Reflection

**OUR GOAL:**  The goal of our project was to infuse technology into our Standards of Learning (SOL) Prep practices. We have learned by going through the Title 1 process that forty-five days prior to the exam are most critical and we are constantly asked the question, "**What ARE YOU GOING TO DO DIFFERENTLY** for those students who continue to demonstrate gaps in their performance?". We now feel that we have a solid answer for that question.

 We wanted to emphasize the use of specific reading and test taking strategies throughout our prep program and with positive results we were able to see in increase in student achievement on released test questions. Our SOL game board allowed students to monitor their progress on particular strand test and created motivation and friendly competition among peers. The use of Voice Thread, Glogster and Pollseverywhere, provided an nontraditional approach to self-reflection and "show what you know," the students enjoyed reflecting this way. These reflective tools did not substitute the traditional written reflections as students were required to present written drafts of their final products. Students were given various formative assessments to assess their computation skills coupled with the use of specific reading and test taking strategies. Ultimately, their summative assessment will be the Math SOL exam.

 **OUR CHALLENGES:** Our biggest challenge was the accessibility of student laptops. Often the laptop cart was already signed out to another class. Therefore, we had to facilitate the application of our chosen tools through our teacher laptops and have the students work in larger groups instead of pairs.

 **NET*S ALIGNMENT AND JUSTIFICATION:**  1. **CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION:** b: create original works as means of personal or group expression:  2. **COMMUNICATION and COLLABORATION:** a: interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media, and d:contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.  3. **CRITICAL THINKING, PROBLEM SOLVING, AND DECISION MAKING:** b: plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.  5. **DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP:** a: exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity. Students were given reflection options to report out on their progress on strand tests and reading and test taking strategies. They decided which web 2.0 tools to use and we guided them through the process. They had to present a collective idea for their Glogster posters, present a draft and work together to produce and publish it.

 and 6. **TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS and CONCEPTS:** a: understand and use technology systems. b: select and use applications effectively and productively. c: transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies. Many of the web 2.0 tools that were presented to our students were new to them. They are able to use the tools that we use daily, SMART Notebook, LCD Projector, SMART Board, and basically the internet. They were introduced to many new tools such as: the start test website, Voice Thread, Glogster and Go Animate. They were very open and excited to learn about the devices that were new to them as well as learn to use the devices they were familiar with in a different way. They decided which tools they liked best and wanted to use in their reflections, once they were guided on how to use these tools, they worked with them and we often found them helping each other before asking for help from us.