Beginning Work On My GAME Plan

Since the school year is almost over, I am going to use the rest of this year as well as this summer to research and come up with ideas on how I can work on being more proficient in the NETS-T standards. The two standards that I choose to work on deal with communicating effectively through the use of a variety of digital-age media and formats, as well as giving my students the opportunity to connect with students their age from other cultures and countries.

When I think about what I need to do in order to begin my endeavour, there is definitely one standard that will take more research and planning. I have bookmarked the ePals website and have begun reading and looking into an appropriate class for my students. There are many different ways to find a class to join up with on ePals, that it will take some time before I pick one. I would like to find some sort of forum that teachers who have been a part of ePals have commented on their experiences as well as giving some possible tips on how to make it run smoothly. If anyone has or knows anyone who has used a website such as ePals or something similar and has some advice for me I would appreciate it.

The second standard that I will be working on is communicating effectively through the use of a variety of digital-age media and formats. This standard will not take as much work as the first one that I mentioned, however I will need to be more diligent and put myself on a schedule. This first thing that I will have to do is actively reach out to the families of my students to gather e-mail addresses that I can send to. I started this school year making a newsletter for every month. It was about February that I slacked off and stopped making them. I would like to reuse the ones that I already have made for next year but just update them. There will be some (from February on) that I will need to create. I want to come up with a deadline (the same each month) that I have the newsletter ready and e-mailed to the families by. This will not take anything more than my time and dedication to getting it done.

With a little help from other teachers, as well as time on my part, I am hoping to be successful at integrating the NETS-T standards for this upcoming school year.


National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.itse.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

NETS-T GAME Plan

While looking over the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T)
and Performance Indicators for Teachers I was rather pleased with how well I am implementing each of the standards. However, I am not perfect and I could still use a little more work on two of the standards in particular. I will use the GAME plan as described by Dr. Katherine Cennamo in order to become more proficient at each of the standards.

Goals
Actions
Monitor
Evaluate

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

My Actions:

3c. I want to start communicating with my students parents and families using more technology. Many of my parents have e-mail access and I thought one way to communicate with them more would be through e-mail. Many times it is easier to find time to answer an e-mail rather than finding times when both the parents and the teacher are available to speak on the phone. Another idea I have is to send my newsletters via e-mail. I currently print and copy the newsletters and pass them out for the students to take home. I will still print some copies for those families who do not have access to e-mail, but for those that do have access to e-mail I will send it to them electronically.

4d. My idea is to join a site such as epals in order to find a 4th grade class in another country. Once we get connected with another class I thought it would be interesting to learn about each others cultures and traditions. In addition, when we do the weather unit in science it would be helpful to compare and contrast the weather conditions in both regions.

Monitior:

3c. I will monitor my use of technology while communicating with the parents and families by making sure that I send one newsletter electronically a month.

4d. I will monitor my collaboration with a class from another country by setting a timeline. I will research this summer to find a collaborating class for next year. I want to find a class that will be willing to communicate. Once I find a class, I will work with the teacher to set up a timeline stating when we will collaborate with each other and how often. I want to make sure that everyone is on the same page so we know what is expected.

Evaluate

3c. At the end of the year I will evaluate myself by creating a survey to give to the parents. In the survey I will ask for their feedback about receiving the class newsletters electronically. I also want to see what they thought about communicating via e-mail rather than telephone. If the majority of the responses are positive then I will continue using technology in this manner.

4d. I will be evaluating the collaboration and my students while we are communicating with the other class. At the end of the year I will poll my students to find out how they enjoyed have epals across the country. If at the end of the year the students and myself feel having the epals was effective then I will continue the following year with my next class.

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.

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

I Just Keep Learning!

This course has really helped me both personally and professionally. We live in a technology rich environment and we need to prepare our students with the 21st century skills. David Warlick explained, “We live in a time of rapid change. We are preparing our kids for a future we can’t clearly describe” (Laureate Education, 2009).

The most striking revelation that I had from this course was that I have been underestimating some of my student's computer abilities. I was very nervous about letting the students do an open research project, but I was very surprised with how well it went. I was thankful to have a handful of students that did so well that they could help some of the less tech savvy students. I also enjoyed using the bookmarking site. It made it very easy for each of my students to get to the sites that I wanted them to use without having to save them on each of the computers or having to type the addresses in. I will definitely be using this site for my personal sites as well.

In the future I will be much more open to having my students research on the Internet. I would like to start working with the computers and Internet right from the beginning of the year. I would like to do the "Reliable vs. Unreliable" website check at the beginning of the year, therefore my students will know what to look for when deciding on what websites to use.

Throughout each course I have taken, I have learned a handful of tips and tricks for integrating technology. My goal is to continue to learn and integrate technology in the classroom even after I have completed my masters. I plan to continue to be a part of the technology focus groups in my school district. Another goal I have for myself, is to try something new (technology related) each year with my students. This year I started blogging with my students. Next year I would like to try using Photo Story with them.

Since we are preparing our students for an unpredictable future, we have to teach them how to learn and give them the opportunities and experiences. Technology has so much to offer; it's our job to teach the students how to navigate and use the information they find.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Author.

