Reflection- Week 7 Assignment 2- Integrating Technology Across All Content Areas

At the start of this master’s course, Integrating Technology Across All Content Areas, I was challenged to develop a GAME plan, (G-Goals, A-Actions, M-Monitor, E-Evaluate) in accordance with The National Educational Technology Standards. My GAME plan consisted of two main goals.  My first goal was to improve collaboration with parents, students, peers and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. The second goal was to increase participation in local and global learning communities and to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.  

Throughout this process my colleagues along with my weekly resources have helped me modify and adjust my GAME plan to help the plan become more successful and more student driven. One major adjustment was the understanding of different assessment methods. The learning resources introduced me to four methods of assessment; forced- choice, open-ended, performance based and project-based (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009, p. 142). Also, one colleague introduced me to an article that focused on parent involvement. The article states that first you should develop a philosophy of parent involvement. The second step is to make sure you have a personable and attractive letter head that invites parents to read your correspondence.  Next, is to keep a parent contact log to see who you reach out to and who responds. (The McClurg Monthly Magazine, 2005). This helped me modify my first goal of creating a newsletter to increase parent involvement. Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer said it best when they said learning to teach generally, and to teach with technology specifically, are lifelong journeys (Cennamo et. al, 2009, p.1).  I can take my idea of the newsletter and turn it into an authentic assessment for my students.  The project based assessment will help my students create their own portfolio and work sample.

As for my second goal I have taken the suggestions of colleagues again that I should have my students work in small groups and create a wiki.  The wiki can be a great tool to teach the students to understand the importance of team work and completing tasks while being physically active. As a physical education and health teacher I want my students to learn how to work with others and to become lifelong learners.  These goals of mine coincide with some of the benefits of online collaboration.  “Online collaboration allows teamwork, allow students to work inside and outside of school and challenges students to perform at a higher level” (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).The students can use the wiki to create a new game and then share it with the rest of the school or other schools if I am able to create a global learning environment. As Vicki Davis states, “The power and the ease to which social networking allows students, teachers, and experts from all over the world to connect and teach each other truly widens the definition of a classroom”(Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  I think it is an excellent idea.  I am taking physical education and creating an assessment that is not only physically challenging but also mentally challenging all while using a newer form of technology.

Developing a GAME plan and blogging about it was a new, fun and a learning experience for me.  Blogging allowed me to learn from my colleagues, something I can incorporate into my classroom.  By having my students set up GAME plans and blogging I can create more student interaction.  The students can learn from each other using some of the new technology tools learned in this class; social networking, project based assessment and digital story telling.  The GAME plan itself took large tasks and broken them into smaller task which help me realize changes I need to make and the transformation that was taking place.

  

Resources:

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. [Executive Producer]. (2010). Spotlight on technology: Social     networking and online collaboration part I. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

The McClurg Monthly Magazine and 14 More Practical Ways to Involve Parents. (2005). Teaching Exceptional Children, 38(2), 46-51.

Monitoring your GAME Plan- Week 4- July 16, 2012

My two goals of my GAME plan are to first meet the National Standards by improving to collaborate with parents, students, peers and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. The second goal is to increase participation in local and global learning communities and to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.  

I am finding the resources needed to be successful by reading my colleagues comments to my last post about my GAME plan. I have been able to take their suggestions and slightly modify my plan.  This week’s learning resources introduced me to four methods of assessment; forced- choice, open-ended, performance based and project-based (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009, p. 142).  As for my first goal, creating a newsletter to increase parent involvement my colleagues have suggested I have the students help in the creation of the newsletter.  Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer said it best when they said learning to teach generally, and to teach with technology specifically, are lifelong journeys (Cennamo et. al, 2009, p.1).  I can take my idea of the newsletter and turn it into an authentic assessment for my students.  The project based assessment will help my students create their own portfolio and work sample.  Not only will they be doing this but they will help me reach my goal of parent involvement because the parent now will see what their students are learning not only from me but from the writing skills of their children.

