Professional e-Portfolio 2015-2016
Cristy Edwards
Personal Profile
Georgia Virtual Teaching Experience
Cristy Edwards, English/Language Arts Instructor
Education and Degree(s): MEd. Ga. State University, BSEd. University of Georgia
Certifications: English/LA, Gifted Certification, Online Certification
AP Endorsements: AP English Language, AP English Literature
Artifact:
Reflection: I enjoyed going to college and, as a resullt, changed my major several times. When I became a "senior," I decided I needed to eventually graduate and go to work so I sat down and thought about what made me happy. I loved reading, writing, and talking about books...I checked out my transcript and realized I had enough English classes to graduate with English as a major. I was working while going to school...as a skydiving instructor. My students kept telling me that I was "born to teach" so I combined my love of literature with my enjoyment of teaching. I moved to English Education and became an English teacher. I have loved teaching English for the past 35 years and never regretted my decision.
Classes and Positions with GAVL
- Fall 2015: English Literature A and Advanced Composition.
- Spring 2016: English Literature B and Advanced Composition.
- Summer 2016: English Literature AB
Positions:
- Online Instructor
- Course Development (Content Expert)
Courses taught in previous semesters:
- English Literature and Composition
- Advanced Composition
- 9th Grade Literature and Composition
- 10th Grade Literature and Composition
- World Literature
- American Literature and Composition
- AP Language and Composition
- AP Literature and Composition
Reflection:
Although I have taught almost every English class available, my favorite is English Literature (British Literature). I thoroughly enjoy reading the works and history of England and Western Europe from 600 AD to 1800 AD...That 1200 years is such an amazing period. Do you realize it had the end of the last global warming time period AND the Little Ice Age? I have probably read as much on the history as the literature from this period.
Teaching Philosophy and Goals
Curiosity is the root of all learning. I like to engage students by making them curious about what we are learning. Once I have them engaged, it is fun to watch them get excited about learning.
My educational goal? Continue teaching and learning. I love what I do and each new semester re-energizes me. Working with kids keeps me young.
Professional Profile
Georgia Educator Certificate and Resume
Gifted (P-12) Consultative
Gifted Language Arts Concentration
Online Teaching Endorsement
Clearance Certificate
Resume: Cristy C. Edwards
Formal Evaluations: Fall 2015 Summative Report
Reflection: I was very pleased with the results of my evaluations in Fall 2015. I worked hard for excellence and my report showed that my evaluation recognized my hard work. My goals is to move to "Exceeds" in at least one other areas for the Spring 2016 results. I already have "Exceeds" in Communication so my focus will be on Grading. Since most of my assignments are graded within 24 hours, I will try to grade 90% within 24 hours. I just need to make sure I don't let any other areas drop.
Formal Evaluations: Spring 2016 Summative Report
Reflection:
I continued to work hard for excellent results on the evaluations. Although "Mastery" is supposed to be our goal, I'm an over achiever and wanted the highest possible scores. The "Grading" section of this report shows I moved from "Meets" in Fall 2015 to "Exceeds" in Spring 2016. One of my goals was to get assignments graded within 24 hours of submission. I did this for almost all assignments and all assignments met the 3 day deadline. Although at the PLU, there were several times we were assured that assignments didn't have to be graded within 24 hours, when I graded within the 3 day limit, I got "Meets" and I wanted to get to "Exceeds."
Professional Organizations
Reflection: It is important to "keep up" with what is going on in the world of education since it is changing so much. At one time, the idea of technology in the classroom was having a overhead projector or showing a film strip...now, the classroom is very technical and teachers need training in IT to keep up. Working with gifted kids has always been important to me since they are often left out of the equation since they "get it" without all sorts of special help. Unfortunately many administrators don't take into account that "meeting" the goals of the school are not meeting the needs of the gifted kids...they can do so much more than the status quo.
Artifact: List of some of my memberships
- Online Learning Consortium
- Gwinnett Retired Educators Association
- Georgia Council of Teachers of English
- Georgia Association of Gifted Educators
- Gwinnett Supporters of the Gifted
- Georgia Association of Education (Retired)
- National Education Association (Retired)
Awards and Distinctions
Artifacts:
Collage of my badges and awards
Smore Artifact and Reflection
10-year Founding Badge
Reflection: I am most proud of this badge. There are only 9 of us that earned it. To have been a part of GAVS since its birth is an honor!
