Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

At this point, I have found two ways to incorporate technology into my classroom, using flip cameras and incorporating VoiceThreads into social studies. To help me accomplish these goals, I have downloaded Audacity onto some work computers. Also, the sixth grade recently purchased a video camera and I brought in my flip camera.

This week I have found two more ideas that I want to add to my goals. The first idea is digital storytelling and it will be developed through the class I am enrolled in at Walden University, Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. After reading ahead and learning that we are going to create lessons for digital storytelling, this is a no-brainer. I am thinking about my options for this project, I could have students complete it in the lab or we could use IPod touches. The other idea I want to add to my list is using Google Earth to supplement my social studies class. Today on the site http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ I read an article on ten US history Google Earth tours. This is a perfect way to supplement my ten year old texts that lack substance.

I still need one more goal but I am starting to spend time thinking about how to put my four ideas into action.

Craig

Carrying Out My Game Plan

In order to strengthen my confidence and proficiencies to integrate technology in my instruction, I have begun to compile a list five goals to incorporate technology into my class. I looked back through my texts from previous classes I took at Walden and continually look on the Internet for new ideas. I am looking for virtual field trips, simulations, and interactive web-sites that I can incorporate into my curriculum. On the site Free Tech 4 Teachers, http://www.freetech4teachers.com/, I have begun looking for ideas how to incorporate flip cameras into the classroom. I found an article that gives 20 ways to use flip cameras into the classroom. Awesome! I am going to try to do a video book-cast later this year. From previous classes, I want to incorporate Voice Threads into my social studies curriculum. I will use the Voice Thread for the forum for current events discussion. I want to stimulate debate between my students about current issues, maybe the November election or the US position in Afghanistan. The Voice Thread hopefully will influence some of my quiet students into participating in a much bigger way than a discussion.

For my other goal, I will give students many options to complete assignments, promoting creativity. This is going to begin in our next project, when students pick a Canadian province/territory and give a report. The students will be given the option to do a wiki page, a video cast, a podcast, or to pick any of the web 2.0 tools from the site http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/. This will really force me to learn new technologies and to create rubrics to assess the projects. To create rubrics, I will use some of the information I gained in a previous Walden class and use rubistar.4teachers.org/. Rubistar has become a huge part of my teaching because it is so easy to use. I literally can create rubrics in minutes because simply by following the directions on the site. This will help with projects that use technology.

Some of the additional resources I will need to accomplish my Game Plan are flip cameras and computer lab time. The rest is up to me to find on the Internet or in texts and implement. I set the goal of implementing five new ways to use technology in my classroom and currently I have found two ways and am always looking for new ways.

Craig

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

Technology is changing so fast that it is impossible to keep up. There are countless, free web 2.0 tools that create slideshows, podcasts, other widgets that are great to incorporate into my curriculum. In order to learn and use technology in my curriculum, I need to learn the new technology on my own. Self-directed learning (SDL) is the basis for the GAME Plan or the way I will learn new technology that I will use in my curriculum.

After reading, examining, and reflecting about the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), I have found some standards that I want to improve upon.

NETS-T #1 – Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

b. engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

G-Goals

I want to create virtual environments to expand learning outside of my classroom. I will give students many options to complete assignments, promoting creativity.

A-Action

In order to accomplish this goal, I will change my social studies curriculum by adding virtual field trips, simulations, and interactive web-sites. This will take some planning but will result in better instruction and more student engagement.

M-Monitor

I will keep records of unit assessments and compare results of traditional teaching versus digital learning. I will keep notes concerning student engagement and motivation.

E-Evaluate

I will ask students their preferences. Do they prefer digital or traditional lessons? I will also reflect upon what went well and what did not, in order to improve the lesson.

In the video from week one, teacher Lacey Segal stated that teachers who are creative or foster creativity are incredibly flexible but are comfortable watching traditional boundaries dissolve (Laureate, 2009). Technology is the perfect vehicle for change because today’s students are so technologically skilled. If I achieve this goal, the traditional lessons will be replaced with digital lessons.

NETS-T #2 – Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

b. develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress

G-Goals

I want to create a listing of five new technological tools that I can use in my classroom and pair them with content to create effective lessons and have the ability to use the five technologies in any setting. I also want to incorporate the tools I learned from this Walden program into my curriculum (VoiceThread for example).

A-Action

I will read the blog http://www.freetech4teachers.com/ on a daily basis to keep up to date with the latest technology and its educational application. I will review past Walden courses to find technology that I could use in my classroom.

