TechPlay

Portfolios come in a variety of forms, from physical notebooks including hand-written notes and graphs to digital media and websites, but as Professor Dondlinger described in her video, "there are many more similarities than differences because learning is about what we have students do rather than how they do it." When we compare a portfolio to other forms of assessments, we see that a portfolio demonstrates how a student grows over time, displaying the varied processes and collection of work rather than just a grade on a single assessment. As a learner, it would certainly be more beneficial to me to be able to articulate what I have learned about EdTech and sharing experiences I have had rather than answering general knowledge questions. I think this would be more meaningful to my learning processes because having something to come back and reflect on helps me grow. I often forget what I wrote last week, but having the ability (literally at any time and at my fingertips) to access my previous writings and creations would certainly bolster my learning.
As shown in the above-mentioned video, the "Collect, Select, Reflect, Connect" process of demonstrating learning excites me when I think about the implications this could have in my classroom. While I still have much to learn about building this tool into my teaching, I can see clearly the benefits that my students could have by learning to use portfolios in their educational journeys. 

I love pen (or pencil) and paper. There is just nothing like taking out your favorite writing tool and getting to work. The crisp paper, the smell of the ink or lead ... think of the possibilities. One reason I might lean in this direction of having my students complete physical "notebook" portfolios is that a lot of our students struggle with handwriting. None of the kids in K-12 schools today know what life was even like before cellphones were the norm, and most of them have the handwriting to prove it. For me, this is a huge reason to have a paper portfolio. At the same time, I can see the value of eportfolios, namely that it takes opportunities for creativity to a whole new level. Even if your handwriting is sloppy, you can create a streamlined, well-organized eportfolio. Many of the tools I explored were as simple as opening a template, dragging and dropping, and uploading with a click. It really doesn't seem complicated. And I daresay most of our students already know or would quickly learn how to handle those things and therefore, learning would occur more quickly. 
Overall, I think eportfolios might be better for my students in the long run. If they can start as Freshmen and build it up so that they can literally watch their work grow over time all in one place, goodness that would be beneficial! Oftentimes, our leveled classes are not integrated and so we aren't sure what learning skills students have really garnered below or above us, and eportfolios might be the perfect tool for us to help show that, which would be beneficial for students, but also, teachers.

I love the idea of Prezi. It's so creative and innovative. Every student could put their eportfolio together in ways that represent them uniquely and that is certainly something that today's teens want to be able to do.
During our drama study, there are a lot of TEKS that we must cover. A Prezi might be the perfect way for my students to demonstrate their learning and also be able to see their growth over a lengthened period of time. For the first example of Substitution/Agumentation: their Prezi could include a section on stage direction, one on dramatic action, and another on character development with the wealth of information in those areas we find throughout the plays. (C) We would use this in conjunction with the selected scenes we are reading from Romeo and Juliet because we know that it's too overwhelming for Freshmen for them to read every word of every scene and every act.* (P)  In support of this, eportfolios would be allowing us to meet standards collectively and aiding us in giving our students the tools they need to more easily maintain a record of their past work, which would certainly help build a growth-mindset in them. (T)
For the second example, on the Modification/Redefinition levels: These things could be completely redesigned to be even more interactive than a simple "click" of the topic. They would include specific writings and projects over the levels of Shakespearean study - from Freshman to Senior - with their build-up through each play: Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and Macbeth, where it would not simply be about labeling those things, but describing and demonstrating them as well, and this would carry over throughout their high school careers. (C) We also know that as students build their own knowledge, they learn more effectively. For this example, we would take the learning to a deeper level by having the students act out parts of the play because in doing so, they are taking part in active learning, and this garners more knowledge. (P) To a more intimate level, students would be more equipped to be life-long and life-wide learners. (T) 

*We know this from our own experiences, and also, it's demonstrated here - https://www.weareteachers.com/teach-shakespeare/*

(https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/09/study-shows-that-students-learn-more-when-taking-part-in-classrooms-that-employ-active-learning-strategies/)

Why Blog in English I?

