Meseke+Final+Project

=John Meseke- Final Project for 21st Century Learning Design=

__**My Beliefs**__

We are no longer teachers, but "learning designers." For the 21st century classroom, I need to design an environment where students need to be problem solvers, risk-takers, creative thinkers, and collaborators. What really stands out for me is for students to take risks and be self starters, and it is my job to motivate them to be these types of learners. Although I have always wanted to do this, I keep finding myself being the teacher that is doing the direct instruction and the students practice what is presented. I need to create an environment where students need to be given the opportunity to expand on ideas and reflect on discussions and activities that we have done. They need to be able to communicate with each other in a way that is respectful and allows for different ideas to be heard. Students need to be given chances to explore ideas, receive feedback, and improve on their ideas. These ideas can better prepare them for their future endeavors.

__**Assessment**__

Using Technology for formative assessment can transform the classroom into a 21st century environment. With the variety of technology now available, students can receive timely feedback on their work, communicate with each other about concepts based on the results of student work, and develop deeper understandings of concepts. Teachers also receive this timely feedback/data to make better decisions on instruction. Displaying student work and results to assessments can open up communication between students and teachers. For example, a google presentation can be set up where students share their thoughts to a question on an individual slide. Then the class can see everyone's responses and have a discussion with each other or as a whole class on the concept/results. This communication can develop a deeper understanding of the concept and increase the students' skills of critical and reflective thinking. Using the quiz feature on Edmodo, students receive instant feedback to the questions (with the exception of short response) and so does the teacher. Teachers can use this timely data from the assessment to improve instruction by determining if the class can "move on" or if some reteaching or differentiating needs to be done.

Using this technology and providing discussion/reflection time on the results of assessments can help create a socially responsible environment. Since students want to work with the technology in class (more often than not), they will follow the rules to continue using the technology and therefore be more respectful and ethical. Also, providing engaging activities with the technologies will lead to students being more participatory in their reflections. Working together with the technology already creates a more team-oriented environment as well. Since the students of today are growing up with technology, allowing them to utilize this for activities will empower them, and lead to more innovative ideas.

__**Artifacts**__


 * Artifact #1:** Here is a screenshot of two Edmodo formative assessments (which I call a mini-quiz). I will take a screenshot of the overview results and share with the students and have a discussion of the results.




 * Artifact #2:** Here is a nearpod presentation I created. Students evaluate an expression using the drawing tool. I am basically using this like students using white slate boards, but the awesome part about this is the "reports" option of nearpod. At the end, I have a record of every student's answer to every problem we do. If we were just using regular slates, the answers would be erased forever. Now I can go back and see how each student is performing in the activity. I think this is a powerful formative assessment.



Student answers......


 * Artifact #3:** Flipped math classroom with Big Ideas. Here is an example of a Lesson Tutorial video from the Big Ideas website. Students can go to the Big Ideas website and click on their book (my class uses the green one). Here it is. Then they would click on a chapter and then a section. On the left are "lesson tutorial" links that are instructional videos that go with the examples given in the book. For homework, I can assign students to read the examples and watch the videos. The next day we can work on a variety of math problems that would have been assigned as homework, and students can receive support for me.

Other elements that may be impacted by focusing on this element are Curriculum, Classroom Norms and Routines, Instructional Strategies, Interventions and Extensions, Resources, and Technology. It can affect all of the elements.