Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

Two weeks ago I began developing my GAME plan. GAME is an acronym for set Goals, take Action, Monitor, and Evaluate and extend, and is used to assist in self-directed learning (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). The first goal I set was to create a classroom website that will be used to provide information to students, families, and the community, and a place where students can publish their work. My second goal is to introduce and show my colleagues what technology can do for them in the classroom. This week I am monitoring my progress on these goals.

I have spent some time looking for the information and resources I need and have found a lot of helpful information on creating a quality classroom website. Two of these resources are located at http://k6educators.about.com/c/ht/00/07/How_Classroom_Web_Site0963767121.htm and http://hubpages.com/hub/10-Tips-for-an-A-Plus-Classroom-Website. The tips they offer have been helpful. The information that I am still having difficulty obtaining is from my own school district which seems to have put a hold on my request for permission to place school information on my website until after the holiday vacation. I have also been gathering information to provide to my colleagues on the benefits of technology in the classroom. After reviewing effective assessments using technology this week in class I knew some of my colleagues might be interested in learning more about it. Ross noted that assessing with technology provides flexible options for testing student content learning (Laureate Education INC., 2009). Last year I began building digital portfolios with my students. This morning I had the opportunity to share examples of these portfolios with a few of my colleagues. The information located at http://electronicportfolios.org/handbook/index.html was extremely helpful in talking about the process of using electronic portfolios and how to get started. I think I have at least one of my colleagues interested in using something similar with her students and I will be talking more about it with her next week. Does anyone else have additional information or resources that I might find helpful in this area?

At this point I do not feel like I will need to modify my GAME plan, other than to reflect a more realistic time table for development of my classroom website. I have a general idea of website design and links to helpful resources I seem to be at the mercy of my school district on moving forward. Does anyone have any helpful suggestions on this? I am beginning to think I should build the page using software and then try to move it to a site when I get the okay. The problem is that I am unsure what I will get the okay to put in the website. Hopefully I will find out early next week.

So far I have learned to keep up with my goals. With my busy schedule it can be easy to put these goals on the “back burner” and forget to go back to them later. I have asked one of my colleagues at school to help me with this by asking me each day where I am on carrying out my GAME plan.

The new question that arose from this monitoring of my GAME plan is if my time table is still doable for my website. I wanted to have it running by the end of the blogging assignments. I hope to be able to move ahead as soon as possible this next week.

As always, I welcome thoughts, comments, and suggestions on my blog.

Shannon Eno

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program seven. Assessing Student Learning with Technology [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Developing a GAME plan is only the first step in becoming more confident and proficient in the NETS-T. This week I am looking at the resources and information I need to carry out my action plan.

One of my goals was to develop a classroom website that will serve as a way to produce information to students, families, and the community, and a place where students can publish their work. To accomplish this goal I will need my computer and, web development software, and an online host for my website. I will also need information related to making accessible websites for people with special needs. This week in our class, we have been looking at Universal design for learning (UDL) and assistive technology. Assistive technology and computer adaptations will allow my students more effective access to the computer (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 131). I must also get permission from my administrator and IT department before proceeding since I would be placing school information on the website. I have already put in the request and hope to hear back soon. Is there anything I am missing? Those of you who have build classroom websites might be able to let me know.

My other goal was to introduce and show my colleagues what technology can do in the classroom. Working in special education, we have access to many forms of assistive technology that could be useful for our students, but I have often seen it unused, because the teacher does not know how to properly work it. Ross states that effective teachers using assistive technology in the classroom must know how to use the technology (Laureate Education, INC., 2009). To accomplish this goal I will need information on how to use the technologies so that I can teach it to my colleagues. I will also need to make myself familiar with research that can help show my peers the benefits of technology integration. I have begun doing this already this past week. I have access to much of the research due to the classes I have been taking through Walden University.

As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. If you have any resources that I would find beneficial in developing and carrying out my GAME plan, please let me know. It is through collaboration that we grow as educators.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

After reviewing the National Education Standards for Teachers I decided on two standards that I would like to become more proficient and confident in. They are:

3c. communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats

5b. exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others (ISTE, 2008)

The first goal I have for becoming more proficient on standard 3c is to design a classroom website. I have tried this before, but I got busy, and the project fell by the wayside. At this point, having taken a number of classes through Walden, I am already better prepared at designing the website to be a place where I can relay information to students and parents, as well as showcase student and classroom work when appropriate.

