David Higley 20% project

My 20% project revolved encorporated technology integration into our spelling curriculum. I used the site spellingcity.com to help with this project. For this project, I uploaded all our 2nd grade spellling lists onto this site. The students then would use the computers and the site to complete their weekly spelling tests. I found that having the students use the technology for the spelling tests gave me as the teacher less managerial time on the spelling tests and more time individualizing the spelling patterns with students who were having difficulties. For example, if a student did poorly on the pretest, I would individually sit down with that child and explicitly teach the spelling pattern for the week until s/he understood. That way I  coudl differentiate my instruction and be able to give the student exactly the instruction s/he needed.

The steps involved with this project included entering and uploading the weekly spelling lists, creating a student-led screencast on the directions to the site, and a 4-week long classroom integration of the technology use. By the end of the classroom integration, all the students are either trained to complete the tests by themselves, or know which student to go to for computer help.

I found that using this site has helped most students get more engaged in the weekly spelling lists and tests. Certain struggling students' weekly test scores have improved because they are practicing the words and playing the spelling games at home on the computer.


This 20% project helped me grow as a learner and meets several of the NEST*T standards.

One standard revolves around designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Through this project, I was able to help the students meet their own learning and become an active participant. Many students were discussing how they were setting a spelling goal for the test and showing how they've improved over the week.

Another NEST*T standard which this project helped me meet was modeling digital-age work and learning. Throughout this project, I shared with the students what I was learning. I showed them how the site worked and had them help me pilot this project. I really enjoyed how they felt empowered as a learner to come up and tell me things they learned about the site. (i.e. how the site would mark the spelling word as incorrect if all CAPS were input.)