Here is the link to my Podcast that I created spotlighting Moodle as an Online learning took in K-12 schools
http://voicethread.com/share/1365840/
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Final Thoughts...
After completing this course, I feel I have gained a deeper understanding of how to provide for ALL of my students. Throughout this course we learned about Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI), why it is important and strategies teachers can use to incorporate technology into lessons. Before this course I knew I had to differentiate for all of my students but I never had a good idea of how to do that. Unfortunately, the only students who I consistently differentiated things with were my special needs students.
As this class draws to a close with the help of my classmates and group members of my social network, I have a rather large folder full of useful websites that I am definitely going to refer back to when working with my students. Websites that help me get to know my students' academic strengths, weaknesses, interests and learning styles will be utilized at the beginning of the year, whereas websites such as BrainPop, United Streaming and Teacher Tube will be integrated into lessons both as activators and summarizers. In addition, websites such as Into the Book and Math Playground can be incorporated into either my lessons or used during workshop at the computer center. No matter what, I now have a nice resource list that I am able to refer to.
I love technology and always have. I have always been interested in learning about the latest technologies, as well as researching online and finding useful websites. Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson described how having a positive mindset can effect both your planning and teaching (Laureate Education, 2009). This year I'm excited to say that I finally have a SmartBoard in my room. I am eager to get back to school so I can get my hands on it and so the students can get their hands on it as well. I think with the integration of the SmartBoard, my lessons will be much more motivational and engaging because students love using technology as much as I do. With the start of the school year next week, I look forward to putting all of the resources, strategies, and ideas to use with my students this year in order to give all of my students an equal opportunity to be successful.
Resources
Laureate Education, Inc. (Laureate). (2009). Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. Differentiating Instructional Elements. Baltimore: Dr. Tomlinson.
As this class draws to a close with the help of my classmates and group members of my social network, I have a rather large folder full of useful websites that I am definitely going to refer back to when working with my students. Websites that help me get to know my students' academic strengths, weaknesses, interests and learning styles will be utilized at the beginning of the year, whereas websites such as BrainPop, United Streaming and Teacher Tube will be integrated into lessons both as activators and summarizers. In addition, websites such as Into the Book and Math Playground can be incorporated into either my lessons or used during workshop at the computer center. No matter what, I now have a nice resource list that I am able to refer to.
I love technology and always have. I have always been interested in learning about the latest technologies, as well as researching online and finding useful websites. Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson described how having a positive mindset can effect both your planning and teaching (Laureate Education, 2009). This year I'm excited to say that I finally have a SmartBoard in my room. I am eager to get back to school so I can get my hands on it and so the students can get their hands on it as well. I think with the integration of the SmartBoard, my lessons will be much more motivational and engaging because students love using technology as much as I do. With the start of the school year next week, I look forward to putting all of the resources, strategies, and ideas to use with my students this year in order to give all of my students an equal opportunity to be successful.
Resources
Laureate Education, Inc. (Laureate). (2009). Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. Differentiating Instructional Elements. Baltimore: Dr. Tomlinson.
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Course Reflection
Reflect on the GAME plan you developed and followed throughout the course.
At the beginning of this course I choose 2 standards that I personally wanted to work on for next school year. The two standards that I choose were:
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
• c. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers:
• d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools
I then wrote up a GAME plan that would help me work towards meeting those goals. Since our school year was almost over, I am using this summer to continue working on my goal. I am hoping that shortly after the beginning of the school year I can put my plan into action. Setting a goal for myself has really forced me to learn new ways of integrating technology in the classroom.
Summarize any new learning that resulted from your following your GAME plan and explain what impact your new learning will have on your instructional practice.
I really like the idea of the GAME plan. It really helped me focus and I can definitely see how it can be used with my students. Dr. Katherin Cennamo explained how using the GAME plan idea with students, “supports students’ self-directed learning” (Laureate Education, 2009). She went on to explain how it helps students learn to evaluate their actions. Having the students set goals and then having them monitor them will help them so they do not lose focus and will always know what they are working towards. The nice thing about the GAME plan is that if the strategies that are being used aren’t working then you can always change them in hopes to find something that will work.
Describe any immediate adjustments you will make to your instructional practice regarding technology integration in your content area(s) as a result of your learning from this course.