A blog (short for "Web Log") is an online posting of entries, similar to a journal or diary. Years ago when I was semi-actively writing on a blog, the most popular websites for blogs were Wordpress and Blogger. While both of these are still up and running, now most blog sites are actually multi-purpose platforms where you can build a complete website including a blog and a "storefront," and the opportunity to reach a wider audience because they are connected to a more public space. (Examples: Weebly, Medium, Wix)  Most of them have drag-and-drop options for those who are not familiar with building a website from scratch, and there are so many tutorials and YouTube videos on the best way to build and customize, that you can't hardly go wrong with any choice you make. For most people, it probably comes down to cost, the time required to maintain, and overall ease of use. Most tools contained in a blog are standard across the board - social network sharing options, comments, tags, and personalization options, for example. After exploring websites and reading reviews, I ended up with the simple blog site that I'm familiar with - Blogger (obviously, for here you are.) 

In comparison, blogs are written entries over certain topics, events, recipes paired with stories, etc., while vlogs are video postings of the same sorts of things. Both of these typically allow comments wherein people can make statements regarding the posts, ask questions for discussion, and reply to others. In contrast, a discussion board is more of a back-and-forth interaction that is more like a "real-time" conversation.

Blogs afford students opportunities such as reading and writing at their own discretion and pace. It can allow us to have a discussion with the opportunity to read, process, and think over what we believe about a certain topic before talking about it. Since it is an online platform, blogs provide us the chance to use the internet and hopefully become more familiar with its uses. As independent users, a blog also affords us autonomy, giving us quite a bit of control over our own learning and usage abilities. This differs from many other educational options because blogs are more "permanent" fixtures than simply writing a paper and turning it in, keeping up with it after it's graded and returned, etc. With blog postings, I can revisit a discussion, form new ideas, and have more chances to process my writing (and that of my peers) in order to grow as a reader and a writer.

Teaching Freshman English will provide me with many opportunities where a blog would be successful. I could establish one for each class period, and use it as a space for the kids to share various writings on the topics at hand. When we do our poetry section, for example, they could post their own poems as well as poems that inspire them, and have open, ongoing discussions over them. This would be an Augmentation level activity. To take this to a M/R level, when we are reading American Born Chinese, students could blog about social issues addressed in the book, pairing it with a research project where they link to current events as well as happenings in the past to relate to those issues. Part of the assignment here might be to specifically read others' blog posts and take notes in order to later engage in class discussions.

Both of these options meet multiple TEKS and grade standards for year one of high school ELAR. This engagement platform would hopefully inspire some higher-level thinking skills such as analyzing and evaluating, thus also encouraging more mature communication. The beauty of a blog in English class is that I think every area within our scope could have a space therein: Language skills, collaborative work, reading with purpose, ability to analyze, and generating questions over reading passages, just to name a few. Using a blog aligns beautifully with every pedagogical strategy: they are constructing sources for their own learning, it is collaborative, integrative, allows multiple opportunities for reflection, and is richly in inquiry-based learning. My ideas of use are based on my own experiences and other teachers I have found online who include blogs in their classes. By using the technological tools of blogging, students are able to learn in a different context - rather than a personal spiral of journaling that gets tucked away on a classroom shelf, they have a social, interactive one they can access at any time. The ease of the tools allow students to revisit ideas, learning objectives, and content on their own time. 

I would say the main obstacle to the overall success of using a blog would be if students do not have internet access at home. Many of our students (we are a rural, Title I school district,) may not always be able to connect to wi-fi away from campus. This could be an issue if the requirements of blogging extended past the school day - such as assigned homework. For this reason, it's possible that our blogging opportunities may be limited to classroom time ... or at least the "required" parts of assignments would be. Still, as long as the students are given adequate time to accomplish what's necessary, having the blog to process, learn, and return to would be well worth it.