Mrs.+B

Mrs. B has been teaching Family and Consumer Sciences at BFA - St. Albans for three years. Her first three years of teaching have been a great experience and she enjoys working with those ever-changing high school students. Currently Mrs. B is finishing up her Master's Degree in Curriculum & Instruction at UVM - (she graduated from UVM with a BS in Social Work years ago). During her free time (she actually has no free time, but if there was some)...she enjoys reading, sewing, cooking, and gardening. In taking this course she hopes to fine tune her computer skills. One of Mrs. B's favorite, useful, educational websites is www.aef.org/kidscount.

I will erase this question after (your project is really coming along! looks great - we know who to come see for help!) but I tried to open up the lovely VPR website that you sent me, and I cannot get to it. I went to their website and looked for it, but didn't find it either. Could you try again? Or tell me what to type in if I run a search under the VPR website. thanks!! roxxy

=Project Progress:=



Topic: E- Portfolios

Big Ideas: Showcase collection of student-managed work Technology Adventure for All Manage requirements for Fabrics I, II, III Establish goals for students Practice writing reflections skills

Essential Questions: Are E-Portfolios an adequate reflection of a high school student's work? Can I make this a user friendly tool for my students? What applicable life skills would be taught? What have the students been able to accomplish? How have the students grown during this class? What skills have the students mastered? What can e-portfolios do for me? =Bigger EQ's:=

What are some new technology tools to help me organize my work in high school?
__K __How to create an e-portfolio Document individual development & learning Use tools to manage a showcase of work Reflect on growth in class Apply process to future admission or employment requirements Access & maintain journal & learning logs

__U __Apply process to future admission or employment requirements Build on technology skills Importance of showcasing self & work Organizational skills necessary

__D __Practice required technolgy Set up & maintain e-portfolio for our class Use this information about themelves to make good decisions for future learning Connect process to future goals or other classes

=Project Components:=

set up wikispaces site "reallife" for Fabrics classes -
check it out! (You'll have to wait till Friday to see this : ) Do we have to???? It will probably be Thursday. cr

e-portfolio - develop DI/UbD - style lesson plan -
Handout sample lesson plan in class

Work with resources available at school - IT, shared networks, etc -
I now know of a couple of History teachers who are beginning to set up a similar project. I'm planning on working with them when school starts.

Goals & Rationale -
Use DI & UbD - inspired plan, promote tech ed, showcase student work, build learning community, promote student's responsibility for their own learning.

Build community in classroom -
Nothing like a common project!

opportunity for tech ed -
Maximize use of new In-Focus projector in classroom & library computers, collaborate with Tech dept, "hook" those tech kids

access student work by teachers -
Because there are 2 of us teaching Fabrics during the year, this will be a way for us to keep track of our shared students' progress. (they can take this course 3 times.) THis seems like a really useful, good idea. cr

Student -to-student contact & feed back on reallife wikispace site
Promoting communication between our students, (which is a huge priority for high school students), in a way that is constructive, requires self-reflection & evaluation, and contributes to a tangible & practical product, will boost self-awareness. (I really like this idea. You will have to scaffold the communication feedback opportunity, just like I did with you.cr)

Build website resource list for class -
On-going resource list, compiled from teacher & student input.

Collaboration with co-teacher
Working together with Mrs. A. on this concept, gives us an opportunity to add our own input & expertise to benefit all of our students, plus it will add another dimension to our classes, that after some initial training, will provide our students with a way to self-motivate, communicate, reflect & evaluate. They love using the computer!

Using Tomlinson & McTighe's (2006) "WHERETO" framework, I outlined how I might apply these ideas to my lesson plan.

W - What they'll learn is introduced by the daily agenda on the board each day - sometimes even for the week. Then by using K-W brainstorming, their interest & focus begin to be activated. this also can begin to show the worth of this new computer skill. As we discuss the process, the possibiliies of application will start to emerge. In my lesson, the use of wikispaces is not directly graded, so the pressure is off. they'll be able to accept it as a tool that will showcase their hard work.

H - Hooks are easy when there's a computer involved. I imagine that the similarity of wikispace to myspace will appeal to some, as well. The students will like to customize their pages, it's like decorating your room or scrapbooking.

E - I'll need to master the equipment first and use demonstration and repetition as ways to have students master it too. I'm mostly using technology standards - the learning experiences will give students more tools to build on in the future.

R - Revisiting, repetition, practice, & time will help students use this technology. Building community by communicating with others in the framework of wikispaces encourages revision and editing of work. Here's where I'd scaffold the feedback opportunities, like Charlie suggested. Each time a student finishes a sewing project, the item will be displaye on their page and reflected on by the student. This will provide an opportunity to consider all the steps it took, what mistakes were adjusted and how that will impact their next project selection.

E - Self-evaluation is important when learning a new craft. The process of posting it on our page will help students analyze all aspects of the projct.

T - All students will select their projects based on their ability & interests, with counsel from their teacher. Groups might naturally form around students working on similar projects, the same skill set, or interests. But, each student works at their own pace and that works well in our classes. When it comes to research projects, vocabulary worksheets, or article reviews, the issues of time allotment, difficulty, and depth can be designed for each student.

O - The Fabrics classes are structured around a certain optimum amount of creativity and mastery of sewing skills. For example, in the unit on color students begin by painting their own color wheel. Next comes another painting piece where they construct a tinting & shading continum. There's also a vocabulary sheet on color combinations, answered both by word definitions and then by finding examples of these combinations used in magazines. Beginning students will make a 9-patch quilt square using aone of the color combinations. Advanced students might apply these principles to Interior Design, where they construct small quilts or quilt square pillows using specific color combinations. Now, using the wikispace page, students can have a photo record of the progress they've made over each unit of the course.

[|] [|] [|] [|] [[[|http://www.uvm.edu/%7Ejmorris/portresources.html]|]] [|] [|]