Analyzing test data on my PDS school

1. What percentage of students are achieving in any content area?
Only fifteen percent of students are achieving mastery in Social Studies.
2. Provide brief explanation of the learning need.
Students need to identify with other cultures, customs, and be able to identify geographical locations.
3. Find an Instructional Intervention that you might use to address the learning need.
Graphic organizers, Anticipation Guidelines, and Reciprocal teaching all would benefit students.
4. Write down three pieces of evidence that the strategy works.
For Recprocal teaching,

"Summarizing

the text. Students begin by summarizing sentences, and with time and practice, progress to summarizing

paragraphs and passages.

Question Generating

substance for a question. They can teach themselves to ask questions in which they must infer and apply

new information from the text.

Predicting

then called upon to predict what the author will discuss next in the text. Reading to prove or disprove their

prediction becomes a new purpose for reading. The students also learn that text structures provide clues to

what might happen next, through the use of headings, subheadings, and questions imbedded in the text."causes students to activate their background knowledge and set a purpose for reading. They arerequires students to decide what information is important enough to providegives the student the opportunity to identify and integrate the most important information in

Action Research Preview Review

1. What is the title of the project?
Chemistry in Art: Crossing the Curriculum

2. What is the problem?
Chemistry scores in the high school were very low. The instructor, Mr. Kopchains, felt that what would help to improve these scores was to make new connections between curriculum, primarily through art and chemistry.

3.Describe the instructional intervention.
Mr. Kopchains relied heavily on research done by Barbara Greenberg and Diane Patterson in their book, “Art in Chemistry; Chemistry in Art" to design lesson plans to be implemented into the classroom. He relied mainly on personal insights and journaling to gather information on progress during the course. He also asked his students to respond to questionnaires at different times.

4. What kind of strategy is the instructional intervention?
Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers is the instructional intervention implemented.

5. What evidence is presented that the strategy will work?

"Advance organizers, including graphic ones, help students learn new concepts and vocabulary (Stone, 1983). Presenting information graphically as well as symbolically in an advance organizer reinforces vocabulary learning and supports reading skills." (Brookbank Grover, Kullberg, & Strawser, 1999; Moore & Readence 1984).

6. How will data be collected to determine if the strategy will work?

Mr. KopChains gave various assessments throughout the year and also kept track of absences to determine students interests in the topic.

 

7. How was the data analyzed?

Mr. Kopchains compared his students grades and attendance to students from the past year who also took the class. He also talked about his observation and opinion of the students interest and moral; however, because these things cannot be directly measured they are purely speculative.

8. What were the results?

"My most important insight was that the curriculum took much longer to teach than I had planned.  From the beginning I missed planned dates on the calendar and fell behind trying to cover the topics that are required to be covered for the Regents examinations.  I had fallen so far behind by March that I had to decide whether to keep to the curriculum or close down the art connection.  I chose to concentrate solely on covering the remaining material in the traditional manner.
The students generally liked the art projects and their connections with the science.   Motivation remained high throughout the year. The art projects kept many students coming to class.  I noted a general decrease in the number of cuts and absences as compared to a year ago."

Lesson Plan

Teacher Name:Noah Shaffer

Subject: Art I

Title: Expressionists and their Work

CSO's

VA.O.VAI.3.2 -employ subjects, themes, symbols, and ideas in artworks.

VA.O.VAI.3.3 -apply problem-solving skills in the creative process selecting subjects, symbols, and ideas for use in their own artwork.
 

VA.O.VAI.4.1- examine the historical and cultural backgrounds used of various artwork within the media.

Theme:

            Students will benefit by learning valuable information as to the history and the ideas that were implemented in a broad range of art movements and their artists. Students will also gain technological experience through first hand experience in dealing with Microsoft Powerpoint, MLA formats, and various researching techniques while searching for electronic data online. This lesson will put emphasis on teaching about the history of art rather than individual production of art.

Supported Objectives:

-         Students will use the internet to search for articles relating to specified art movements.

-         Students will use Microsoft Powerpoint to create a presentation based upon the information that they have gathered.

-         Students will also research three separate works that relate to their individual art movements.

-         Based from information gathered on the three works, students will write a formal critique of the work.

Daily Schedule of Activities:

Day 1

-         Students will receive a lecture about expressionism with supporting visual examples of famous expressionist artists.

