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Generate Instant Pear Decks

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  I’ll keep this short as the video explains most of you. Any new educational technology can be complicated to dig into from scratch as you attempt to align it to learning outcomes.  Well, a new feature that Pear Deck has introduced has taken a giant leap forward to help educators do just that.  Before we jump into the new features, if you are unfamiliar with Pear Deck and why my students and I consider it the #1 EdTech tool that helps their learning, check out the video in the previous blog post.   But if you are more concerned with why you should even dive into Pear Deck or learn about this new AI generation of Pear Deck sessions to a learning target, check out the video below. Like I said, I’m keeping it short so you have time to watch the video. If you have questions, please contact me at mohammam@elmbrookschools.org or the Pear Deck Learning team at support@deck.peardeck.com . Also, check out the amazing Stacey Roshan's video on this update. 
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Reflections

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As a part of my Edutopia reading practice, I came upon the following post:

Mid-Year Reflection: Setting PD Goals by Monica Burns


In the post, she recommends a process of 
  1. Looking back on the year so far and acknowledge all you have done 
  2. Determining areas your like to grow
  3. Draft a plan to accomplish those goals
  4. Hold yourself accountable to these goals
So, I'm taking some time today to look at steps 1 and 2 as I reflect on the first half of this school year.


Changes in Learning and Assessment

  • Started the year with new collaborative seating arrangement.
  • Students completed a Personal Learning Preference sheet on the first day of class and revisited it during the course
  • Unlike last year, I began AP Physics by giving students options for demonstrating mastery from unit 1.
  • As the year went on I transformed the student portfolio into a vehicle to submit course artifacts for grading rather than simply a place for reflection.
  • I set up my online gradebook to be categorized by objectives.  Each objective was a grading category and the final category was Success Skills.  These included content objectives and science skills.  I graded all of these objectives on a rubric 0 - 4 scale.
  • I switched over to an integer grading scale 0 - 4 in my grade book, rather than points.
  • This year we implemented our first large scale Project Based Learning assignment.  I brought outside speakers into class first time as a part of this project.
  • As a part of our summative assessment in AP Physics for our sound unit, Students ventured out to teach 4th graders the science of sound with demonstrations and interactive lectures.


Technology

  • Peer reviews in Canvas
  • Used pear deck as new tech tool
  • Learned more about explain everything
  • Students generated their own progress reports which were sent home to parents
  • Gave students options for practice work



What am I struggling to accomplish?
It's tough making sure that students are being asked to take their learning beyond the simple understandings. I really want to push them to deeper application. And, hold them more accountable for it.

Where do I continue to need help?

Making sure the narrative of the learning is clear for students.  I don't want the learning in my class to be a series of unconnected events.


Action Plan

As I begin to plan for term 3, I am going to work on revisiting my objective rubrics.  I plan to rewrite them specifically with Costa's Levels of Questioning as my guide.  I am positive this will be a future blog post.





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