Monday, June 24, 2013

Backwards Design Unit

EDTC 602 Backward Design Template

Unit/Training Series Title:  Using Classroom Technology

Your Name:  Christie Cutshall

Context Map:  You will begin to analyze the barriers and challenges that may impact your planning.  You will identify the external forces, the stakeholders, and the impact the external forces and stakeholders represent. 

External Forces:  What are the economic, political, social, environmental, and technological forces or trends that impact your work?
Economic: My school is charter, meaning that we have to pay for many things that the district provides its public schools for free (ie Infinite Campus, databases, our facilities.) Money is tight, but we have more control over how we spend it. We put an emphasis on technology. Our building has many different technology resources available to teachers. 
Political: The District and State have some say in our school, like state mandated testing: CSAP, TCAP, PARCC, and District mandated highly extensive English Language Acquisition teacher training.  However, we have a lot of control over the day-to-day goings on at our building. 
Social: We are a public school, so we serve all kinds of students (who are chosen through a lottery system.) We have a very large achievement gap between gifted students who need challenging, and special needs students who have not had successes in public school, and not very many students in the middle. Generally, we have a student population of middle-upper socio-economic status with a lot of parental involvement. There are 5% of students on low-income free and reduced lunch. 17% of our students are minority.
Environmental: We built our school building in the fall of 2011. It is very up to date with technology with projectors in every classroom. We are, however, out of space for extra classes with only one small multi-purpose room for 2 simultaneous gym classes and lunch.
Technological: We began our school with a three-year technology roll out plan. Currently, every general education classroom has 3 student iPads, one teacher iPad, a projector, Doceri (similar to SMART Board software), audio enhancing equipment (microphones) and a desktop iMac computer. Most general education classrooms have document cameras, access to Google Apps, and Apple TV capabilities. Many teachers are not using this technology because of lack of training or allocated professional development time. We also have a full time Technology Director. She is not a teacher. She knows how to deal with hardware and software, but not instructional strategies.

Stakeholders: What points of view do these stakeholders represent?  What does each of these groups want you to do?
Community: The community wants us to uphold the good image and standing we have created in the year and a half we have been in our building.
Teacher: A few dedicated teachers want more classroom technology. All teachers want more professional development and more time in their classrooms to play with and learn the technologies. Teachers are also currently feeling very overwhelmed by all the demands placed on them.
Parents: Parents want the best possible education for their kids.  They know that technology is becoming more and more important, and thus they want to see more of it at school.
Students: Kids want to have fun but also enjoy learning. I see them teaching each other things all the time about topics that interest them, like video games or sports.
            Policy Makers at the district level: The district wants to see student growth, whether that be in TCAP scores, or MAPS scores.  
            Policy Makers at the state and federal level: The state wants high TCAP scores. (We are doing pretty well with this so far.)
Technologists: Our building has a technology director, who has a background in technology but not education. From her perspective there needs to be more technology being modeled by teachers and in student hands. She does what she can, but she is not an educator.
Administrators at the site level: Admin at our school want to see students making growth and being actively engaged in their lessons. They also want to see teachers using all the resources the school has provided them with.
            Administrators at the district level: Administration at the district want to see school wide student achievement growth.  


Forces That Impact:  As you consider the external forces and the stakeholder points of view, what barriers are the most critical to overcome?
My focus is on professional development for teachers. The most critical barrier to overcome is the teachers’ willingness to put time and effort into learning new things, especially new technologies. They might desire to learn more, but all are feeling overwhelmed with everything being asked of them.


Supports:  As you consider the external forces and the stakeholder points of view, what supports are in place that will boost your work?
Our Technologist will be very helpful in putting my action plan into motion. The administration is very supportive of more PD and technology for teachers. There are a few teachers at our building that are very supportive of technology integration as well, and I know they will back me up.


Theory of Action:  Now that you have an overview of the environment and stakeholders, you will develop a theory of action that will focus your unit or training.  This theory of action will require you to gather and analyze your current state through data, visualize your desired state, and identify action steps to achieve your desired state. 

Audience:  Who is the audience?  Who will be participating in the unit or training?
The audience of my unit will consist of returning teachers at my school. At the beginning of the year Professional Development, teachers new to our school are trained separately for technology. Because we are a relatively new school we have quite an influx of new teaching staff every year. They need to learn the basics of our school, like how the audio enhancing equipment works, how our gradebook is set up, and basic iPad/Mac functions. My training will focus on teachers that are familiar with those basics and ready to delve into more complicated technologies.


