This assignment really did a good job incorporating a few different types of learning. My mentor teacher did a guided mini lecture before the reading, pointing out things like the meaning of the title, some things we had to understand in Chinese culture to understand the short story and also just pointing out some vocabulary on the title page from previous learnings. The short story that we read is called “The Paper Menagerie”. Learning took place before the lesson even started, of course during but flawlessly using technology (old school paper and pen), and a little bit of lecture. We discussed the characters of the short story, what the word “menagerie” in the title meant and talked about the type of story we were about to indulge in. After beginning the rainbow reading of the assignments the students began to focus on the reading and following along. Throughout the reading the teacher paused the audio so that students could show they were paying attention by answering reading comprehension questions. They were able to use the old fashion paper, pencil and highlighter way to annotate and learn from the text. Students were intrigued by these two ways of learning intertwined together. This assignment incorporated Martin’s concepts of connection and translation. With my cooperating teacher using technology she was able to connect with students in ways just reading a paper and pencil wouldn’t. This was a powerful tool used to provide connection between two functions. After reading the assignment and using the reading rainbow translator we then used Kahoot to challenge our learning and comprehension even more. She allowed students to use their phones to answer the Kahoot questions. This was also fun for the students because this is something that they aren’t normally able to do. This was also a way to connect the two functions, allowing students to use cell phones (something they use all day for non-eduational things) to be able answer educational questions. This was very relatable to 8th grade students who are extremely attached to their devices.
Taylor's edtech portfolio 