Digital Blog Post #J

Chapter 11 was the perfect chapter to read after I just got done with observing a high school teacher. I think its important for teachers to have a portfolio, digital preferably, but they need to have one. I also think its good to do reflections, so you know if material and teaching methods are working or not. Most important would be involving the students in learning and assessment.

A digital portfolio - is a collection of electronic evidence assembled and managed by a user, usually on the Web (Wikipedia). These are great because they are portable and can be accessed anywhere that has internet. With internet a growing need for Americans, teachers should have no trouble getting onto their portfolios almost anywhere. They hold all the information that teachers use in the classroom together. It can be hard at times for a teacher to keep everything in one place and all together. Now with technology you can put it all into folders on your computer or flash drive. I learned from a teacher I observed that, you can also put emails into folders that way you can always pull them back up and they are way faster to find.

Reflections are very important and most of the time we do them without even realizing it. It is always good to try something new, the hardest part is the 'wanting' to try something new. After you try something new, you have to take a step back and think whether that really worked or if it needs a few adjustments. If you don't reflect on what you have taught or on the portfolio you have made for what you taught, how do you know whether it worked or not? How do you know what the students gained? If something can be changed or if something needs to be added? The answer, you don't unless you reflect on where the students were before, during, and after.

Assessment should not be practiced by teachers only, but by students as well, if learning is to be successful (Maloy 314). When teachers are trying to find out whether new material worked or not, you can get the best answer from the students. They will tell you whether or not they liked the new book you introduced to the class or if the new test style was harder or easier. In the classroom I observed they used a game on the internet but they used their phones, called Kahoot (which is web tool we are allowed to use for this class)! The teacher used it as a study guide and she said "It's better then me giving them a study guide". The students were more involved in that game then I have even been when it came to study guides. You could tell the students had given their opinions about this game before and that they enjoyed it.

Teachers should be always have a portfolio, reflect on it and also assess and sometimes allow students to chime in with they opinions on things. After all we are teaching to benefit the students education not ours.

https://magic.piktochart.com/output/5344621-education#

Click the above link to watch a quick and short slide.

Work Cited

Electronic portfolio. (2015, March 11). Retrieved April 2, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_portfolio

Maloy, R., Verock-O'loughlin, R., Edwards, S., & Park Woolf, B. (2011). Engaging Teachers and Students in Learning and Self-Reflection. In Transforming Learning with New Technologies (pp. 304-329). Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.

Ward, C. (2015, April 2). Education. Retrieved April 2, 2015, from https://magic.piktochart.com/output/5344621-education#