Current State:  Describe your current state using available data (quantitative and qualitative).  Be sure to describe your current state in terms of achievement scores, State Content Standards, 21st Century Skills, NETS, and Workforce Readiness Skills.  What does it currently look like, sound like, and feel like?
·      Our school’s academic achievement isn’t suffering for lack of technology being used by teachers. Our third grade reading TCAP scores for the 2012-2013 school year came back as 0% students unsatisfactory, 13% partially proficient, 81% proficient, and 6% advanced.  
·      The National Education Technology Standards for teachers (NETS-T) state that teachers need to be continually improving their professional practice by demonstrating the effective use of digital tools (NETS-T Standard 5.) All of our building’s teachers participate in professional development (bi-monthly staff meetings and monthly professional development days) but much of the time, that knowledge isn’t being applied to the teachers’ classrooms. Teachers also need to be modeling digital learning by using of digital tools in their instruction and collaborating with school stakeholders using technology (NETS-T Standard 3b and 3d.) We need to see more of this in our building. There are currently no indicators on our teacher evaluation rubric that reflect our ability to incorporate technology into our instruction (and thus no consequence for not using technology.)
·      Our Technologist sent out a teacher survey to see how the teachers were feeling about their current technology. Here are some of the results: 48% of teachers said they never use the document camera in their classroom. 68% of teachers use their projectors daily. 88% of teachers say they never use their Doceri interactive whiteboard software. 60% of teachers use their teacher iPad during instruction at least once every week. 
·      Our school has a teacher technology team that meets monthly to discuss school technology and problem solve any issues we might have. We also have just begun a technology sub-committee of the school board. This is comprised of mostly parents in the technology field and a few staff members, myself included. We have met three times now, and we are focusing our discussions on the future of technology at our school and the possibility of a BYOD 1:1 iPad model for every student third grade and up.
·      Being that I teach at a charter school we have a very distinct student demographic. The majority of our students are of upper/middle class and high socio-economic status. I wish I had technology data about our students. If they have computers, iPads, or Internet access at home could have an impact on how they use the available technology at school.

Desired State:  Describe your desired state using the data you’ve analyzed for the current state.  What is it that you will be working toward achieving?  Again be sure to describe your desired state in terms of achievement scores, State Content Standards, 21st Century Skills, NETS, and Workforce Readiness Skills.  What will the desired state look like, sound like, and feel like?
·      All teachers are confidently using some aspect of technology in their classrooms daily, fulfilling NETS-T Standard 3d: Teachers will be able to model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning. This will be tracked on the teacher’s evaluation rubric.  
·      Teachers collaborate with one another using various technologies on a weekly basis and also collaborate about various technologies, fulfilling NETS-T Standard 3b: Teachers will be able to collaborate with peers using digital tools.
·      Our school has monthly technology professional development classes offered for teachers to elect to take, fulfilling NETS-T Standard 5: Teachers will be able to engage in professional growth and leadership.
·      Teachers are using technology in new and different ways in their classrooms, including differentiation, so that we were able to raise our number of third graders reading at an advanced level on TCAP from 6% to 15%.
·      Our administration encourages teachers to take the time to learn new technologies and recognizes those that do so on our teacher evaluation rubric with a specific technology integration indicator.

Theory of Action:  What steps of action will you take to achieve your desired state?  What will you do specifically?
·      Have a meeting with administration, the teacher technology team, and board technology subcommittee about adding a technology indicator to our teacher evaluation rubric to encourage teachers to incorporate more technology into their classroom instruction.
·      Conduct professional development workshops in small group settings centered around the different technologies we have available at our school to help teachers become familiar with them. Our technology director, members of the teacher technology team, and I would conduct these workshops. Many of them would take place during August Professional Development before school starts. After school begins, we will hold further sessions monthly. Some of these workshops might include:
o   Using student iPads in the classroom
o   Using a teacher iPad in the classroom
o   iPad apps for all occasions
o   Using Doceri in the classroom
o   Basic classroom technologies: audio enhancing equipment, document cameras, projectors
o   What are Flipped/ Flat/ Blended classrooms?
o   What are ISTE NETS/ 21st Century Skills?
o   Technology differentiation for Gifted Learners
·      Through these professional development workshops, I will foster a community of technology learners that work well together and aren’t afraid to ask questions and ask each other for help.







Backward Design Map
Unit/Training Design:  Using a backward planning process, you will begin to identify the content and process of your unit or training.  In this process you will need to identify your end of unit/training series goal.  You will also need to identify the target goal for each lesson/training session within your unit/training series. 

