Carrying Out the Game Plan

To carry out my game plan I will be collaborating a lot with colleagues to help me meet my first goal. I work with some wonderful teachers who are very "tech savvy" and I have so much to learn from them and maybe even share some of my ideas. I also plan on attending a DI conference where I will participate in classes that will show me how to incorporate technology in my classroom to help my students. I will also keep exploring different lessons to use with my Promethean board and also read more about it on www.prometheanplanet.com to become even more familiar with this wonderful tool.

I feel that by continuing with my master's courses, I am already taking steps toward goal II. Even by taking part in this blog and reading the thoughts, ideas, and plans of my peers is helping be successful towards this goal. I also follow other educators blogs outside my peers and have learned many new ideas and read about tools I had no idea were out there.

I decided to get my master's in Integrating Technology in the Classroom because I knew how important it would be for me to incorporate these skills into my classroom. I have actually been a little afraid of technology and not always on top of the latest trends. I have learned so much, and have started to apply what I am learning into my classroom. So, I guess I could say I have been working on my game plan before I ever had this assignment.

GAME PLAN

After reading over the (NETS•T), the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers, I realize that I am probably more prepared for these standards than I have ever been due to the fact that I have some great new technology in my classroom. The main tool being a new Promethean board. With that said, I still have some areas that need to be strengthened so that I am more confident and able to teach my students using more technology. As teachers, we are always learning new ideas and skills that keep us up to date and the most effective teachers we can be. Technology is definitely always changing and improving and it is our job to be on top of these standards.

The two standards that I feel I need to focus on are #1 Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and #5 Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. These are both areas I find extremely important, but I am not very confident in.

Goal I- Engage students more in exploring real-world issues using digital tools and resources.
I know I need to focus more on this goal because my students need to be more in charge of their learning. I think I have been afraid my students or could not or would not be able to take control and explore to get answers.

Goal II- Participate in local and global learning communities to explore new technologies
This is a goal I feel that I have already started by getting my master’s in Integrating technology in the classroom. Even though I have learned a lot and I have implemented what I have learned into my classroom, I still have a lot to learn.

The actions I plan on taking to accomplish these goals are to complete my master’s program, participate in professional development with a focus on technology, and collaborate with peers. I feel that goal II will help me accomplish goal I. My making learning more about new technologies a priority, I will have more tools that will help me incorporate lessons that require my students to use technology to explore real-world issues. I will monitor my progress by keeping up with how much I incorporate new technologies in my classroom and more students centered projects. I feel that I will have no problem extending my learning since I seem to learn something new every day. With technology always changing and something new coming out, I will continue to learn forever.

References

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Reflection for Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

This has been a very eye opening course for me. I think the main thing I have realized through this course is that students DO NOT know how to look up information and they really do not know the difference between a reliable source and a non-reliable source. I think I take for granted that it is some what easy for me to look up information and relay what I have learned. Students these days can play games on the computer but when it come to using it for research they are completely lost. In the past I have become frustrated with students, but now realize I just have to spend more time modeling and letting the students practice locating information before I can expect them to do it on their own. Many of my students get easily frustrated when I do not give them the answers or lay it out for them to find without thought. This needs to change, but I have to take the time to teach them the correct way to locate information using the web.

Since taking this course, I now know how important it is to model, model, model with the computer. I can not take for granted that the students already know how to use their "New Literacy Skills". From now on I will make more of an effort to model and practice model and practice before I ever assign a project that requires using the internet.

My school is actually getting Promethem boards this week. They are really going to help increase participation from students and are suppose to increase test scores. I plan on attending inservice provided by our Title I program and gaining as much knowledge as I can to make my board as effective as I can for my students. These boards do so much and have great tools, but if I do not know all about them they will not be effective for my students.

Final Reflection

As I look back at my "Personal Theory of Learning" that I developed in the beginning of this course, I have to say I would change anything. I sum up my theory by saying that all students learn differntly and there is no one way to teach. I think this couse and the strategies that I have learned go right along with my theory of learning. I will take bits and pieces of what I have learned and incopotrate them into my class and lessons when appropriate.

I definitly want to incorporate more technology into my class. I feel that I have learned about new tools and strategies that will effect my students in some really positive ways. Like I have mentioned, I am getting my Masters in Integrateing Technology in the Classroom because I know I have a lot to learn. This class has made me use tools and find programs I didn't know were out there. Two tools I would like to use with my students are voicethread and virtual fieldtrips. I think my students will really respond to these tools in a positive way.

My goals are going to be to incorporate technology as much as I can in my class and to become even more child centered. I think these will go hand in hand. I want the stduents to use tools that will allow them to tech each other. I think I can accomplish this because we are suppose to be getting new technology that will allow us to incoporate it so much more. I plan on becoming very knowledeable about the new tool and using in the more productive way.

Voice Thread

Here is my voice thread link:http://voicethread.com/share/786770/

Let's Learn Together, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!!!

This week we read about collaborative learning in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works and we were suppose to relate our learning to the Social Learning theory. I definitely think that the strategies that were discussed in the text, align directly with social learning. Having students collaborate and work together on projects allows the students to bounce ideas off each other, teach each other, and work out problems through discussion. In today's society students have to learn how to collaborate and learn from others.

I really like the Jigsaw strategy and have used it before in my class. Students really like feeling like they are the expert and teaching other what they know. It also helps to break up the information to the groups and they can choose how they teach their part. Students use different vocabulary that sometimes make it easier for the others to learn from them.

I like to use collaborative groups in my class, sometimes it is very difficult because several of my students do not work well with others. I think it is important to keep using these groups so all the students have to practice skills that should be used in social settings.

If they create it, they will learn!

I have to say, this weeks' readings were very interesting but at the same time I am not sure how I will incorporate some of the ideas in my 3rd grade class. The Contructivist theories say that students building and creating help them put what they learn into long term memory. I defenitly agree with this and feel that hands-on activities are best. Students love to be involoved with what they are learning.

In the reading this week it spoke about students creating and testing thier own hypohesis and creating spreadsheets to organize data. I am not sure my students would be able to this. They are very dependent on teachers and I think most would just give up. I am all for incorporating higher order thinking skills such as this, but I am not sure they are quite ready.