Professional Development and Data Analysis
Professional Development: Fall 2015 PLS
Reflection: When GAVS purchased this account, it demonstrated to me that GAVS was truly interested in teacher Professional Development beyond what they provide for us. Although I have been very satisfied with GAVS' PLS and training, Lynda provides a huge range of opportunities for us to learn...beyond what we normally use for classroom use. For Christmas, my husband gave me a Mac Book. Since I hadn't used a Mac since 1995, I was pretty rusty on the present technology so I went to Lynda for help with learning about the software, apps, and "how to" items I needed to use. Since my husband was able to sit in while I was watching the lessons/training, he was able to learn about the Mac as well.
Data Analysis: Fall 2015
Reflection: I wanted to know how often my students were accessing the content so I checked the month of November 2015. During this month, students that had the lowest averages and were in danger of failing, tended to log in the fewest times. Most teachers would automatically know this from a "gut feeling" but I wanted to check the data...and the data confirmed this. The range of login was 240 down to 22 times. I had one anomaly of 847 but since that was a student who had a very low failing grade, and his mother was "encouraging" him to do well, he obviously logged in many times per day...perhaps to "show" her he was logging in. The mode was 99 times while the median was 76 times...again, excluding the anomaly.
Professional Development: Spring 2015 PLS
Data Analysis: Spring. 2016
Reflection: I learned a more efficient way to find out how many times a student accessed the course (attendance) during the month of February. It was interesting to see how the students progress (or lack of progress) was clearly paralleled to the attendance. Also, a couple of the students had told their parents they were working daily on their assignments but this information was clearly refuted in the data analysis. This is information that helps me explain to parents (and students) the importance of regularly accessing the course rather than logging in once or twice every two weeks. The students with the highest grades are those who have the highest (most frequent) attendance. The only problem will be those who log in and then go to another site to play games or do other things online.
Data Analysis: Fall 2015
Reflection:
Students at risk of failing the class with grade at or below 65%. This is a pretty nifty tool because you put the threshold (65%) and it will show you students in danger at this threshold. This was a quick way to get the list ready for me to make the "in danger of failing calls." I did the 65 and below and then a list of 75 to 66. Calling a parent with a grade that is still "passable" (67%) is a different call than one that in serious danger (23%). I'm planning to use this tool more often in future semesters to create my "Call" list.
Interesting News Item: Fall 2015
Professional Development/Best Teaching Practices/Differentiation, Data Analysis
Professional Development: ePortfolio
Artifact: Screen shot of PD
Reflection: Personalizing our courses is important. I thought the graphic indicating the personalization would move our courses from "Dreary to Dynamic."
I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the examples and learning ways to complete the eportfolio requirements. It gave me ideas to use for this eportfolio as well as things to do in my classes. Since we are online, we don't have the chance to chat during lunch or planning periods to get ideas so the PD opportunities allow this exchange of ideas.
Best Practices: Non Instructional News Item
Artifact: screen shot of News item
Reflection: I like to include News items that students find interesting or can identify with. This particular item has questions that nearly everyone can identify with. One student emailed me that she took a screen shot and posted it on her Facebook page.
Differentiation: Pet Peeves
Spring 2016
Artifact: screen shot of News item
Writing pet peeves that send my blood-pressure soaring!
I think...
I believe...
In my opinion...
Using first person
Using second person
Confusing: it's and its
Confusing: there, their, they're
Confusing: your, you're
lower case i rather than I
Reflection: Even though this optional assignment was for a response in the Discussion forum, some of the responses were quite lengthy and thorough. Some of my own pet peeves were student pet peeves, which is promising. One student has the heart of an English teacher because one of her pet peeves was people who don't capitalize, punctuate, or spell correctly in emails. My hopes are that students realize that their errors are noticed by people other than teachers.
Best Practices: Synchronous Lesson on Commas
Artifacts:
Attendance Survey for Lesson on Commas (for those who want optional credit)
10/19 Recording of Adobe Lesson on Commas
Reflection: Lessons on commas are always popular since students of all grades tend to have problems with commas. Sometimes students need a refresher while others need an indepth lesson or two to understand basic comma use. I like to play Boy George's song "Karma Chameleon" since it sounds like "Comma Chameleon" and perhaps having that song in their heads will help them to remember some of the comma rules better.
Differentiation: Optional credit- Macbeth Mind Map
Artifact: Screen Shot of News item
In an attempt to engage students in the details of Macbeth, I provided information about mind maps and gave then the opportunity to create a mind map about Macbeth. They could choose characters, events, imagery, or several other ideas.
