Dom's Digest

Padlet brainstorm of an active learning lesson - Image source: personal screenshot  Making Student Stakeholders Image source: Forbes.com If you are my age, there's a good chance your school experiences were very  teacher-directed.  Teachers taught and students learned.  That meant that the teacher stood in front of the class and lectured while writing on the board or an overhead while students listened, took notes and completed lots of drill and practice at their own seats.  In case I've accidentally made this sound engaging, I've included a look at students going through a typical lesson this way.   Active learning involves the student in the learning process as an active participant instead of as an audience member.  Students get engaged by connecting with the information as stakeholders.  They reflect, discuss, and act on in formation.  They may self-assess.  Teachers become facilitators for active learning.   Supporting Active Learners This week, tw

Image Credit:  Cognigen Maps and Me As an Eagle Scout, an avid road-tripper, and a distribution manager who did his fair share of dispatching trucks, it is fair to say that I know a thing or two about reading maps.  But I'd never thought about mapping my digital activity before today.    Digital Mapping Digital mapping isn't a route to a destination, but rather the plotting of the apps and websites one uses most frequently along 2 continua:  personal to professional use on the vertical axis and visitor to resident use on the horizontal.  This layout and these terms are the work of David White.  You can learn more about his work from him at his blog , but I have plotted my own digital use map and I'd like to share it with you below.   My Digital Map.  Layout my own; individual image credits: Google Images Note that this map does not represent where I will be forever with these tools but where I think of my use of them today. Visitors and Resident

Image source:  http://tpack.org  © 2012 by tpack.org TPACK as a Framework for Evaluating Integration of Technology The integration of technology in the classroom is a popular topic among educators.  Most will agree that when used effectively, technology makes a big difference in the way our students learn.  But handing all of our students 1:1 Chromebooks and telling them to type their essays isn't really integrating technology.  Neither is rushing to find the "killer app" and shoehorning it into the day's lesson because we're being formally observed.  Luckily, several frameworks exist to help us as educators address this integration.  Today I will focus on the TPACK framework and define it as I evaluate myself through its lens. What is TPACK TPACK stands for "Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge".  Essentially it addresses three areas of knowledge the teacher can apply within the context of their class of students: Technological

Guided Presentation on Blended Learning Blended Learning is a hot topic in educational technology and in special education circles, so I chose to take an opportunity presented to me (ok, it was an assignment) in one of my courses at Dominican to learn more about it.  I took what I found, thought about what it meant, and created this narrated presentation.  It is a great starting point for anyone who may have heard the term before and not known what it was or who just wants to learn a little more about it. Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions.   Where to Find More Included here are links out to the pages I used as resources for the above presentation.  If you are hungry for more Blended Learning information, these are good resources to move on to. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/The-Basics-of-Blended-Instruction.aspx   *A good basic rundown of Blended Learning https://www.blendedlearning.org/    *Amazi

That's me!  (personal photo) Hello & Welcome! My name is Dom Pizzuto and I would like to thank you for visiting my blog!  My goal is to create an environment for sharing tools, experiences and opinions with other education professionals, parents, students and community stakeholders.   Ambitious, right?  A big part of that is your involvement as a visitor to this blog -- once you get to know me below, please feel free to share your observations, experiences or any questions you may have. So Who Am I? I am a Special Education professional committed to empowering young adults with disabilities to live full and independent adult lives .  Currently I work as a substitute teacher in the Valley View School District serving Bolingbrook and Romeoville, Illinois while I complete my Master's degree in Special Education at Dominican University .  I just completed a four month, long term sub position at the Secondary Transition Experience Program, or STEP , working with 18