Caitlin Maynard
ITEC 7500
Reflection – Standard 2.4
2.4 Higher-Order Thinking Skills - model and facilitate the effective use of digital tools and resources
to support and enhance higher order thinking skills (e.g., analyze, evaluate, and create); processes (e.g.,
problem-solving, decision-making); and mental habits of mind (e.g., critical thinking, creative thinking,
metacognition, self-regulation, and reflection).
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While no one truly enjoyed the Spring of 2020 and the devastation of education that is better known
as COVID-19, the Lesson Plan Project in ITEC 7430, Internet Tools in the Classroom, couldn’t have
come at a better time. Schools all over the country were shifting to online learning as a temporary
solution and as we all are now well aware, what was temporary became permanent and year-end events
were cancelled left and right. As a Choral Director, I was stuck wondering what to do about the final
Spring Concert, a moment my students had been working hard on and desperately desired to wrap up the
year. Therefore, the technology-enriched Lesson Plan Project became my solution to a terrible situation.
I planned for my students to participate in a virtual choir, creating a completely digital performance that
showcased a song of resilience and hope.
Bloom’s Taxonomy consists of six classification levels. As the pyramid goes higher, so do the skills
in the order of thinking necessary to complete the task. Therefore, the top three tiers of create, evaluate,
and analyze are more difficult skills to master and require more higher order thinking than the bottom
tiers of apply, understand, and remember. In creating this lesson plan project, I modeled the use of
Google Classroom, Flipgrid, and Google Forms, three digital tools that would support their higher order
thinking skills. Throughout the project, students were expected to check Google Classroom for
information and assignments, which included mini-lesson videos I had created for each section of the
song we were learning, “We Will” by Jim Papoulis. To demonstrate their progress, students would create
short Flipgrid recordings that both they and I would analyze for growth. Finally, I showed the students
the evaluation feedback process we would use through Google Forms.
I also fielded many troubleshooting questions along the way as some students had never used two
devices at once when making a Flipgrid recording. Originally, I believed in order achieve the best quality
recording, students would need to play the accompaniment track through headphones from one device
while singing onto another. I encouraged students to first problem-solve by asking their families what
secondary devices they could use while recording. As students used Google Classroom as a sort of
message board, it was exciting to see others come to the rescue of their peers with solutions as well.
Since the Spring school closures put a slight pause on the project, I planned on picking up with the
virtual choir project in the fall, which will more than likely still come to fruition with the restrictions of
group gatherings and public performances in place. Students will choose from a list of pre-selected songs
to learn and perform for a virtual choir concert. Again, I will facilitate the use of the same digital tools
mentioned previously, but I will add WeVideo as students will learn to collaboratively edit and export
their mini-virtual choir performances. After the performances have been recorded, each class will watch
the videos for evaluation and feedback purposes, promoting strong mental habits of mind.
Throughout this project, I learned that there will be issues to pop up when implementing a multi-step,
highly independent project. These issues are acerbated during online crisis learning due to a pandemic.
Of the 128 students who were enrolled in Chorus, only one-third consistently logged in and participated
in class and the majority of those students chose to complete a Music Bingo Choice Board project instead
of participating in the Virtual Choir. After listening to some of the student feedback, I realized that many
of my students were left at home alone during the day, felt overwhelmed with the amount of academic
work they were given, or were not in an environment that was conducive for recording. I think that I
would have had more success with student participation if we had more experience with that type of
project before we were forced into it. I also think that had I been more open about helping via Google
Meet, students would have felt more comfortable about asking for help. Therefore, if I were to change
something to improve the quality of the artifact, I would have scheduled daily Google Meets with my
students to keep a close track of their progress and to assist them along the way. I could have also created
more tutorials about how to use Flipgrid and the recording process to help put their minds at ease.
While I experienced my own level of development in planning a technology-enhanced lesson plan,
the biggest impact of this project is seen in the level of student learning. The initial assessment of impact
for this project on student learning occurred during the first round of implementation. The students and I
all were able to evaluate progress and growth with each recording using a performance evaluation rubric.
The second wave of impact assessment will occur when implementing round two in which students will
create their own virtual choir videos. There will be a WeVideo checklist for the students to follow while
compiling clips, editing, and publishing the final version and I will use an assessment rubric for student
performance as I view the final products.
