Reinforcing+Effort

=__Reinforcing Effort __=

= = =Technology 1-Wii Fit = 



Rationale:

Amid the many challenges that students face in today's world, it is crucial that our educators reinforce effort. Effort is the key to success and achieving a goal. Without effort one will not reach their full potential. Students who recognize the connection between effort and success will be more likely inclined to put forth that same effort at a later date or throughout their learning experience. Therefore, reinforcing effort is critical to the job of the educator and the overall education of the students.

The Wii Fit for the Wii entertainment console is designed to reinforce one's effort for trying new things and working to get better at areas of fitness. The Wii Fit is perfect for maintaining or improving a 5th grader's flexibility, fitness, and coordination while giving them the immediate feedback they desire for their effort. Using the Wii Fit in a gym class setting or around a subject that focuses on health would be a great technological option to teaching children the importance of staying active and healthy by recognizing effort.

The Wii Fit allows users to make their own character, which then determines their overall health and flexibility. Each student can have their own character and their characters' effort and improvement are saved on the game as time goes by. As students put their bodies to the test, the participants are given coins that go to other options within the game that children enjoy and can visually see. The students are given these coins for their effort towards mastering certain fitness trials in the game. As participants continue to put forth the effort to try new trials and master others, the game gives them positive feedback and tips for improving, reinforcing the participants effort to get better. As participants master certain trials such as the ski jump, new trials are unlocked and the participants are rewarded for their effort and success. Finally, the status of each participant's usage of the game are saved allowing for participants to look back on their past efforts and to see how much they have improved since they began. As students continue to put forth the effort in order to complete the trials their attitudes and performance towards fitness, coordination, and flexibility will begin to increase and their ability to do other physical activities inside and outside of the classroom will improve.

This is a great piece of new technology that helps to reinforce the effort put forth by its participants. This is an option to use in a gym class setting or even in the normal classroom with subjects such as fitness and health. The Wii Fit provides immediate feedback for effort and it helps to reinforce the idea that effort leads to success.

Resources Needed:
 * Televisions that allow for the Wii Console to be plugged into them
 * Wii Console-$250
 * Wii Fit-$89.99

**Technology 2-Interactive Rubrics by Waypoint and Rubistar at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php**



Rationale: Students are often unaware of what they need to do in order to get the grade they want or more importantly be successful. Along with this, many students do not feel like they have a say in what effort needs to be displayed in order to be successful. With all this in mind, many students' beliefs and attitudes towards the assignments that they attempt are not positive. Rubrics have been created to help alleviate this problem in the educational realm. Rubrics provide students and teachers the information they need to determine the amount of effort that is needed to receive a good grade or positive feedback. A great way to take this a bit further is to get the students involved in their projects and have them help determine what effort it will take to succeed at that given project.

Through the partnership of Waypoint Outcomes and Rubistar, teachers and students can work together to develop an interactive rubric to determine what effort will be needed to achieve a particular goal. These rubrics are customized towards different subjects, which makes it easier for those who use and implement them. The teacher can go to the the website above and easily develop the rubrics for each group of students or student involved around the subject area. Not only this, teachers can have old rubrics saved and access them to either edit them or use them again. This is a great tool to improve the time it takes teachers to develop their rubrics. Rubrics show students the effort needed to have success on a given project. This site also allows for multiple forms of rubrics and the feedback provided on them to be presented to the students. The students can receive them by paper, email, and etc.

A great way to implement the use of this technology is to include the students in the development of their individual rubric for their group projects on something such as describing how night and day are caused by the earth's rotation, a standard requirement for 5th graders. Students and teachers will determine what each group or individual group will need to do in order to be successful. By working together on developing the rubric, students and the teacher will have a "common language and a shared ideal regarding effort and achievement". (cited from http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/rein.php) With this in mind, students will be reinforced by their knowledge of what it will take to be successful and by being involved in the grading process. Having been reinforced, students will have the positive attitude and beliefs of their projects and will continually put forth the effort to be successful and achieve.

Resources Needed:
 * Computer(s) with internet access
 * A free account with the website allowing for saving and editing of rubrics.

**Technology 3-Windows Movie Maker**



Rationale: Visual representation of effort has been linked to the actual increase in effort of individuals. When individuals are able to design something visually they are able to refer to it later. With this, they are more likely to connect that to their future work or feel positive about the outcome and doing similar things. A key to effort and reinforcing it is a students' belief and attitudes to what they are doing. If a student feels positive about what they are doing and enjoys it then they are more likely going to put forth the effort and be reinforced to continue to do so with the goal towards the completion of the task.

Windows movie maker allows for students to visually see the task they are doing. As mentioned above, having a visual representation of one's effort, such as an informational short movie on how to maintain earth's resources by the 5th grade class, can go a long way to providing feedback on one's assignment and provide the reinforced effort they need in order to continue with the assignment. Not only does windows movie maker provide a visual representation of one's work, it is also fun to do and can be very rewarding when the project is done. These two points alone will increase the overall perception and attitude of the students. Once students start to create their movies they are able to preview them and to visually document their effort. Seeing how fun it is and how they are able to make their own movie, students' believes are going start improving and becoming more positive leading to reinforcing their effort in the project. Windows movie maker will help to increase the students ability to connect their effort to their achievement and success. Finally, teachers will be able to give symbolic recognition to students through their overall effort of being creative and making materials that could be used for teaching others.

Resources Needed:
 * Computers with internet access
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Computers with Windows installed on them to gain access to Windows Movie Maker application that comes with Windows

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Education Challenge:** The educational challenge for this strategy would be student motivation because effort is influenced heavily by effort and having internally or externally motivation to continue such effort. Without motivation, students are not going to put forth the effort or have it sustained in the educational environment. When lessons, activities, and teaching styles are considered, instructors of all sorts must take into account the idea of motivation and determine whether or not their materials are going to motivate the learners. If the information is not going to motivate the learner then a new set of materials should be considered. Involving students in the development of their individual/group rubrics as mentioned above would be a great way to sustain motivation within the students. When the students feel like they have a say in how they are graded or evaluated they are more likely going to be engaged with the learning process. They are going to feel a since of ownership with their given assignment, and most importantly, understand what it takes for them to reach their goals. Also, students are going to feel as though the goals are not out of reach and are obtainable.

= <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Introduction < = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Cues, Questions & Advance Organizers < = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Generating & Testing Hypothesis < = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Homework & Practice < = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Identifying Similarities & Differences < = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Nonlinguistic Representation < = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Providing Feedback < = = = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;"> = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Simulations & Games > = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Summarizing & Notetaking > = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Summary > = = <span style="background: white none repeat scroll 0% 0%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; color: purple;">Reflections > =

= = = =