Professional Development Plan
School Context and Classroom
Lee Virtual School currently has around 300 full-time enrollments in our K-12 program with a 19% minority rate, one ESOL student and a handful of ESE students. the socio-economic status of our students is not known since we do not offer a lunch program. However, it is necessary for students to have a computer and Internet connection in order to complete their school work.
Lee Virtual School students are diverse for many reasons in their choosing to leave a brick and mortar school to learn virtually instead. Some decide to make the switch due to religious or health reasons, to spend more time practicing their sport, to learn at their own pace rather than waiting for others to catch up, or to avoid social pressures in school.
Eighty-Four percent of our students scored a level three or higher on FCAT Reading. Since the student is responsible for reading the majority of the lessons and instructions on their own, a below level reader would find it difficult to
keep up with the demands of virtual learning. Teachers are available for support from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. every school day, but they do not provide direct instruction on a daily basis.
What My Classes Look Like
Lee Virtual School is a Lee County Public School which requires all of its teachers and students to reside in Lee
County. This allows us to offer additional services such as face-to-face office hours, academic days, and field trips. We also offer virtual office hours and lessons via Blackboard Collaborate which is an online forum where the instructor can present on an interactive whiteboard and students can participate in various ways. Audio and chat features are available to both the student and teacher as well. During my live virtual lessons, I am able to model reading strategies that were introduced in the lessons such as using context clues, making predictions, connecting to the text, asking questions, and summarizing.
In each lesson, objectives are posted. I tell students that these are there to set the purpose for reading. I encourage them to take notes based on these objectives. There are tutorials built into the lessons that demonstrate note-taking and study skills. Reminding students that they can use these notes on exams and discussion-based assessments provides incentive for them to do so.
Students submit a variety of assessments including multiple choice, short answer and essay exams, projects, discussion board posts, and oral exams. It is easy to spot the students that do not read the lessons carefully as apparent in the assignments they submit.
Students receive detailed feedback from me as to why they earned a particular grade on an assignment. Students are required to resubmit assignments if they scored lower than 70%, but most choose to resubmit if they scored less than 90%. If a student is unclear about the revisions that need to be made, they can call, text, or email me for further assistance.
My students get to learn at their own pace, and are able to spend additional time in subjects where needed. They spend six hours per day reading, writing, revising, and testing using computer programs. Students that are self-motivated and diligent in their studies excel in this learning environment. Other students show tremendous
growth in their organizational, communication, writing, and computer skills during their attendance with Lee Virtual School.
Big Idea
I would like to see my students take advantage of the plethora of resources available online to complete and creatively submit their assignments. My students often complete the bare minimum when submitting assignments. Currently they are lacking the knowledge and skill to take advantage of the resources available at their fingertips. I would
like to create a collection of additional resources and tutorials that students can access on my announcement page website.
Although I am unable to edit lessons, I can encourage students to submit their assignments in a more creative way. Students mainly submit Word documents of summaries, discussions, reflections, articles, and compare and contrast
paragraphs. The other choice program is PowerPoint. Students use this to show events over time, or to present images with descriptions.
I would love to see students use Voki.com to create an avatar to deliver their book review. Prezi.com or timetoast.com would make a unique timeline. Storybird.com would be a great medium for students to write and illustrate poetry or short stories. My photography students could present their images and captions using flipsnack.com or use helloslide.com to showcase images and provide an audible critique.
I am currently working on getting a class license for either Glogster.com or Popplet.com. This will allow students to share their work with other students and interact with their classmates as well as provide a more creative way of submitting assignments. My photography students would benefit because it would allow them to build a digital portfolio as well as acquiring additional Web 2.0 skills. Required assignments include portrait photography, landscapes, and documentary and action photos.
Small Ideas
Since my students lack daily direct instruction, I find it hard to ensure background knowledge has been activated
and text connections have been made. In the past, I have found a two-way conversation needs to take place to teach these strategies effectively. I would like to develop virtual classes to teach and monitor that students are using these
strategies to enhance comprehension.
I would also like to work collaboratively with the other middle school teachers to develop a plan for our struggling
readers and writers. The goal would be to teach mini lessons in students’ targeted areas of need and monitor growth
through quality of work submitted in all classes. Since my students lack daily direct instruction, I find it hard to ensure background knowledge has been activated and text connections have been made. In the past, I have found a two-way conversation needs to take place to teach these strategies effectively. I would like to develop virtual classes to teach and monitor that students are using these strategies to enhance comprehension.
Virtual classes are created through Blackboard Collaborate. Students could attend live lesson where discussions could take place prior to reading a story or completing a lesson. Since my students are not all at the same point in the course, recorded lessons would be available for students to view when they are ready.
I would also like to work collaboratively with the other middle school teachers to develop a plan for our struggling
readers and writers. The goal would be to teach mini lessons in students’ targeted areas of need and monitor growth
through quality of work submitted in all classes.
Mini-lessons could be created using Blackboard Collaborate, Glogster.com, or Camstudio.org to capture concepts
students need to review to successful. A short activity presented at the end of the lesson would need to be
completed and submitted by the students to confirm that the video was watched and the concept was learned.
I am also in the process of collaborating with another teacher to create live virtual lessons using Giggles in the Middle by Jane Bell Kiester which supports grammar, vocabulary, writing, and comprehension through the use of a continuous story broken into small parts with mini-lessons.
According to Connecting Comprehension & Technology, monitoring comprehension is about engagement. The technology tools and strategies I plan to implement are designed to engage students allowing for synchronous instruction which doesn’t take place on a daily basis with the asynchronous virtual curriculum we use. My goal is to create more opportunities to capture my students’ attention and for the students to collaborate with each other.
