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I have not had much experience with gaming in the classroom, but I have seen other teachers use it and have much success when it comes to motivating students and bridging the learning gap. One interesting point the article mentions is the the "platform" model strategy. In this, students have one log in, and are able to access a variety of games which can be reported t to the teacher as a formative assessment. Teachers are also able to log in and track students progress.

I see the ideas for digital game-based-learning as a method of differentiation that can be particularly effective for students with special needs and learning disabilities. Interest in using games in the classroom continues to grow, as evidenced by the recent Library of Congress grants to build civics applications for classrooms. The full report mentioned in this article is linked within, and worthwhile reading. The learning gaps that we see in our team's data could possibly be addressed using digital games from iCivics, Shephard Software, and other sources.

I agree 100% with Andrea's quote "I see the ideas for digital game-based-learning as a method of differentiation that can be particularly effective for students with special needs and learning disabilities." I only have to think back to this morning in my 2nd period where this worked with one of 8th grade students in special education who has a severe visual disability. In fact I even have the link to the game I use in that class all the time. I encourage everyone to set up a free account: https://kahoot.it/#/ !!!! Kahoot was introduced to me in my Electives Professional Development. More than one of the teachers has issues with incorporating technology into their health classroom. I agree with this article when they write "Additional teacher training, as well as creating a common language between educators and developers, was recommended."

I am a little familiar with a few digital games. In my classroom, I use Kahoot.it to assist my students in learning their vocabulary. I use this website to make a classroom game that we all play together. Everyone can participate at the same time, competing for first place in points. I can create the questions on my smart-board, and the students can play on another computer or they can download the app on their phones. This makes our lessons more interactive, and the students get more involved and enjoy the class more.

Just like the article suggests, I use games to help students review or understand a lesson. A great one that was mentioned, and that I use is iCivics. Since Government is tested in my county, we have to make sure that our students fully understand the purpose, how the government works, and why it was created. When it comes to making sure the students are comprehending the information I will use iCivics, Kaoot.it, and a Jeopardy game I find online. It promotes students to take learning and their education into their own hands. I think the games don't have to be created by us or super complex, as long as you find one that relate to your content and engages students.

I love the idea of using these types of games to keep students engaged. At my son's school, he often has online math games given for homework. He loves IXL and it keeps him motivated to practice skills and learn new ones. In my 6th grade Spanish class we are exploring quia.com. Students can play vocabulary building games while I work one-on-one with students. It is a great way to keep kids engaged while doing assessments, too.

My smart goal is "By the end of the numbers unit, 60% of students in the Special Education program in MS Spanish 1A - Period 2 will achieve 80% or higher on each formative assessment including listening, speaking and writing assessments." By creating an interactive word wall using my spare whiteboard, I can post key questions and sentence starters continuously as we learn them during the week to support students during speaking and listening practice. Students who need additional accommodations with graphic organizers can refer to the word wall during speaking practice to increase their understanding and ability to participate.

My SMART learning goal of "by the end of quarter 1, 70% of students will score a 90% or higher on the EMATS/performance matters test." This will allow students to move the words around on the wall/ board into different concepts or topics. This will help them categorize the words and review what they learned based on the topic.

My SMART Goal: By the end of the quarter, 80% of students will obtain a 60% or higher in Algebra 1. The rigor and relevance protocol directly connected to this video because the students did most of the thinking in this activity. I believe that this interactive word wall is a wonderful use of time in the classroom and allows students to share the connections they have made with the content. Most often, I find, that some students have made strong connections to prior knowledge while other students, struggle to see how a single concept can fit into the big picture. I love the idea of using a interactive word wall to help students build a deeper understanding of the content. I also believe that all members of my group could use this resource in the classroom. In particular, I believe that Eli could use this strategy with his AP students to help them understand and connect the readings which they complete at home to concepts they cover in class. I am looking forward to using this in my Tutorial class to help students in across all subjects. This upcoming week, I will work with at least 2 students to build a concept map using an "interactive word wall" that covers words in their math content class.

