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Have Tablet Will Travel

Hello, my name is Marilynn and I am a technology geek.  While I am not aware of there being a chapter of Geeks Anonymous available to me, my friends and family would certainly support my participation if there were.  I LOVE technology and all the gadgets that go along with it.  While technology today is designed to make our lives sleeker, lighter, and more streamlined, it has the opposite effect on me.  From the tangle of wires stretched across my kitchen table to charge all my devices, to the large black rolling briefcase that accompanies me everywhere just “in case” I need it, evidence of my technology addiction is all around me (always!) 

It’s not that I don’t try to disconnect, I do.  Not cold turkey, mind you, but in stages.  These attempts tend to lead me to believe I need more connectivity, not less.  My latest technology gadget is a Samsung tablet.  My rationale for the purchase was that I could carry it with me everywhere and detach from the black briefcase I always had in tow.  I even bought new pocketbooks, based on whether the tablet would fit in them! Was my tactic successful?  Sort of…like an electronic newbie who prints every computerized report “just in case”, I carried my tablet everywhere, but had my technology stuffed briefcase always in the car.

I was in Athens last month waiting on the arrival of my new granddaughter when my phone (smart, of course) went off alerting me to a meeting I was scheduled to attend in fifteen minutes.  I whipped out my tablet, found the hospital had an excellent Wi-Fi signal and gamely logged in to my meeting.  Forgetting that my tablet had a built in microphone that I could have used, I ended up typing in my responses on screen, which was a slow but suitable way to communicate in the meeting.  I think my last transmission was “Got to go, the baby is coming!”  Fifteen minutes later my sweet, healthy Calleigh Rose came into the world and my first official attempt at electronic downsizing was a success.  Of course, now I need to see about finding a small portable headset to go with my tablet and maybe one of those keyboards that you can roll up…

Differentiation: Custom Learning for Each Student

Kelly Gardner is an adjunct English instructor and content developer for Georgia Virtual School.

In education we talk about differentiation all the time, at GAVS it is an authentic practice. Differentiation is the idea of givings students a variety of approaches to learn material and the opportunity to create custom products demonstrating mastery of the material. Differentiation can also provide enrichment and remediation. Over the years, Georgia Virtual has incorporated this principle into its courses.

When I first began teaching, I knew that I would encounter a variety of students. In school, teachers are trained to recognize the auditory learning, the visual learner, the kinesthetic learner, and the tactile learner,among others. We learn techniques to connect with each student and present the material in ways that are meaningful to each learner. In the face-to-face classroom, this could be done through manipulatives, group work, hands-on projects, music, movies, presentations, guest speakers, and much more. Many students and parents do not realize that in the online world it can be the same!

Presenting material in multiple forms is a request from many Georgia Virtual students… and this is just what Georgia Virtual does! Georgia Virtual content developers & development specialists go to great lengths to create and revise courses with differentiation in mind. This means that courses are designed for the student with multiple learning styles. Information is presented with notes, video, audio, and hands-on online practice. Interactive review activities are also present in courses to give students more ways to study. The courses also vary the way students present mastery of material. Gone are the days of solely reading and taking quizzes! While the traditional means of assessment are still used, students can also create a wide variety of products.

Hello? Testing, Testing 1 2 3

Corinne McKeown, Mathematics Teacher and Department Chair

“When you know better you do better.” -Maya Angelou

Are you there?! Hopefully you are not lost just yet in the all the testing acronyms that are floating around this time of year. Whether you are a teacher, a student, or a parent, you hear CRCT, PSAT, SAT, EOCT etc. - thinking to yourself, here we go again. We all know that these are tests to understand what knowledge we contain. Never is it really do we have the knowledge, because we, of course, have studied and seriously all of that soaked in!! Really, we are looking at how can we prepare for the test when some of the information is not always second hand knowledge? 


Wait, you mean to tell me that not everyone knows the special right triangles?!


You still there?! Remember no napping or drooling on the test. Let me share with you some of those resources I am familiar with (and maybe, just maybe you can share some in the comments below.). There are some great subscription (aka paid) sites out there for students to practice specified tests, even state level, and work out any remaining weaknesses they may have.  Here we go:

•  USATest Prep – straightforward practice tests of different lengths for multiple subject areas. The domains are broken down such that areas of weakness can be addressed with explanations and practice to ensure a better understanding.
•  Schmoop – practice tests for multiple areas, drills on skills, explanations and all of this with some humor

Yea, I know there are more than just these but like I said these I am familiar with. I have dabbled a little in StudyIsland, but the word on the street is that students like it and find it worthy of their time. Okay, I heard it from two students so that does not qualify as a lot, but they offered the information.
I know, I hear you. You want FREE – I have, we have, the school has no $$. Besides, who really can resist free? What FREE resources exist? Depending on the test you can get them and they may not be as fancy or entertaining or time effective as the ones above.