End of Unit/Training Series Target Goal:  Based on your description of your desired state, what will your final instructional goal(s) be?
90% of teachers are working together collaboratively to utilize or integrate technology resources to enhance their curriculum with help from Professional Development to fulfill NETS standards.

Individual Lessons/Training Session Topics:  Working backwards from your end of unit/training series goal(s), develop four lessons/training sessions.  With each lesson/training session you will need to identify the target goal for content (skills, knowledge, strategies) and the process (thinking strategies) the learner will use to access the content knowledge.  You will also need to identify a formative assessment or assessment for learning that will provide you with data regarding the progress the learner is making during the lesson/training session.

All of the sessions below hit NETS-T Standard 5a: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership:
Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning

Session
Target Goal
Topics
1
Technology Standards
Teachers will be able to describe and access the different technology standards available and apply them to their instruction.

Standard: NETS-T 2a
2.     Design and Develop Digital Age Learning 
Experiences and Assessments 
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S.
a.     Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity  
What are the different kinds of technology standards?
     ISTE
     NETS-S
     NETS-T
     AASL 21st Century Skills
     Colorado Standards for Technology
How do we incorporate the technology standards into the curriculum?
Address NETS-T Standard 3b on technology collaboration.

Give time for teachers to meet in their grade level teams to collaborate about integrating the technology standards into their curriculum.
2
Classroom Technology Resources
Teachers will be able to successfully manipulate basic technologies in their classrooms.

Standard: Performance Based Standards for Colorado Teachers 7.1 & 7.2

Knowledge of Technology: The teacher is skilled in technology and is knowledgeable about using technology to support instruction and enhance student learning.
The teacher has demonstrated the ability to:

7.1 Apply technology to the delivery of standards-based instruction.

7.2 Use technology to increase student achievement.
How do we effectively integrate the classroom technology we have in order to enhance our curriculum?
      Audio enhancement equipment
      iMac desktop computer
      Projector
      Document camera
Discuss how to plan using technologies in general, not just the resources in our classrooms. Technology should not be an afterthought.
(Give time for teachers to meet in their grade level teams and in their classrooms to collaborate on how they can more integrate classroom technologies into their curriculum.)
3
iPads in the Classroom
Teachers will be able to use iPads effectively in their instruction.

Standard: NETS-S 6
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding
of technology concepts, systems, and operations.
Understand and use technology systems
Select and use applications effectively and productively
Troubleshoot systems and applications
Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies
How can we use iPads in the classroom to their full potential?
      iPads for student use
      iPads for teacher use
      Using Apple TV with the iPads
      iPad apps

Give time for teachers to meet in their grade level teams to collaborate on how they can better incorporate iPads into their instruction.
4
Using Doceri Desktop
Teachers will be able to navigate the Doceri Desktop software. 

Standard: NETS-T 3a
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.
a.  Demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations
Doceri Desktop is our interactive whiteboard software that connects the teacher’s iPad to the projector and allows the iPad to become a wireless remote/whiteboard.
      What is Doceri?
      What can it be used for?
      How does it work?
      What are the features?

Give time for teachers to meet in their grade level teams to collaborate on how to use Doceri and to solidify the skills they learned in this session. I will be nearby to answer questions they might have as they explore.


Assessments for Learning Table

In all of my lessons I will use a gradual release model: I do, we do, you do. I will frontload the teachers with the information and give direct instruction. I will have the other teachers work together with me, and I will release the teachers to try the technology on their own while I am nearby to help and answer questions.

List your target goals for each of your learning activities
Process Behaviors: What will it sound like, look like, feel like?
(How will participants apply the learning?)
Content Behaviors: What will it sound like, look like, feel like?
(What are the skills, new understandings, or concepts?)
Assessment for Learning –Progress Monitoring:
How will you collect your assessment data? 
Teachers will be able to describe and access the different technology standards available and apply them to their instruction.
Teachers will study the standards collaboratively with their grade level team to incorporate standards into their units of study
The new understanding teachers will glean is that technology standards exist
I will meet with grade level teams as they collaboratively plan to see how their units of study technology integration is coming 


