Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Reflection on UDL and DI

During the last eight weeks I have learn a great deal of valid information. I have understood the meaning of Universal Design for Learning and the ways to perfect Differentiated Instruction. UDL and Di are based on meeting all the students’ needs.
First, in order to meet their needs, we need to know what type of learner they are and analyze their strengths and weaknesses. A great way to learn this information about students is by giving them an opportunity to take Learning style survey. Of course there are several surveys available to the world on the Internet, but the one I fond the most is, http://www.scholastic.com/familymatters/parentguides/middleschool/qui... because this survey can be shared with the guardians of the children. Parents need to know whom their child is in order to know what can be done to help him or her.
Now that I have studied the type of learners I have in my classroom, I have learned that my student population is mostly visual learners and Ells. In this case, I am going to model my lessons with many images and videos. A great site that I can use in a majority of my lessons is http://www.english-4kids.com/videos.html
In addition to including more visuals and videos into my modeled lessons, I also need to keep my students engaged throughout the process to the product. A great site that reinforces almost any topic is http://pbskids.org/lions/ . Students can be given the opportunity to revisit a topic by visiting this site and reviewing what they have learned. The reason was this site or any site is beneficial for the students are because we are providing “option” to the learner. Option means to give the students the chance to choose how they want to learn a topic. On the same matter, we also have to give the students choice on how they want to demonstrate what they have learned by choosing their product. Some students enjoy being verbal, or artistic, or simply write what they have learned so we need to allow them to use Blogs or Voice threads or Power Point to meet their own personal expectations.
The immediate adjustment, I will implement in my classroom is providing students with choice. I think that choice is the secret into allowing every learner succeed and meet their goals!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

UDL PRESENTATION

Here is my link. Please feel free to give any informative suggestions

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

REFLECTION TIME

Ironically one thing I learned this semester is how important it is to reflect. Reflection time is the moment a student can think back to what was learned and what he or she will grasp onto for their educational journey. I have learned so much and will use almost everything I learned in my career as an educator. 

The GAME plan for example helped me discover my personal goals as well as showed me how vital it is to introduce a GAME plan to my students. I learned that as an educator I need to integrate myself better into the Digital world. After knowing this, I was able to set myself up with an action plan that will guide me to monitor and evaluate my goal. Now I am ready and excited to begin a new year with programs that will create a Digital world for my students as well as myself. I have found websites with programs for every subject! Last year I only used technology programs for math and reading but this year I can target all the subjects I teach! In addition, I will begin the year by modeling my GAME plan and helping my students map out their own GAME plan! It will be great! I have the resources and ideas needed to succeed because of what I learned the past seven weeks!

In addition to jump starting the year with a GAME plan, I will model and assign students project based assignments. This means, I will first model to students the programs I am now aware of ( wikis, digital stories, blogs, etc) , then have them create a project using one of these technologies to describe themselves! It will be a simple objective but it is meant to expose them to the ways in which we can use tools/programs on the web! 

I am very lucky to have taken this course during the summer because I am now ready to start off the year with a whole new world of technology!

Veronica

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

"GAME" PLAN FOR STUDENTS

Technology Standards for students and for teachers inter-relate with one another. The major standards that apply for teachers, also apply for students. For example, social, ethical, and human issues is important for students to understand the responsibilities and respect that comes with using technology and for teachers is is our job to promote this respect and model the responsibilities. In addition, another standard that demonstrates how the standards inter-relate is the communication standard. Students are expected to "collaborate and interact with experts and other audiences" while teachers are asked to "use technology to communicate and collaborate with peers, parents, and the larger community in order to nurture student learning". This again shows how the NETS-S and NETS-T inter-relate in order to model and guide the students into the right direction with technology. 

