncg.edu/wpcontent/uploads/sites/6/2012/12/Integrating-Therapy-Into-Classrooms1.pdf
Resources for Early Learning. (n.d.). Early childhood assessment. Retrieved from
http://www.resourcesforearlylearning.org/fm/early-childhood-assessment/
Sears, N. (n.d.). Building relationships with students. Retrieved from
http://www.nea.org/tools/29469.htm
Seitz, H. (2008). The power of documentation in the early childhood classroom. Young Children,
63(2), 88-93. Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/files/tyc/file/Seitz.pdf

My experience in using the Grammarly tool was easy to understand, simple to use, and
explained why each area is marked while offering suggestions to resolve the issue. I purchased
the Grammarly program sometime last year to help with writing my essays. The set up for the
program was not difficult at all and allows me to save the edited version to my computer without
replacing the old version. Before I bought the program, I always used the browser version
available through the Google website.
While I like using Grammarly some of the reasons, I dont always want to use the
program because it will identify issues within my essay which are not true issues. For example,
the program often identifies areas of plagiarism when I am citing or quoting a sentence from an
article. In addition, common phrases will often be identified as a form of plagiarism or
Grammarly will pinpoint certain words as being overused. Often, in a particular field of study,
certain words like principles or strategies are used throughout an essay or article as descriptive
wording. For the writer, there is no way around using those words without changing the
conceptual meaning of the word, essay, or article.
I will use Grammarly in the future with the understanding I will change some of the
suggested areas, but not all of them. For me, some of the changes would change my style of
writing instead of just correcting possible grammar mistakes. However, I do realize Grammarly
can improve the quality of my writing. In the essay above, the most common issue the program
found was excessive wording and grammar tense. I know one of my worse problems with
grammar is tense.
The use of Grammarly in the classroom can help students who struggle with grammar see
their errors, understand the mistake made, and how to fix the errors within the sentence. In
addition, other instructional tools can provide students with similar experience in different areas

of study. For example, when students are learning a new language, sites which allow the student
to listen then repeat will help them learn the new language through audio.
The Activity Trainer (http://www.dttrainer.com/products/activity-trainer/) is a video
modeling player for children with Autism and other learning disabilities which works to improve
a variety of skills for the child. If a child with a learning disability needs to work on a particular
skill, the teacher (or parent) can use the videos provided to model the skill for the child. The
child will be able to see the skill completed and then repeat the skill. In addition, the program
allows for customization, modifying, and even the ability to create new activities.