When the school year begins, I will begin by posting all of my newsletters on my class website, as well as sending them out to parents in an e-mail. I am hoping that more parents will be willing to read them if they are in an electronic format. I also want to being the year by talking about pen pals and the idea of using ePals in our classroom. I like the idea of using digital story telling with my kids. I think the first project that I will do with them will be “A Day in the Life of a 4th Grader”. The class in I will create a video which goes through our day that I will play for the parents at Open House. I will also post this to our class website for any parents that cannot make it that night. Having students set their own goals and teaching them how to monitor them will definitely be something I try with my kids this coming year. I have learned so many new things from this class and my classmates that I am going to have to start small and one step at a time. I am famous for overwhelming myself and I don’t want to do that, or overwhelm my students for that matter.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
At the beginning of this course I choose 2 standards that I personally wanted to work on for next school year. The two standards that I choose were:
3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers:
• c. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers:
• d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools
I then wrote up a GAME plan that would help me work towards meeting those goals. Since our school year was almost over, I am using this summer to continue working on my goal. I am hoping that shortly after the beginning of the school year I can put my plan into action. Setting a goal for myself has really forced me to learn new ways of integrating technology in the classroom.
Summarize any new learning that resulted from your following your GAME plan and explain what impact your new learning will have on your instructional practice.
I really like the idea of the GAME plan. It really helped me focus and I can definitely see how it can be used with my students. Dr. Katherin Cennamo explained how using the GAME plan idea with students, “supports students’ self-directed learning” (Laureate Education, 2009). She went on to explain how it helps students learn to evaluate their actions. Having the students set goals and then having them monitor them will help them so they do not lose focus and will always know what they are working towards. The nice thing about the GAME plan is that if the strategies that are being used aren’t working then you can always change them in hopes to find something that will work.
Describe any immediate adjustments you will make to your instructional practice regarding technology integration in your content area(s) as a result of your learning from this course.
When the school year begins, I will begin by posting all of my newsletters on my class website, as well as sending them out to parents in an e-mail. I am hoping that more parents will be willing to read them if they are in an electronic format. I also want to being the year by talking about pen pals and the idea of using ePals in our classroom. I like the idea of using digital story telling with my kids. I think the first project that I will do with them will be “A Day in the Life of a 4th Grader”. The class in I will create a video which goes through our day that I will play for the parents at Open House. I will also post this to our class website for any parents that cannot make it that night. Having students set their own goals and teaching them how to monitor them will definitely be something I try with my kids this coming year. I have learned so many new things from this class and my classmates that I am going to have to start small and one step at a time. I am famous for overwhelming myself and I don’t want to do that, or overwhelm my students for that matter.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
NET-S vs. NET-T
The NETS-S (National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Students) are essentially the same as the NETS-T, however they are for the students. When looking at the NETS-S I realized that I could do the same thing with my students that we did in this class.
I will introduce the NETS-S with my students and have them choose just one. They will create a GAME plan to help them master the standard that they chose. This will help to show the students that once you set a goal it is important to stay active and on top of it while monitoring. It is important to monitor your goal, to see if things need to be changed if they are not being successful.
I have done goal setting with my students in the past. However, I have never done something like this in this much detail with my students; therefore, I'm a little hesitant to see how it goes. This past year I worked with my students on their behavior. Throughout the month I would keep track of how many days each student was on green, yellow, blue, or red. Then at the end of the month I would give the students their numbers and they would make a graph with each of the colors. They would set a goal for themselves for the next month on the back of their graph and include strategies on how they are going to meet their goal. At the end of the following month they look back at their goal and see if they met it. They will then take appropriate measures to either change their strategies or goal if they weren't successful.
Making sure the students are setting goals and monitoring them are very important. As the students get older it is importnat to teach more and more responsibility, as they will have to set their own goals and monitor them without reminders.
I will introduce the NETS-S with my students and have them choose just one. They will create a GAME plan to help them master the standard that they chose. This will help to show the students that once you set a goal it is important to stay active and on top of it while monitoring. It is important to monitor your goal, to see if things need to be changed if they are not being successful.
I have done goal setting with my students in the past. However, I have never done something like this in this much detail with my students; therefore, I'm a little hesitant to see how it goes. This past year I worked with my students on their behavior. Throughout the month I would keep track of how many days each student was on green, yellow, blue, or red. Then at the end of the month I would give the students their numbers and they would make a graph with each of the colors. They would set a goal for themselves for the next month on the back of their graph and include strategies on how they are going to meet their goal. At the end of the following month they look back at their goal and see if they met it. They will then take appropriate measures to either change their strategies or goal if they weren't successful.