The best way for teachers to teach these NETS-S standards to students is by modeling a GAME plan. I will model to my students how I choose a goal from the standards and reflected upon that goal for several weeks. Then I will ask students to do the same. Each student will choose a goal from the NETS-S. After they have chosen their goal I plan on putting students in groups of 2 with a classmate that shares the same goal. These partnerships will be responsible to work on their goal and reflect on their goal by asking themselves; What am I doing? How can I improve? What have I accomplished thus far? These partnerships will be monitored by asking to reflect upon these three questions at the end of every week for 8 weeks. Hopefully, at the end of 8 weeks, they will have accomplished their goal and can choose a new one. By the end of the year, I expect to see progress in each student within the NETS-S standards.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

"GAME"-PLAN REFLECTION

  • What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice? 
Thus far I have learned about the sites that I have posted in the past posts that I will be using with my students to stay afloat with "digital learning."
  • What goals are you still working toward? 
I am still working on what skills to apply to students in order to make the "digital learning" experience diverse. However, I cannot accomplish this until I know who my students will be come fall. 
  • Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?
A new goal I would like to focus on is one that I can begin now without my students. The goal is communication and collaboration. Within this goal I want to specifically focus on how to:
"communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats."
  • What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?
Next time I will begin to focus on my new goal by signing up for educational blogs and connecting an RSS reader to the blogs in order to stay up to date with the newest ideas. 


Monday, July 26, 2010

"GAME" plan continues

How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?

Thus far, I was able to follow the first few steps. I have not been able to do the last steps which is to analyze student data and create goals alongside with students because of the time of year, however I feel ready since I have the sites set up.
https://nyc-acuity.mcgraw-hill.com/index.jsp (English Language Arts and Math)
http://165.155.107.202/lms (Math)
http://4kids.org/games/ (Math and Language Arts)
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/ (Science, Social Studies, Math, and English Language Arts)

What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

I have learned that designing lessons for our digital native students is easier than I thought. There are so many resources available online that can assist any teacher with any lesson or any students with any skill with the use of the Internet.

What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

I have to learn how to make time into the class schedule for using websites to reinforce skills. My questions are:
How often should I allow time for students to visit these sites in the classroom?
How often should I assign homework using these sites?

How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?

At this point in my plan I do not need to adjust anything. However, once schools begins I think I will make adjustments on the when to create goals with students based on their data.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

"GAME" plan on the move!

"GAME" plan on the move!

1. Are you finding the information and resources you need?

The information and resources needed for my game plan is being found with the help of resources. These resources come from my prior experience (school software programs) and from websites suggested from classmates (thank you).

2. Do you need to modify your action plan?

Thus far, I do not need to modify my action plan. My action plan was to have interactive websites for each subject and I was able to target the sites to my student´s needs. The only problem is I cannot set up the questions or lessons my students need since I do have students at the moment. Come september, I can match my students to certain skills using the websites I have found for each subject.

3. What have you learned so far?

I have learned, by interacting with teachers from around the country, that every school has their own perfered software program. In addtion, I have learned that everything we need is on the web. For example, before this GAME plan I had no idea that there was softwares to target skills in science.

4. What new questions have arisen?

My only questions now are, can I use software programs that my school does not use? Also, how can I convince the administration in my school to buy more software programs.

Veronica

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A for action!

The GAME plan I am focusing on is how to "Design and Develop a Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments."

The ACTION plan has begun:

The following are the resources I will be using:

https://nyc-acuity.mcgraw-hill.com/index.jsp   (English Language Arts and Math)
http://165.155.107.202/lms  (Math)
http://4kids.org/games/  (Math and Language Arts)
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/  (Science, Social Studies, Math, and English Language Arts)

The steps that I have taken are:

1st: I gathered the websites that will be used by my students to assess their own progress in each subject

2nd: I analyzed the students data to see what skills they need to focus on with the use of these websites

3rd: The student and I will create goals based on the data shown 

4th: The students will assess their own progress with use of the websites and their knowledge of their goals

I am always on the look out for new websites so please feel free to share, thank you.

Veronica

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

"GAME"-PLAN

Teachers of the 21st century have to know the Technology Standards (NETS-T)and feel confident teaching while integrating the standards. To be honest, less than two years ago I would have felt uncomfortable within all the technology standards but now I feel confident with most and still need to improve in some. For example, I feel confident that I have what it takes to "inspire student learning by using tools such as voice threads and blogs" because my students ended this past school year using blogs and voice threads to communicate or even reflect on what they were learning at school and at home. In addition, I feel comfortable "modeling digital age work and learning" because I love to communicate ideas and work collaborately with my students and parents with the use of technology therefore my students are expose to that form of modeling digital age working and learning.

