I recently have created a website for my Capstone Project. It is on reading fluency and how we can help struggling students enhance their fluency. The website is www.readingfluency4all.weebly.com.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
Enhancing Reading Fluency
Do you ever wonder how you
can help dysfluent readers become
better readers?
To begin, this is
how dysfluent readers tend to read words. Their reading is very choppy,
disconnected, and difficult to comprehend. This website is to provide
educators, parents, and even struggling readers with ideas, strategies, and information
that would help enhance reading fluency among young readers. The site is more
geared towards teachers to educate and inform them about this challenge that young
readers, especially those with disabilities, tend to have. This site will also
provide videos, strategies, lesson plans, and activities that can be utilized
and integrated into the classroom to help struggling readers. The website is to
also act as an open-communication among other visitors to share their thoughts
about the strategies provided and what he/she has found to work in the
classroom or at home. There is also going to be a resource page for students to
use at home that can help them practice different reading strategies.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Final Project: Integrating SmartBoard Effectively in the Elementary Classroom
Why Should We Use SmartBoard?
Education today is constantly changing. These changes include curriculum changes, state requirements and students’ performance levels, tools/methods utilized by teachers, technology, and much more. Technology has endless possibilities in the classroom and teachers are only starting to explore and discover the true potential technology has to offer for teaching and learning. Research says that technology will help students gain the skills they need to effectively endure in a complex technological knowledge-based society ("Why integrate technology," 2008). However, in order for students to gain these skills, technology needs to be implemented effectively and utilized properly. The SmartBoard is a technological tool that is becoming more popular in the elementary school classroom. This tool’s interactive ability has become an engaging and motivating factor for students. This training session that I have developed will provide teachers with the information they need to help motivate and engage students. It explains how the implementation of SmartBoard, SMART Notebook, and SMART Exchange can truly change the classroom environment in a positive and effective way.
Final Project
Here is the link to my final project. Click on the words "Final Project" to learn all about how I developed a training session to educate teachers on how the integration of SmartBoard and SMART Notebook can change the dynamics of a classroom.
Resources
1. How To Integrate SmartBoard<-- This link gives a brief introduction of how teachers can integrate the SmartBoard into the classroom and how it can be engaging and motivating. This video provides some ideas of how the SmartBoard can be utilized.
2. Using SmartBoard in the Classroom<-- This video provides an example of how an elementary school teacher integrates the SmartBoard into her everyday teaching. She explains the benefits of utilizing this tool as well as how her students feel about it. The video shows the students actually using the SmartBoard to learn (interactively).
3. Classroom Comes Alive<-- This link gives information of how effective utilizing SmartBoards in the classroom can be. The site explains that the classroom comes "alive" when integrating the SmartBoard. This link is helpful because it provides insight on what you can do to become more "SmartBoard savvy".
References:
Why integrate technology into the curriculum?: The reasons are many. (2008, March 16).
Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction
Sunday, April 21, 2013
The Final Blog
This is the final blog for EDU 627. This course has flown by
and the amount of information taught and learned has been amazing. Over the
course of the last two weeks, we have been discussing the execution of the
project along with the relationship between change management and project
quality.
The execution of the project is when the project plan has
been signed off on and work can actually begin. This is the part of project
management where the work outlined in the project plan is actually carried out.
This is a big step for the project manager because they need to ensure that all
team members are aware and capable of performing their individual tasks. This
stage of project management requires the project manager to do anything
necessary to guarantee that the project executes successfully.
Change management and project quality were also two aspects
of project management that were discussed. These two pieces tend to work
together because change management can affect the quality of the project. In
any situation, not just project management, change is inevitable and it is
important to prepare for changes and know what steps to take to manage the
changes that may occur. When it comes to project management, changes can be
made to any aspect of the project such as the project scope, the schedule, budget,
stakeholders, etc. Ultimately, changes are being made with hope to improve the
situation, organization, or project by altering any piece that needs
modification. Change management links into project quality because when change
is effectively managed, the overall quality of the project will enhance.
Quality control deals with the quality of the project being
created as well as managing the steps towards planning the project. In his
text, Cox (2009) explains that quality control measures should be performed
throughout the entire course of the project to identify and monitor any causes
of poor process or product quality. If these issues are addressed right away,
it will eliminate any poor processes and avoid issues for the future of the
project.
Change management and quality control were two areas that I
needed to modify. As a result of not fully preparing for these two aspects, I
felt that I needed a plan to improve the overall quality of my project. I
decided that it would be best if I performed a trial run of my training session
for my principal and superintendent. These are two stakeholders that have a say
in my project and are knowledgeable to know what the teachers need/should know
and what will benefit them. These two stakeholders will see what my goal is for
my project and suggest any changes that they think will be best for the overall
success of my project.
The last thing that was completed over the last two weeks
was project three. Project three required us to pick three components of
project management that we felt would be most beneficial to our personal
projects. I chose Stakeholder Analysis, Communication Plan, and Control
Checklist. This project required a lot of detail and really laid out what each
stakeholder’s job was, the type of communication that would take place, and
what was completed so far to fully execute this project successfully. The
stakeholder analysis component was extremely helpful because it identified what
each stakeholder’s job was and how important he or she were to the project. As
the project manager, this really helped me see what I should expect from each
individual involved with this project. The communication plan was and is so
important because it can make or break the success of the project.
Communication is a key to success and everyone knowing how and when they are to
communicate throughout the course of the project is essential. Lastly, the
quality control checklist allowed me, as the project manager, to see how far
along I was in certain aspects of the project. This checklist was broken down
into four sections (stakeholder participation, project process, project team,
and project leadership). This organized the information for the project manager
and allowed me to see what areas were still lacking or needed attention.
Overall, the past two weeks have really started to bring
everything together. It is exciting to be finishing up this course because I am
starting to really see how much our hard work is paying off as well as
recognizing how much work and effort goes into the management of a project. I
am eager to see everyone’s hard work and effort come together to create a
successful project!
Helpful Resources:
This link provides insight on how change management helps
with quality control. It discusses how change management can affect the overall
effectiveness and quality of the project.
This video provides a great overview of what change management
is and the goal of change management. It discusses and emphasizes how change
management takes place to improve the overall effectiveness of the project
being produced.
References:
Cox, D.M.T. (2009). Project management skills for instructional
designers: A practical guide. Bloomington, IL : Iuniverse.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
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