- With remaining time, students will be given an opportunity to search for images and or names of expressionist artists. If there are not enough computers in the classroom for all of the students, then the class will be taken to a computer lab or the library, wherever the school has their computers set up.

Day 2

-         Students will be asked to find three expressionist artists who interest them and ask the instructor which, if any of the three artists would be acceptable to do further research. The instructor should only refrain students from researching artists that may be difficult to find information on, or if their work were to be predominately inappropriate.

-         Students will spend the rest of the period taking notes or saving information that they find on their particular artist.

Day 3

-         The instructor will demonstrate how to make a powerpoint slide. The instructor should demonstrate how to insert pictorial references, change backgrounds, and input information.

-         Students should continue gathering information on their artist, but also they should complete at least one slide before the end of class.

Day 4

-         Students should continue working on their powerpoint presentations being that they should have all the information that they need to complete their presentation.

-         The instructor should give out a packet of information to his/her students explaining and demonstrating MLA formatting for their sources.

-         Students will also be given an out-of class assignment to write a formal critique of three works that their artist composed. They are permitted to use information they have gathered for their presentation. The critique will be due the same day as their presentation and should simply be a compare and contrast critique of elements of design previously discussed in the semester.

-         Day 5

-         Students should finalize their presentations.

-         Days 6-7

-         Students will present their artists to the class and turn in their critiques. Students will be chosen to present alphabetically based on their own last name.

            In this lesson, students will create a powerpoint presentation based upon an expressionist painter and his/her work. This is strictly a historical lesson that is meant to inform students of a style and different influential artists. Students will identify elements and principals of design that their artist used in several pieces of their work as they gather information and create their presentation. Students will give a presentation to their classmates to give them diverse knowledge of a different time, place, and culture.

Materials:

-A visual presentation (powerpoint) that displays an example of what students will be expected to create.

-Access to several computers.

This is the formative assessment that I would give to the student:

 

Instructions: Read each statement carefully. Choose one of the five buttons for each statement indicating how well that statement describes you. 1 = Statement does not describe you at all 2 = Statement describes you very little 3 = Statement describes you somewhat 4 = Statement describes you pretty well 5 = Statement describes you exactly   1 2 3 4 5   1. I know a great deal about the Harlem Renaissance. 2. I have prior learning experiences involving Jacob Lawrence. 3. I am familiar with Romanticism. 4. I have studied about Pablo Picasso. 5. I have looked at cubist art before. 6. I have seen Salividor Dahli's work. 7. When Andy Warhol is mentioned, I immediately think of Campbell soup cans or Marylin Monroe. 8. I have learned about pop art.

Driving Question/video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgYcZp00ZwI&feature=related

How has the emphasis on form and subject matter changed in art over the course of the last four centuries?

From what I understood, we were supposed to tell our top three learning styles, then create a power objective that both supports a CSO(s) and the three learning styles.

My top three learning styles were: Musical, Spatial, and Language.

CSO:
VA.O.VAI.2.3 - create two-dimensional and three-dimensional artworks based on elements of art and principles of design using appropriate media, processes, and techniques to solve specific problems.

VA.O.VAI.2.4 - critique art works to demonstrate an understanding of elements of art and principles of design.

Power Objective:
Students will create a two- dimensional artwork using a variety of geometric shapes of different sizes to fill the page. Students will use a form of onomatopoeia during the lesson. Students will intepret the mood of the music into their two-dimensional artwork by implementing the elements of art and principals of design. (Such as Rhythm, Pattern, Color etc.) Lastly, students will create a written critique of another student's work and then share it orally.

Where I'm From Video

Where I'm From

.
I am from hidden caves, from  and rolling hills.
I am from the house in the middle of nowhere.


I am from colorful trees, and pink sunsets.
I am from evening guitar jams, honesty, from Mongi and Pap, to card games with Murrays.


I am from taking in stray animals and stray kids.
From go-cart racing and exploring uncharted forests.


I am from Bible thumping Churchgoers.
I'm from rambunctious law-breakers, black berries and I am from the land of "too many potatoes."


From the POW camps in Korea, the backwoods cabin, and endless space.
I am from stories past down from old to young, time and time again.

Student Interest Survey

We were asked to find a Student Interest Survey that revolved around our subject area. My subject area is Art, which kind of gave me difficulties in finding a decent survey. However, The Student Art Interest Survey was probably the best.