REFLECTION:
I was impressed with the products from those who participated in this opportunity. Some were hand drawn graphics while others were computer generated. Based on the results of the Macbeth unit test, the mindmaps helped students organize and integrate the information better than those who didn't make the mindmaps. Since they had a better understanding of the details, quite a few students enjoyed Macbeth...which is better than usual since in the past, most students would trudge through and only enjoy the bloody parts-after I had explained what was going on. When I talked with students in Adobe reviews, they were quoting lines and asking more indepth questions. This was definitely a positive experience and I'd like to do more with mindmaps.
Professional Development: "Twitter Chat"
Artifact: Screen shot of example of grammar fail.
Reflection:
I have thoroughly enjoyed the "Twitter Chat" PD that I have taken thus far. Although I earned the "Twit" award, I still have a way to go with feeling comfortable with this application. I do, however, see it as a viable tool to use with students who are "Twitter-pated" as well. One way I can see using it is to take a "selfie" in front of a "grammar fail" that I find while I'm out and about and Twitter it to my students for their "fixes." I also see using this as a way for students to do quick communication with me about grammar or literary things they find...this flexible communication is a great way to stay connected with students. This graphic led to a lively discussion of what is said and what is MEANT to be said. The students got a kick out of this sign.
Data Analysis: The Value of an Analytics Report on Tool Use.
Professional Development/Best Practices/ Differentiation/Data Analysis
Differentiation: Different Ways of Knowing
Artifact: This optional assignment allowed students to watch a video lecture (TED) about a man who has a learning "disability" but he shows how it is just a different way of understanding the world around him. Students wrote a response/reflection to the presentation.
Here is the link to the video.
REFLECTION: Those who watched the presentation responded very positively and enjoyed understanding that we don't all "know" things the same way. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation because it gave me a different perspective of learning. I plan to use this presentation in future optional learning opportunities.
Differentiation: The Meaning Behind Untranslatable Sounds in Language
Artifact: This audioclip discussed the various sounds and meanings in different culture. Students had the option to listen to the clip and responding to a prompt.
Here is the link to the audioclip
REFLECTION: Since language is communication, it was interesting to learn that various sounds have such a variety of meaning. Grunts, sighs, and other sounds will vary in meaning depending up on the culture and language of the person. Sadly, it didn't address the Canadian "eh"...so that meaning is still elusive.
Best Practices: Extended Teaching Activity
Artifact: What are the benefits of reading just 30 minutes a week? This article explains what science has discovered! I asked my Advanced Comp. students to read the article and respond in a prompt for optional credit. 3 of my 5 students did so and responded favorably to the article and to each other's entries.
Click here for examples of the Discussion exchange
Click here for the article
REFLECTION: Trying to get kids to read for pleasure is quite difficult but this optional assignment gave kids a chance to think about reading and its benefits. Perhaps a few more will read for their health now! Reading is an important part of my life. I grew up loving to read; my parents were readers as were my grandparents. Reading was just something everyone I knew did-and enjoyed. Today's students just don't read very much-even when it is required. This is just so sad to me...I was the kid under the covers with a flashlight reading...at midnight...on a school night. When high school seniors tell me they "love Judy Blume" or "Goosebumps, " I know that they haven't read since about sixth grade. Usually that is about their reading level as well. I read Tom Sawyer for the first time when I was in third grade and always had a book in my hand. One of my favorite lines in literature is from To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout compares reading to breathing. Kindred spirits. In my freshman year in college, every assigned reading in my English classes was a "reread" for me. Not too many high school kids read Theodore Dreiser, Thomas Wolfe, and William Faulkner for pleasure...According to the article I assignment my students, reading reduces depression and improves overall health. That makes sense since reading was MY time... a form of escape for all that teen angst. Now science backs it up.
Best Practices: Adobe Synchronous Session
Artifact: Link to Adobe Exam Review
Reflection: My Final Exam Review covered two synchronous sessions. The first went over what to study, what to expect, etc. The second session (link above) was a Jeopardy game with questions/information that came from the course content and previous test items that were frequently missed. I never was able to get my students to talk in class; they preferred to type questions and answers so I found that if they typed their answer and revealed it when I said "reveal," they could all play the game and all answer the questions. It has worked well. I have tried this by calling names, but it didn't work as well as the way I used the game this time because everyone was engaged with every question. When students missed the questions, I could immediately give help. I had pretty high scores on the final exam including a 100%...and that was one of those who attended the Jeopardy review. WooHoo!
