Ms. Raser's Blog

The Importance of Educational Research This week I spent time studying the report from EdResearch for Recovery which looked at how schools can intervene to reduce learning gaps between students with disabilities and their peers. The study looked at how the learning gaps between the two groups widened due to school closures from COVID-19 and effective practices teachers can use to reduce the gaps now. As a special education teacher I related to this study because I am always looking for ways to engage students on my caseload and the best interventions to bridge the gap. The report was broken into three main topics: the Issue, Strategies to Consider, and Strategies to Avoid. When reading about the Issue I was not surprised that students with disabilities was one of the populations that regressed the most during distant learning. As a teacher, I know I struggled with the best way to meet all my students' needs while teaching online. The report stated that the "single most import...

 Active Learning What is Active Learning? Active learning is when students are engaged in their own learning.  This type of learning requires students to do meaningful learning activities and think about what they are doing.  Using active learning in your classroom can engage, empower, and put students at the center of learning.  Image Source Benefits of Active Learning Active learning should be a continued practice for all educators to use in their own teaching. Cornell University's Center for Teaching Innovation lists many benefits to use active learning in your own classrooms:  Active learning gives students multiple ways to access the material through writing, talking, or problem solving Student motivation is increased when they are able to create personal connections with the material Students are able to receive immediate feedback Teachers can learn more about their students through observations and discussions When teachers know how their students learn ...

Mapping My Digital Spaces The internet can be used in many different ways. David White  broke down how people engage with the internet into two categories: visitors and residents.  Visitors  use the internet for a specific purpose. They may be looking for a specific piece of information or completing a task before going offline or starting another task. Residents  are going online to connect or be with other people, they want to have a social presence.  This concept helps explain the context of how people use the internet and in what ways. Different modes are used depending on the motivation and context.   As I was creating my digital map I began by looking at the apps on my phone and deciding how I use them - personally or professionally - and whether or not I use them as a visitor or resident. I also wanted to think beyond what I use on my phone and looked at my most frequented websites. While looking at all the different apps/websites I use I notice...

Online Learning Design After reading an article from ISTE , one of the biggest challenges educators faced during the pandemic was moving lessons designed for in-person teaching to an online classroom.  When the 2020-2021 school year started my district was entirely remote due to COVID-19. At this time I was working as an inclusion teacher in first and fourth grade for ELA and Math. During a collaboration meeting between my fourth grade co-teacher and myself we kept asking the same question: "How can we increase student engagement?" That is when we discovered Nearpod . We initially began using Nearpod during our math lessons and immediately noticed students participating more throughout the lesson. I have not used Nearpod since we were teaching fully remote. As I have been thinking about ways to incorporate more technology into my small groups I wanted to take time to learn more about how it can benefit myself as well as my students. When we incorporated Nearpod into our daily...

Frameworks in Technology Image Source What is TPACK? TPACK is an integration framework that identifies the knowledge needed to effectively teach using technology. In the TPACK framework there are three areas educators need to combine in order to successfully incorporate edtech into their classrooms- technology, pedagogy, and content. The point of TPACK is to "understand how to use technology to teach concepts in a way that enhances student learning experiences" (PowerSchool).  Technological Knowledge:  How technology is used Pedagogical Knowledge: How they teach Content Knowledge:  What the teacher knows  An Introduction to the TPACK Model While the goal is to fall in the overlap of the three knowledge areas, often teachers (myself included) find themselves between two knowledge areas (Technology/Pedagogy, Content/Pedagogy). Where you place yourself may change based on the subject area you teach.  TPACK in the Classroom As a special education teacher I...

Get to Know Me Hello! My name is Abby Raser and I am currently in my fifth year teaching, my fourth at a charter school in Brighton Park. Throughout my five years teaching I have been in special  education, working with grades K-4. This year I am doing a combination of inclusion and pull-out for kindergarten, second, third, and fourth grades. I love getting to know my new students every year but also having the opportunity to continue to work with previous students when I overlap grades! I grew up on the Southside of Chicago in the Beverly neighborhood. I went to college in Providence, Rhode Island and loved living on the East Coast, but I always knew I would come back to my favorite city. I love being able to spend my summers with my family traveling. Over the summer we spent a week in Northern Minnesota hiking different state parks to celebrate my grandpa's 90th birthday! Image Source: Blog Author Image Source: Blog Author Outside of school I teach dance classes at  Dance G...