In my Professional Development Plan, I created three short-term goals: To create a podcast, to create a gradebook using Micrsoft Excel, and to research current Assistive Technologies available to students with special needs. In this blog, I am documenting my completion of these three goals.
Short Term Goal #1: Create A Podcast. In order to create my own podcast, I decided to discuss the sleep cycle. I created a multidisciplinary approach to my English class’s discussion on Shakespeare’s Macbeth by connecting the sleep cycle to Lady Macbeth’s sleepwalking scene. My podcast was created using PowerPoint and Windows Movie Maker.
The file can be downloaded by clicking here: Sleep Cycle Podcast
The podcast can also be viewed below:
Short Term Goal #2: Create A Gradebook. To create my first gradebook using Microsoft Excel, I followed a wonderful online tutorial and modified it to fit my 8th grade English classroom needs. My gradebook has 20 students and 10 assignments. It automatically calculates each student’s grade, the class average for each assignment, and the class average for final grades.
My completed Gradebook can be found here: 8th Grade English Gradebook.
A screenshot of part of the gradebook:
Short Term Goal #3: Research Assistive Technologies. One of my goals was to learn about current assistive technologies that help students with special needs. This entailed researching available technological resources and organizing the information I found into a tangible reference tool. My goal was to create a chart documenting five different Assistive Technology tools, their functions, pictures, links, and types of special needs they assist with.
A link to the Word Document of the completed chart: Assistive Technology Tools
A screenshot of page 1 of the chart:
