Capstone Seminar
Capstone Website Review
- Saelee
- Gottfried
- Ellison
- Avrukin
Author
For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be a teacher. As my cousin reminded me this past summer, I always played the ‘teacher role’ while playing school when we were children. I also remember career day back in middle school. My teacher had asked us to select three jobs that we were interested in. I picked teaching because I wanted to help children, a pediatrician because I wanted to help sick children and a secretary because I wanted to help others stay organized. Little did I know that I would become a teacher and my job would include all of those things that I wanted in a job. Everyday I get an opportunity to help children. Sometimes it’s with an area that they struggle with, sometimes it’s providing a safe environment, or teaching them something new. No matter what, I know that at the end of the school year my students are moving on with a little more self-confidence and a brighter future. In some small way I hope to have helped each and every student of mine.
At the beginning of my teaching career, fidelity to the curriculum was crucial and teaching from a teacher’s manual was how I learned to teach. Today we have more freedom to use resources that we feel as educators are best tin order to teach the standards. This is where my journey to further my education begun. How can I become a better teacher? How can I effectively use technology in my classroom? As I now reflect back to the beginning of this process I can see how much I have grown as an educator. All of those ideas that were overwhelming and scary, I now have the courage to implement in my classroom. As a teacher in the twenty first century you can’t be afraid of change. Technology needs to be your friend not your enemy. It is a tool that can slowly be integrated into your teaching along with content and pedagogy. After completing a master’s in Innovative learning I can’t help but think of a Dr. Seuss quote, “Oh the places you will go.”
At the beginning of my teaching career, fidelity to the curriculum was crucial and teaching from a teacher’s manual was how I learned to teach. Today we have more freedom to use resources that we feel as educators are best tin order to teach the standards. This is where my journey to further my education begun. How can I become a better teacher? How can I effectively use technology in my classroom? As I now reflect back to the beginning of this process I can see how much I have grown as an educator. All of those ideas that were overwhelming and scary, I now have the courage to implement in my classroom. As a teacher in the twenty first century you can’t be afraid of change. Technology needs to be your friend not your enemy. It is a tool that can slowly be integrated into your teaching along with content and pedagogy. After completing a master’s in Innovative learning I can’t help but think of a Dr. Seuss quote, “Oh the places you will go.”
Driving Question
My driving questions has changed a little, but it is still pretty much the same. How does technology impact struggling readers ability to comprehend grade level text? Can technology be a motivator to comprehend text that is above their ability? The main difference is that I am focusing on a smaller group of students since my first round of action research showed more growth with struggling readers than students who were at or above grade level. I have made a few modifications to the number of pre and post test questions as well as creating a motivating post comprehension test. My capstone audience is for teachers. Every year teachers have students who are struggling when it comes to comprehension and they give up in class because it is just too hard. I wanted this last round of action research to see if engagement plays a part in increasing comprehension of grade level text for struggling readers. As teachers, we need to embrace technology and use it to our benefit. Struggling students can be more engaged, therefore learning more. Can technology can help close the achievement gap in reading comprehension?