Website Evaluation

In this assignment we had to do a think aloud that would evaluate the reliability and validity of a website on the Internet. I used the Jing online screencasting software to create both a visual and audio recording of the website documenting the different sections while navigating through the site. I also used the ABCs guide to evaluating information on the Internet while evaluating the website. Below is the link to the recording

Click Here for Evaluation

Reflection

After looking back at my "Personal Learning Theory" that I developed in the first week of this course there are not any major modifications that I would make. I did not and still do not agree with any one complete theory. My personal theory of learning involves bits and pieces of a few of the different theories. My theory incorporates some of the behaviorist theory, constructionist/constructivist theory, and the social learning theory. “Different people can look at the same thing and see it in very different ways” (Lever-Duffy and McDonald, 2008). I believe that every child learns in their own distinct way. However, I do believe that it is the most memorable lessons and activities that the students’ participate in that they remember for the rest of their lives. It is the lessons that are meaningful, relevant to them, and that are hands-on that the students gather the most from. Even though every student learns differently, it is important to understand your own personal learning theory before you can establish a teaching theory. “As an educator, awareness of these differing views helps you understand the options you have in approaching the design of an instructional event and, indeed, the entire learning environment” (Lever-Duffy and McDonald, 2008).

Even though I do not feel I need to change my "Personal Learning Theory", this has definitely been one of my favorite classes that I have taken so far. I have learned so many new ways to use technology as an instructional tool as well as a learning tool. From SmartBoard abilities, VoiceThreads, Podcasting, to PowerPoint and wonderful websites there are so many possibilities and ways to integrate technology into the classroom.

The adjustments that need to be made, unfortunately can not be made on my part. The changes that need to be made are to have more access in school to the technology that is out in the real world that the students may be working with in the future, as well as TIME. Time for me to use the technology as well as time to properly teach the students how to use it and giving them adequate amounts of time to work with it. The two tools that I would like to begin working with in my classroom are VoiceThread and Podcasting. Allowing the students the chance to share something both orally and in a typed manner is another way to get them excited about their work. When I tell the students that they will get a chance to share their work using one of these technologies, they get very excited and seem to try harder and put more effort into their work.

One reason I think they try harder and are more motivated when I offer them the opportunity to use the computer is because they do not get to use it very much. One long term goal that I have is to give the students the opportunity to use different forms of technology to present their work once a quarter. Technology can be used in so many ways and throughout the subjects, therefore, I would like to try integrating it not just with a writing assignment but also creating an artifact in Science, Social Studies, Math and Reading. Showing the students that the computer can do so much will hopefully get them wanting to learn more, just like me!

Another long term goal I would like to work on is instructional technology. I would like to do less of the talking/teaching and allow the technology to do more. However, it is important to know that technology should not become the teacher. It should be used as a tool to assist the teacher. The students to do not respond well when the teacher lectures, however they need to know that they have a human for a teacher and not just a computer. There are so many possibilities using technology and Internet that I never knew about and I know that there is still so much that I do not know. It is important to get the students involved while teaching. Having the students come up and interact with the technology and having them show their work or how to work a problem using the document camera (or if you're lucky enough to have a SmartBoard) is very beneficial to that student as well as the other students. Anytime you can get the students up, moving, talking, and being involved will help them retain the information that is being taught.

Technology is all around us! It is time that we start preparing our students for their future with technology using 21st century tools. There are so many possibilities when using technology. I feel that I am very up on technology but there is still so much that I don't know. Don't be scared of technology or shy away from it. It's important to embrace technology and use it to its fullest capabilities.

My VoiceThread

Here is my VoiceThread. Please post comments because I'm curious to see what you think about how to administer Reading tests in 4th grade.


http://voicethread.com/share/785856/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Chapter 7 Cooperative Learning is full of wonderful strategies to use that incorporate the idea of Social Learning. Social Learning is defined by Dr. Orey as, "students who are engaged in constructing artifact and conversing with others" (Laureate Education, 2009). I totally agree that getting students involved and talking is very important to their learning. My first year teaching I was given a poster with this information on it and I have had it hanging in my room ever since:

We retain:

10% of what we read
20% of what you hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we talk about with others
80% of what we experience personally
95% of what we teach to others

I point this poster out at the beginning of year and explain to all of my kids how important it is for them to get involved in their education. "When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others" (Johnson, Johnson, & Staane, 2000).

Chapter 7 has many wonderful ideas of how you can get students actively discussing their learning. One strategy is using Numbered Heads Together. This is a strategy that I am already using in my classroom. My school district has adopted the Max Thompson Learning Focused concept and using Numbered Heads was one of the big strategies that he focuses on. I have a picture of a clock on each of the students desks. There is a line at 12, 3, 6, and 9. On each line there is a students name. The 12 and 3:00 appointments are someone right at their table. The 6 and 9:00 appointments are someone in the classroom. When I want the students to work in partners I tell them which appointment to meet with and they know exactly who to go to. If I don't have a lot of time I'll choose 12 or 3 since the students don't have to move. This is a great way to get the students talking and moving when I want them to and it's done quickly and in an organized fashion.

In addition, it is important to have the students talk about and summarize what they are learning every so often during the lesson. You should not just wait till the end and then summarize what they learned. Max Thompson suggests you have them "do something" whether it be an activity or talking after their age plus two in minutes. So for example, if they are 9 and 10 years old, every 12 minutes or so they should be talking or doing something. This helps the students retain the information.

All of the suggestions that they gave in the book were excellent ways to get the students actively talking while being engaged at the same time. The more the students use what you are teaching them, the better chance they have at remembering it.