As for my second goal I have taken the suggestion of a colleague again that I may want my students to work in small groups and create a wiki.  The wiki can be a great tool to teach the students to understand the importance of team work and completing tasks while being physically active.  The students can use the wiki to create a new game and then share it with the rest of the school or other schools if I am able to create a global learning environment.  I think it is an excellent idea.  I am taking physical education and creating an assessment that is not only physically challenging but also mentally challenging all while using a newer form of technology.

It is very interesting to me to see the value of a global learning environment.  One of my goals here was to continue to open up opportunities for my students to become active learners.  Just by participating in this class discussion and learning from my colleagues I have seen the value of others opinions and their ideas.  Technology is not a tool that will only help my students learn but a tool that will also help me learn. 

My remaining questions revolve around how to score these types of authentic assessments.  Authentic assessments are terrific but much more difficult to grade than a forced choice assessment.  “But assessments are useless unless you score them to evaluate students’ progress and determine whether your students learned what they set out to learn” (Cennamo et. al, 2009, p. 153).  I have created rubrics before but sometimes feel they are too difficult for the students to succeed with or to easy and do not challenge the students.  Does anyone have any suggestions or sites that are useful tools to help create rubrics that are challenging but fair to all students?

Resources:

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.

Carrying out my GAME plan- July 9, 2012- EDUC 6712

Currently, my GAME plan is to strive to improve upon two indicators. “The GAME plan enables you to customize your approach to a learning task, to develop relevant skills that are important to you, and prepares you for lifelong learning” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.3-4).  I would like to meet the National Standards by improving to collaborate with parents, students, peers and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.  The actions I want to take to reach my goal would be to produce a monthly newsletter.  This newsletter would consist of all the areas of study we have studied the past few weeks along with all different projects we accomplished or completed.   When reviewing my GAME plan it will be very important to work with my technology director to ensure that I completely understand what the school website offers and the features I can use to make my newsletter worthwhile for the parents.  I would also want to meet with colleagues from my school or from other schools that currently produce a monthly newsletter for their parents.  I would want to review their newsletter to get an idea of the setup of the newsletter and the type of information they put in the newsletter.  Currently, I have been able to research newsletters on the Internet and speak with some teachers in my school.  They were kind enough to share with me their newsletters so I am currently in the process of reviewing examples and beginning to determine the format I want my newsletters to follow.  I will not be able to meet with my technology director however until September to review all the features of the school website.

My second indicator I am focusing on is the participation in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.  My goal here would be to continue to open up opportunities for my students to become active learners. The actions needed for this improvement are to continue to take classes like this to learn more about technology and the tools available to teachers to make this possible.  Over the last few weeks I have been able to use my free time exploring wikis, blogs, podcasts which allow my classrooms walls to be expanded (Cennamo et. al, 2009).  Resources need to carry out my plan are very similar to my first indicator.  Working with my colleagues who have experience with these technology tools is very important.  The more I learn from them, the more comfortable I will feel with the technology.  I have begun to do that as well as using these technology tools on my own.  I have started to create sample virtual maps, created Microsoft Excel spreadsheet templates to name a few to prepare for the upcoming school year.   I need to continue to learn more about technology, especially the newer types because technology changes every day.  I want to make myself advanced in technology so I can open the doors to my students.

While technology is a great tool in the classroom, you must you technology to help you reach your objective.  You cannot just use technology to use technology. “Although there are many ways that technology can be used to promote creative thinking skills among students in your classroom, it should be fairly clear from our discussion that simply using technology will not accomplish this goal” (Cennamo et. al, 2009, p. 79).

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.

Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences-Intgr Tech Across Content- Week2- July 8,2012

When reviewing the NETS-T standards and performance indicators, I was very pleased to see I already incorporate many of these into my classroom daily.  Many of the standards focus on the importance of teachers developing, designing and evaluating authentic learning experiences.  In my subject area of health education and physical education, I am very fortunate many of my learning experiences are authentic whether they are focusing on smoking, drug use, physical fitness, nutrition or family life education.  I feel the real life examples I am providing to my students are valuable lessons because the students can relate to the material because these are all areas of life they are currently experiencing or will in the near future.

To improve areas of weakness you need a GAME plan.  “The GAME plan enables you to customize your approach to a learning task, to develop relevant skills that are important to you, and prepares you for lifelong learning” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.3-4).

My first area of weakness that I need to improve on was collaborating with parents, students, peers and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.  While I do post or place student work around my room, I do not feel I am letting the parents and the community know exactly what my students are achieving in the classroom.  My first goal would be to open the doors of my classroom and allow the parents of my students to see exactly what is taking place inside the classroom walls.  I do not want to rely solely on my students sharing with their parents what happens in the classroom, but take a leadership role in this idea and tell the parents exactly what we are doing myself.  The actions I want to take to reach my goal would be to produce a weekly or monthly newsletter.  This newsletter would consist of all the areas of study we have studied the past few weeks along with all different projects we accomplished or completed.  Along with placing the material in the newsletter I would also have a calendar section of the newsletter discussing important dates coming up.  These dates would include test dates, project due dates and homework assignments.  I would share this newsletter in two different formats.  The first format would be a hard copy the students would bring home with them and the second way would be posting the newsletter on my teacher created website.  My teacher created website would be a great way to keep the parents and community involved in my classroom because anyone can see the site and can download the newsletter if they choose.  I would monitor the progress or the affect of the newsletter by having parents sign into my website and also I would probably have more email interaction with my parents due to questions or concerns over the newsletter.

The second area of improvement I want to focus on is the participation in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.  My goal here would be to continue to open up opportunities for my students to become active learners.  I want to continue to move away from textbook and lecture lessons and more to technology driven lessons that incorporate other classrooms and other states around the country.  The actions needed for this improvement are to continue to take classes like this to learn more about technology and the tools available to teachers to make this possible.  Over the last few months taking various courses in this program I have learned about wikis, blogs, podcasts and many more tools that allow classrooms walls to be expanded (Cennamo et. al, 2009).  “Computer software could serve as a tutor, mind tool and as a support for conversation” (Cennamo, et. al, 2009, p. 79). I would monitor progress in this area but self reflection, asking myself to evaluate my lesson plans and ideas.  Have my students’ grades and interest in the class increased? Or have they decreased?  Evaluating whether the goal was achieved would take time.  Even before technology, teachers would create lessons for the first time thinking it was the best lesson in the world only to find out it had many problems and issues they never thought of.  The same can be said for technology, there will be days and lessons when the use of technology fails you and days when it’s makes the lesson go.  It will be a trial and error period.  The lessons that work, you can keep, and the lessons that fail you need to have adjustments made to them so the modifications help you reach your learning objectives.  “Although there are many ways that technology can be used to promote creative thinking skills among students in your classroom, it should be fairly clear from our discussion that simply using technology will not accomplish this goal” (Cennamo et. al, 2009, p. 79).

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.

Reflection

When reflecting on my personal theory of learning that I stated in week 1 not much has changed other than the fact I now more than ever believe my theory is possible and I will continue to strive to make this my goal as an educator.  My learning theory is every child can learn.  Many times teachers see students who are struggling and not understanding concepts but they are only delivering instruction in one specific way.  I strongly believe, through the use of technology and differentiation, you can help each and every student reach their potential. Students have many different types of learning styles and teachers must focus on trying to connect with each. “Learning styles refer to those conditions under which we learn best” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008).  My personal learning theory is reflected in my current instructional practice by the various types of assignments and assessments I have my students complete.  Not only are my assignments focusing on different types of learning and intelligences, but I also try to incorporate technology whenever possible.  This technology use can be through the form of a teacher driven blog, or podcasts my students create.  This course has introduced me to many new forms of technology that I can now use in my classroom to continue to strive for my goal of allowing all children to learn.