Dimension: Impact on Learning Rate: 4 My SMART Target Learning Goal is that 80 % of my Pre-kindergarten class will master their reading foundation skills by the 3rd trimester. Using an interactive word wall is a great idea to have students see the cause and effect relationship. The students will be able to see connections. This will allow them to scaffold the words in order to bring the vocabulary words to life. Once they can bring the words to life their writing will improve. The students essentially build upon each other ideas. For my students they are still learning to read. Therefore, I could use an interactive words wall with the words and pictures. This would help my students learn the words. I believe that this video has a high impact on learning that is why I gave it a four. The students will be able to share what they have learned about the content. EDTC 615 Spring 2018 Week 5

Dimension: Alighment to Standards Rate: 5 Group Members SMART Goal: By the end of the quarter, 80% of students will obtain a 60% or higher in Algebra 1. The word wall by design has to align with standereds. The whole idea behind using a word wall would be to enforce and teach students content specific vocabulary that created deeper understanding for students. My group memeber's students tend to struggle with remembering specific vocabulary, which leads to low standerdized test scores especially in work problems. A word wall is a good way to ensure students are comfortable with the content specific vocabulary.

Dimension: Student Engagement Rate: 4 SMART Target Learning Goal: By the end of the third quarter, 80% of first grade students will score 16-20 points (80%-100%) on the next Unit Test which covers all reading skills. The interactive word wall is very engaging for students because it forces students to use words that they have learned in class and make connections between the vocabulary words through explaining their reasoning. This activity is very hands-on and is also a great visual because the students are seeing how vocabulary words can connect and relate with one another. Also, students are collaborating and building upon each other's ideas which can also be very engaging.

Dimension: Rigor and Relevance Rate: 4 This word wall engages the students, and they are the ones doing the thinking and work to make connections between the concepts. The teacher does some work to prepare the words, but the students are the ones engaging with the material. This protocol could be used for our AP biology students to make and reinforce connections between the science vocab and topics being covered.

Dimension: Impact on Learning Rate: 4 (High-impact) Smart Goal: By the middle of the fourth trimester, 80% of 3rd grade students will increase at least 40% on STAR reading and math. Implementing an interactive word wall in your classroom is a great way to keep students engaged in their learning. An interactive word wall can have a high-impact on students learning. Students can refer to the word wall when completing a lesson to help remember what the word means. When students continuously refer back to a word, they are more likely to remember the word when taking a state assessment. An interactive word wall is a great way to help students increase in their STAR data in reading and in math. I have an interactive word wall in my class for students to use or refer to when working on practice assessments or completing assignments. I believe my team would benefit from having an interactive word wall in their classroom. All students can use an interactive word to help remember words they may not use on a daily basis. EDTC 615

EDTC615 FALL2018 GROUP1 Watching this video gave me a great idea for one of my group members Spencer who teaches ESOL students who struggle with verbal/conversational skills and written/language skills. Spencer's SMART Goal is 75% of the 24 students with a C or lower to have a B (80%) or higher in my class, by the end of the 1st quarter. This tool is great for student engagement and impact on learning. With this strategy students can build vocabulary skills by word connections and possible interactions with one another to help strengthen each others vocabulary skills often times with the teacher being the facilitator of instruction not the lead in the instruction.

My SMART goal is to make sure 80% of student in my class are reading by level K (using Fountas and Pinnell) by December. Anchor charts could definitely help this by having strategies for comprehending texts and how to be an active reader up around the classroom. Students could refer to them while reading to make sure they are being active readers and taking in what they are reading about. I would rate this 4 for student engagement and high impact on learning.

This video about anchor charts would work great with my SMART goal- "Given 2 months of guided reading instruction, students in below grade-level reading groups will increase their reading level by at least two levels." Anchor charts are a really important tool for students to use as they're reading texts and after reading texts. For example, I have an anchor chart in my classroom that explains the rate of speed for reading. Students can refer to this as they're reading so they can monitor themselves as they're reading to make sure they're reading at a fluent rate of speed. Another anchor chart in my room that students can refer to is the asking questions anchor chart. This anchor chart explains to students how to stop and ask themselves questions throughout the reading. This supports my SMART learning goal because some of my students were held back from moving forward in reading because of their reading comprehension. When referring to the planning protocol rubric, I would rate this a 4 for impact on learning category.

