Caitlin Seguin
High School English Teacher & Instructional Designer
Bachelors Degree
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Secondary English Education- Butler University
Masters Degree
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Learning, Technology and Design- Central Michigan University
Email: caitgenord@gmail.com
Educational Technology Blog
1. Learning about Educational Technology
Podcasts as Professional Development Resources
I have enjoyed listening to podcasts for a few years now. I listen to a news related podcast called the Daily each day on the way to work. I also frequently listen to mystery and crime podcasts, because I find them fascinating! With that said, I have just begun to listen to podcasts education. There are many podcasts on education available-- use the link below to explore 30 that are popular. My favorite is the Jennifer Gonzalez's Cult of Pedagogy. This podcast covers a lot of "hot topics" in education and often has esteemed guests. The podcast is applicable to all teachers, but may be most relevant for high school educators. Each of her podcasts is organized to support listeners with practical ideas. Below is the link to the cult of pedagogy website.
2. Becoming a Leader in Ed Tech
Become a Leader inYour Content Area by Creating Resources Lists
In general, my department is very good about sharing tech resources and uses for them. While we consistently share ideas, we are often doing this through an email or a casual conversation over lunch. This is a great community to be a part of, but these casual ideas do not often advance to use in the classroom. As a way to address this issue, myself and a colleague put together an editable database of online resources. With the start of this database, our department can continue adding as we see fit. It is an amazing chance to continue learning from each other in a more tangible way. While the list is geared toward English Language Arts teachers, it can be useful for any high school teacher, as most of the resources are very flexible. We created this list using Microsoft OneNote. Take a look below!
3. Working on Citizenship
Become a more open-minded educator
It is essential as educators that we are open an understanding of people in our communities that we serve. Not only is it important that we know our community, but that we teach our students about the world and cultures that may differ from their own. With what is happening it in the world today, I find it very important to teach my students global citizenship. I plan to incorporate lessons on race and equality next school year. I continued my personal education on the topic by watching a documentary called The Talk. This film followed people of color from communities across the United States who have been affected by police brutality. I was impressed with the variety of people represented in the film. THe documentary covered families from all around the country from different neighborhoods. The focus of the film was talking to young black males about what to do when they encounter police. It was a very timely message related to the Black Lives Matter movement. I recommend viewing on PBS or Amazon Prime!
4. Co-Learning Technology
Learning about KQED Learn with a co-worker
According to their website, KQED Learn is a free platform for middle and high school students to tackle big issues and build their media literacy and critical thinking skills in a supportive environment. My co-worker and I both teach a non-fiction class where students are required to write a lengthy argumentative essay. Students tend to pick social issues as a focus for their essay. This website/resource is a great starting point for any lesson or class project dealing with civil engagement. Linked below, you will find a video my co-worker and I created about the KQED Learn.
5. Designing Lessons for Online Learning
Creating a Hyperdocument
Hyperdocuments are an amazing tool for online learning.
What is it? A HyperDoc is a digital document, where all the resources for unit of learning are arranged in a single document. Students are able to access all of the resources needed for learning in one place.
Why use them? Hyperdocs are a very convenient way for students to access info in one place. It simplifies the learning process by directing students through materials.
How to create one? It is easiest to use a template that already exists for creating a Hyperdoc. There are thousands of samples on this website sorted out by grade level and subject.
My Example: I created a hyperdoc for my English 9 class. My students write a paper on a Science Fiction novel. This hyperdoc takes students through the process and includes links to instructional material and videos.
6. Facilitating Online Learning
Using Universal Design- An Assignment for To Kill a Mockingbird
Universal Design for Learning is a framework that improves learning for all because it takes into account individual needs. Universal design means offering students choice in how they want to engage, represent, and express their understanding. Teachers who use this strategy will give students choice in how they complete assignments. For my UDL lesson, I created the following objective: Students will evaluate the parallels of Harper Lee’s message about race and a message about race today using a website to create a visual. This objective is both open-ended and concrete. There is room for students to choose and be creative, but there is still a clear goal in mind. It is important to include models for students when you give them choice. Below is the model I made for this assignment using Canva.com.
7. Analyzing Grading Practices
Grading online using Google Add-ons(Kaizena and Orange Slice)
I used both the Orange Slice and Kaizena add-ons to Google to evaluate a resume. These add-ons in conjunction with each other, make for an effective feedback method. The Kaizena add-on allows the user to easily place voice feedback as comments on a student’s submission. Kaizena also has features for text comments and a comment bank is readily available. As an English teacher, I use Turnitin.com to grade online. This resource allows me to bank comments to reuse them. This is a very helpful feature, because students often make the same mistakes as their peers. Kaizena has a very similar feature to use right in Google docs. The Orange Slice add-on is great for grading with a rubric. This feature allows you to copy and paste your rubric right in to Google Docs. You can see the rubric at the top of the student’s paper, and the Orange Slice platform analyzes the grade for you. The downside of this program is that you have to copy and paste your rubric in rather than just uploading the rubric to the software. It is a little extra work at the forefront, but would definitely save time over the course of a class of essays. These Google add-ons are very helpful for teachers who use Google classroom. I personally would be very interested in similar add-ons for Microsoft products.