Data Analysis: Survey Data
Fall 2015 Data Results -Click here
Spring 2016 Data Results-Click here
Reflection: I posted comments on the results sheets (links).
I compared my fall Advanced Composition class to my Spring Advanced Composition class. Looking back at the Fall 2015 group, they were engaged and excited about improving their writing. A couple of my Spring 2016 were engaged but most were not engaged and didn't like all the writing assignments. One told me that Advanced Composition was supposed to be an easy class. Of the 5 who took the class in Spring 2016, only two completed the novel project. Only one student wrote all the required essays. The two groups were very different and this showed up in the results of the surveys. What I found interesting (disappointing) was the low scores I received on the synchronous session item when the students didn't attend the sessions! I did go back and check the other GAVS classes of those who had failing grades in my class and was not surprised to find low scores were a common factor.
Effective Online Teaching PD
REFLECTION: I attended Joyce B.'s PD on TOOL since I am about halfway through the process. It inspired me to "get back in the saddle" with TOOL. I enjoyed completing the first two sections but got bogged down in other projects this semester. This PD reminded me how much I enjoyed research and learning.
Differentiation: (Optional Assignment) Benefits of Reading 30 Minutes per Week
What are the benefits of reading just 30 minutes a week? This article explains what science has discovered!
I asked my Advanced Comp. students to read the article and respond in a prompt for optional credit. 3 of my 5 students did so and responded favorably to the article and to each others' entries.
Click here.
REFLECTION: Trying to get kids to read for pleasure is quite difficult but this optional assignment gave kids a chance to think about reading and its benefits. Perhaps a few more will read for their health now! Reading is an important part of my life. I grew up loving to read; my parents were readers as were my grandparents. Reading was just something everyone I knew did-and enjoyed. Today's students just don't read very much-even when it is required. This is just so sad to me...I was the kid under the covers with a flashlight reading...at midnight...on a school night. When high school seniors tell me they "love Judy Blume" or "Goosebumps, " I know that they haven't read since about sixth grade. Usually that is about their reading level as well. I read Tom Sawyer for the first time when I was in third grade and always had a book in my hand. One of my favorite lines in literature is from To Kill a Mockingbird when Scout compares reading to breathing. Kindred spirits. In my freshman year in college, every assigned reading in my English classes was a "reread" for me. Not too many high school kids read Theodore Dreiser, Thomas Wolfe, and William Faulkner for pleasure...According to the article I assigned my students, reading reduces depression and improves overall health. That makes sense since reading was MY time... a form of escape for all that teen angst. Now science backs it up.
Grading: PD
Artifact: Notes from PD
Reflection:
I thoroughly enjoyed the PD that Mallory and Kelly G. presented on Grading. They had some helpful short cuts to make grading less tedious and more efficient without short changing the students' feedback. I also learned about using PPT to create and store stamps before posting them into googledocs. When our copy/paste stamp feature stopped working early this semester, I was spending much too much time with insert graphic so their presentation was very helpful. They also had some wonderful examples for stamps and gave me ideas for making additional stamps for myself. I also learned how to make my copy/paste feedback personalized by using the {firstname} feature. Some of the items they shared were strategies that other teachers use to organize their grading. I am most comfortable with grading everything at once...perhaps all from one course one day and all from another course another day...Don't a little bit each day makes me feel like I am not accomplishing enough. It is like my husband mowing the yard. He has to do both front and back on the same day or he feels like he hasn't achieved his goal of mowing the yard. I guess we are just achievement/goal oriented and like to get everything on the "honey do" list completed each day.
Best Practices: Notes and News (Communication)
Exam tips for English Literature B
Exam tips for Advanced Composition
Notes and News, April 16, 2016
Notes and News, September 2015
Notes and News, March, 2016
Reflection: My newsletter, Notes and News, is published at least at every marking period (every 2 weeks). I also have special editions like my exam review newsletters. When I first used the newsletter, I sent the link via email to my students. I found they rarely shared with the parents. Then I sent it out through the D2L/Brightspace email and included parents and students. I included the link. Still, I had students and parents not reading the newsletter. Finally, I posted the newsletter in a NEWS item via the html code so the newsletter itself appeared. Between the NEWS posting and emails, I have had more and more "customers" reading my newsletters.
