Final Blog Reflection - week 8

As the course, Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology draws to an end, I am amazed at all the tools and resources I acquired. I learned about the principles of Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction, and already am implementing them in my curriculum. With the amount of diversity in the classroom continually increasing, I need to have the tools to give every student the chance to succeed. UDL/DI along with integrating technology gives me the best chance to help all my students reach their potential.

The best way to meet the needs of all my students is to get to know them as individuals. I need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of every student, hobbies, interests, learning preferences, multiple intelligences, and readiness levels. Luckily, there are countless inventories and surveys on the Internet available that make getting to know all my students possible. The information from the surveys and inventories allows for effective lesson planning. I can create lessons, assignment, activities, and projects that are geared to my students’ abilities and preferences. It also allows students choices to complete assignments. Students can work together in groups, pairs, or individuals. They are also given choices of how to create artifacts that demonstrate their learning. This year, my students have created podcasts, used IPod touches, wikis, essays, and digital comic strips. I also plan on using VoiceThreads, digital stories, Power Points, and many other web 2.0 tools that fit their abilities. UDL/DI does not mean a separate lesson for each student. Next year, I will begin my year with surveys and interest profiles and use my student’s choices to plan curriculum from the start. This principle will probably guide my lesson planning for many years to come.

This course has also shown me some ways to use incorporate technology into the classroom. We used SurveyMonkey, VoiceThreads, Google Chat, and Google Groups and they all could fit into my curriculum. In order to get to know my students, I could use SurveyMonkey. It is easy to customize and it would help me to differentiate instruction when lesson planning. VoiceThreads, Google Chat, and Google Groups could all be used for student collaboration. Students could easily work together on projects and even work outside of school. The social networking portion of the class also gave me many resources, ideas, and taught me how to use a group chat to collaborate with my colleague. Although I may never be able to use this feature because it is blocked by our filter at my school, it is a feature that could be very useful in education.

Finally, the resources and knowledge I have learned in this course has given me the opportunity to individualize instruction so all students can succeed. The application of this will allow me to become a better teacher and my students will be the beneficiaries.

Mr. D

Final Blog Reflection

The creation of my GAME Plan will forever be a guide to integrating technology into my lessons. The integration of technology positively influences my student’s learning and makes my lessons more effective. As I constantly continue to implement more technology, the goals I set from my GAME Plan will continue the shift from traditional lesson to technological lessons.

The biggest influence the GAME Plan has had on my practice is goal setting. My goals have set the direction for incorporating more and more technology into my lesson planning and allowing students choices to complete their assignments. My first goal was to implement five new technologies into my curriculum. I currently am working on integrating digital storytelling and using flip cameras into language arts. In social studies, we are using timelines and virtual field trips. It takes more planning time when using technology, but the students will benefit from its use. The GAME Plan has also given me more confidence when using technology in the classroom and I am always thinking of ways to replace my textbook lesson with tech. I also have set a goal that when my five goals for this class run out that I will try to implement one new tech per month as long as I am a teacher. Hopefully my aspirations do not pass up the technology my district can provide!

With the GAME Plan now guiding my use of technology in my lessons, I have made many adjustments to my teaching. Now, my main focus is teaching 21st century skills in language arts and social studies without hesitation. My students will benefit from mastering web 2.0 tools and other technology and the experience that will prepare them for the rest of their lives. I also am more willing to allow students technological choices to complete assignments. I know that students, who create artifacts for learning, learn more than students who complete worksheets.

All in all, with the GAME Plan as my guide, my students will learn more, be more engaged in lessons, and prepare themselves for their futures. As a teacher, reflection after lesson completion has become a part of my growth as a teacher using technology. All the knowledge and experience I am gaining using technology in my classroom is making the use of technology the traditional way I present content.

