Imagine IT Phase 6
Implementation Update
Phase 6 Imagine IT — Phase 6 Implementation, Updates, & Final Report
The main focus of my imagine IT Project is to implement STEM in my classroom by making learning relevant to my students and to achieve deeper understanding of motion, forces, and energy through explorations. My Imagine ITProject challenged me to think and do differently from usual instructional planning, delivery, and assessment. The incorporation of STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) and finding the sweet spot serve as my guide. An example, I usually weave hands-on exploration of describing motion with worksheet packets, however, this year I added multimodal presentations of students work, a whiteboard presentations that they can post online using our google classroom, lab experiments that can be sent digitally, and used of google forms to check for understanding of the concepts. Our in class work can be posted as picture, documents or through the use google forms.
In describing motion my students’ quarter one performance-based assessment was designing, building, and testing their catapult. Students collected data by measuring the total time of flight and total horizontal displacement of a ping pong ball launched from their catapult. Students were able to calculate the horizontal velocity and the time the ping pong ball reached the maximum height. Students were encourage to work in teams from designing, building, testing and analysis. A handout, rubric, and peer evaluation were given a month before the testing phase. A traditional way of instructional delivery is to get a textbook examples of projectile launched on an angle with given information that takes a class period then practice work as homework. While keeping STEM and finding the sweet spot, the learning process comes gradually. Students need the basic knowledge of parts and materials in building their own catapult, during the design process, the students were given the target distances and the ping pong ball, the object to launch. The class designated some class period to work with their own respective teams and every meeting the topics of describing motion unfolded.
The google form was used to enter individual student’s analysis from their group data. This activity allows to evaluate how student connected the hands-on and mind on catapult performance-based assessment. The soft skills like working with team, member contributions, agreement, disagreement and coming up with consensus were observed behaviors during this activity.
Evidences of students’ deep understanding were demonstrated not only through a pencil and paper assessment but also through completion of lab experiments and designing and testing a catapult. Various explorations and describing motion of an object’s position vs. time, velocity vs. time through word description, graphing and mathematical models.
Power Point Presentation of Student Work
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EbaCq7JIzUlaGSXWD5nEdlPxgKxfk_cgD-XOe94w_io/edit#slide=id.p33
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Final Imagine IT Report
Final Imagine IT Report – Implementing my IT Project, I covered the unit in motion, kinematics which describes how objects move. A description of motion includes quantities as position, velocity, or acceleration and the frame of reference. Reflecting on my implementation of our department's understanding by design (Ubd) on 1D and 2D Motion this year had changed, I became a practitioner of “Be Brave, Be Bold, and Be a Problem Solver". First, the challenge of accepting multi media exposure into internet, I need to be brave and bold just to post picture, topic, ideas, or comments online using tweets, facebook, google classroom, our own school website, the urban stem posting, and weebly. My own personal belief on privacy challenged me, however with the right environment and knowledgeable mentors who had experienced on technology, I started to embrace and handle exposures that comes with technology. I started with small steps.
What I learned from the dilemmas book, “What Should I Do?” by Anna Ershler Richert? I learned to know the narratives of other teachers who had experienced dilemmas in their practice. Dilemmas can be in a form of managing teaching; professional identity development, about students; curriculum and instructions; assessment. As I read this book, I tend to reflect on my own teaching experience and think deeply of my own dilemmas that I am currently experiencing. Focusing on my own dilemma of implementing my Imagine IT Project. In my case, my dilemmas were closely related to curriculum and instruction; and assessment. My first dilemmas, how do I create a curriculum that abides by the parameters of the set curriculum and still manage to take a step further to introduce new concepts that I wanted. Where is the right balance? Second, the assessment dilemma, I wanted my students to achieve a deeper understanding, but now I have to assess them for deeper understanding while having them progress towards the standardized test.
My focus group and teaching demonstration provided me a valuable experience similar to conducting a pilot study before total implementation. For example when I started the google classroom and using google forms a different way for my students to complete daily formative assessment (DFA), it lessen the challenges of cellphone misused. Now, I told my students, get your cell phone, complete your work, and post your work on our google classroom. One parent asked me during the parent teacher conference and said," my son said he was doing his homework but he had cellphone on his hand." I told the parent, yes we use cellphone as a tool in the classroom as well as in homework. So, your son was telling you the truth. In my focus group, the importance of providing various ways to demonstrate what students learned through multimodal composition is one of my goal. Evidence of learning should not be limited to pencil and paper test. Freedom of letting the students choose their own product and tapping on their strengths and at the same time cultivating on minimazing their weakness would be an ideal scenario. I hope with the use of technology, multimodal composition, I can fully implement it this school year.
I learned so much from my colleagues, when I discussed my dilemmas of implementing my Imagine IT Project and very good suggestions from shortening the focus lesson because my original Imagine IT Project covers multi units. In addition of video analysis versus students’ created video of misconceptions in physics. So, at this point, I am reflecting on what I had completed. However, I will keep working on completing the goals that I planned last summer. I completed the unit in motion, where students described motion through words, through graph, and mathematical model. Students conducted explorations, investigations, and formal laboratory experiments in achieving deeper understanding of objects’ one dimension and two dimension motion. The catapult project, performance based assessment required more time than a traditional instructions embedded with lectures and solving textbook example problems. My original Imagine IT Project was huge in term of content and skills that students need to learn. The technology piece as the facebook, twitter, google apps and website were part of my instructions in term of planning, delivery, and assessment this year. The technology evolves in my daily practice. What I implemented, I continue update my class page on our own school website, created google classroom for all seven classes from three physics classes, two Integrated Math 3, one seminar class ( Dream Big: Build Your Own House), and one freshman seminar. With all these classes, somehow, the effect of Imagine IT can be traced. Today’s History, Deja Vu, students posting this work in our google classroom, use of technology in graphing and creating lab report, google forms are becoming part of regular activities. Whiteboard presentations plus posting the picture on google classroom slowly becoming our class norm.
Now, to think of round two, after experiencing implementation phase, Imagine IT Project can be created into small cluster of module. In my case, I want to be more creative of continuing to use cellphone as tool in the classroom. Improving my skills to make the most of google forms and google classroom as instructional tools for my students and I. The weebly website is good but limited for free. So, I am looking forward to fully implement my IT Project next quarter and beyond. The MSU December meeting gave me the moments of solitude that provide the time to reflect on what I have accomplished and what needs to to be done for second semester. The moments to share my ITProject implementation with everyone in our cohort through the designed activities of the day. In addition to the experts who shared the world of wonders, the activities that can be implemented in the classroom and the presentation of understanding and reaching out the urban families we are serving.
