The execution of an effective game plan requires monitoring the progression. I will modify my action plan when necessary to meet my goals. In my quest to learn more about how to integrate technology tools, I will continue to research information and utilize other resources.
When adressing indicator 2c Customize and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources, I have learned that the students can be a good resource for ideas for integrating technology into content areas. Their ideas may be simple as they suggest using digital cameras, videos, and Power Point presentations. My concern is getting these tools for the classroom. New questions to consider now is how do I gain access to the tools at this time of the year with no money in the budget and can I get my hands on grant money for these tools? I now need to modify my action plan to focus on not just the available technology tools for instruction and learning that incorporates software, but also hardware such as digital cameras.
I will again utilize my colleagues as a resource for gaining access to digital cameras/viedo cameras. I will also survey students to see how many have access at home to these technology tools, since it is a low socio-economic area. I will also need to find information on how to effectively integrate these tools into the curriculum. In monitoring this action plan, I have learned that in order to meet my goals I need to evaluate student's strenghts and interests more closely. I do not have any real experience in video editing but I will look into a tutorial for software such as Windows Movie Maker.
For my second indicator: Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation, I have learned that this can be a slow process. First,I have learned that this is not the best time of year for teachers to collaborate as they are overwhelmed with parent/teacher conferences, report cards and holiday activities. While some are receptive to a teachers blogging corner, some have simply not found the time to contribute. I will also slightly modify my plan to brainstorm with teachers what content areas could benefit from video-conferencing with experts. It has also occured to me that I could modify my action plan by including video- conferencing with other classrooms across the globe. A question that comes to mind with video- conferencing with other classrooms is will I need only the permission from the district or will parents need to give permission for their child to participate? Another question that arises is although I can have students prepare questions prior to a video conference, how do I prepare them for responding to various questions? I did find a SUPER website http://eduscapes.com/tap/index.htm
that has professional development resources for teachers. Check out this resource because it has all kinds of useful information for technology tools, technology and learning resources and internet resources as well. This site has given me much in the way of information and resources to continue to progress in my GAME plan.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Carrying Out My Game Plan
Setting goals for strengthening my confidence and proficiency in two NETS-T indicators is vital in order to support student learning in a technology-enriched learning environment. To carry out my GAME plan I will need various resources as well as other information.
Indicator 2c Customize and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
My first resource would be my colleagues since I teach technology and I am interested in integrating the content area curriculum into the computer literacy curriculum. It may be advantageous to attend the grade level meetings to brainstorm about what content area and or concepts to be integrated with technology. I would then seek out my principal as a resource as she once taught technology at the middle school level and could offer some ideas. As Dr. Ross noted the purpose of standardized tests are for the students to be proficient and perform at the same level. Technology can be integrated to give students another avenue to use their talents/strengths and to monitor their learning goals, using a variety of formal and informal assessments. Other information I will need is how to create effective screencasts and or voicethreads for instructional use and how to make it accessible to students on the school network at school and at home. I will evaluate the usefulness of these technology tools for both directed and self-directed learning. The step I have taken so far in my goal to integrate technology is an e-mail to my principal and to each grade level head with an overview of my GAME plan to address student's diverse learning styles by utilizing technology across the content area. I also have scheduled a workshop to attend that will illustrate content area lessons that utilize various technology tools.
3b Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
My resources I would utilize to address this indicator would be students, colleagues, parents and community members. I would brainstorm with the students to formulate ideas related to content area in for example science and social studies/current events to utilize a blog. I would contact the technology coordinator to set up or initiate clearance for access to http://kidblog.org
I would generate permission slips to be sent home for students to blog. I also want to set up a web page blog to address parental question and concerns related to curriculum. Again I would collaboroate with the technology coordinator and principal to set this up. Lastly, I would utilize teachers as a resource to set up a teacher's corner blog that only the teachers can access on the school network where best practices, professional development, and or useful technology tools can be shared. I will monitor each blog for participation and effectiveness with on-line surveys that can be located on the school network and my webpage. Research will also have to be conducted to locate experts in their field or organizations in the community and beyond that will be willing to video - conference with students on topics related to content areas. This will have to be set up by the technology coordinator and gain approval by the school district. I will monitor how students are engaged and connect to the content knowledge these experts have to offer through informal assessments that could include an essay or journal writing. The steps that I have already taken to meet this initiatve are meetings with the district administrators and technology corridinator to set up a teachers blog and a proposal submitted to the principal and superintendent to start a classroom blog through kidsblog.org . Social networking is a new tool for our district, so I included information on the benefits of blogging and some guidelines to follow for both posting and commenting for administrators.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). “Meeting Student’s Needs with Technology, Part 2” [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.
Indicator 2c Customize and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
My first resource would be my colleagues since I teach technology and I am interested in integrating the content area curriculum into the computer literacy curriculum. It may be advantageous to attend the grade level meetings to brainstorm about what content area and or concepts to be integrated with technology. I would then seek out my principal as a resource as she once taught technology at the middle school level and could offer some ideas. As Dr. Ross noted the purpose of standardized tests are for the students to be proficient and perform at the same level. Technology can be integrated to give students another avenue to use their talents/strengths and to monitor their learning goals, using a variety of formal and informal assessments. Other information I will need is how to create effective screencasts and or voicethreads for instructional use and how to make it accessible to students on the school network at school and at home. I will evaluate the usefulness of these technology tools for both directed and self-directed learning. The step I have taken so far in my goal to integrate technology is an e-mail to my principal and to each grade level head with an overview of my GAME plan to address student's diverse learning styles by utilizing technology across the content area. I also have scheduled a workshop to attend that will illustrate content area lessons that utilize various technology tools.