The standards I have to work on are "Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments" and "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." These two areas goes beyond teaching with tools, it digs deeper into becoming life long learners within technology by using sophisticated assessments and always finding new ways forever. 

Standard:"Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments"
Sub-standard: Getting students to assess progress on their individual goals
Goal: My goal is to model and guide students to assess their progress by showing them how to do so with the use of technology. 
Action: Find a internet program for each subject that can help students follow their progress and work on areas of need. For example, there is a program called Acuity that helps students increase their reading and writing skills based on an assessment taken online. This program shows students how they performed and assigns them activities to work on to improve. I need to find programs such as these for other subject areas
Monitor: I will check progress my going onto the program's page for teachers to manage. In addition, I will conference with students on what they are working on and why.
Evaluate and Extend: I would evaluate their progress by giving them an additional assessment in class and have students respond to their growth by using the class' blog page. 

Standard: "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership"
Sub-Standard: Participating in local and global learning communities
Goal: Become a life-long learner by using the internet to participate in local and global communities in order to remain aware of issues and ideas around the world
Action: First, receive permission from guardians that students are allowed to communicate on the wide world web for educational purposes only. Then, find websites that are directed to students and teachers from around the community or world and learn from one another. Finally, use these websites to become involved in participating ideas and more with people from outside of school to gain many perspectives. 
Monitor: I will check progress by having students and myself write a reflection each month about something we learned from somewhere outside of our classroom with the use of technology.
Evaluate and Extend: I will evaluate our progress by allowing my students to make any suggestions on how we can become more involved with the outside world of our classroom. 

Hopefully this will improve my skills as a teacher overall. 

Veronica

Saturday, June 26, 2010

REFLECTION on Internet Literacy and Inquiry

            The Internet gives us individuals the world at our fingertips. However, if we do not know how to use it accurately, we will not be able to take advantage of it to the full potential. This course taught me the ways and steps we must take in order to gain the answers to our questions on the Internet. Now I can take what I learned and apply it to my teaching.

            Searching and using the Internet is a process that everyone needs to know, from questioning, locating, evaluating, synthesizing to communicating, every single step matters. But one striking revelation I had during this course was the importance of allowing students with choice before they begin their Internet project, the reason behind allowing choice is because based on Eagleton and Dobler (2007,p.251); choice motivates students to put more effort because it is based on desire and nothing more. Therefore, I know now to always allow my students choice even if it means that I need to give them the unit topic and they choose how to support it. My role as a teacher is not to restrict student learning but rather motivate their learning in order to succeed.

            As a professional, I have created a goal for myself that reflects upon what I have learned and need to continue to grow within this area. My goal is to reflect more upon gathering new information and evaluating information. In other words, I need to reflect on my findings as a researcher and model to students that reflecting is critical when gathering, evaluating, or determining any type of information. I will meet my goal by keeping a reflection log throughout different units during the school year. This will help me stay accurate while monitoring my learning. In addition, showing students how to reflect on different units can motivate them to do the same, which promotes necessary skills for the 21st century.

 

Resources

 

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for

internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Research Methods With Scenarios

Application: Evaluating Research Methods

Over the past three weeks, we have learned about several research methods, including quantitative, qualitative, mixed methods, action research, and secondary data analysis.

These research methods we have studied are reflected in the following four scenarios, which present different examples of how a researcher might design a study on the subject of peer mediation.


Scenario 1: Ten students are available for in-depth interviews. Participants will be selected based on their involvement with the peer mediation program. They will be observed over three weeks. Analysis will attempt to determine issues concerning peer mediation.

 In this scenario, peer mediation is being researched by understanding the reasoning behind the results. The understanding of the reasoning is an example of Qualitative Research. It is a great example of qualitative research because the "why is being answered face to face."(McMillian & Schumacher, (2008), p.135.) Qualitative method is used when the researcher uses"distinct groups"(McMillian & Schumacher, (2008)) with the goal in mind to understand why a certain problem is solved or not. In this specific research the analysis will be based on observations (face to face) that are done on selected participants ( distinct groups), which is a typical qualitative research procedure.

