1. Professional Background: This is my fifth year teaching in the Jasper County School District, and my first year teaching online. I have taught third, fourth, and fifth grades. I am currently teaching 4th grade. Prior to earning my license to teach, I substituted for eleven years. I hold a B.S. degree in psychology, and an honorable discharge from the United States Navy. On a personal note I have two great sons, Salaam and Rashaun, 18 and 28 respectively. I’m an identical twin and I have granddaughters who are also identical twins. Each of us has a dog, and consequently all of our dogs are white in color. I’m sure the granddogs will probably be white as well. I’m looking forward to meeting my online learners! Introduction Page Hi out there! I am your online instructor, Sharon Bush, M. Ed.Email Address: sbush5@lesley.comLocation: Savannah, GeorgiaPhone: 912-330-8338 - cell

2. My ideal online teaching situation would incorporate the children who attend Me TiMe, a before and after school program based in San Diego, California. It’s my brother’s foundation and I serve as the educational advisor. The children are in grades two through five and range between the ages of 6-10 years old. The families’ income ranges’ vary as well. The children are picked up at home before their school day begins and they participate in healthy, challenging, and vigorous adventures. I would like to offer those students an opportunity to improve their language arts skills and ultimately their grades through my supplemental online course work in English Language Arts.

3. Online Scenario Today you are going to dress up a sentence. We’ll look at a boring sentence, and we’ll look at ways to dress it up by learning how to add information to make it more interesting. While practicing with interactive activities, you will get to play dress up with the English language! Here is the sentence that needs dressing up: There were a lot of children playing.

4. Questions: 1. From the sentence, do you know the four Ws and one H of the children playing? USING WORDLEI would use Wordle (words that have a theme connecting them are created in a program that allows the user to size words, color them, alter their positions) to get the students to familiarize themselves to the potential question words (who, what, when, where, why, and how) to use to help add information to a sentence; thus, adding depth to the sentence.

5. My Wordle below includes some words that demonstrate my personality, my family, my pets, and my favorite travel destination. Delores Campbell’s Wordle, below, has more words and shows more of her personality.

6. USING SORT Read the Online Student Support Services: A Best Practices Monograph, perhaps there are assessments here that will help determine online readiness. http://www.onlinestudentsupport.org/Monograph/readiness.php. The Student Online Readiness Tool also known as the SORT Assessment would fit best in this scenario to facilitate pairing my learners in online group situations, as well as their readiness for online coursework. We used Dr. Lynn Schrum’s Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT) which is available online at http://www.yourcallla.org/SORT/sort/html/tool.html and noted our strengths and weaknesses. My SORT posting:

7. ü Describe your current educational setting. Are you a practitioner or pre-service teacher? What is your current teaching assignment or major field of study? What is your interest in teaching online? I’m currently teaching in an elementary school in rural South Carolina’s Low Country. I’m seeking this Technology in Education degree to supplement my degrees in Psychology and Educational Leadership to best prepare me in creating (or enhancing) a program to assist high school students to transition into the college arena. ü Compare and contrast any two of the assessments described in the article, discussing which features you feel would be most relevant to your present or future students. While the University of Georgia’s model caters to students’ internal motivation for their own success, it assesses the availability of necessary tools (experience, study habits, lifestyle, goals, and preferences) for success in online coursework; the smaller colleges like Coastal Bend College rely on a personal touch. They have advisors on-hand to work with students and assessing their needs for online learning. I think the hands-on assessment would be a great fit for the students in my current community. I’m in a Title One school and many of the children do not have computer access or internet availability because the area is so rural. ü Share the results of your SORT assessment. What are your strengths and weaknesses in terms of being prepared for online learning? Be sure to include any areas in which you feel you may need assistance or advice. According to the assessment, I am prepared for online coursework. I would add that I know I’m not good at managing my time for the work, although I’m always online ready to work. I have found that from the beginning to the present, I am confused about how the modules work. I can not figure out the flow. I get lost in my own mess. So I mean well, but can’t make heads or tails from the assignments in terms of what to do first, second, third, etc. There’s one assignment here with the associated readings somewhere else. The assignments are all over the place. So I may be prepared and ready for online learning, but find it tremendously discomforting to not be able to figure out Modules, Discussions, Assignments, and timelines for submission when they are not jumping off the screen and grabbing my attention.