M-Monitor

After each new lesson I teach using a technological skill from my list, I will reflect in writing about the lesson. Listing the positive parts and parts that need improvement. If I successfully meet my goal of five new applications of technological tools, I will add another tool to my goal list. If I am unsuccessful using a new technological skill, I will attempt to use the technology in another lesson until I achieve success.

E-Evaluate

I will constantly ask students their preferences. Do they prefer digital or traditional lessons? I will also reflect upon what went well and what did not, in order to improve the lesson.

The main objective for improving upon this standard is to use the technological skills I have gained at Walden and continually learning new technology and implementing it in my classroom. Technology provides many opportunities for students to engage in authentic learning activities and to be creative in different environments (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). This will increase student’s engagement and excitement and hopefully increase learning.

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

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

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

Final Reflection

As I near completion of Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom EDUC – 6712, I cannot help thinking about the many ways my teaching ability will be enhanced because of this class. I learned about social bookmarking, how to evaluate web sites, the importance of essential questions and how they can guide student projects, collaboration with other schools using e-pals, the pros and cons of schools filtering the Internet, that there are other search engines my students could use instead of Google, and that information literacy is so important today.

The most striking revelation that the course taught me about the new literacy skills is that students are asked to find information, decipher if it is right or wrong, and synthesize information from many places. This is much more difficult that going to a text and finding "correct" information easily. Alvin Toffler stated that "the illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn" (Jukes & Macdonald, 2007). This statement really sums up where education is and where it needs to be headed. The staff at my school is teaching students how to read and write but are we giving students the skills to learn, unlearn, and relearn?

The knowledge and skills I have learned in this course will be incorporated into my curriculum. One way is that I will not allow my students to use Google for Internet searches. They will need to use www.sweetsearch.com or www.boolify.org. I will use diigo to list all the sites we are going to use in the classroom versus having students type in URL’s. I will incorporate the REAL method to test the validity of websites. REAL stands for:
R – Read the URL (what is the extension?)
E – Examine the content (is it a hoax?)
A – Ask about the author/owner (use www.easywhois.com to locate the owner)
L – Links (examine)

By using the REAL method, my students should be able to decipher whether a website is legitimate or a hoax. I will introduce my students to www.computertan.com and will see if they can apply the REAL method and figure out if it is valid or not. Finally, when I assign students projects, such as the Canadian Provinces/Territory wikis, I will have checkpoints for assessment. "Although it is important to be able to evaluate what students have learned at the end of an inquiry unit, even more important for Guided Inquiry is consideration of formative assessment along the way" (Kuhlthau, Maniotes, & Caspari, 2007). In the past, I would only assess the final project and there were really no way of knowing if my students were getting it or not. If they were started completing the project the wrong way, there was really no way of knowing it unless they asked questions or if I caught it when patrolling the computer lab. This will give me a greater chance to assess skills along the way and evaluate the creativity of the final project presentation.

One profession developmental goal I would like to pursue that builds upon the knowledge from this course and develops my information literacy skills is to increase my student’s awareness that everything that they read on the Internet is not true. I want my students to improve their ability when finding information. Starting day one, we learn and practice Internet skills. First, we will search will without using Google. Next, we use the REAL method for every website. Finally, we will work on synthesizing information. It is an important skill that is not easy to master but if we use work on it from day one there will be tremendous improvement when my students move to seventh grade.

If I were to sum up this course in one word I would say valuable. Its content will play an important part of my teaching practice. It has given me tools to help prepare my students with 21st century skills that they will use throughout their education.


References:

Jukes, I. (2007). 21st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21st century learner. Retrieved from http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf

Kuhlthau, C. C., Maniotes, L. K., & Caspari, A. K. (2007). Guided inquiry: Learning in the 21st century. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Final Reflection

For my final blog post for Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology, I want to look back at week one and defining my personal theory of learning. In week one, I stated how all my students see lessons in different ways and to reach my I need to understand how they think during the learning process. I need to learn my students’ strengths and weaknesses so I can plan engaging lessons. It is my goal to create lessons that immerse the learner as described by Dr. Michael Orey (Laureate, 2009a). I try to plan most of my lessons based on Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences Theory that we all have multiple intelligences but there is one or two of those intelligences that makes of learning unique (Lever-Duffy & Macdonald, 2008, p.24). I want to set my students up for success and by learning how they learn best and allowing them to use this in lessons, I feel that I am giving them a great opportunity to learn from each other. I have learned to modify my instruction so that my students are actively engaged and create artifacts to show there mastery of content. According to Dr. Michael Orey, "Social Learning is the act of being actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversations with others. Conversations that help them understand and learn from others." (Laureate Inc., 2009b) I want my students to learn the content from each other and rely less on teacher led instruction.