Lee Virtual School currently has around 300 full-time enrollments in our K-12 program with a 19% minority rate, one ESOL student and a handful of ESE students. the socio-economic status of our students is not known since we do not offer a lunch program. However, it is necessary for students to have a computer and Internet connection in order to complete their school work.
Lee Virtual School students are diverse for many reasons in their choosing to leave a brick and mortar school to learn virtually instead. Some decide to make the switch due to religious or health reasons, to spend more time practicing their sport, to learn at their own pace rather than waiting for others to catch up, or to avoid social pressures in school.
Eighty-Four percent of our students scored a level three or higher on FCAT Reading. Since the student is responsible for reading the majority of the lessons and instructions on their own, a below level reader would find it difficult to
keep up with the demands of virtual learning. Teachers are available for support from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. every school day, but they do not provide direct instruction on a daily basis.
What My Classes Look Like
Lee Virtual School is a Lee County Public School which requires all of its teachers and students to reside in Lee
County. This allows us to offer additional services such as face-to-face office hours, academic days, and field trips. We also offer virtual office hours and lessons via Blackboard Collaborate which is an online forum where the instructor can present on an interactive whiteboard and students can participate in various ways. Audio and chat features are available to both the student and teacher as well. During my live virtual lessons, I am able to model reading strategies that were introduced in the lessons such as using context clues, making predictions, connecting to the text, asking questions, and summarizing.
In each lesson, objectives are posted. I tell students that these are there to set the purpose for reading. I encourage them to take notes based on these objectives. There are tutorials built into the lessons that demonstrate note-taking and study skills. Reminding students that they can use these notes on exams and discussion-based assessments provides incentive for them to do so.
Students submit a variety of assessments including multiple choice, short answer and essay exams, projects, discussion board posts, and oral exams. It is easy to spot the students that do not read the lessons carefully as apparent in the assignments they submit.
Students receive detailed feedback from me as to why they earned a particular grade on an assignment. Students are required to resubmit assignments if they scored lower than 70%, but most choose to resubmit if they scored less than 90%. If a student is unclear about the revisions that need to be made, they can call, text, or email me for further assistance.
My students get to learn at their own pace, and are able to spend additional time in subjects where needed. They spend six hours per day reading, writing, revising, and testing using computer programs. Students that are self-motivated and diligent in their studies excel in this learning environment. Other students show tremendous
growth in their organizational, communication, writing, and computer skills during their attendance with Lee Virtual School.
Big Idea
I would like to see my students take advantage of the plethora of resources available online to complete and creatively submit their assignments. My students often complete the bare minimum when submitting assignments. Currently they are lacking the knowledge and skill to take advantage of the resources available at their fingertips. I would
like to create a collection of additional resources and tutorials that students can access on my announcement page website.
Although I am unable to edit lessons, I can encourage students to submit their assignments in a more creative way. Students mainly submit Word documents of summaries, discussions, reflections, articles, and compare and contrast
paragraphs. The other choice program is PowerPoint. Students use this to show events over time, or to present images with descriptions.
I would love to see students use Voki.com to create an avatar to deliver their book review. Prezi.com or timetoast.com would make a unique timeline. Storybird.com would be a great medium for students to write and illustrate poetry or short stories. My photography students could present their images and captions using flipsnack.com or use helloslide.com to showcase images and provide an audible critique.
I am currently working on getting a class license for either Glogster.com or Popplet.com. This will allow students to share their work with other students and interact with their classmates as well as provide a more creative way of submitting assignments. My photography students would benefit because it would allow them to build a digital portfolio as well as acquiring additional Web 2.0 skills. Required assignments include portrait photography, landscapes, and documentary and action photos.
Small Ideas
Since my students lack daily direct instruction, I find it hard to ensure background knowledge has been activated
and text connections have been made. In the past, I have found a two-way conversation needs to take place to teach these strategies effectively. I would like to develop virtual classes to teach and monitor that students are using these
strategies to enhance comprehension.
I would also like to work collaboratively with the other middle school teachers to develop a plan for our struggling
readers and writers. The goal would be to teach mini lessons in students’ targeted areas of need and monitor growth
through quality of work submitted in all classes. Since my students lack daily direct instruction, I find it hard to ensure background knowledge has been activated and text connections have been made. In the past, I have found a two-way conversation needs to take place to teach these strategies effectively. I would like to develop virtual classes to teach and monitor that students are using these strategies to enhance comprehension.
Virtual classes are created through Blackboard Collaborate. Students could attend live lesson where discussions could take place prior to reading a story or completing a lesson. Since my students are not all at the same point in the course, recorded lessons would be available for students to view when they are ready.
I would also like to work collaboratively with the other middle school teachers to develop a plan for our struggling
readers and writers. The goal would be to teach mini lessons in students’ targeted areas of need and monitor growth
through quality of work submitted in all classes.
Mini-lessons could be created using Blackboard Collaborate, Glogster.com, or Camstudio.org to capture concepts
students need to review to successful. A short activity presented at the end of the lesson would need to be
completed and submitted by the students to confirm that the video was watched and the concept was learned.
I am also in the process of collaborating with another teacher to create live virtual lessons using Giggles in the Middle by Jane Bell Kiester which supports grammar, vocabulary, writing, and comprehension through the use of a continuous story broken into small parts with mini-lessons.
According to Connecting Comprehension & Technology, monitoring comprehension is about engagement. The technology tools and strategies I plan to implement are designed to engage students allowing for synchronous instruction which doesn’t take place on a daily basis with the asynchronous virtual curriculum we use. My goal is to create more opportunities to capture my students’ attention and for the students to collaborate with each other.