This would be good for my fellow teacher on my team for their SMART learning goal of "by the end of quarter 1, 60% of students will score a 70% or higher on the Quarter 1 Literacy Assessment on Theme." This will allow students to review/ use different anchor charts to review theme. If the teacher wanted to take it to an another level, students could create their own anchor charts in groups that helped them identify the theme in ways so that they would remember them.

Dimension: Student Engagement Rating: 4 My partner's SMART goal is, "By the end of the numbers unit, 60% of students in the Special Education program in MS Spanish 1A - Period 2 will achieve 80% or higher on each formative assessment including listening, speaking and writing assessments." Anchor charts could be useful in the Spanish classroom because they could help prompt students about the use of expressions and structures they would need to master the vocabulary in the numbers unit, which would help more students achieve an 80% or higher. While many of those expressions and structures involve common, everyday vocabulary and concepts that also exist in English, the syntax is different enough from English that having something up in the classroom that helps scaffold the students' learning of the syntax would help them communicate with more ease. These would be charts that every student would refer to, and they could change for future units of study.

This video describes anchor charts. Anchor charts are a visual learning tool that helps students work through any type of process. I could see this as being beneficial to my my SMART goal because I could use this with my Biology I students to help them identify learning gaps and work through those.

Dimension: Student Engagement Rating: 3 SMART Goal: Given 1 month of guided reading instruction, students in below grade-level reading groups will increase their reading level by at least one level. In order to promote achievement of their SMART goal, my groupmate could use an anchor chart to remind students of strategies to apply when reading unknown words. Anchor charts are designed to encourage students to apply a process when solving problems. While guided and direct reading instruction are beneficial to student reading development, it is not realistic for teachers to work with every student every minute of instruction. My groupmate could use an anchor chart to display strategies for sounding out words (ex. "Stretchy Snake" or "Chunky Monkey"). Within the anchor chart the teacher could use colorful pictures and words to remind students of previously learned strategies. This system will allow students to continue their reading development even while they are not working with a teacher. This will ultimately enhance their engagement when reading independently.

Dimension: Impact on Learning Rating: 3 SMART Goal: By the end of the third quarter, 80% of first grade students will score 16-20 points (80%-100%) on the next Unit Test which covers all reading skills. Throughout this video, the teacher discusses the importance of anchor charts in a classroom. She expresses how anchor charts guide students through a process in their learning where they rely on the anchor charts to remember what they learned, what their task is, and where they should go next. Anchor charts are written with different colors to grab student's attention and to make the information visibly pleasing to look at/easy to follow along with. The SMART goal that I have for my class is that 80% of my students will score 16-20 points on their next Unit Test which covers all of the reading skills that they have learned so far in first grade. Most of these reading skills are about the long and short vowel sounds, dipgraphs/blends, and comprehension skills. I have posted multiple anchor charts around my classroom that covers these skills. I use different colors, words, and pictures to teach the information on the charts. I constantly remind my class to use these anchor charts to help assist in their learning and when they have questions. This is why I rated anchor charts a 3 on "Impact on Learning". They have a medium-high impact because students can refer to them anytime they need to in the classroom. They also remind students what they have learned so far in the school year. However, in first grade, they sometimes have trouble reading the anchor charts because they are still learning how to read. This is why I did not rate the anchor charts a 4.