Below are two images of how I used Kaizena and Orange Slice to evaluate a resume.
8. ISTE Blog Post #1
ISTE and the Social Presence Model
How they align:
The social presence model I studied this week mostly aligns with the Collaborator ISTE standards. ISTE standard 4c reads, "Use collaborative tools to expand students' authentic, real-world learning experiences by engaging virtually with experts, teams and students, locally and globally." The social presence model is focused on providing students with an authentic engaging learning experience online. This can only occur when teachers are intentional about how they ask students to interact. The ISTE design standard also aligns with the Social Presence Model. Teachers have to consider the levels of interaction before completing an online lesson plan. Teachers should also consider their involvement when designing the lesson, whether it is asynchronous or synchronous.
How they do not align:
While the ISTE standards do address students taking ownership of their learning, the standards do not address building a learning community. One aspect of the Social Presence Model is Community Cohesion. Community Cohesion means actively building relationships with your students in online learning, and creating space for them to create relationships with one another. This is such an essential part of the school experience, that contributes to student's success and happiness. This must be a consideration in all planning for online learning. The ISTE standards are not a catch-all for online learning. It is important to consider emotional connections in learning and the ISTE standards do not address this. The ISTE standards do a great job of encouraging teachers to rethink traditional approaches and prepare students to drive their own learning.
Image from the Online Learning Consortium.
9. ISTE Blog Post #2
ISTE and Learning Management Systems
How Learning about LMS' relates to ISTE standards:
First and foremost, in exploration and analysis of different learning management systems, I am demonstrating the ISTE leadership standard. The standard reads, "educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning." This process was all about determining which learning management system is best for students who may be learning remotely next year. Learning about new digital tools is a very important aspect of becoming an ISTE leader. In addition to connecting with the learner standard, the LMS analysis also connects to facilitator and designer. The facilitator standard is about presenting lessons that encourage students to use technology to improve achievement. With the use of a LMS, I can assign work through various online resources. The LMS will assist me in creating lessons and activities in a virtual learning environment. The designer standard is about creating student focused lessons that address all students and their individual needs. In analyzing different LMS' it was important to consider the variety of student needs that should be addressed in the chosen system. When designing instruction, ISTE educators need to consider both the content area standards and the use of digital tools. Canvas allows teachers to align assignments with standards. The LMS is a digital tool will be an important part of daily work for my students.
How LMS Analysis does not align with ISTE standards:
Most of the LMS analysis can be easily related to the ISTE standards. Each of the evaluation categories tie to the standards in some way, except for cost. Evaluating the cost of each LMS is important for practical reasons involving implementation, but it does not relate to the ISTE standards. The standards would encourage teachers to choose resources that are best for their students, but sometimes these resources do cost, and as such, are not feasible.
Image from Cuspera
10. ISTE Blog Post #3
Favorite Lesson Reflection- Pre-COVID
The Court Scene To Kill a Mockingbird:
One of my favorite things to teach is the court scene is To Kill a Mockingbird. I try to involve my students in the reading of this important part of the novel, by doing a reader's theater. My students volunteer to read different character's roles. As we read, we discuss the plot and additionally reflect on what the verdict means and how it represents the inequality of the times. Students participate in a research activity after reading, to discover more about racism in America's past. At this stage, the lesson does not incorporate technology. However, it does align with a few of the ISTE standards. This lesson touches on the citizen standard because students critically examine sources about America's history. This lesson is also accommodating for different kinds of learners. There is an optional reading guide to complete while we read/act out the scene. Students are also supported by the option to work in pairs on the research portion of the assignment.
Flip Grid Dystopian Worlds:
During online teaching this spring, I wanted to continue to work on a project that we would normally do in class. This meant making a lot of changes to the project, but still allowed my students to show creative understanding of themes and ideas from the unit. My students had to create their own dystopian world and create a poster/paper describing the world. Then students used FlipGrid to record a video describing the world they came up with to their classmates! Students were able to watch each others presentations and we debriefed the activity on a Zoom call. This lesson combined "vintage learning" with online learning. It was a nice break from the typical rigid online learning my students were used to. This lesson aligned with the designer standard and the facilitator standard. I also created a model project for my students and screen recorded a video. Students were encouraged to use creativity and digital tools to complete the small project.