Luis Moll Entrance Pass

In Luis Moll’s research, he discovered that  even in areas where there are presumed “cultural deficits,” when students are deemed unintelligent or unteachable because they are from a different culture, there is often times what is called “culture capital.” Culture capital is basically a surplus of vast wealth of knowledge in a given community of these underclass students.

Moll did his research in Tuscon, Arizona with Mexican-American students. He looked in the community for evidence of specific areas in which the community possessed a vast amount of knowledge. Once he discovered what the community truly excelled at, he encouraged teachers to include those subjects into the curriculum. The result was obvious to the teachers. Class participation and interest improved when the teachers included things that the students were interested in, and their culture emphasized.

Even though this study was done in Arizona, the actions taken by Moll and the teachers in Tuscon could be applied anywhere else. Foxfire did similar work in Alabama. As long as the students are interested in the curriculum I think that the students would be much more likely to excel.

What is a Mountaineer?

     Is our way of life here in the great state of West Virginia unique? In a word, yes. As was stated in the video we watched, we are the only state totally engulfed in the Appalachian mountains. This, as well as a history of attempted exploitation of our regions resources and citizens, has made our state a strong, proud, united, and rebellious area.
    Another thing that makes our state so unique is the "power of nature." Not many states enjoy the unique priveledge of being able to go "out of doors" and truly be in the middle of no where. Our idea of enjoying the outdoors isn't going to a crowded park, we can literally be entirely alone almost anytime we wish to be.
    

Smartboards: Do They Have Brains?

With the growing popularity of the use of “Smartboards” in public schools, one can only wonder, why?

Do these boards give more detailed instruction than the teacher? No. Do they explain things in a language that students can understand? No. Are they like little portable audio textbooks that deliver information to students in a funky cool cartoon voice to engage their curiosity and make them more eager to learn? No. Can they be used to travel back in time and right the wrongs of various historical figures to make this, the world we live in, a more pleasant and peaceful place to exist in? No.

Well, what do they do?

“You can use a projector to project things on them.” said Martin Queeblesac, a teacher at Westwood Middle School in some little hick town in Oklahoma.

“Can’t you do that with a projector screen?” asked curious naysayer Devlin Croupe.

“But you can draw big circles on different things to draw students’ attention to specific details that are important with the Smartboard.” countered Queeblesac.

“But can’t you just stop for a second and use a laser pointer or something to do the same thing?” questioned Croupe.

“Well, yes. However, with a smart board you can do interactive games and things and have students actually walk up and write things on the smart board, which is certainly more impressive than just using it as a projector screen.” stated Queeblesac haughtily.

“Isn’t there a computer lab in your school you can visit to accomplish all the interactive stuff you want to do and a chalkboard/whiteboard in the classroom for them to write on?” Croupe slyly queried.

“Yes, but, it takes a lot of effort to get all the kids to line up and walk down the hall and back.” Queeblesac replied.

“So you are saying that Smartboards are worth, what like $1000, of taxpayer money just because you’re too lazy to walk down the hall?” demanded Croupe who by now is become very angry and red in the face.

“To state simply, they are much much more than $1000, and yes, they are worth every penny of taxpayer money. In fact, I think every schoolroom should have at least three per student just to prove the point.” Queeblesac smartly replied.

“You arrogant pig! I hope these boards drastically improve and their capabilities soon advance to the point that they make your job irrelevant and THEY teach the class!” screamed Croupe.

Okay, so, sorry for all the gibberish, but I enjoyed it. To answer simply, no, I don’t feel Smartboards are worth the money. Have a good break!