Dimension: Student Engagement Rating: 3 Smart Goal: By the middle of the fourth trimester, 80% of 3rd grade students will score a 3 or 4 on their reading and math assessments. By the middle of the fourth trimester, 80% of 3rd grade students will increase at least 40% on STAR reading. By the middle of the fourth trimester, 80% of 3rd grade students will increase at least 40% on STAR math. Integrating anchor charts into a classroom is a wonderful way to maintain student engagement. Anchor charts are a great tool for teachers to use to help explain content to students. Anchor charts can be interactive in a classroom. A teacher can write a topic on an anchor chart and students can join in the conversation by adding content to the chart. As a third grade teacher, I use anchor charts on a weekly basis. Anchor charts can be used to teach a lesson, to explain rules, or as an exit ticket. Posting anchor charts around a room can help students as they learn a lesson. The best part about anchor charts is how they are more engaging than a poster. Typically, students do not read a poster in a classroom. However, when students are involved in creating an anchor chart, students are more likely to refer back to the chart and it can also help students remember content better. Anchor charts can be used in class to help students reach their SMART goal. In my classroom, I have the students STAR goal for reading and math on an anchor chart. When the students reach their STAR goal, students can put a star by their name on the anchor chart. Also, I have another anchor chart in my classroom listing different strategies to remember when taking STAR reading and math. I rated anchor charts a 3 on student engagement, because anchor charts are wonderful tools to use to keep a student motivated in their learning. I did not rate anchor charts a 4 because technology is a tad more engaging than anchor charts. However, my students sill love anchor charts! EDTC 615

Dimension: Impact on Learning Rating: 3 SMART Goals: Given 1 month of guided reading instruction, students in below grade-level reading groups will increase their reading level by at least one level. Anchor charts are a great way for the students to reference important skills and strategies during lessons. As the teacher is teaching the strategies during guided reading, they could make a anchor chart to reference during the lesson in order for the students to use. As the students are reading and they are stuck on a word they can reference the anchor chart in order to find a strategy that would work for them. For example, a student may be struggling with a sentence, then they look at the chart and find the strategy that says "Look at the picture". After they find the strategy, then they are able to apply that strategy in order to help them to read the story. These strategies must be explicitly taught in order for these anchor charts to be effective in the classroom, but it is a great tool to use. EDTC 615 Spring2018

SMART Goals: By the end of the marking, 80% or higher of students will score a 90% or higher on a base ten assessment. I believe that anchor charts are a great strategy for students to use in the classroom. When my students are working independently they can use an anchor chart in order to help them answer a question they may have instead of asking their teacher. It is also helpful when these are really colorful and organized for students. I think that these are a way that teachers can really support student learning because as they say in the video these anchor charts can be based on the curriculum where they are taken down or they can be left up all year long. For example, in my own classroom I have a place value anchor chart on my wall. Now we do not cover this concept in this quarter but since some of my students still struggle with the concept it is important I keep it up. I would say based on the protocol I would be looking at this in the impact of learning dimension. I would say that this would rate as a 4 because students would be able to use this to impact their learning in a positive way either independently or in small groups. EDTC615 Spring2018

Dimension: Student Engagement Level: 4 SMART Goal, "By the end of module 3, students will be able to use various manipulatives to effectively solve measuring equations." Anchor charts are a great way for students to gather information and strategies during lessons. As the teacher is going through the various parts of the lesson, both the students and teachers can write down or draw pictures to explain their thought process and clear up any confusion. When it comes to measuring, teachers can create an anchor chart by putting longer than on one side and shorter than on the other. Students can use linking cubes of different quantities to measure each other sticks. Another activity that will be helpful when it comes to measuring is using print outs of objects with different lengths. Using a string, students will be asked to measure their objects using their string, place it on the correct side, and explain their choice using the sentence frame, 'My object is longer than or shorter than my string.' Using the anchor chart gives each student an opportunity to participate in the group discussion and serves as an process monitoring mechanism for teachers. EDTC615 Spring2018

An appropriate use of Anchor Charts could greatly improve student learning. The visual aids allow students guide their own learning. I think that I can instill confidence and improve engagement, since they do not have to ask the teacher for assistance as often. This would help those students bridge their learning gap, because they have continually reinforcement posted at times to reference and retain. I think that Anchor Charts could be used in multiple contents areas including Biology.

I really enjoyed this video. It seems like anchor charts are a tool before students see a rubric. They are colorful, easy to read, and less intimidating than a rubric. I may use an anchor chart in a class in the future instead of a rubric and see if students have a better understanding of what is expected.