Craig

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

My GAME Plan process had two goals: one was to incorporate five new technologies into my lessons (using ideas from Walden and elsewhere) and giving my students choices on how to complete assignment with their choice of technology. I recently have begun writing book talks for the book “Jennifer Murdley’s Toad”. For assessment, I offered my students choices. They could write the talk, type it into Word, and create a podcast using Audacity. They could do a ten-slide digital story. Or they could create a video book talk. They could pick the way they could complete this project and I would assess their mastery of the material. I have to admit giving students this much freedom was difficult at first and I think the results will be great, but it is hard to let go for some projects.

I have also found that the more technology we use in my classroom, the more comfort, confidence, and eagerness is instilled into the students. They are becoming more proficient with the technology and almost want me to eliminate any “traditional” lessons. They want to learn using 21st century skills even though they are unaware that what we are doing is learning with 21st century skills that will benefit them in the future. After the completion of this course, it will be my goal to keep up with new technology and that means setting a goal of incorporating one new tech into my lessons per month. I think that learning with technology will be a great asset to my students and I want to give them the best chance at success.

Many comments I have received from my learning community have been mostly about creating hands-on lessons using the free technology of web 2.0 tools. Through websites like Free Tech For Teachers, http://www.freetech4teachers.com/
there should never be a shortage of the new tech ideas that can be used in the classroom.

In conclusion, ditch the text and worksheets and bring in the tech!

Thanks!
Craig

Revising My GAME Plan

As I continue to implement more technology into my lessons I am realizing more and more that is so beneficial for the students. I have just begun using some of the tech tools that I have set as goals with the students and the results are impressive. If I would compare learning the traditional way versus to incorporating technology, the technology side would be almost unanimously preferred. This week in social studies while studying Latin America I showed my classes using Google Earth, they were astounded. I would never have received any positive feedback when showing them a map from our text. Technology has a wonderful affect!

Goals:

NETS-T #1 – Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity--engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

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

After reflecting back on the two goals I set for this class, I feel that I am still in the process of completing my goals and would not need to set new goals at this point but work on completing my existing goals of finding five new technologies and using them in my classroom, replacing traditional learning methods. If I master the five new technologies that I have chosen, I will set a goal of integrating one new technology into my curriculum per week. Currently, I feel that I need to continually work on becoming more comfortable and proficient using the new technology that I have chosen (VoiceThreads, using Flip Cameras, Digital Storytelling, using Google Earth, and Interactive Timelines). Sometimes it is a slow process but I need to keep in mind that I have to be flexible with the new technology.

To improve the chances that my goals with be successful, I have started to take notes on the new technology that was incorporated. I want to list the positives and negatives of the lesson so the next time I use it I will increase the chances of success and this will benefit my students.

Craig

Evaluating Your GAME Plan Progress

Thus far I have came up with four new ways I will incorporate technology into my classroom: using flip cameras, Google Earth, VoiceThreads, and digital storytelling. I have began playing with and researching ways to use Flip Cameras. There are so many ideas! I downloaded Google Earth and began marking interesting places that we are studying. I plan to "fly" there using the software and showing my students the locations. What an impressive tool! For my VoiceThread, I am going to use it as to check my students background knowledge of WWII before we read "Number the Stars". Students can post and learn from each other. For digital storytelling, I have looked at a few sites but have not looked into it too much but it seems to a pretty popular tool to use. I have a lot to learn about digital storytelling.

My final goal for implimenting technology into my classroom is creating a digital timeline. I looked on the Internet and have found countless number of web 2.0 tools that create timelines. Using timelines will be great in not only social studies but in language arts too. I hope to pick one timeline generator by next week and become more familiar with it. I am not to concerned how to use it but want to find one with the coolest options.

My first goal of finding five new technologies that I will incorporate into my teaching fits with my second goal of finding more ways for my students to meet objectives. If I can get comfortable with the new technology from my goals, I can give my students some new tools to complete their work. My ultimate goal as a teacher is to eliminate worksheets and replace it with technology in one form or another.

Craig

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