 

Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.

In this scenario, peer mediation is being researched by using the analysis of data results. The analyzation of comparing groups by using data is an example of Quantitative Research. In this particular scenario the researcher is "choosing subjects"(McMillian & Schumacher, (2008), p.101) to group in order to receive fair data. In addition this is a prime example of quantitative research because the analysis will be on looking at the number of referrals to determine the results of peer mediation. In conclusion, looking at the number of referrals is a form of "collecting data."(McMillian & Schumacher, (2008)).


Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.

In this scenario, peer mediation is being researched by the use of mixed methods. Mixed methods is when the researcher uses data results and digging deeper to find out why or how. In this scenario the researcher is going to analyze the number of decreased referrals because of student attitudes by using quantitative research and then mix it with qualitative research by understanding how the attitudes affect the value of peer mediation. In conclusion this scenario supports mixed methods because it first "analyzes data and then ask why it is happened."(McMillian & Schumacher, (2008), p.161.)


Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.

In this scenario, peer mediation is being researched by the use of action research. Action research is when the researcher "promotes change by getting involved in the research experiment itself." (McMillian & Schumacher, (2008), p. 174). In this specific research, the ZASK- R  will improve peer mediation by getting involved and interviewing the students on their feelings and surveys. The involvement in combination with still using data and reasoning is what makes this scenario an action research. 


Overall, any type of research is beneficial for the world of education because research is based on real results. In every scenario explained above, there will be something to be learned and understood. The most important thing is knowing what type of research you are analyzing or doing so that you know how to read the results regardless what method it is. Our goal is to comprehend the results and not misread the research. 


Veronica


Sunday, March 21, 2010

Prompt:For this Application, resubmit the problem statement you created last week, and describe the specific research question(s) based on this problem. Based on your colleagues' feedback, indicate the methodology you would use to research your question(s).

Revised Problem Statement: I plan to determine the impact of read aloud programs between on-level fifth grade students who are independently exposed to computer-based read aloud programs and students who read aloud independently in order to reach a higher reading level/ benchmark.
(This PS now also describes the type of students(on-level) and what type of learning(independent) will take place.)

Specific Method: Quantitative Approach based on the fact that my research is controlled and highly based on numbers/scores. More specifically, I am going to construct a quasi-experimental design because my research is based on a controlled "cause and effect" (McMillan & Schumacher)  groups. At first I was going to experiment with a true-experimental design but after receiving feed back from the cohort, I realized how it will be more beneficial to study controlled groups to figure out what works best for a certain reading group and then in the future I can test another type of readers.

Research Questions:

Are average readers building fluency with the use of technology read aloud programs?
Are average readers decreasing in fluency because of the lack of traditional read aloud?
Are average readers engaged in read aloud with the use of read aloud programs or traditional?

Veronica


 

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Every Research Project needs a Problem Statement

Problem Statement:

I plan to determine the impact of read aloud programs between fifth grade students who are exposed to interactive read aloud programs and students who read aloud independently in order to reach a higher reading level/ benchmark. 

Reason: As a fifth grade teacher who just completed 32 running records, I have noticed that the number one reason why students are not moving up levels is because of fluency. Now it is my job to find out the best way to assist my student's fluency by using their time wisely.


Tuesday, February 23, 2010

New Goals for 2010 Thanks to Technology!

Education is a gift that never leaves us. Therefore, we have to celebrate anytime we learn new things or new ways. Eight weeks ago I was familiar with technology and used promethean boards but I was too focused on the technology tools as a teacher that I did not use it as learning tool but rather an instructing tool. However, after eight weeks, I have learned how to use technology to enhance students learning. For instance, instead of just copying and pasting photos onto slides and explaining what you are teaching, a better way of doing it is by having the students view the photos through a virtual tour and allowing them to come up with the ideas and construct their own meaning of the lesson.

The most valuable lesson I learned in the past eight weeks has become my personal theory which is to give the children the opportunity to create their own meaning out of a lesson instead of instructing them on what they should think. A great way to allow the students to construct meaning through experiences is by emerging them into the cooperative and social learning. As Dr.Orey stated, "students need to interact and create episodes that will last." There are a world of tools in the world of technology that can increase student engagement socially and help them construct meaning into knowledge. Two of my new favorite tools are Voice Threads and Note-Taking with blogs or wikki pages. Voice Threads are wonderful to increase students' stamina by including visuals, audios, and instant feedback with the option of leaving several comments. Note-Taking is an essential tool because it is a process students must perfect to do well in life. The best part of note taking is the ability for students to choose how they want to keep track of their notes; from blogs, wikkis, concept maps, etc. Either way, if they are creating a Voice Thread or analyzing information learned through note taking, the student's engagment is likely because they are in control and socially involved.

In order to get the ball rolling with my students and increase their level of engagment with technology I have set two long term goals. One is to use technology to increase communication and ownership amongst students. I will do this by creating a BLOG with the entire class and make it a routine to assign discussions every weekend for homework. After a couple of weeks, I will have the students pick topics they would like to discuss that connects with the Unit we are working on. At last, I would like the students to use Blogs as a place where they can continue the classroom questions and comments into their personal computer. My second goal is to be more flexible when assigning projects to partnerships. In other words, I need to be more open-minded and trust the students to meet the rubric by any means of technology they would like to use. For example, I would first give the essential question they must try to answer, followed by the rubric, and meet with them in groups to check on their progress.Overall, my mission would be to allow them to use technology to get their meaning across without being instructed to use a certain tool.

Well, although I feel that I have a lot of ideas now, I know the next class will give me some more, so I will see you there! Bye for now !

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Social Learning Is The Key To Making Lessons Last Forever

Social learning theories include many forms of instruction from peer collaboration to any form of interaction.Therefore, any instructional lesson that includes students working together is a prime example of social learning. For example, using tools to have students experience cooperative learning such as WebQuest is an excellent way to have students collaborate (socially) to develop a project that is created by them. The best thing about WebQuest is that not only are students totally engaged, but they also know what is expected of them through the teacher's objectives, rubrics, etc. Another great way to create a lesson that will be successful is to take the social aspect of it and add in connectivism theory. This will make the lesson an episode students will never forget because they were engaged and it connected to their lives with meaning.

Social learning with connectivism is sure to gain the students' attention. Another way in which cooperative learning works as a part of the social learning theory is by helping students "cooperate to learn"(Wong & Wong,1998.) For example, assigning students to "roles" again support social learning but also builds cooperative learning skills (reporter, writer,etc) which they will need in the real world.

Overall, social learning and it's connection to connectivism and cooperative learning help students grow as learners while helping them remember what they have learned.

A lesson that I created to incorporate social learning and it's methods is a lesson using Voice Thread to teach students about The Importance of Currency in Latin America. I downloaded pictures from the internet of ; types of currency from the past and present, map of the Latin American Countries, and a graph of the rates of the currency today. After I uploaded them, I added focus questions and voice explanations. Later on I put the students in groups of two and had them log onto the site using a class log in and had them add comments to what they noticed. This was my introduction to Currency in Latin America. Now that they have a background knowledge on the subject, they can do the research with their partners ( take turns as different roles) and add comments to the pictures while learning from one another through social learning!
http://voicethread.com/share/889763/

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Technology Helps Students Create Artifacts

Students learning within the constructionist theory are constructing their own theory within the reality of the topic mixed in with their own beliefs. This way of learning is by far one of my favorites because it allows the children to explore by themselves, become fully engaged and create a finished project. This process of learning can be intensified with the use of technology. Technology help children not only "gather the data but also interpret the data" (Pitler,Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski.)

In order for students to be able to gain a meaningful lesson from this process of creating their own artifact, teachers must have students generate and test their hypotheses through one of the following; "system analysis, problem solving, historical investigation, invention, and/ or decision making"(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn,& Malenoski.) The more hypotheses the student experience, the more they will learn from the experience. In addition, tools that are very beneficial with the integration of technology are Spread Sheets and Data Collection Tools. Both of these tools help the students interpret the data instead of simply gathering.

