Week 8 Reflection Post

Looking Back, Heading Forward

As I reflect on my GAME plan that I had created weeks ago, I am pleased with the progress that I have made. My most important goal was to become more aware of and comfortable with at least 2 or 3 technology tools that I could implement in the upcoming school year to provide a more authentic learning experience for my students. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) mentioned that “this type of learning is more relevant and engaging and increases the likelihood that students will be able to use what they have learned in new situations” (p. 35). By using this instructional practice, students will become self-directed learners and will become more responsible for their learning altogether. Through this course, I have really become fond of the whiteboard, digital storyboards, and voice thread. I have acquired and bookmarked many resources for the whiteboard and digital storytelling from my classmates through our blog posts and discussions. However, to my disappointment, I still have yet to discover what types of technology tools are permissible in my county. I have tried to email and call the technology department and no one has been able to respond to my inquiries. I am hopeful that once school begins, I will be able to access this information a little bit more easily. On the other hand, I recently spoke with a student in middle school (8th grade) who had taken 4 computer classes last year. I asked her about blogs and wikis and she had no idea what they were. I immediately became worried by this because this is showing me that my county is not striving to meet the National Education Standards for Students through technology.

I have learned many new things throughout this course and by following my GAME plan. In fact, this class has proven to be the most beneficial in my master’s program thus far. Through our discussions, I was able to obtain various ways in which I can use digital storyboards. My classmates had innovative ideas that I had never thought of before and I know my 4th graders would enjoy creating these storyboards immensely. I have also learned that evaluation does not always have to be formal and in forced-choice formats. Regretfully, my assessments in the past have been the customary multiple choice, true/false, and fill-in-the-blank formats. Many of our reading and math tests have open-ended response formats that required the students to demonstrate their higher levels of cognitive skills. This year, I would like to develop more performance and project-based assessments, which coincides more with real-world contexts. These assessments can be as simple as concept maps or as complicated as creating a Webquest. One particular concept that I had much difficulty with was problem based learning. It was troublesome to create a problem that was just right. By engaging with my classmates on our group Wiki, I was able to see how others incorporated this instructional strategy into their lessons. This will prove to be a great resource for me in the future. Lastly, I learned more about how to accommodate various learning disabilities using minor assistive technology applications. This year, I have several special education students that will benefit from the implementation of these aides as well as the Universal Design for Learning approach. “The more flexible the teaching strategies, materials, and assessments you use in your classroom, the more accessible they will be to the diverse needs and preferences of all the students with whom you work” (Cennamo et al., 2009, p. 117).

Besides changing my assessment formats and implementing the Universal Design of Learning, I also plan to take immediate action in creating and utilizing flipcharts with the whiteboard. When I stepped into my classroom for the first time about a week ago, I was expecting to see a whiteboard installed so that I could begin tinkering with it before the students arrived. Although it has not been installed yet, my administrator said they are being installed next week. I have already begun conversing with my colleagues about dividing our curriculum content so that the work would be less cumbersome. In addition, since I loathe talking in front of parents at Back to School Night, I am planning on creating a digital storyboard presentation that will highlight procedures, behavior and academic expectations, and school activities for our 4th grade year. This will be more engaging for the parents to view and less stressful for me.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Students retrieved at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

Week 7 Post

Students Getting in the GAME

Throughout the past few weeks, I have had the opportunity to manipulate a personal GAME plan that addresses various national education standards for teachers. With this GAME plan, I have made goals, created an action plan to meet those goals, monitored my progress towards achieving my goals and evaluating my actions and made changes to my GAME plan as necessary. I can use this same process with my students in order for them to be proficient in the technology standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S.

I would implement this GAME plan with my students after a month or two of school. The reason for this is so that students can become familiar with their classroom environment, peers, and teachers. This will give them some time to see what teaching style I possess and what learning style they prefer. It will give me an opportunity to introduce different technology tools that might help them achieve these standards. It also gives them time to observe possible resources within their school community as well as outside of school. Then I feel that the students can begin to set goals for themselves that they can achieve related to NETS-S.

In order to begin this process, I would model each step with my students. Perhaps I could use the original GAME plan that I used for this class. I would post my GAME plan in the classroom for students to see and refer to throughout the process. Furthermore, I will probably model a student standard as well, so that I am speaking more on their level and selecting resources and strategies that might help me achieve my goal. Then, since this is the first time that the students are experiencing this activity, I would present the student standards to the students in a kid friendly language so that they understand the goals that they are actually attempting to set. After this, I would have students identify their top goal and gather in groups according to their goal preference. Through this manner, students will brainstorm ideas for the action, monitoring, and evaluating aspects of this plan. After brainstorming, students will individually select the ideas that work best for them in order to meet their particular goal. Students will monitor their progress weekly during our morning meetings and adjust their plans as needed. After about a month, they will evaluate their plans and decide whether or not they have achieved their goal and are ready to set a new one, or if more time is needed. This process will continue throughout the year as a gradual increase of independence occurs.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Students retrieved at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

Week 6 Blog

Revising Your GAME Plan

Thus far, I have learned that whiteboards are extremely beneficial for all students, especially those that need to be actively involved in learning, such as manipulating information. A classmate has kindly offered to share his “Road Rally” game (Thanks Erus!) with me so that I can incorporate this during my unit review games. In addition, I have learned that there are actually templates premade from other teachers that all I would need to do is download it and adapt it to my needs. This will save me much time during the school year. A goal that I am still working toward is determining what technology tools are permissible in my county. I have emailed 4 different people about this topic and no one has gotten back to me. I suppose it is summer vacation for everyone! To revise my plan, I will be calling the technology department in order to speak to someone directly about this inquiry. I hope to have more luck taking this avenue, which in turn will allow me to begin developing technology infused lessons or activities for the upcoming year.

At this time, I am not ready to necessarily set new learning goals for myself since I have so much to learn about whiteboards already. I haven’t even had the opportunity to manipulate one and see what it does. In order to use this technology tool to the fullest potential, I would rather spend the majority of my time understanding it and creating lessons that will enhance my students learning. I feel that if I set too many goals at once, then I will not be able to genuinely, effectively, and efficiently meet that goal. This is not a goal that can be met in several weeks, especially since I haven’t seen it or used it yet. Furthermore, once I receive feedback from the technology department about what technology applications are permissible in my county, I will have plenty of goals to achieve! My resource Wiki page is up and running, but right now, I have nothing on it due to lack of experience and information on allowable tools.

To extend what I have learned so far, I will begin creating flipcharts using the websites that I have found and that have been suggested by my classmates and colleagues. Some of the interactive whiteboards have school year opener activities which would be highly motivating especially for those students that are shy and scared the first week. Our first science unit is on Drugs and Alcohol. Many times, we are reading our information from the county provided Health book, which tends to be boring. Therefore, I am going to begin planning lessons that discuss the harmful effects of alcohol, smoking tobacco, chewing tobacco, and marijuana to make it more interactive and engaging for students.

I will not say that next time, I will try something else. What I will say is what I will continue to try in order to improve my learning. Next week, I am meeting with a colleague of mine that has had a whiteboard since last year and has been creating lessons during the summer. This will allow me some time before school begins to become familiar with how lessons are made. Once the school year begins, things get more hectic and I always feel like I have less time on my hands. Another avenue that I would like to pursue is to sign up for a whiteboard class through a community college that is nearby. This will allow me to learn hands on from someone who is very familiar with the tool.

Reference:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.