Final Blog Post for Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas

The GAME plan allowed me to find an amazing tool for use in my classroom.  The implementation of the text message reminder program has drastically improved the homework completion rate of students who volunteer for the program.  I have also found that my students are sending themselves text reminders about assignments in other classes as well.  Through the GAME plan I have found a program/skill that students can independently use to improve themselves in the classroom and in their lives.  It has been a real joy to see students take responsibility for their own organization and homework.

The GAME plan that I developed and modified through this course was very beneficial to myself as a learner and a teacher.  I feel that this method of goal setting and monitoring is a great way to facilitate self motivated learning.  I added an additional personal incentive to help inspire me to follow though with my learning goals.  My GAME plan was very different from that of many of my classmates.  My plan calls for continued learning and research in the area of instructional technology.  Beyond the time frame of this class, I plan to keep working on my GAME plan so I can continue to learn and grow with educational technology.

As a result of this course I plan to make several adjustments to my instruction.  I am very interested in some of the differentiation and individualization theories and ideas that were presented in the course documents.  Things like audio recordings of books and word prediction software can be use to support students in the learning process.  Being a special education teacher, it is important to find ways that my students can learn along side their peers.  I also plan to implement more authentic learning in my classroom.  I feel this style of learning will best prepare students for their future roles in adult life.  This form of learning allow students to be self directed learners and perform at their individual levels.  The collaborative aspect of this instructional method is also very beneficial.  When students work together they build on each others ideas and usually have a better final product. This course has presented many great instructional methods that will inevitably influence my classroom instruction.  As with the completion of all of my Walden course, I feel as thought I have learned a great deal and have become better prepared to teach in a technology based world.

GAME Process for students

The focus of my GAME plan has been to find and utilize technology tools in my classroom. It is my ultimate goal to expose my students to copious amounts of educational technology and have them personally utilize it in their learning process. Through the use of technology in my classroom I feel that students should naturally strengthen their proficiency in the technology standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S. The natural exploration of educational technology will model many technological literacy skills.

In using the GAME plan process with my students I will hopefully help them to become life long learners who can monitor and evaluate their own learning. In order to be a self directed learner, students need to be able to set personal learning goals. I feel that my students especially struggle with setting and working towards achieving personal goals them have set for themselves.

Revising My Game Plan

What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
After having a very successful experience with my previous GAME goal I am even more inspired to start my progress over while I incorporate what I have learned. I have located and had building officials approve the use of an online program that sends text message reminders to my students.
What goals are you still working toward?
After having accomplished my last goal, I plan to continues to research and implement various technology tools into my classroom instruction. My initial goal was to implement two new things into my classroom. After a short time, I realized that my goal was very ambitious and reduced the number to one per month.
Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?
Currently my school district does not allow access to blogs, wikis, and various other social network program within the school network. I plan to gain an understanding as to why they are blocked and see if I am able to gain access as a means to improve student learning. My ultimate goal would be to have my students participate in a Wiki before months end.

What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?

I plan to discuss my concerns with school administrators and the technology liaison in my building. I will have to browse through the internet exclusions policy and become familiar with the parameters of that document. I also have to find social networking tools with high levels of user security so I can present the benefits and safe usage plans I will implement in my classroom.  

Evaluation of GAME Plan progress

 Through my actions, I have found a great tool to support my students. I have found that with a full description of the technology and possible charges that may apply the parents of my students can give permission for their students to receive text reminders about assignments. One of the stipulations placed on the technology was that I had to keep copies of any reminders that have been sent. This data gathering is to ensure that my use of the technology can be examined if any issues should arise. My students have a short vocabulary assignment to complete on several nights during the week. Monday night my students had an assignment and the class homework completion rate on Tuesday was 68%. Tuesday night my students had a similar assignment and were sent a text message reminder at 7:25pm. The class homework completion rate on Wednesday was 83%! I would like to examine this reminder system over a more extended amount of time to see if the effectiveness changes. The GAME plan inspired me to find something that had a positive effect on my classroom and my students. I will me rewarding myself with a pedicure sometime very soon! The quest for a new technology project begins! I have decided to reduce the number of new tools I implement a month to just one because I found that I really like to focus on one thing and become very familiar with features and usages. One other adjustment I will make it to investigate the alternative usages of the technology tools I implement in the classroom.