Favorite Lesson Reflection- Pre-COVID
Favorite Lesson Reflection- Pre-COVID
To write my online teaching philosophy, I first reviewed my teaching philosophy document from a few years ago. Many of the same ideas remain important to me for online teaching. However, I found it important to add plenty of new understandings. My first teaching philosophy outlined my belief in lifelong learning. While this is still true for my online teaching philosophy, it is now further developed. The new philosophy is much more grounded in offering valuable and frequent feedback and honoring student choice. In the classroom, a lot of feedback happens naturally. It is easy to touch base with each student, each day. With online learning, this became a challenge. I had to work much harder to make contact and connections with my students. This is an essential part of online learning, because student's need to feel a sense of comfort and community in the classroom. Honoring student choice became more important to me because each student should have the freedom to explore topics on interest. This can easily be honored in the online learning environment.
11. Reflection on Week 1 of 642
Task 1+2
PowerPoint Slides and Rubric:
To begin this week, I worked on creating a PPT that met the visual Mayer and Gestalt principles. It was helpful to create class material through this lens. It is something I will think about going forward, as creating presentations is a very common part of my teaching practice. It is important to consider, especially for online teaching, what kids are focused on when engaging in PPT presentations. I am hoping that this presentation will be useful in starting this school year in person. The rubric assignment was also helpful, but something that I already have implemented in my teaching. I was able to just make small alterations to a rubric I use with my students!
BitMoji Classroom:
I chose to work on creating a Bitmoji classroom to use with my students this year. I am looking
forward to using the slide I created as a home space for links that my students use frequently. I
likely will have both online and in person classes this year, and this versatile tool can be used in
both settings. I think this activity will help with student engagements and classroom community
building. The drawbacks of this tool is that students will still have to access the PPT slide in order
to access the links in my Bitmoji classroom. I am exploring options for providing this to students
to make it easiest for them to access.
Wiki MLA Format:
I think that this assignment will be the most helpful for me and my students in the future. The resource I created for this assignment outlines and provides links to different MLA format rules. Students can view pictures, videos, and even screen recordings by me. I learned how to find fair use and creative commons sources while creating this resource. I did find it difficult to find the best information when using the creative commons searches. Images in particular are difficult to determine the license for. However, I created this resource on Microsoft Teams and plan on adding it to all of my teams this year. My students will be able to use it as a reference when they have questions about how to format thir papers for class!
Task 3
Task 4
12. Reflection on Week 2 of 643
Video Creation Reflection
My Artifacts
This week, we created instructional videos for use in our class. These videos were supposed to be short and for different instructional purposes. It was helpful to think about video creation through different lens. In the past, I have generally created video content for my students for instructional purposes. This tends to be in the form of lecture, modeling, and providing an overview of examples. It was helpful to think about the use of video for feedback and assessment. I have not done this in the past. One of the videos I created this week, was for the purpose of assessment. I reviewed a specific rubric criteria for students and went over the sample I created in terms of the rubric. I plan to use this with my students and create similar video tools for other assignments. I hope to illicit student feedback about these support videos.
Application
Both of my videos will be used with my students this year. The instructional video about creativity portfolios will be used with my senior students as I shift their portfolio assignment to an online platform. The other assessment video will be used with my 9th graders when they work on their social issues project. I intend to create a series of support videos for my students to view while working on this project in a remote setting.
Video Creation Tools
I really like the add-on screencastify in the google chrome browser. This is video creation tool I have been using the most. The tool only allows users to create 5 minute maximum videos. Knowing that students have a limited attention span, it is not really a drawback. However, I can use Teams to create longer videos, if necessary. In the past, I have relied on PowerPoint recordings. I also look forward to exploring some other options with animation. I think with knowledge about all of these tools, my students will be well supported in a virtual learning environment. They should have plenty of "face to face" and voice contact with me through these platforms!
Image from Wix.
Enhanced Video Creation Reflection
My Artifacts
This week, we created enhanced instructional videos for use in our class. These videos were supposed to be short and for different instructional purposes. It was very helpful to explore different video making methods. I took the time to explore resources I hadn't used before. Although it was a time-consuming process, I was really pleased with the results. I created three different videos using Powtoon, PowerPoint, and EdPuzzle.
Application:
The Powtoon video was to introduce a chapter in one of the books my students read. The PowerPoint was specifically giving direction about how to understand the Chorus in Romeo and Juliet. The EdPuzzle was created to be an assessment for a key scene from the play. In the future, I will likely continue to use PPT and EdPuzzle. While I enjoyed the final product with Powtoon, it took much longer to create. With the pace of online learning this fall, I do not think I will have time to continue making Powtoon enhanced video. I would like to explore some of the templates they have to determine if they could be of use because that would really speed up the process. All three of my videos will be used with my students this year.
Powtoon Video: