Stephanie Ray

Teach 21 Reflections

5/19/2010

Week of May 10, 2010

This week I presented my capstone at the Teach 21 Expo. I enjoyed speaking with other teachers about my project. Many of the teachers appreciated the concept of creating a product that my future students could use as a resource. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in this program. I have learned so much about some awesome technology. I have also learned that I am going to have to work hard to keep myself up to date on technological advances in order to keep up with my students.

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Week of May 3, 2010

The capstone notebooks were a big success. The kids did a great job putting together creative notebooks. I am so amazed at how easily they figured out how to use the program. The are definitely more advanced in technology than me. I was really impressed with several of my students notebooks and the fact that they pushed themselves to create an outstanding presentation.

Posted at 11:11 AM by Stephanie Ray | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

4/25/2010

Week of April 26, 2010

The students will be creating their Instructional Notebooks for my capstone. Many of the students actually started this process as they created their outlines. The students seem to be enjoying the assignment. Many of the students have commented on the fact that they like using the SmartNotebook more than PowerPoint. I have enjoyed watching the students work on the SmartNotebook. They are not afraid to explore the program and see what they can create and the options that are available to them through the program.

Posted at 8:58 AM by Stephanie Ray | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Week of April 19, 2010

This week my students will start working on my capstone. As a class, we reviewed the students' CRCT scores from last year and discussed the areas of weakness. I then allowed the students to pick their partner and they picked a standard and essential question that the students struggled with last year. The students were given this week to work on an outline for their Instructional Notebook and find resources to help them answer their essential questions.

I found that some of my lower level students needed extra help with creating an outline. Many of them did not understand how to present the information in such a way that a student could understand the concept. Many of the students were amazed at how difficult it was to create an instructional lesson and I think some of them actually realized the amount of work that their teachers do to be prepared each day to teach their students.

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Week of April 12, 2010

CRCT Week. We are engaging in a last minute push to make sure the students are prepared for the CRCT. In order to keep my students engaged and excited about math, we reviewed all the 8th grade concepts through Qwizdom. I altered the type of activity as a group game or an individual game each day. I found it very interesting that my advanced students preferred to play the group game; whereas, my REP class preferred to play the game as individuals. My regular classes did not have a preference.

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Week of April 5, 2010

No School - Spring Break

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Week of March 29, 2010

As we continue to review for the CRCT, I am also making sure that the students have all the tools needed to complete my capstone. Since my students will be creating an Instructional Notebook, I had to have the SmartNotebook software installed on my classroom laptops. Deanie and Patti are so very helpful when I need any technology assistance. Patti is quick to take care of my technology requests and Deanie is quick to answer my technology or Teach21 questions.

I have decided to alter my Teach21 Capstone and assign the project to all of my students. In order to help my students who struggle with math, I am differentiating the project so that they can be successful.

Posted at 8:34 AM by Stephanie Ray | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Week of March 22, 2010

We are continuing to review for the CRCT. For the three weeks prior to Spring Break and the CRCT test, we will be reviewing all the concepts in the four units in 8th grade math. Each day, the students complete 6 CRCT practice warm-up questions, which are in their Holt CRCT Practice Workbook. We then review the warm-up questions and then we discuss one of the standards in the specific unit we are reviewing. After we go over all the standards in a unit, the students then take a quiz. The quiz gives me a better idea of what we need to review or what concepts need additional clarification.

In terms of technology, the Holt CRCT Practice Workbook is also available on CD so I am able to show the workbook on the SmartBoard as we review the questions. By using the SmartNotebook tools, I am able to write on the SmartBoard as I help the students with test taking skills.

Posted at 8:27 AM by Stephanie Ray | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

3/14/2010

Week of March 15, 2010

This week I will start to review all of the 8th grade standards with my students in order to prepare them for the math CRCT. Much of this intense CRCT review (in class) will not include technology. I will be using the Holt CRCT workbook and the Coach CRCT workbook to help prepare my students.

In terms of technology, I have invited my students to take practice tests outside of the classroom using the computer program from USA Test Prep. The tests are based on the Georgia standards and they give my students the opportunity to review all the 8th grade standards we have studied this year in order to be prepared for the CRCT in April.

Posted at 4:20 PM by Stephanie Ray | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Week of March 1, 2010

We are working to cover the last of the 8th grade standards. My students are currently working on the Geometry standards. Since there is a large amount of vocabulary covered when discussing angle pairs, I use the notebook program to create frayer models of all the vocabulary. By placing all these key terms into a notebook I can also incorporate pictures and additional information from the internet into the frayer models.

Posted at 4:14 PM by Stephanie Ray | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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