Friday, July 17 You are creating a product that transfers your internship experience into educational resources. Please describe the challenges and successes you are experiencing.
Challenges
I. Topic Decisions: Wow!!!!! With the different options of the TI Sensor tag, I had to look at my curriculum and make a decision where this first plan would have the most impact. Since our first unit is Forces and Motion, I decided to start there. This means I would have to front load everything in this unit that would set the pace for the year. This includes the Engineering Design Process Lessons and how to use the TI Sensor tags practice activity and the accelorometer sensor training, graphing skills and analysis skills for the activity. I am still not really familiar with its use, but that will all change rapidly as I create a demo for my students to use next week. This will also give me the opportunity to work out my own bugs before teaching them and possibly create a FAQ’s sheet for them. I want them to explore without being overwhelmed.
II. Time to create: Working through the long days and nights at a rushed pace with a short deadline left me exhausted. I needed time to mull over my thoughts to make sure that the objectives were met while incorporating ideas for technology, the Kenan Training and other pertinent information. It was only at this time that I realized the breadth of my Kenan Exposure. After completing the first lesson plan, it was much easier to work on the second since I was used to the format.
III. Programming of the Arduino for the functions which I needed. I had a steep learning curve when it came to programming the Arduino Lily Pad Sensor. I needed more background information in understanding why the parts of the code were written. I asked my colleague Bob to explain the details of C++ programming and it really cleared up some of my confusion. This also put me in a mindset of understanding the future problems that students will have when I am introducing this concept to them. I have also enlisted the help of Ben from the ASSIST Program to visit my classroom and teach the students the programming.
Successes
I. Completion of the draft. Completing the first draft presented the opportunity for much reflection while completing the lesson plan subtopics. It takes time to plan good lessons and consider all the factors to do so.
I. Happy to have choices. I had many options for plans while being exposed to the ASSIST Internship.
III. It will be considered before the school year starts. The time investing in this effort now means I will be better prepared to do it later, knowing what it entails regarding planning time and resources.
IV. Learned so many things while completing research for planning. I spent a lot of time researching sites to find the best approaches for completing parts of the plan. I gained a lot of resources to post on my sites for my students to use for references.