8. USING the MEDIEVAL PERSONALITY Profile

10. Foundations of Educational Theory for Online Learning or http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/pdf/TPOL_chp01.pdfDr. McBride provided learners with a Divide and Conquer cognitive technique for managing the lengthy article and followed by a quiz. See courtesy copy of quiz below (see notes section) :Blackboard Quiz for Foundations of Educational Theory for Online LearningThis is a courtesy copy of the quiz (see notes section) to help you to prepare. You must access the online version of the quiz in the Online Quiz folder and complete it. Your grade will automatically be posted to your online grades feature. Please note that the questions and/or the answer choices for the online quiz will probably not be presented in the order in which they appear here!This is a great activity for students to use to breaking large reading pieces into smaller more manageable pieces.

11. Platform Ad: I would use this platform assignment to help students familiarize themselves with the different avenues for displaying their own work. I used Microsoft Publisher to share three platforms. I learned several new things from this assignment, for instance, the word platform. I never heard it before or simply ignored it because I didn't know what it was. Nonetheless, I chose Moodle, Blackboard, and TopClass, and selected TopClass as the better choice because of its appeal to the corporate sector. Education is a business, right? TopClass does not assume that one-size-fits-all. That's a winner! The brochure is located at MoodleBrochure.doc.pub

12. Scenario and Voice Relevant readingsLearning Online Facilitation Online (239.826 Kb) The Top Ten Tenets of Effective Online Facilitation (44.688 Kb) The Scenario (25 Kb)

13. The Scenario A teacher posts this writing prompt in the online discussion forum: Choose an experience in which you helped others by serving as a volunteer, making a charitable donation, or stepping in to help make a situation better. In one paragraph describe the experience. In another paragraph explain why that experience is worth sharing with others. In the third paragraph describe how much information you would need to include to make sure your audience understands and appreciates the significance of your actions. The student posts this response: One Thanksgiving, my family and I decided to help out at the Salvation Army by helping to cook and serve dinner. We worked hard to help these people. Some of them were very nice to us and some seemed to be embarrassed because they were there. Even though I missed my mother’s home cooked meal that day, I still feel good because we helped. The information I included to ensure that the audience understands and appreciates the significance of my actions is to tell them that we worked hard and gave up Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. Our task was to reply to this student, using what I think is an appropriate voice and tone. Dr. McBride asked us to remember that we are addressing the whole class, not just this student so that everyone learns more about planning and drafting a paragraph, and that the online dialog is extended, focused, or redirected to promote my learning goals. Assignment for posting: After you have posted your response to the student, reply to your posting identifying the type of voice and tone from the article, Learning Online Facilitation Online that best describes yours. Also include how your response furthered your learning goals.

14. My Response to Scenario: Volunteering as a family is very rewarding, I would agree. Certainly there are people who appreciated your help during the holiday season, and thank you for sharing your experience and completing the assignment. The first paragraph asked for description of the experience and you have done that. The second paragraph, although you explained why the experience was worth sharing with others, you need to devise an additional paragraph, because that information is significant enough to carry its weight in a separate paragraph. Your family gave up a wonderful dinner at home to share yourselves with those less fortunate. That’s awesome! Do you think you will help the Salvation Army again?

15. My Response to Voice and Tone: My tone and voice leans toward the Conceptual Facilitator where I focused on specific elements of the writing components because I want learners to get the most bang for their buck. There were a number of steps to the assignment. Although the learner did not respond with the depth I may have responded to such an experience, I have to consider the many factors leading to the shallow (my opinion) response of the learner, and make the effort not to respond with emotion.