Teachers will be able to successfully manipulate basic technologies in their classrooms.
Teachers will utilize the technology resources available to them in their classrooms
The new skills teachers will learn include how to operate technology resources
Teacher teams will self assess and assess one another on their technology integration using a peer reflection form.
Teachers will be able to use iPads effectively in their instruction.
Teachers will use their teacher iPad in instruction as well as training their students on effectively using the class set of iPads
The skills teachers will practice are how to effectively operate and manipulate iPads
I will send out weekly surveys asking teachers to reflect on how they were using iPads to impact their curriculum.  
Teachers will be able to navigate the Doceri Desktop software. 
Teachers will try to use their Doceri software in their instruction
Teachers will be learning the functions of Doceri and how to operate the software
I will hold extra small-group sessions to work with teachers on how to operate Doceri and take anecdotal notes on how teachers are doing with the technology
Progress Monitoring:
·      What will you communicate to your learners?
I will give constructive feedback to my teachers about how they are using technology in their classrooms.
·      How often will you communicate this information?
I communicate with teachers over email weekly to check in and discuss their progress. I will meet with them face to face monthly.
·      How will you communicate the assessment information to your learners?
I will give them anecdotal notes I have taken on their progress towards their goals.
·      How will you use the data to analyze your progress as the instructor?
I will see what my teachers still need to work on and adjust my future instruction from that data.


Pedagogy/Process
Briefly describe teaching strategies that you will use.  Explain your infusion of technology and how that matches your ACTION PLAN.

In preparing this unit I thought about what I really needed my teachers to know and be able to do. The answer for this specific instance is use technology in their daily instruction.
I did a lot of thinking about the most effective way to deliver this information. I will be using a lot of technology in my instruction, because that is what I want the teachers to be able to do. I will use technology standards projected from my computer to the whiteboard. I will use iPads and Doceri Desktop software. All of these technologies align with my learning objectives.
The main teaching strategy I decided to implement was the gradual release model. This model begins with me modeling what I want the teachers to learn, and they know what this is from my explicit discussion of our learning objectives. This is the “I do” portion of the model. Next is “we do” where the teachers and I work together. Finally, there is “you do” where I will give teachers time to work with their grade level teams to get their hands on technology and really sink their teeth into it. This is really about teacher discovery. I am providing the atmosphere for my teachers to explore and get comfortable with different technologies we have at our school. I will be available as a facilitator to answer any questions they might have.
After my instruction, I will be doing a lot of progress monitoring and checking in with my teachers to assure that they have retained the material and are able to apply it to their instruction. I will use a progress monitoring Google Doc along with many different assessments and self-assessments to assure the teachers have learned what they needed to learn. Upon reflection of this data, I will make adjustments to my instruction according to the need of the teachers. 
I will be addressing many ISTE NETS Standards in my unit including:
 NETS-T 2a
2.     Design and Develop Digital Age Learning 
Experiences and Assessments
a.      
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS·S.
NETS-T 3a
3.     Model Digital Age Work and Learning
a.     Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.
NETS-S 6
6. Technology Operations and Concepts: Students demonstrate a sound understanding
of technology concepts, systems, and operations.

Progress Tracking Tool
For my progress-monitoring tool I chose to use Google Drive. The purpose of this tool is to assure that my teachers are making progress towards their goals, and this will be a very concrete way to see the growth they are making, or lack thereof.
I am using several different forms of assessment throughout my unit of professional development to assess teachers on how they are integrating technology into their curriculum and instruction. Some of these tools include formative walk throughs, meetings, peer reviews, self-assessment, and surveys. I will synthesize all of this data into my progress-monitoring tool.
I created my tool by giving categories based on my learning targets. My learning targets are, after all, what I am expecting my teachers to learn and then assessing them on. Some learning targets have been broken into more than one column in my tracking tool for clarity. I will be monitoring teacher progress on integrating technology standards into their curriculum, collaborating around technology, using classroom technologies, using iPads for teachers and students, and using the Doceri Desktop software. These categories directly correlate to the learning objectives of my professional development sessions.
To monitor my teachers I chose to use a Standards Based Grading scale, since that is what we use for our students at school. A 1 is unsatisfactory, a 2 is partially proficient, a 3 is satisfactory, and a 4 is advanced. I like Google Docs because I can create graphs of this number data so we can see overall trends through time.
Every teacher I work with will have their own separate Google Doc that I share with them. That way we can collaborate electronically and they can chart their own progress towards their goals. My tool has a side for me to assess my teachers and a side for my teachers to assess themselves. We will fill in our progress monitoring every two weeks. I will complete my bi-weekly assessment of each teacher after they have completed their self-assessment.
In addition to a grade level number assigned to each standard, we will also both reflect on what category or categories should be the teacher’s focus in the coming weeks.
Here is the link to my working progress monitoring tool for one teacher:


Sample Lesson or Agenda and Supplemental Materials
You will be expected to submit one sample lesson plan or faculty development agenda (or website). This must be accompanied by all supplemental documents and interactive components you will be using during this lesson or training.