This caused some adjustments to my instructional practice. Throughout my education at Walden University I learned about using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom and I am continually impressed by the amount and quality of content. Web 2.0 tools allow a small-town school to create podcasts, videos, manage photos, create slideshows, comics, animation, wikis, concept maps, musical and graphical tools, and many others for no cost. In an era of school budget restraints, Web 2.0 tools allow my students a chance to experience 21st skills in practice. In this course we learned about VoiceThreads and I will implement them into my curriculum. VoiceThreads allow students to collaborate and build knowledge together by using their voices (with a microphone) or by typing. This is great because it allows students who are reluctant to participate in discussion, a chance to become involved in discussion that they would normally would not. Another tools that I want to incorporate into my curriculum is virtual field trips. A Virtual Field Trip is a web based tool that "provides a student the opportunity to go where they physically cannot" (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007c). For example, virtual field trips instantly allow my students in Reedsville, WI to visit and learn about the tropical rainforests in Brazil and store that information into long-term memory. The trip would include many sights, sounds, and excellent information that would allow for my students to make connections with prior knowledge and enter their episodic memory. Using technology and experiencing a virtual fieldtrip is a much more effective way for my students to experience the Amazon Rainforest rather than looking in a boring textbook.

A long-term goal I would like to make to my instructional practice are giving my students different choices using technology to meet lesson objectives (a leap of faith for me). For example, if we are learning about Canadian provinces, in which I would normally have students create a poster, I would give them a chance to create an Imovie, slideshow, podcast, or the chance to use any Web 2.0 tools. As long a the students can satisfy the rubric for the assignment, they can use technology to learn in different ways, hopefully using their strengths. Another goal I will incorporate is using IPod touches in my classroom that I ordered last week. Students can surf the Internet, reinforce skills, use dictionaries and encyclopedias, or use any of the over 10,000 educational apps. My students are really excited for this opportunity and this will engage my students with even less teacher-led instruction. IPods, VoiceThreads, virtual field trips, and other Web 2.0 tools make being a teacher wanting to incorporate technology into the curriculum exciting and will definitely improve student achievement.

References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Program 8. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Program 3. Instructional theory vs. learning theory. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009c). Program 5. Spotlight on technology – virtual field trips. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

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

My Voicethread

Blogging is blocked at my school. How can I convince administration to change this policy and use blogging as an educational tool??

Here is the link to my Voicethread.


http://voicethread.com/share/1040157/

Mr. D

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

The learning strategy in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works that we studied this week was cooperation and that goes hand and hand with Connectivism and Social Learning Theory. In our DVD presentation, Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) maintains that the social learning theory is the idea that “students actively engage in constructing artifacts and conversing with others.” By completing group projects (cooperation) students are practicing the social learning theory. Through technology and web 2.0 tools students can experience collaboration and group skills at a distance. Wikis, Google Docs, WebQuests, blogs, and many other technological means are beginning to revolutionize collaborative education. “Technology can plan a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members to communicate even if they are not working face to face.” (Pitler, et. al., 2007, p. 140). This is awesome for both teachers and students. This can eliminate the “strong willed” student who takes over a group project with their influence. Conversely, a quiet/shy student may be more aggressive or participate more because they are not face to face with other group members.

Another collaboration tool I explored was some of the web resources in our text. Pitler, et al. discussed web collaboration, keypals, web-enabled multiplayer simulation games, and communication software, such as blogs and wikis. The great part about these sources is that they all allow for group learning and facilitate collaboration. Collaboration is not limited to groups in one classroom, technology allows for cooperative learning from anywhere on Earth there is computers and the Internet. Students from Reedsville, WI where I teach can learn from students in Japan or England. I could have my students working on a wiki about the novel Number the Stars and students from throughout the world could make changes and learn from my students. It would be great to hear from some Jewish students, students from Germany or Denmark. The technology makes studying novels more engaging and the ability to converse with students from throughout the world makes wikis a great educational tool that correlates with the social learning theory. Some of the simulation games such as Revolution and Civilization III allow students to interact with players throughout the world. Students learn by participating in actual historic events. The ability to learn while playing a game with authentic historical events while interacting with historical figures is an awesome way to learn about history and a way I wish I could have experienced in school.





Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 8. Social Learning Theory. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author

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