            While I was currently using technology in my classroom this class has taught me many news ways and new types of technology to incorporate into my classroom.  When using technology at first it is more work for us as educators to come up with assignments that incorporate the technology but after the initial work I feel the technology tools are very teacher friendly and help all teachers and help aid their students.  Two tools that I have already begun to add to my classroom are the virtual field trips and the VoiceThread website.  I think both tools allow students to create artifacts and the ability t share their work with their peers.  We have learned throughout the course and through my time as Walden University the more creativity and freedom we give to our students the more they learn because they are putting their knowledge to use to create an artifact.  When students have to share their work with their classmates they have pride in their accomplishments and want to show off what they have done.

            Two long term goals I would like to make in my instructional practice are to incorporate more technology into my health education classroom and to begin to incorporate technology in my physical education classes.  The easier goal to accomplish is my first goal of incorporating more technology into my health classes.  Since I have started this program I have already added a blog project, podcasts and a concept mapping activity to my curriculum.  I have incorporated the website, www.spiderscribe.net to my assignments and the students love it.  It’s a simple website and activity but it allows the students to be creative and allows them to create an artifact which I learned is very important.  My second goal of incorporating technology into the gym is a little tougher.  My plan for this is to create an activity where the students will be creating an activity or game on their own.  The students would be working in small groups because of my belief in collaborative learning and the students would use the Internet and any equipment in the gym to create their game.  Not only would the students create a game but they must create a website highlighting the game and type up in Microsoft word the rules of the game.  Each group will then present their game to the rest of the class and all the students will get a chance to become a teacher for the day.  This is a specific idea I have to integrate technology into Physical education but I think it’s an important step and I will continue to try to develop new ways to create student interest in the class and allow them to become physically fit but also use technology to help foster student learning.

References:

Lever-Duffy, J., & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical foundations (Laureate Education, Inc.,custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

The social learning theory

The social learning theory is defined as, “students actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).  A major part of the social learning theory focuses around cooperative learning.  Cooperative learning is focused on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance learning” (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007).  The social learning theory and the instructional strategy of cooperative learning correlate because both focus on students working together to enhance the learning environment.  Both ideas focus on students learning from one another. I am a big believer in cooperative learning as I feel it prepares the students for real life situations.  I am a middle school teacher and I think it’s very important that I prepare more students for life after school.  Many times students have difficulty working together in small groups.  I am not in favor of groups large than 4 students because I feel many times one or two of the students in the group will do all the work. Our textbook states that groups must be kept manageable and combine cooperative learning with other classroom structures (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007).   

I think the social learning theory which focuses on students working together and constructing an artifact with their knowledge is a way that allows the information to stick with the student. Cooperative learning focuses on students working in groups to solve a problem.  The teacher in the room is there to help guide them through the process but must allow students to search for answers and not just give them answers. Dr. Orey states, “Social learning theory contexts and culture are critical in constructing knowledge and understanding of the world around us” (Laureate Education Inc, 2010).  Technology has allowed this strategy to evolve where computers along with teachers can act as the experts in the classroom. Technology plays a key role in both strategies.  “Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face” (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2007).  Not only is the Internet a tool that is helpful for this theory but tools such as PowerPoint can help students construct artifacts.  Technology and the social learning theory are allowing teachers to expand their classroom walls and have students working together in ways that until a few years ago was not possible. 

These strategies go hand in hand because of the central focus on students working together to solve problems and to enhance their learning.  The teacher’s job is properly preparing students to use technology, forming groups and to help keep the groups on task.  The social learning theory cannot work without cooperative learning because the students need to learn from each other.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Social learning theories. Baltimore, Maryland.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom                        instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Voicethread link

http://voicethread.com/?#u2435168