17. Heather Dagle’s response to my posting:Sharon, I appreciate everything you've said. I just am struggling to clearly see how the student-teacher interaction is most important in an online course. I think about my personal experiences with online learning and from my perspective the interaction I had with the content was more important than the interaction I had with the facilitator. I would use these articles: Learner Interactions in Online Collaborative Learning Environments (91 Kb) Toward a Theory of Online Learning (303.761 Kb) to help my students understand the evolution of relationships online and how they develop.

18. Introduction Welcome to Me Time Online. This Learner Support Agreement for this online course serves as a confirmation for both the student and instructor as we agree to the defined expectations of each other throughout the course. Please be aware that our responsibilities to the online environment will make the course work more enjoyable and a success for all. Workspace In your workspace on Googledocs (I have created a space for you that is password protected) there are tools that are exclusively viewed or owned by you. This is where your assignments are to be completed. Do not share your password with others. Course Tools: We will use the following: Online Syllabus – Defines the coursework and purpose Modules Section - I will post instructions here, as well as any other any other relevant course information. The course is organized into weekly Modules. Each module will contain resources, reading assignments, followed by activities, rubrics, and ending with a check-off list (to make sure you have not skipped something). Resources – All required course documents and files are located here. Discussion Forum – This will be where you will respond to course content questions and share your knowledge with classmates. Assignments – Some assignments will be created and shared with others, while some will attachments to emails, and others are postings. Tests/Quizzes - If a module contains a test or quiz component, it will be accessible here. Reflections – Each module asks you to reflect on completed assignments in the module. They will go here. Learner Support Agreement from Ms. Bush for 2011-2012 sbush@jcsd.net/Skype sharonbush8338

19. Learner Roles and Expectations Log-in daily to check for announcements, updates, and/or notices Reply promptly and courteously to emails from the instructor Modules are dated with due dates and deadlines. Be sure to update your Google calendar or any other organizer you may be using to track progression through assignments Complete assignments in a timely manner Facilitator Roles and Expectations I will review assignments, posts, and emails daily. I will offer feedback on posts and assignments as needed. Scores will be provided within 3-5 days of submission. Tech Support First, seek assistance from the assigned Classroom Computer Technicians. Second, seek assistance from the teacher. Course Support Email contact is permitted using my school’s website address. I will respond to your online questions within a reasonable amount of time, usually with 24 hours. Please limit contact with me to course relevance. I am available to Skype as well. Course work AccessThe coursework is reassigned at the end of each nine-week session. Please be use your assigned jump drives to back up or save any documents, as workstations are cleared of all student work periodically. I will definitely use this kind LSA to jumpstart an understanding of the course work and expectations for the online classes.

20. AUPThis website contains our Acceptable Use Policy and Parent Guide.http://pages.suddenlink.net/lesleydmac1/Module5Group2.htm

21. Without assuming each student understands what’s acceptable while communicating online this agreement offers clarity and I will use it when teaching online.

23. The Effective Collaborator Rubric for Group Project and Self Evaluation:Name of Student Being Evaluated: Sharon BushEvaluation Date: May 29, 2011Total Score: Individual = 175 Group = 175Evaluator’s Name: Sharon BushAlways include an avenue for evaluation on collaborations both the group and individual

25. Group evalcomment: The group sort of ran out of steam before we even began, due to technical difficulties. As I tell my students, “Don’t to stop until all avenues are exhausted,” I adopted my own philosophy when faced with a technical problem. That’s also why I’m glad I have the neighbors I have. I contacted the group member who hadn’t checked in and encouraged her to contact Kristy, who I think volunteered to take the lead on this one. April did eventually contact her, but we had already assumed the responsibility. Individual eval comment: It was confusing to me at the beginning because, like I continue to say, there are a number of sections to a module and I continue to struggle with skipping versus viewing all pages of the modules. I had no idea of the group members or number of members until Kristy notified me. Of course I appreciate her contact, just surprised.

27. Universal Design for Learning Implementing a universal design for learners (regular education students, resource students, gifted students, and English language learners) is a strategy I have tried to incorporate in all my teaching. Because my youngest is hearing impaired, I found I was offering his teachers some best practice methods for ensuring his learning styles were being tapped, and I continue these practices A good instructor sets out to discover solutions to learning barriers. There are many avenues around such barriers and I have included some below:

29. A UDL includes differentiating instruction for students by modifying instruction in a way that increases the degree of success the student experiences without altering the content or the learning goals. I’m always looking for a way to create lesson plans that help all students practice and apply new learning.

