Day 12: Going on the Road

I thought today's readings were very interesting and gave great tips to use when presenting. In the article "Engage, Yourself, Engage your audience", it mentions four elements that enable you to be at your best for speaking I found these elements very helpful. Here are the four elements: the passionate speaker, the analytical speaker, the confiding speaker and the extemporaneous speaker. The passionate speaker has energy and a contagious enthusiasm. The analytical speaker relays information in a clear and concise manner. The content level is high with facts and data. The confiding speaker talks slowly, quietly and has good eye contact with audience. Finally, the extemporaneous speaker keeps the presentation fresh. Your voice has a lot of variety. Your body emphasizes points with gestures and facial expression. Your mood is light and readily responds to audience reactions. These four elements are considered the PACE model and when you interweave them all you will be able to engage your audience intellectually and emotionally. I think this is a great model to use when speaking. It is simple but it includes everything that is needed to be a great speaker.

Day 11 Readings: Portfolios and Assessment

In the article " Incorporating Portfolio Assessment", it talks about the advantages and disadvantages to student assessment portfolios. Here are some of the advantages that were the most important to me :

• Provides structure for involving students in developing standards for quality performance
• Allows assessment of process and progress
• Documents time, effort, and improvement in student understanding
• Shifts instructors' focus from comparative ranking to improving understanding via feedback
• Promotes creativity, individuality, and uniqueness in the assessment of learning

The advantage that struck me the most was that portfolios allow assessment of process and progress. Students would be able to reflect on their accomplishments each year and see their progress and also have the opportunity to see what area they need to improve on.

Here are some of the disadvantages:

• Require additional time for planning instructional activities
• Demands considerable time for assessment
• Students may need traditional scores or evidence of learning for admission criteria, job placement, or similar events
• Often does not meet requirements for state or national standards

One of the biggest disadvantage that I saw was that it would take a lot more time on the teachers part and time is something teachers don't have. With the way our school system is set up teachers have very little time for planning much less creating portfolios and maintaining them. However, even though there are many disadvantages for student assessment portfolios I still think that they are a much better form of assessment than the traditional testing and scores. It would obviously take some change in the way people currently see student assessment and it would have to be at all levels ( student, teacher, parent, administrator, state and national) but I think it would be best way to properly assess a student.

Day10: Electronic Portfolios for Students

I really like the idea of digital portfolios for students as a means of evaluating them instead of just collecting a folder that constains their test scores. At my district we use to have student portfolios for all students. Every student had a folder and it was passed on to each of their teachers every year, and each teacher would put in a couple samples of the students work. However the folders were getting so big and so hard to handle by the time the student graduated from our school that my district stopped having us put in any samples of work. Now each student has a folder that is kept in a file cabinet in the school office, and at the end of the school year each teacher puts a report card and AIMS test scores for each student. Now that folder is the only thing that we have to evaluate the students progress at our school. Even though I didn't realize it at the time it seems like we were on the right track years ago when we were collecting samples of students work. Even though keeping those huge folders year after year would of run into some storage problems it would of shown more of assessment than I think just a folder of test scores do. Having a digital portfolio for every student would be so beneficial to everyone involved. Students would be able to get a copy and take it with them to high school. Teachers would be able to see what they did and what they are cabable of doing prior to coming to their class and parents could see how their child was progressing year after year.

Day 9: Electronic Portfolios

Before this class I never heard of electronic portfolios. I have used regular portfolios with my students but they were just made in a folder or notebook. Also, I don't really think I realized how powerful portfolios could be to my students. I basically had them insert their best works and then had them show their parents at conferences. I never realized how important the reflection aspect of making a portfolio could be in assessing one's work. I think that would of made them much more meaningful to my students. I have always kept notebooks with my work or ideas but I really like the idea of using electronic portfolios to document my work through the years. There is so much more that you can put in an electronic portfolio that cannot be put in just a notebook. You can insert videos and audio and various multimedia presentations. I think it would be so much more meaningful than just some notes or pictures in a notebook. I am glad I have the opportunity to create mine in this class. I am sure that it will take many shapes and forms through the years. I look forward to creating mine and reflecting on my growth and development throughout my career.

Day 8: Professional/Teaching Portfolios

Teaching portfolios are away of recording and sharing a teachers work, their specific achievements, what they have learned and the growth they have made along the way. They can be as simple as their best works or as complex as an alternative assessment procedure. There are five stages involved when making a portfolio. First is the concept stage. This is the planning of the portfolio. Deciding what will be in your portfolio. Next is the collection stage. Collecting all the potential artifacts related to their growth goal. Third is the selection stage. Teachers review and evaluate the artifacts that they have saved, and choose those that demonstrate specific achievements. Fourth is the reflection stage. Teachers become reflective practitioners, evaluating their own growth over time and their achievement of the standards, as well as the gaps in their development. Finally, that last stage is the connection stage. This is where the teacher presents their portfolios to their peers. Portfolios allow the teacher to be reflective of their work and assess their growth. It also allows them to document the practices they would like to preserve and even pass on to others. Portfolios are a great way to record a teachers career and achievements.

Day 7: Tips for Different Types of Presentations

Here are some are some key points I learned about making a relaxed and effective presentation. First in order to create an effective presentation you must be prepared and confident and in order to do this you must know what you are going to say. The best way to achieve this is to write out a script of what you will be saying during your presentation. I know this is what I would have to do before presenting because I do not "wing it" very well. I would get nervous and forget everything that I had planned on saying. When you write your script make sure it is informative and tell your story in a way that will be interesting and will inspire enthusiasm. Your script should have facts and supportive data. You should give examples or analogies that add meaning and context to the data and reasons this is important to your listeners. Once you are done with your script you want to memorize and rehearse it and make it sound very natural. Since it is difficult to memorize an entire script it was suggested in the readings that you practice singing your script. I have never tried this but supposedly it is easier to remember the information if you sing it over and over. Once you have your script down you would concentrate on the delivery. Then you would just practice in front of the mirror or family members or an imaginary audience. If you follow these tips you are sure to give an informative and inspiring presentation.

Day 6- Using Multimedia Peripherals

I found the readings for today very useful and full of great tips. I especially liked the lessons that were given in the "1001 Uses for a Digital Camera". Even though they all were geared to a specific grade level they could easily be modified and changed to the grade level that I teach. I definitely will try some of these lessons in my classroom this year.
I also learn from the "Top 10 Tips" when taking pictures. I was familiar with many of the tips such as; getting down to their level and moving in close. Although there were tips that I had never heard of such as; know your flashes range, press the shutter button halfway down to lock the focus and using the flash outside.
The scanning tips were also very good. I didn't realize there was so many thing to take into account when you are scanning a picture. I usually just press "scan" and that is probably why my pictures don't always turn out so well. These were all very helpful ideas and tips and I intend on trying them this week as I take pictures for my projects.