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

After taking some good advice from my classmates, I am re-investigating course texts from this class, previous classes, and my undergrad course work. These texts are providing me with an almost overwhelming amount of technology ideas I would like to try in my classroom. I have found that with an increasing bank of ideas that I need a way to organize what I am finding. I have devoted a notebook to my GAME plan. In the notebook I jot down ideas and a brief description so that I can refer back to it later. I will also include if I know of a location to find information/resources. When I have more free time at my disposal I plan to explore and possibly reduce/refine many of my new ideas.

For this month, I plan to look into software that sends reminder messages to students. While my initial goal was to implement 2 new devices/programs/technologies into my classroom, I am finding this undertaking to be rather time consuming. As well as programs, I am looking into district policy and formulating a permission letter. This undertaking is worthy of an ample amount of time because I feel this could be very beneficial to my students and their parents. If you implement something similar to this in your classroom I am curious to know the logistics involved!

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

I will need a variety of resources to carry out my GAME plan. The first steps I need to take has been to find reading materials/places that offer ideas and suggestions on the use of technology in the classroom. It is imperative that I find resources that match the courses and grade levels I teach. I foresee that I may need to subscribe to an educational technology magazine and also hope to find learning communities online. I will also need to develop a method for cataloging my findings and reflections each month.  

I have to admit that I have started to look for learning communities and other resources and am having a little difficulty finding what I need. Unfortunately, a lot of the information is tailored to a lower grade level elementary classroom. I have found many good resources for the primary classroom, but am struggling to find information that applies to a middle school setting. Also, because I know that I will need additional motivation to keep up to date on my goals, I am finding an additional personal incentive I can earn when I have completed my goal at the end of each month.

My Goals

I have selected the following two indicators to strengthen my confidence and proficiency with.  The first indicator is to engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.  The second indicator I have selected to focus on is to design and adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.  In order to achieve my goals, I will continue to research and read about technology usages in the classroom.  Every month, I will attempt to incorporate two new technology resources into my lessons and planning.  My goal will also be to allow my students to interact with my new resource in addition to myself.  At the end of each month, I will set a calendar alert that includes the following questions, three of which were suggested by the course text: 1. Have I met my learning goals, 2. should I modify my goals or my learning strategies, 3. what will I do differently in the future, and 4. How effective and useful was my new technologies, and 5. How will I use this resource in the future.

 As with every course I have taken, I feel that I grow as an instructor throughout the duration. A lot of my teaching focus has been on teaching the basic literacy skills, however it is now apparent to me that I have been missing a very important component. In order to properly prepare our students for the world and work force it is very true that they have to be able to read and comprehend written information. However, it was not initially clear to me how important it is for my students to be able to use the internet as a tool. Knowing how to effectively and efficiently locate information is a key life skill that is often neglected in the classroom. Students need to be exposed to the safe and proper way to utilize social networking and general web sharing through modeling and direct instruction in the classroom.

I have already made several updates to my teaching practices. Instead of using technology as a presentation method, I have made an effort to structure assignments so that students are interacting with the technology. Allowing my students to interact with technology has been very motivating and I have noted increased class participation. I have also taken steps to get my students more familiar with using technology in the classroom. After reading a novel, instead of taking a traditional printed test, I have created a web-quest to allow students to use online resources and their creativity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding. Hopefully I will be able to expand my horizon into blogging, social bookmarking, and other medias as they become available in my school district.