30. Sheilah Mervin is a Special Needs teacher in my school and her take on a UDL includes: Universal Design for Learning is a plan for curriculum and instruction. The word universal refers to every student/learner. The word design refers to how those students will learn (the blueprint). The word learning refers to the ability all students to learn but that they learn differently. Today’s classrooms are diverse because students have different needs and those needs should be addressed within the curriculum. The goals for UDL is for students gain knowledge, skills and instill motivation/enthusiasm in learning. Important factors of designing curriculum to meet the needs of students Identify the goal of the learning Identify any barriers to learning Eliminate the barriers Barriers are eliminated through flexibility planning and providing instruction in meeting the needs of all students through. Multiple means of representation - give learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge, Multiple means of expression - provide learners options for demonstrating what they know, and Multiple means of engagement- use learners' interests, challenge them appropriately, and motivate them to learn As a teacher of students with learning disabilities, I am aware of the barriers my students have academically and behaviorally as well. Ways to accommodate the barriers and how to modify the curriculum so that instruction is included in their IEP (individual education plans) and have to take into account daily. These students already feel unsuccessful because of their disability so providing them instruction information, activities on their academic level gives them an opportunity for success in learning. Success in learning increases motivation.

31. Instructions for Downloading Skype Access http:www.skype.com Click on Get Skype now Downloading will automatically begin. (Check for messages from your virus protection software if downloading doesn’t start.) At the prompt select “Save” and navigate to the C: drive on your computer from the drop down menu in the Save box. Select ‘Run.’ Select Install. Be patient, this may take a few minutes! When the sign-in box appears, select “Don’t have a Skype account?” and follow the prompts to set-up your username and password. Be sure to complete the tests for speakers, microphone, and webcam. If you don’t have a microphone or webcam, it’s okay! You’ll only need those when communicating through lice voice chat. With SKYPE you can text to talk. You don’t need to purchase anything! Be sure to post your Skype username to the Skype Discussion Forum so your classmates can add your name to their chat list. Be sure to add their names to your Skype chat list, too.

32. Instructions to download Contribute CS5 Free 30 Day Trial Download Access www.adobe.com -> Select Downloads -> Select All Products From the drop down menu, Select Contribute CS5 -> Choose your version -> Select Download Now Select Create an Adobe Account -> Complete the questionnaire (be sure to write down your log-in info as you will need it later) -> Select Continue; You may be prompted to Sign In using your new username and password or it may take you directly to your download. At the beginning of the download, the download manager program will prompt you with a navigation window. It needs to know where you want to save the program and automatically creates a file name “contribute” to be saved in your Program Files folder. This is where some people run into trouble as they receive an error message telling them they don’t have permission to save to this file. If this happens to you, use the navigation window to navigate to your Desktop. Click on the “Create New Folder” icon and name the folder Contribute. Click Okay, Enter, or Save to start downloading to that folder. (If prompted, go ahead and install companion programs and the download manager) In the Download Manager Window, Select Launch to complete installation. Follow prompts to install. Be sure to ‘Accept the Terms and Conditions.’ You should choose to “Install This Product as a Trial”. Select your language and select Install. You may be prompted again to provide a Serial Number. At the bottom of this window is the option to “Install This Product as a Trial”. You also may be prompted to close any programs you have open. You can do this quickly in Windows by using Control-Alt-Delete to get to the Task Manager. Highlight the programs the installer has asked you to close, and select End.

33. After completing this course, you will be able to dress up any sentence. Here is the sentence from the scenario: There were a lot of children playing. Below is the same sentence now that you have learned to dress up your writing: At the beach yesterday, there were a lot of children playing with large colorful beach balls, small boogie boards, buckets and shovels of all colors, and some played in a volleyball game. Remember to dress-up with your simple sentences!