One example of a lesson that can be used in the constructionist theory with technology is one I thought of while brainstorming during my reading. The lesson would be on Latin America's Impact on the United States and students will be asked to create a PowerPoint which focuses on their assigned country's contribution to the United States. Within this lesson students will be given the opportunity to use an interactive data collection box to interpret the amount of impact the country had to The United States compared to other contributions. Overall, this lesson will support the constructionist theory with the use of technology.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Cognitivism In The Classroom

Cognitive theory along with my experience as a teacher shows me that the most important thing a teacher can do is realize that each student is a different type of learner. Although I know that every child learns in a different way, I still do not test he or she to find out exactly what type of learner he or she is. From now on, every year, on the first day of school I will ask the children to take the questionaire, found at http://www.personalitypage.com/cgi-local/build_pqk.cgi. This questionaire is based on the Myers-Briggs Types (Lever-Duffy & McDonaly,2009.) Using this questionaire will be much more beneficial at the start of the year but it is never too late to find out exactly what type of learners you have in the room so you can plan accordingly. As teachers we each have personal preference but not every child learns as we do and that is what we must remember! "Cognitive styles is how one thinks" (Lever-Duffy & McDonald,2009), therefore we need to use tools to help several types of learner not just one.

Cues, questions, and organizers are ways in which we can target more than one thinker (learner) at a times because each one of these gives students an idea on what the topic is and varies from levels depending on the student. For example, the cues gives any type of learner a clue about what they are learning, the questions start from low leveled to high and the organizers are made so that students can grasp the concept regardless of the type of learner they are. Concept maps are an excellent way to show students the parts of what they are learning. Similiar to using tools that can connect with a variety of learners or thinkers, another important tool teachers can use during lessons with students is note taking. Note taking is extremely vital to a student because this is what the student uses personally to study or comprehend. For example, if the student is studying a character, the teacher can model to the students several note taking ideas and allow the student to choose which one can help he or she comprehend. What I have done in the past was give the students a choice between; using a T chart (Pitler,Hubbell,Kuhn,Malenoski,2007), sketching, listing, or webbing. Providing the students with the freedom of selecting their style of note taking makes it more personal for the student while allowing them to use their cognitivism in the classroom.
Veronica

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

STRATEGIES that work for THE BEHAVIORIST THEORY

Behaviorist learning theory is based on the measurable behaviors of students. The Behaviorist Theory focuses on the importance of student behaviors and how it impacts their academic growth. Therefore, since their Behavior plays a huge part in their success as a learner, the Behaviorist Theory should be taken into account when planning the routines of a classroom. One of the most vital elements of a classroom is reinforcement. Reinforcement creates a positive learner who feels competent and understands what is expected of them because of the constant 'reinforcement.' The learner can believe in him or herself if the reinforcement allows success. In other words, if a teacher reinforces the child when he or she does the right thing, that child will then have experienced success which leads to self -esteem ( competence.) This notion of self-esteem correlates with a sense of effort because if a child experiences success, he or she will feel motivated to put effort to once again feel rewarded. The goal for a teacher is to reinforce positive behavior and effort. In this week's text, I came across a fabulous method to encourage students to put effort in all their work, "a rubric and spreadsheet that is designed for students to self evaluate their effort"(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007.) Immediately I created a duplicate to start using Monday of next week because I think it is going to allow students to understand and track their effort clearly. In addition , this spreadsheet and rubric will hopefully increase achievement because students will see what areas they will need to polish. Overall, I believe that when students are given clear instructions and reinforcement they will be able to improve in certain areas while feeling proud of the things they are good at. Effort is within the student therefore he or she needs to try but teachers can help increase their effort by using technology during classwork and homework. It is a very smart idea to give students homework through the use of technology because it will increase their behavior towards education by turning lessons, practice, and studying into a game where the student is interactive. For example, iknowthat.com is a sight where students can play while reviewing their division facts. Using technology during homework time is almost necessary because some students do not have a guardian at home who speaks English or etc therefore including technology gives the child an opportunity to have support. Integrating technology into homework and having students become independent by self evaluating their effort can show students that we believe in them by reinforcing compliments through the behaviorist model.