Standard+2

= Planning and Designing Learning Environments and Experiences. =

Teachers plan and design effective learning environments and experiences supported by technology.

===My artifacts demonstrating this standard (What?)===
 * Performance Indicators: Teachers:**
 * 1) design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.
 * 2) apply current research on teaching and learning with technology when planning learning environments and experiences.
 * 3) identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.
 * 4) plan for the management of technology resources within the context of learning activities.
 * 5) plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.

Module 2 - Activity involving collaboration tool. Module 2 - Video Reflection - International School of Americas. Module 2 - Summary of discussion on blocking and filtering software.

===My Reflection on meeting this standard (So What?)=== Activity - [|Diigo Group]

The activity involving the collaboration tool, Google Docs, fits into this standard because it helps teachers plan and design their learning environment supported by technology. Unfortunately, this activity was very frustrating for me. I sometimes feel that if anything with technology can be done wrong, I will do it. I did not take the right survey to begin with, I took the orientation survey twice. Then Google continued to tell me there was a server error and would not let me into the document. After everything did work right, it was interesting to see how the information was displayed and how easy it would be to use something like that form to get information I am looking for from the teachers.

The video example fits into Standard 2 because it shows how students can use different activites for communication and collaboration. Students were able to visit another country (Mexico) to be submersed into the culture especially for the arts. Students were also working together on the Model UN project. I especially liked the history example of communication. Students role playing a turn of the century town meeting would really bring the event to new levels then just memorizing the facts and dates.
 * Video Reflection - International School of Americas**

My summary of the discussion on blocking and filtering software represents the goal of plan for the management of technology resources within the context of learning activities. This reflection represents this indicator because it is truly hard to communicate and collaborate when blocking and filtering stand in the way. Everyone seems to be feeling the same frustration with the fire walls that are present in our schools. I agree with the gentlemen that wrote the article. We need to teach our young people about dangers so they know how to deal with them, just like in the real world. Our children see things we wish they had not all the time, especially if you travel into cities. Helping them understand it can only help them.
 * Summary Reflection - Blocking and Filtering**

Teachers and administrators need to work together to figure out a solution. A committee to review websites and talk about what is needed in the classroom is something I will be pursuing this summer.

Article: [|Playing It Too Safe Online Will Make You Sorry]

I really liked the concept of this site. As it says for itself it "provides educators timely professional development, project consulting, training, technical advice, and web-based resources". The more I explore sites like this one, the more I realize how far behind I am in technolgy. I really liked the "When will I use this? Career Exploration project. I will be exploring that more for my career week I do with 8th and 9th grade in May.
 * Collaboration Review - iCollaboratory!**


 * Write a reflection on your current practice. Do you use project-based learning? What value do you see in using it? What are the downsides? How can you start incorporating it? Have you learned about any technology tools that would be valuable assets to support project-based learning? **

I have used project-based learning during a career project that I had the 8th and 9th grade students working together on. The students worked in small groups to design a power point on an assigned career cluster. I feel that my role in project-based learning is supporting the teachers. I need to be able to provide the resources and materials that teachers would need. Technology is an integral part of project-based l​earning.


 * [|WEBSITE EVALUATION TOOL]**

**Evaluation of** California’s Velcro Crop Under Challenge I reviewed the California Velcro Crop website. I need to be honest; I have never given website credibility much thought. This website really made me realize how anyone can make information seem credible. (It made me laugh when my Diigo notes came up on the site and people were asking how the crop was grown!) When going down through the checklist, the author’s name was visible on the page with the year. There was not a link to a home page for the author or a list of sources. In my opinion, the information appeared accurate if there were such a thing as a Velcro crop. The website was very entertaining. It made me think back to the in-service we had this year in Bradford with Alan November and his examples of evaluating sites. I can see where students could easily believe information that is presented in a format that looks genuine. I know I will be looking at websites a little differently ​ We are limited in being able to purchase databases, but have used Power Library which is provided by the state of PA for many years now. Unfortunately, the state has cut the funding for this program drastically, but it is still of use in many cases. I personally use it in my classes such as when we do works cited and are on databases. I combine the two. We also have the use of ACCESS PA to provide any resources that we do not currently own and that has been used by both teachers and students. We have AR tests for use by the teachers with students to evaluate how well they have done with reading.
 * INTERVIEW WITH LIBRARIAN:**

This year we were also given a Tandberg setup for video conferencing which is based in the library, but can be used in any classroom. This is part of a federal grant called Improving Literacy through Libraries. I am just starting to use this as it has only just been set up and already I have been in on video conferencing with other librarians in other districts for professional development. We will continue these meeting from now on. Along with the video conferencing the library was given a smart board. This is not fully functional yet, but can be used to show DVD's and videocassette tapes. I plan to use this with my fifth grade class to show a DVD on the Johnstown Flood. This is to supplement a fiction book that we read on the flood before I assign a writing assignment where the students use creativity to write a journal entry from that time period. The will be incorporating facts within the writing. I have some training on the smart board and will be anxious to use it for my classes. WE were given digital cameras to use also and with those we are documenting activities we've done to support literacy.

I of course have had a circulation system and card catalog that are automated for many years. The card catalog is taught or reviewed in almost every grade so that they are versed in its use.

I will always teach anyone the use of any of these pieces of technology and have put out information on the Power Library and its databases for many years, so that my teachers are aware of it. I go over it for the students any time they come in for research projects.

There is a unit I teach every year to my eighth grade students on evaluating web sites. I do this in conjunction with the works cited formats. We discuss things such as domain endings, presentation of the website, author or source of the site and the credentials. We discuss whether the advertising is minimal or more important than the content. We discuss accuracy of the information and whether it is documented and whether they can contact the website provider to ask questions, plus other ways to tell the quality of the site and then I have them look at a website and using a form, rate it. These criteria forms are given to all the students to use whenever they need to. I also talk about hate sites and other sites that are not meant to be taken seriously, but sound real. In each of my classes I do discuss this but not in as great a detail and also we talk about plagiarism.

**Reflection on how I think these artifacts demonstrate how I have met this standard//://**

 * Watching the videos helped me to start thinking about how my teachers need to design developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology-enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.
 * Looking at the fake websites have helped me realize how to identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability. I had never really given this a thought before this course. All information on the web is not real or accurate.
 * Interviewing the librarian helped me to examine how others are planning the management of technology resources within the context of learning activities.
 * The blocking and filtering conversion brought to the forefront the importance of planning strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.

===My Future Learning Goals related to this standard (Now What?)=== I will:
 * start conversations with my teachers about designing developmentally appropriate learning opportunities that apply technology enhanced instructional strategies to support the diverse needs of learners.
 * talk with teachers about how they are helping students learn to identify and locate technology resources and evaluate them for accuracy and suitability.
 * talk with teachers about how they are now manage technology resources within the context of learning activities and how they plan to use resources in the future.
 * begin a Technology Committee to plan strategies to manage student learning in a technology-enhanced environment.