Regis University
College for Professional Studies
School of Education and Counseling

Professional Development Meeting Agenda
August 14th, 2013
PRA Room 164
8:00-12:00pm

Item/Presenter
Time
Expected Goal/
identified behaviors
Process or Pedagogy/ Supplemental Materials
(provide direct link to materials, including attachments)
Progress Monitoring/ Next Steps/
Due Dates
All teaching staff should attend
Anticipatory Set
8:00-8:15
I will ask teachers to do a 60 Second write on everything they know about iPads. They will do this on their iPads and email the response to me. This means they will brainstorm and write down everything they can think of, and they are not allowed to stop writing or moving their pencil for the full 60 seconds. I use this strategy a lot with my students to activate their prior knowledge and assess what they already know about a topic. I will then take their responses and create a word cloud using Wordle.net. Here is what our word cloud might look like:
The words that are larger mean that more people included that word in their 60 second write.
iPad Demonstration Lesson By Ms. Cutshall
(I do)
8:15-8:45
-Teachers will be able to identify iPad uses in the classroom, for both teachers and students.
-Using an iPad, an Apple TV, and a projector, I will demonstrate a content lesson on Ancient Rome that I would teach to my students incorporating both the teacher and student iPads.
-Teachers will turn and talk about the iPad components of the demonstration lesson and why they were effective.
Explicit instruction of iPad functions
By Ms. Cutshall
(I do)
8:45-9:30
-Teachers will be able to manipulate the basic functions of their iPad.
-I will use Apple TV to mirror my iPad to the projected screen. I will go over basic functions, what the buttons do, how the settings work, how the restrictions work (specifically for student iPads,) and how to use the Apple TV. 
-Teachers will work with the people sitting around them to brainstorm practical classroom applications using Apple TV that support NETS-S.
-Teachers will be able to describe basic functions of the iPad.
Staff discussion: teacher iPads
(We do)
9:30-10:00
-Teachers will be able to demonstrate how to use the app store to find iPad apps.
-Teachers will be able to quickly assess apps on their educational merit and initially being to think about how the apps could be integrated into their curriculum.
-I will call on several teachers to model and demonstrate different iPad skills, specifically geared towards teacher use, that we have previously discussed.
-Teachers will collaborate in vertical, mixed grade level teams to discuss and seek out iPad apps for teacher use. Teachers will begin to discuss how the apps could be integrated into their curriculum. We will place apps we find on the following shared Google Doc:
-Teachers will evaluate apps that we have found and continue to seek out more after the training session. We will revisit this Google doc at our next iPad meeting in a month.
Break        10:00-10:15

Staff discussion: student iPads
(We do)
10:15-10:45
-Teachers will be able to demonstrate how to use the app store to find iPad apps.
-Teachers will be able to quickly assess apps on their educational merit and initially being to think about how the apps could be integrated into their curriculum.
-I will call on several teachers to model and demonstrate different iPad skills, specifically geared towards student use, that we have previously discussed.
-Teachers will collaborate in vertical, mixed grade level teams to discuss and seek out iPad apps for student use. We will place apps we find on the following shared Google Doc:
-Teachers will evaluate apps that we have found and continue to seek out more after the training session. We will revisit this Google doc at our next iPad meeting in a month.
Team work time
(you do)
10:45-11:45
-Teachers will begin to map out how they can use the iPads in their every day instruction specifically catered to their curriculum.
-Teachers will get together with their grade level team to assess the apps already found, and discuss different ways in which the iPads can be integrated into their specific curriculum.
-Grade level teams will present their initial findings.
-Teachers will need to provide at lease 3 different iPad classroom applications they have come up with as a grade level and present them to the staff.
Closing and Celebration
11:45-12:00
-Teachers will be able to show what they know and review everything we have learned in this session.
-I will again ask teachers to do a 60 second write on their iPads of everything they know about iPads. I will create another Wordle with their results. This time I expect to see words in their Wordle that show a greater understanding of the iPad than they had at the beginning of the session.
-I will send out a survey in one week to ask teachers to assess their own use of iPads in the classroom from the previous week. Here is a link to the survey:
Next Meeting: August 15th, 2013 8:15-12:00 in room 164 at PRA







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