Making sure the students are setting goals and monitoring them are very important. As the students get older it is importnat to teach more and more responsibility, as they will have to set their own goals and monitor them without reminders.
Monday, June 7, 2010
So Many Options!
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
What goals are you still working toward?
I have learned a great deal of information from just researching and talking to other teachers. In addition, when watching our videos for our class I have been visiting some of the sites that are being mentioned. One site that was mentioned was Thinkquest.org. I have visited this site and will visit again because I think it will be another way to get my students communicating with others. I am continuing my search on ePals to find the ideal classroom to be ePals with because I am not sure how many students I will have next year and how involved I want the experience to be. I don't want to overwhelm my students or myself with this process.
Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?
I am not ready to set any new learning goals for myself at this time. It seems that the more I research the more ideas I have pop in my head and I'm afraid if I take on too much I am going to be overwhelmed and lose focus.
If you are not ready to set new learning goals, how will you extend what you have learned so far?
It seems like each day that I get on the Internet to look on ePals or another website I am finding something else that I want to learn about. I want to take this summer to figure everything out and have everything ironed out and in place so that when the new school year begins I will have a plan in place and be ready to roll.
What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?
I want to work on not getting side tracked. It seems like every website I look at has something else interesting that takes me off on another tangent. I need to work on staying focused on the one topic at hand. I do have a tendency to take on too much at one time and letting things fall by the wayside. I want to make sure that when I decide which way I decide to have my students communicate with another group is going to be ideal for everyone so that we can keep it up as promised throughout the year.
What goals are you still working toward?
I have learned a great deal of information from just researching and talking to other teachers. In addition, when watching our videos for our class I have been visiting some of the sites that are being mentioned. One site that was mentioned was Thinkquest.org. I have visited this site and will visit again because I think it will be another way to get my students communicating with others. I am continuing my search on ePals to find the ideal classroom to be ePals with because I am not sure how many students I will have next year and how involved I want the experience to be. I don't want to overwhelm my students or myself with this process.
Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?
I am not ready to set any new learning goals for myself at this time. It seems that the more I research the more ideas I have pop in my head and I'm afraid if I take on too much I am going to be overwhelmed and lose focus.
If you are not ready to set new learning goals, how will you extend what you have learned so far?
It seems like each day that I get on the Internet to look on ePals or another website I am finding something else that I want to learn about. I want to take this summer to figure everything out and have everything ironed out and in place so that when the new school year begins I will have a plan in place and be ready to roll.
What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?
I want to work on not getting side tracked. It seems like every website I look at has something else interesting that takes me off on another tangent. I need to work on staying focused on the one topic at hand. I do have a tendency to take on too much at one time and letting things fall by the wayside. I want to make sure that when I decide which way I decide to have my students communicate with another group is going to be ideal for everyone so that we can keep it up as promised throughout the year.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Planning, Planning, and More Planning
Since our school year comes to an end in two days, I have not been able to put my GAME plan into motion. However, it is nice that I get to take the time to really do some researching so that when the new school year starts I will be ready to implement my plan.
Like I had mentioned in my previous Blog, I have registered on ePals and created an advertisement seeking an English speaking class that would be willing to be ePals with a fourth grade class from the USA. I have gotten numerous responses and e-mails to my postings. My dilemma now is, how do I decide which one to choose? Once I decide which class would be best for my class, then I need to communicate with the teacher of that class and decide how frequent, and what content will be included in our messages to each other. I want to find a happy medium with how frequently we communicate. I don't want the first experience to be overwhelming for the students or myself, however, at the same time I don't want it to be just once or twice within the school year.
In regards to communicating with my parents electronically, I am in the process of creating a survey for my parents to find out what kinds of things they would like to see on monthly newsletters. I have a list of options that they can circle as well as a place where they can write some of their other ideas. This will go home to my current students in hopes to have ideas for when I begin creating the monthly newsletters for next year's parents.