School Wide Goals: August 2015-May 2016
Reflection: This artifact shows the stats for the first quiz of the spring semester. It covered MLA and specific expectations that were in the Introduction unit. I gave feedback to the individual students for specific items they needed to know (MLA heading) and highlighted items they should follow in the next Adobe synchronous session. Using this tool made it easy to determine which items needed more time and review. This tool also let me know where there might be "thin" places in the content so I could reinforce those places the next time I taught the course.
Artifact 2 (Goal 3): Analytics for Content
Reflection: Using this tool allows me to know when I need to contact students/parents about their lack of progress or perhaps lack of work altogether. One parent I contacted because of their child not accessing the content let me know her son had been in the hospital. She had not notified GAVS because she was looking at the deadline date and not thinking that it would take time to go through the content in order to meet the deadline with the assignments. I was able to advise her about what to do with hospitalizations and accommodations before the student had gotten zeroes.
Artifact 3 (Goal 3): Analytic for Student Use of Tools
Reflection: This quick analysis of where students have been prior to the marking periods gives me additional information about student work and progress-or lack of progress. The biggest problem teenagers have is procrastination and seniors tend to have an extra-virulent case of procrastination. This allows me to see more of what the student has been doing and where he/she has been (in the course). I have to assume the number indicates the amount of time in each tool rather than the number of times accessed but the Key doesn't elaborate.
Artifact 4 (Goal 2): AP Writing Prompt used in EL-B.
I don't teach AP classes or classes that lead to an AP course. Virtually all of my students are seniors and will not be in high school next year. I focused on preparing them for college and the world of work. For example, my Advanced Composition students created their resumes and learned to write business letters. My English Literature students worked on improving their writing and addressing the prompt...a very important element of the AP essay! The students use old AP open ended prompts to write their essays on the novels they read. Although I didn't grade using the AP rubric, I did focus on how well the student addressed the prompt. We also worked on style-both identifying stylistic devices and using personal style in writing. This is another AP element.
Goal 1: Exceed state pass rates for all EOC Milestones each semester.
I don't teach EOC Milestones classes this year but I reinforced the key elements of writing, grammar, and reading comprehension/analysis which are elements in all Language Arts Milestones.
Goal 2: Increase AP pass rates (three or higher) so that each GAVS AP test pass rate exceeds state and national rates.
Goal 3: 100% of teachers show evidence of utilizing data analysis tools in order to improve student achievement.
Throughout this eportfolio I have posted artifacts that show how I have used the data analysis tools in order to improve student achievement. The tools I used most often were the login/attendance tools and the tools for evaluating quiz items.
The login/attendance tool helped me check on students in the week between due date weeks. All too often, students took that week "off" since they didn't have to submit assignments. By sending an email to parents and students about the log on data for those weeks, it helped parents know their students were not working regularly. It also reminded students that I was still checking on them and was interesting in their progress.
I used the quiz analysis to determine what I needed to review to the entire class. I checked for frequently missed questions so I could address that in the next Adobe synchronous session. Looking for these weaknesses allowed me to go back and revisit the areas where students needed more support.
A data analysis tool I wish we had is a breakdown of items marked in the essays that are submitted through Turnitin. At this point, I keep track (by hand) of frequent errors on a spreadsheet. To have this as a data analysis tool would save me time. It would also be helpful if this tool showed a student's progress with elimination of the frequency of specific errors. For instance, if a report showed that student A had 15 comma errors on her first paper and only 3 on her fourth paper, we would have evidence of progress. To my knowledge, though, this is not presently available.
Additional Things I've Accomplished This Year
A New APP I can use!
Welcome Voki
REFLECTION:
Despite all the classes and workshops I have attended over the years, the most useful have been through GAVS because I can use what I learn. Becoming more familiar with the applications available (especially free ones) has given me more confidence in trying out new applications. Voki is one of those I tried for the first time while setting up my Spring 2016 courses. Although I did wind up having to redo my avitar and recording a couple of times, I'm pleased with what I finally accomplished. The most fun part was trying out the various "voices" and accents available. Perhaps next time, I'll use the Irish accent!
Speak Up
REFLECTION: I completed the rather lengthy survey provided and was surprised by how much reflection it actually required. Quite a few of the questions required responses that wound up being essays...English teachers can get rather detailed.
Learning to use my Mac
Best Practices: Advanced Composition Padlet
This padlet is loaded with links to help students with the writing assignments this semester. Some are videos that walk students through a process, such as setting up a page in MLA format. Links also give additional support in areas such as parallelism and writing a thesis statement.
Snow Warning News Item
News Item: College Days
Link to article