Rubric

Criteria	Accomplished (3)	Developing (2)	Beginning (1)	Score and Comments
Introduction	Engagingly describes a compelling question or problem.	A question or problem is described.	The purpose of the WebQuest.	2. There was a question stated; however, the description of what the problem was and how to be solved was a little too open ended.
Task	Task is doable, engaging, and is connected to learning in the real world. It elicits thinking that goes beyond mere comprehension.	The task is doable and elicits higher order thinking but is not relevant to student lives.	Task requires simply comprehending or retelling of information found on web pages and answering factual questions.	3. I thought you did a great job of giving a very doable task that students will enjoy.
Process Checklist	Every step is clearly stated. Most students would know exactly where they are at each step of the process and know exactly what to do next.	Some directions are given, but there is missing information. Students might be confused.	Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task.	2. The directions are given, but you could be more specific on how the groups will be broken up rather than just leaving it as “choose one of the two groups.”
Resources	There is a clear and meaningful connection between all the information needed for students to accomplish the task.	There is some connection between the resources and the information needed for students to accomplish the task. Some resources don’t add anything new.	Resources provided are not sufficient for students to accomplish the task.	3. The students have all the info. they need to have.
Evaluation	Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria includes qualitative as well as quantitative descriptions.	Criteria for success are clearly stated in the form of a rubric. Criteria include qualitative as well as quantitative descriptors.	Criteria for successes are not described.	3. Criteria for success was clearly stated and were descriptive enough.
Visual Appeal	Appropriate and thematic graphic elements are used to make visual connections that contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.	Graphic elements sometimes, but not always, contribute to the understanding of concepts, ideas and relationships.	Color is garish and/or typographic variations are overused and legibility suffers. Background interferes with the readability.	3. I thought the smiley- faces were a nice touch.
Navigation	Navigation is seamless. It is always clear to the learner what all the pieces are and how to get to them.	There are a few places where the learner can get lost and not know where to go next.	There aer more than 5 broken links, misplaced or missing images, badly sized tables, misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	3. Navigation is clear to the learner. 19/21 total.

Picassohead

Website Validation

Website- http://home.inreach.com/kumbach/velcro.html (Velcro Crops)

The authour is Ken Umbach, he is a satirical writer who writes short witty articles for various magazines and websites. The authour clearly created the information himself calling upon fake sources for information and predictions. The author does  not leave their contact information on the page.
Obviously, the page is written in humor and is not meant to be taken seriously. It is in fact, satirical writing. It is most likely aimed at bored college students or middle aged people working a dull desk job. The page is quite old for a web page, 1996, and has not been updated recently.
In conclusion, it is just an old satirical web-post that is meant for humor.

WebQuest

I thought that the "World of Shakespeare" and "Anti-Earthquake" Web quests were best. They both listed roles for each member of the group, were straight forward and time efficient, factual and listed several links that were helpful in finding more information or ideas. The two worst WebQuests were "Foreign Country Presentation" and "Waves and Sound." Neither promoted group work or collaboration with other students. "Waves and Sound" was lengthy and didn't seem to allow much room for creative response while the "Foreign Country Presentation" while short, left too much open to interpretation on how to do things. Plus, the "Foriegn Country Presentation" listed Wikipedia as a credible source, which when talking about foreign policeis and economics, it probably isn't.

About Blogging

Thus far, truthfully, I have found nothing that I really like about blogging. I can see it's benefits, like recieving feedback from students on different topics or to divulge information to a broader public than just a classroom, but I personally would rather have face time. That being said, I won't keep a blog after this class. I think that this class actively uses Collective Intelligence by reading and studying information and "pooling" our knowledge to reach a collective goal. I think Diigo is actually a better example of this because we can see each other's ideas and perspectives as we cover the information.d

Learning Style

According to the Leaning Style Test, I am an Aural reader. This means that I learn well by first person interaction and by listening to someone speak. It means that graphs, charts, readings, and other visually oriented learning tools are, for the most part, ineffective forms of learning. I would basically agree with this because I have found that I do better at remembering details and facts if I listen to a lecture without taking notes. If I try to take notes and read them later, nothing really sticks.

http://www.picassohead.com/?id=9d2be7a

Twiiter Stuff: Smothering Creativity.

Personally, I think forcing people to say whatever they want to say in 140 characters or less promotes creativity. It forces  overwhelmingly narcissistic individuals who want to narrate their entire lives for others to skim through and roll their eyes in boredom to simplify "I went to the mall and I bought some food, music, and shoes... more shoes... then left the mall and met some friends and went out and got some dinner and ate some food, but I didn't like my food so I didn't leave a tip... then I brushed my teetht again because I just couldn't help but felt like there was something in my teeth..." and so on, into "I went shopping. Bought stuff." I think that sometimes revision, especially when writing things that are only going to waste other individuals' time is very important. I think twitter and texting do influence the way we write. Those of us who do twitter and text a lot, use a greater amount of simple, or incomplete sentences.

Slide Show

Here is my Presentation.