Since the school year is just about over and I will not be able to implement my GAME plan until next school year, I am taking this time to get myself on the right track. It is nice to be able to take time to think through all of the information and get feedback rather than having to rush through it and make decisions that could backfire because they were rushed. Since the GAME plan allows you to "take notes so you can easily revise your lesson for the next time" (Laureate Education, 2009) I am hoping that with plenty of time to research and think about how I want things to work next year will cause less frustration and chaos on both the students and myself.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
Like I had mentioned in my previous Blog, I have registered on ePals and created an advertisement seeking an English speaking class that would be willing to be ePals with a fourth grade class from the USA. I have gotten numerous responses and e-mails to my postings. My dilemma now is, how do I decide which one to choose? Once I decide which class would be best for my class, then I need to communicate with the teacher of that class and decide how frequent, and what content will be included in our messages to each other. I want to find a happy medium with how frequently we communicate. I don't want the first experience to be overwhelming for the students or myself, however, at the same time I don't want it to be just once or twice within the school year.
In regards to communicating with my parents electronically, I am in the process of creating a survey for my parents to find out what kinds of things they would like to see on monthly newsletters. I have a list of options that they can circle as well as a place where they can write some of their other ideas. This will go home to my current students in hopes to have ideas for when I begin creating the monthly newsletters for next year's parents.
Since the school year is just about over and I will not be able to implement my GAME plan until next school year, I am taking this time to get myself on the right track. It is nice to be able to take time to think through all of the information and get feedback rather than having to rush through it and make decisions that could backfire because they were rushed. Since the GAME plan allows you to "take notes so you can easily revise your lesson for the next time" (Laureate Education, 2009) I am hoping that with plenty of time to research and think about how I want things to work next year will cause less frustration and chaos on both the students and myself.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Still In The Planning Stage...
Since our school year is drawing to an end, I unfortunately won't get a chance to put my GAME plan into action until at least August when the school year begins. "Learning, in general, and about technology specifically, is an ongoing process (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, p. 7, 2009). However, I plan on having everything in place and ready to go for when the time arises. Therefore, there are a few things that I have done in order to get ready.
First, I have spoken with many other classmates and colleagues about newsletters and have gotten numerous examples of newsletters that are used. I plan on coming up with a template that I will use for each month and just change the specific information. That will keep things consistent for both myself while I update it as well as those who read the newsletters. I have also gotten positive feedback from teachers who currently e-mail their newsletters to parents/families. One suggestion that I received was to plan to e-mail the newsletter out a week before the month begins; that way if for some reason you are behind you won't be too far behind. Another suggestion I got was to make the newsletter as generic as possible that way it can be used from year to year and all that will need to be changed are any dates that are included. All of these ideas are very helpful and will definitely be considered for next year when I begin e-mailing my newsletters.
As far as giving my students the opportunity to communicate with other students from different cultures, I have looked to ePals to help with this standard. I just recently set up an account and received an e-mail address through this site. In addition I put a posting on the teacher form seeking an English speaking class that would like to be ePals for the 2010-2011 school year. I am anxiously awaiting any responses. As I was looking around in the forum, it seems that when teachers post "ads" he/she get a lot of responses. I don't want to overwhelm myself or the kids the first year so I am just looking for one class for now. Before I commit to any class I would like to find other teachers who have used ePals with their class and speak with him/her about their experience. If you are reading this and you or you know someone who has used ePals please feel free to leave me a comment.
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.
First, I have spoken with many other classmates and colleagues about newsletters and have gotten numerous examples of newsletters that are used. I plan on coming up with a template that I will use for each month and just change the specific information. That will keep things consistent for both myself while I update it as well as those who read the newsletters. I have also gotten positive feedback from teachers who currently e-mail their newsletters to parents/families. One suggestion that I received was to plan to e-mail the newsletter out a week before the month begins; that way if for some reason you are behind you won't be too far behind. Another suggestion I got was to make the newsletter as generic as possible that way it can be used from year to year and all that will need to be changed are any dates that are included. All of these ideas are very helpful and will definitely be considered for next year when I begin e-mailing my newsletters.
As far as giving my students the opportunity to communicate with other students from different cultures, I have looked to ePals to help with this standard. I just recently set up an account and received an e-mail address through this site. In addition I put a posting on the teacher form seeking an English speaking class that would like to be ePals for the 2010-2011 school year. I am anxiously awaiting any responses. As I was looking around in the forum, it seems that when teachers post "ads" he/she get a lot of responses. I don't want to overwhelm myself or the kids the first year so I am just looking for one class for now. Before I commit to any class I would like to find other teachers who have used ePals with their class and speak with him/her about their experience. If you are reading this and you or you know someone who has used ePals please feel free to leave me a comment.
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.
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