3b Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
My resources I would utilize to address this indicator would be students, colleagues, parents and community members. I would brainstorm with the students to formulate ideas related to content area in for example science and social studies/current events to utilize a blog. I would contact the technology coordinator to set up or initiate clearance for access to http://kidblog.org
I would generate permission slips to be sent home for students to blog. I also want to set up a web page blog to address parental question and concerns related to curriculum. Again I would collaboroate with the technology coordinator and principal to set this up. Lastly, I would utilize teachers as a resource to set up a teacher's corner blog that only the teachers can access on the school network where best practices, professional development, and or useful technology tools can be shared. I will monitor each blog for participation and effectiveness with on-line surveys that can be located on the school network and my webpage. Research will also have to be conducted to locate experts in their field or organizations in the community and beyond that will be willing to video - conference with students on topics related to content areas. This will have to be set up by the technology coordinator and gain approval by the school district. I will monitor how students are engaged and connect to the content knowledge these experts have to offer through informal assessments that could include an essay or journal writing. The steps that I have already taken to meet this initiatve are meetings with the district administrators and technology corridinator to set up a teachers blog and a proposal submitted to the principal and superintendent to start a classroom blog through kidsblog.org . Social networking is a new tool for our district, so I included information on the benefits of blogging and some guidelines to follow for both posting and commenting for administrators.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). “Meeting Student’s Needs with Technology, Part 2” [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
APP2 Developing Your Personal Game Plan
The two NETS-T indicators that I choose to strengthen my confidence in are: 2c Customize and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. 3b Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
2c- Customize and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
According to Dr. Ertmer, in order to effectively integrate technology, an educator not only needs to be knowledgeable about technology but also confident. The knowledge involves the teacher’s ability to show students how technology enables them to present the content utilizing technology tools. Technology can address diverse learning styles with the various digital tools that can incorporate visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic into instruction. My plan is to implement more short videos and other modalities of technology into instruction. I want to also provide students with additional digital tools and introducing them to voicethreads and software programs such as Microsoft publisher and PowerPoint can give students’ authentic learning opportunities that facilitate creativity and critical thinking skills. Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer note “creating a culture of thinking can help you attend to their diverse cognitive (intellectual) and metacognitive (reflective) needs” (p. 169). Since confidence and knowledge are instrumental to effective teaching, I will create a voicethread and or screencasts to illustrate and model these digital tools. Students become more knowledgeable about these tools from teacher modeling and self-directed learning outside of the realm of a classroom. As Dr. Ertmer mentions I need to be confident enough to step back and let students utilize their strategies and abilities with digital tools.
3b- Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
I chose this indicator because my personal philosophy is that student success is the partnership between students, teachers, parents, and the community. Peer collaboration is also a piece of the puzzle to student achievement. I would like to address this indicator by implementing a classroom blog and a peer collaborative blog. I think for those students who have a hard time finding their voice that this technological tool is ideal for promoting a level of social networking and breaking barriers of speaking up. I think that this tool would also allow insight into student work as I would encourage parents to check out our classroom blog. Teachers many times only have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues who are in the same grade level, missing out on insightful knowledge of other peers. This is where a teacher’s corner blog site would be ideal for sharing ideas and information. Dr. Ertmer stated that a supportive culture is encouraging for colleagues who want to take risks and incorporate technology into the curriculum. The other tool I want to ask peers about is the possibilities of video-conferencing with community members who are experts in their field and can offer learners real life experiences related to content areas. I believe that if parents, teachers and the community can collaborate about the education and educational needs of students that today’s climate of accountability will shift to the importance of working together to give students' the best education possible.
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.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). “Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1” [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.
2c- Customize and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
According to Dr. Ertmer, in order to effectively integrate technology, an educator not only needs to be knowledgeable about technology but also confident. The knowledge involves the teacher’s ability to show students how technology enables them to present the content utilizing technology tools. Technology can address diverse learning styles with the various digital tools that can incorporate visual, auditory, and tactile/kinesthetic into instruction. My plan is to implement more short videos and other modalities of technology into instruction. I want to also provide students with additional digital tools and introducing them to voicethreads and software programs such as Microsoft publisher and PowerPoint can give students’ authentic learning opportunities that facilitate creativity and critical thinking skills. Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer note “creating a culture of thinking can help you attend to their diverse cognitive (intellectual) and metacognitive (reflective) needs” (p. 169). Since confidence and knowledge are instrumental to effective teaching, I will create a voicethread and or screencasts to illustrate and model these digital tools. Students become more knowledgeable about these tools from teacher modeling and self-directed learning outside of the realm of a classroom. As Dr. Ertmer mentions I need to be confident enough to step back and let students utilize their strategies and abilities with digital tools.
3b- Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.
I chose this indicator because my personal philosophy is that student success is the partnership between students, teachers, parents, and the community. Peer collaboration is also a piece of the puzzle to student achievement. I would like to address this indicator by implementing a classroom blog and a peer collaborative blog. I think for those students who have a hard time finding their voice that this technological tool is ideal for promoting a level of social networking and breaking barriers of speaking up. I think that this tool would also allow insight into student work as I would encourage parents to check out our classroom blog. Teachers many times only have the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues who are in the same grade level, missing out on insightful knowledge of other peers. This is where a teacher’s corner blog site would be ideal for sharing ideas and information. Dr. Ertmer stated that a supportive culture is encouraging for colleagues who want to take risks and incorporate technology into the curriculum. The other tool I want to ask peers about is the possibilities of video-conferencing with community members who are experts in their field and can offer learners real life experiences related to content areas. I believe that if parents, teachers and the community can collaborate about the education and educational needs of students that today’s climate of accountability will shift to the importance of working together to give students' the best education possible.
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.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). “Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1” [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)