Are you there, Señora? It's me, your student!

“Mrs. Teixeira, will we always use ‘estar’ with present progressive?” “Are commas used the same way in Spanish as they are in English?”“I really want to improve my comprehensibility portion of the project rubric, Mrs. Teixeira. Can you help me do this?”

These are the kinds of questions that I receive from students who I will never meet in person but feel I am reaching due to constructing a strong foundation of communication early in the semester. Teachers must pay attention to detail and make that extra effort to “smile and wave” in the online world. Showing the students that I care about their progress and language learning is the reason I receive such thought-provoking questions. Students do notice when they are paged or emailed with comments asking what they did over the weekend or even about school dances and proms. Another way of making that personal contact can be shown within our news events. If a student submits a project that shows vast improvement or effort I often leave feedback asking not only if I may use it as a sample in a news event but also to confirm that via email. Often times they do! This fosters strong communication between teacher and student; they know that I focus on reading and listening to their assignments! Sending an note of encouragement to a student further demonstrates my acknowledgment towards their commitment to our class despite it being a difficult subject for them to master. Just today I received a reply from a student to whom I sent a message last week. In part of the letter the student said, “Thanks for having confidence in me!” Knowing that I am helping that student and being presented with questions such as “Why is ‘hacer’ and not ‘ser’ used with weather?” are truly great motivators for me as well. It is so empowering to be an educator to students in online education! We are riding on the cusp of something great!

Everywhere You Go....

by Abigail Jackson

Abigail Jackson is an adjunct teacher of French 2 at Georgia Virtual School. Abigail is a certified educator in Georgia and Florida. She has taught and developed classes for grades 6-12 at Georgia Virtual school since 2007. She is a teacher-leader and frequently presents at educational technology and professional development conferences.

Everywhere you go, you can see the proof. Computer technology is making our world a better place in every industry and facet of life. Mechanics use computerized diagnostic tools to fix your car. Manufacturers use technologically calibrated production equipment to build your products. Police Officers and soldiers use computers for their field operations to protect you and your property. Teachers use computerized attendance and grading tools to instruct your children in the classroom. Secretaries to captains of industry use sophisticated communication tools to sell you products and operate our economy. The evidence is clear. If one is to succeed in today's world, they must have knowledge of these tools.

The International Society for Technology (ISTE) is an organization of more than 2,000 educators and leaders seeking to advance technology education in P-12 classrooms (ISTE, 2011). ISTE has written The National Educational Technology Standards (NETS), "...a standard of excellence and best practices in learning, teaching, and leading with technology in education." (ISTE, 2011). ISTE publishes a set of skills that all students should acquire prior to graduating from high school. The National Educational Technology Standards for Sudents (NETS*S) include:

1. "Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship

6. Technology Operations and Concepts" (ISTE, 2007)

At the Georgia Virtual School, we teach many subjects ranging from standard educational fare such as math and science to more exotic topics such as Chinese, Music Theory, Journalism, and Personal Fitness. We deliver all of these programs using the internet. Because GVS classes are delivered via a Web-based platform, students learn many of the skills set forth in the NETS standards.

Authentic Feedback in the Online English Classroom: Escaping the “Well Done”

Jane E. O'Brien, English Department Chair and 
Full-Time Instructor

  
Authentic Feedback in the Online Classroom: Escaping the “Well Done”

As an on-line English instructor, I am continuously preoccupied with the concept of providing authentic feedback and the validity of the feedback presented to my students, irrespective of the assignment. Unlike the traditional classroom, on-line instructors do not have the opportunity to receive the physical cues from students, such as the deep sighs over a difficult assignment, the questioning looks when presenting a new topic,or the general disinterest in the material from the student, who is just not keen on the class. Consequently, on-line instructors rely heavily on the collaboration with students through discussion posts, daily emails, synchronous sessions, phone exchanges, and daily review of submitted work.

          While teaching high school English in the traditional classroom, I utilized the common practices employed by most instructors,rubrics, Socratic sessions, individualized writing conferences, and continuous praise during lectures and instruction. As I ventured into the world of on-line instruction, however, I realized immediately that many of these practices needed to be modified in order to ensure students had a sound understanding of both my expectations, their performance, and the standards addressed,especially with the writing process and the construction of academic essays. Over the course of the last year,I relied heavily on the integration of two resources, a standardized rubric(employed across all GAVS English courses) and Turnitin.com’s GradeMark^® resource.Through the employment of a standardized rubric, my students can evaluate certain areas of the writing process, such as Style, Form, Content, and Conventions,and review general commentary on the overall essay. With GradeMark^®, students receive a highly specified commentary (already formulated in the GradeMark^® program)on each section of their paper.