My professional development goal is to continue to learn about the educational uses of technology and their importance in preparing students for their future careers. Even though I am only three courses away from maintaining my masters degree, it is my intention to continue learning and attend classes and professional development on classroom technology. I would also interested in learning more about the use of technology with special education students. Teaching an individualized technology based intervention has really sparked my interest. I have found that through the use of technology, content can me more specific and individualized then any one teacher could ever imagine. I also plan to subscribe to informational resources that publish about new and interesting educational technology in order to keep abreast on new resources.

Course Reflection

I have incorporated many of the things I learned in this course into my personal theory of learning. After experiencing the course materials, I have found that it is critical for the students to be actively engaged during the learning process. While I was aware of this before, I feel more strongly about having the students construct a product that is representative of their learning. In the future, I will tend to shy away from using technology simply as a means of presentation. I will allow my students to interact with the technology. I plan to use Voice Thread technology in both an upcoming 2-step algebra unit as well as a literature unit I will be doing with my students. Just last week, my students went on a field trip to Gettysburg Pennsylvania. The students who were unable to attend for a variety or reasons were given an assignment to complete after taking a virtual field trip of Gettysburg. The assignment required students to explore the web resource and find key pieces of information. In the future, I would like to use and explore new technology in my classroom. I have not been actively keeping up to date on new educational technology. In an attempt to educate myself, I have subscribed to educational technology blogs of fellow educators and have found several website on the topic. Also, I would like to lend a helping hand to students who continue to struggle with technology. In the future, I would like to provide after school technology tutoring. The students in my school have such a wide range of technological abilities. I would like to provide assistance to students who lack skills or are not comfortable with what they know.

Voice Thread Link

Click here to go to my Voice Thread!

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Cooperative learning calls for students to work together in a group to create a product and extend their knowledge. The strategies present offer many mediums and activities that student can use collaboratively construct a culminating product. Group work is a powerful tool because it allows students to springboard and expand on other student's ideas. Individuals bring many aptitudes and skills that contribute to the common group product. Social learning allows students to showcase their creativity and exercise their collaboration skills. Tools like social networks, web quests, shared bookmarking, and web site creation eliminate the regional restrictions that traditional classrooms have. When utilizing online tools, students have the potential to interact with individuals from anywhere in the world.

Constructivism

Constructivism holds that learning happens by classifying new knowledge based on what the student already knows. When faced with new information learners will assimilate the information fit into an existing experience. If assimilation is not possible, the learner will form a new schema to hold the new information. Through thought and research, student construction an understanding/relationship for a topic. In the classroom, students working under a constructionist model will be given an issue and then create a product as result of finding a solution. The course text suggests “generating and testing hypotheses” as a model for constructivist learning. Under this idea, students are given a set of circumstances where they have to come to a justified conclusion. Throughout the process students will gather and interpret data before ultimately making a decision. Students operating under this ideal become immersed in the learning process. They are active in the learning process thus it is more meaningful to the learner.   

Cognitivism in Practice

 The cognitive learning theory focuses on how learners take in information and store and use it. Learners take information into their short term memory, make meaning of it, and then can potentially store information into the long term memory where it can be later accessed. The instructional strategies presented this week are learning experiences teachers can set up to assist and guide students to make connections with new information. Students are able to better understand new information when they can connect it with something they already know. Advanced organizers, cues, questions, summaries, and note taking present a format for the student to manipulate information into meaningful information networks. Concept maps allow students to have a visual representation of the relationship between concepts. This instructional strategy allows students to organize their thoughts in a meaningful way. Virtual field trips allow student to encounter places that they are not able to visit. It assist in providing a visual image to accompany an idea/place.

Behaviorism in Practice

The key idea behind the behaviorist theory is eliciting a desired behavior through the use of rewards and punishments. The course text defines the instructional strategy of reinforcing effort is a method of illustrating the correlation between completion/effort and score. The completion/effort piece would be considered the behavior while the score is the reward/punishment. Students sometimes feel powerless in their educational world. Using technology such as Excel graphs allows them the opportunity to visually see the correlation between work ethic and success. The text homework and practice instructional strategy is a method used to to reinforce material presented in the classroom. The resources posted this week most fall under this category. The resources presented allow students to practice learned skills with reinforcement. While sometimes drill and practice gets a bad reputation, we learned from Dr. Wolfe's presentation on brain research that connections in the brain that are used more often form stronger pathways for recall.