The second goal I have relates to standard 5b. At this point, I am the only teacher in my program at school (students with multiple disabilities) interested in technology integration. Of the five teachers in the program, I am the only one to have made any technology requests, other than for a computer. As such, it is sometimes difficult for me to convince administrators to spend the money on technology for my students. I feel that if I can convince my colleagues how the technology integration can enhance their teaching we can petition for the technology together. To do this, my goal is to demonstrate and teach my colleagues about the power of technology integration.

To accomplish these goals I will take action on building a website with information for students, parents, and peers. The website will also have suggested resources and showcase classroom work and projects. I am also looking for other suggestions on what I should include in the website. Successful and beneficial sites need to be defined (Who is the audience? What information do they need? What content will be available?) in advance (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.64).

I will also need to take action in accomplishing my second goal, but I am having a little more trouble in what action will make the biggest impact. I thought about inviting my peers to see me use the technology. I also thought about maybe leading a little in-service during the afternoon of a half-day. Does anyone else have suggestions? They seem so worried about everything they have to teach, that they say they do not have the time to learn the technology. While I understand their concern, Ertmer notes that for technology integration to be truly successful, supportive culture is key (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Having supportive colleagues would be a big help to me.

To monitor my progress on these goals I will set goals on when to accomplish each step of my GAME plan. I also will have the timed aspect of these blogging assignments for my Master’s class. Lastly, I will also make these professional goals that we need to develop each year in the district.

To evaluate and extend my learning, I will look to see if I have completed what I set out to do. Do I have a website with all the components I am looking for? Have I shown my peers the vision of technology integration and are they willing to work with me in getting the technology and sharing ideas on how to integrate them seamlessly into our lessons to enhance student learning?

Please feel free to add suggestions for me. I am especially looking forward to hearing suggestions on how best to get my peers at school to see the power of technology integration, or for them to understand the technology integration is not just having a student computer in the classroom. Any thoughts?

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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

Laureate Education Inc., (Producer). Program three. Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology Part One [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Reflection of EDUC 6712

Upon reflecting on the EDUC 6712 course, I find that I have once again discovered how much more there is for me to learn. While some of the concepts in a course about information literacy and online inquiry may appear to be common sense, a closer look reveals a deeper truth about the way we teach and how we integrate technology into the classroom.

I think the most striking revelation I found in this course relates to the teaching of new literacy skills to our students. While the old literacies of reading, writing, language, etc., are still a foundation of education, it is now crucial that our students receive instruction with additional literacy skills that build on the old, but incorporate the skills they will need in today’s modern workforce (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004). After completing the 21st Century Fluencies Quotient Insta-Audit by Ian Jukes (2007), I was surprised to find that the 21st century literacy skills were not all about technology like I had anticipated they would be. Instead, most of them deal with being able to work cooperatively in a group and reading and communicating effectively in a variety of mediums (written, in a group, electronically, etc.). There are also fluencies that relate to seeking and presenting information in the problem solving process. While these literacies may have surprised me at first, I suppose they really should not have. Technology integration has never been about making sure the classroom is stocked full of the latest and greatest technology, but in how seamless the technology is integrated into the curriculum and making it personal (Laureate Education, INC., 2009).

Keeping that fact in mind, the information and experience I gained in this course will influence the way I teach from this point forward. It is easy enough for me to have my students use the Internet to find information about the subject they are researching, but after this course I now know this needs to be a taught process. Students need to be taught how to do an Internet search. I need to teach them how to expand or narrow their searches to find the most relevant information. I also need to teach them to look critically at the information they find. With anybody able to publish nearly anything, students have to have the skill of finding and analyzing good information. Finally, students need to learn how to communicate the information in an effective way to a varied audience.

One of the professional goals I would like to pursue after taking this course is working the new literacies seamlessly into the total curriculum. There are so many things we are required to teach our students, that the idea of adding anything else seems overwhelming. However, these new literacies differ from the old ones because they lend themselves well at working with the curriculum instead of adding to it. It will take some work though. The next Walden class we take is about integrating technology across the content areas, which should offer some great ideas. I also will look through the curriculum and see what areas lend themselves to project-based learning, and working cooperatively with peers (both within the room and around the world). This is not a small goal, but with some hard work, it is a doable goal. The reward is well worth the price; preparing our students for life in the 21st century.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). It’s Not About the Technology. Baltimore: Author.

Leu, D. J., Kinzer, C. K., Coiro, J. L., & Cammack, D. W. (2004). Toward a theory of new literacies emerging from the internet and other information and communication technologies. In Ruddell, R. B. & Unrau, N. J., (Eds.), Theoretical models and processes of reading (5th ed.). (pp. 1570-1613). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Reflection Post for EDUC 6711

When reflecting back on this course I find that, as with most things in education, I am constantly fluctuating and reevaluating my thoughts and ideas on being a better and more effective educator. The learning theories looked at in this course were not new to me. I have studied behaviorism, cognitive, and constructivist theories before. The benefit of this class was in the context in which these theories were presented. Instead of simple facts about the theories and their differences, this course had me putting them into practice and showed how I can integrate technologies that complement the theories. I was able to make immediate changes that can enhance my students’ learning as well as some long-term goals to change my instructional practice in a positive and exciting way.

When I look back over my personal theory of learning from the first week of the course, I think the biggest thing that I have altered is including and emphasizing more the importance of social learning theory. Connectivists believe that people learn about and understand the world primarily through social interactions (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). This is something that I have begun to see as true for my students and myself. By placing greater importance on social learning, I see greater motivation and improved learning in my classroom.

Using concept mapping software and virtual field trips will be the two most immediate changes in technology use that I have made into my classroom. My students enjoy the virtual field trips that we have begun taking. The visual component makes my lessons more concrete in my students’ minds allowing them to more easily make the important shift from short term to long term memory. The concept map software available from IHMC CmapTools are easy to use and can easily be adapted for my students’ use. The ability to add pictures and sounds to the maps again help my students take concepts that may seem abstract and foreign and make them more concrete. Advanced organizers, like the concept map software, help the students to organize and make sense of the content they are learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, pg. 73).

The first long-term goal I have for technology integration into my instructional practice is using available technology to recognize and reinforce effort. My students love to “show-off” their hard work. Using blogs, classroom websites, and VoiceThreads they can publish their work to a wider audience and seek feedback and reinforcement from others. Next year, I hope to set up accounts that will allow my students to use these resources in the classroom. The first step is making sure that I will be able to access the sites in my classroom, as many times, these sites are blocked by my district.

The second long-term goal I have is making sure that the technology I bring into the classroom becomes learning tools and not just instructional tools. While some software is designed to help teachers with tasks like attendance and grade keeping, programs such as PowerPoint and hardware like interactive whiteboards, often ends up being used as only an instructional tool. By making sure to get my students using the technology that is integrated into the classroom I ensure that they receive the maximum benefits from the technology. I can make sure that I am completing this goal by evaluating and reflecting each lesson I teach and looking at the technology I use. Placing the technology into the hands of my students will also increase motivation and have a positive effect on my students’ learning.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program nine. Instructional Theory vs. Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Connectivism as a Learning Theory. Baltimore: Author.

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

VoiceThread

Here is the link to my VoiceThread project for Application 5 in EDUC 6711. In it I talk a little about some of the technology I use in my classroom. Some of that technology is out of date or difficult for some of my students to use.

http://voicethread.com/share/528897/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice (APP 5 for EDUC 6711)

Social learning theory puts forth the idea that people learn primarily from what they observe other people doing. As children, we learned from our parents, siblings, teachers, and peers. Even as adults, we may often learn how to act in a certain situation or environment based on our observations of others. Creating a classroom where social learning theory is practiced means lots of cooperative learning. While constructionist learning theory has an individual creating an artifact, social learning theory has students working together to create the artifact. Given the incredible wealth of technology and Web 2.0 tools available to many people, it is now possible for collaborative learning to occur both with peers in the classroom and around the world.

In their book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) list several ideas for integrating technology into a cooperative learning setting (pgs. 141-154). The first way they suggest is to have students create a multimedia presentation. This can be a high interest and motivating activity for students. The authors note that this is a complex activity that requires a lot of attention to detail and would require students to work effectively in the collaborative environment. The second suggestion they offer is to use Web resources. Web resources allow students to communicate with peers from around the country or world. This communication can be used for further collaboration or a learning exercise. Sites such as ePALS and Keypals Club International help in setting up correspondence from students around the world. Other Web resources include WebQuests to focus students’ learning on the information instead of finding it, and Web site creation tools such as iWeb (for Macintosh operating systems), Publisher, TOWeb, and Cool Page.

Collaborating over the Web also gives teachers and students the chance to organize data and share resources. Shared bookmarking sites such as del.icio.us allow users to collect all their favorite Websites and resources in one location and then share them with others. Teachers can also set up blogs and wikis through sites such as Edublogs and Wikispaces to collect the group’s information.

One of the fastest growing aspects of the Web today is social networking. Sites like Facebook have entered into mainstream culture. It is almost certain today that most of our students are already using resources like this to collaborate and communicate with friends. While many of them do this as a form of entertainment, social networking can be a powerful tool that people can use to find jobs, relationships, and more. Regardless of our feelings towards using these tools, our students need to learn how to use them in a responsible and useful way. Used correctly, these tools will be essential to our students’ future as a member of today’s global workforce.

Resources

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