Course Reflection

My thoughts about teaching can be summarized in one statement. Teaching is about learning. Hopefully my students learn the content and about themselves as people, but that is only part of it. Teaching is about the teacher learning also. As a teacher, one of the things I learn about is the best ways to impart information to my students and prepare them for their adult lives and/or future education. The Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society course has helped to further my teaching and learning in a variety or ways.
Focusing on my own technology skills, the course allowed me to explore tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other Web 2.0 tool. A majority of those tools are new to me as I have never taught with them or learned through using them. While taxing at times, thinking about and using these devices has allowed me to see their potential educational value. I struggled with being new to using those tools which provided me with insight on to how best to facilitate their use with my students. I came into this course with a strong technological background, but left with a drive to make my students 21st century learners.
Throughout this course I have found several great blogs which provide a variety or ideas for technology integration. I have subscribed to these blogs and plan to continue to follow postings on those sites. Academically, I will continue to expand my knowledge by continuing this Walden masters program. Hopefully upon completion of this program, I will be able to spearhead for some technological professional development. As far as increasing student achievement, I strongly feel that as student engagement increases through the use of technology then so will student achievement. When using most technology in the classroom, students become more active participant in classroom activities. If a student is involved and excited about what they are learning, then their natural curiosity takes over and they retain so much.
Over the next two years, I hope to build a bank of 21st century lessons that actively engage my students. While it is a daunting task to make this transformation over night, allowing myself to focus on one topic at a time will have the best results for my students. Over that time frame and into the future, I plan to try new things in my classroom and then evaluate their effectiveness. I will also lobby heavily in my district to allow the use of Web 2.0 tools in the classroom. Currently we are not allowed to use any blogs, wikis, or teacher created websites. Technology is not going away and in order to prepare our students for the world we need to teach them how to properly use it.

"Profiling the Students of Today"

Be sure to check out my very first PodCast on
"Profiling the Students of Today"

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills website is a homepage of an advocacy group who focuses on bringing 21st century skills into classrooms.  Upon first coming across the page, I was very excited.  I expected to find great resources on how to bring these skills into my classroom.  However, upon further exploration, I found there to be a lack of resources with the exception of ones that cost money.  They formulate a framework, but lack a discussion of "how to" that modern educators crave. While it's nice to know that there is someone out there fighting the battle of bringing 21st century skills into classrooms, but I left the website unsure of what role they were playing.  This is not a site I plan to bookmark and visit regularly in the future.

A Day No Pigs Would Die Blog

I teach an 8th grade Integrated Language Arts unit on the novel "A Day No Pigs Would Die" by Robert Newton Peck to a mixed group of general education and special education students.  In the past, I have introduced the unit by have the students answer and discuss the following statements on an anticipation handout:

• An animal can be a best friend.
• Growing up is painful.
• People are not always what they seem.
• First impressions are deceiving.
• Death should not be an emotional experience.
• Men should never cry.  If they do, they are babies.
• You cannot become an adult unless you live through difficult experiences
  

These controversial questions are a very important component of the unit.  One of the culminating activities is to write a persuasive paper on one of the questions from the anticipation guide.  Having a classroom Blog where students can state and discuss their opinions will allow them to have a more complete and focused persuasive argument for their essay.  I foresee the students posing a position and then other students asking questions about it, posing a counter position with supported reasoning, or argeeing with the student's position while giving additional support.  Use of the blogging medium will allow all students, not just those who volunteer, to actively state their opinions and use information from their personal experiences and the text to support it.  The interactive aspect of the blog will give the students practice defending their viewpoints.  They will have a stronger argument because they will already have heard some of the possible counter points posed by the audience who disagrees.

Wow!  Here we are already, my first post.  Hopefully, this is the first of many very insightful and useful posts to come.  Keep tuned in!