My personal game plan focuses on two indicators: 1b) engage students in real-world issues and 4a) ethical use of digital information.
To carry out the first part of this plan, I need to gather information. I plan to investigate collaborative projects on-line using the resources from our last course as a starting point. I also plan to send an email out to district colleagues asking if anyone is/has participated in such projects. The media specialist in my building is very interested in developing technology-rich projects with me. She has many contacts and resources, in addition to a global view of what all the grade levels in our building are working on. Together we can find or develop authentic problems for our students to explore. Working on such a project will require devoted class time and more computer access than the two student computers I currently have in my classroom. Currently I have the lap top cart for two periods a week but there is more room in the schedule to sign it for project use. In addition, we have a mini computer lab in the library. Before I can go forward with the rest of this objective, I need to settle on a project.
As for my second goal, I am already working to model and teach the safe and ethical use of digital of digital information. We are just getting into a new social studies unit so I am showing the students some of the tools we will be using. I have introduced my students to the Get REAL acronym (Almasi, 2009) to evaluate websites and to the two-column journal (Eagleton and Dobler, 2007. p.224). Because we have not gotten into real inquiry phase, I am modeling note taking on the journal with books about agriculture and a couple of websites linked to our school website (the journal page has been scanned into the computer and I model on the SMART Board). I have not yet met with the media specialist or administration about implementing a "SMART" curriculum as found on the CyberSmartCurriculum.org site. However, I still plan to do that as an extension of this goal. I think time to meet and plan is the next step. Developing a unified school-wide approach to digital learning skills and issues may need to be a summer project.
I feel better about my progress on the second goal although this is an on-going goal. How to safely, legally, and ethically use digital information and technology changes with the technology itself.
Almasi, J. (2009). Critical evaluation. Laureate Education, DVD.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
GAME Plan
In reviewing the NETS-T (standards for teachers), there are two areas in which I would like to become more proficient.
The first area is standard 1b-"engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources." To address this goal, I plan to research collaborative student projects. During the last course I found many great ideas such as epals, digital storytelling, participating in a science data collection project, and a folklore project. These types of projects promote global citizenship and prepare students for real world work experiences. Once I find a project that seems like a good fit for my class I will plan activities to provide prequisite knowledge, establish rules and procedures, and build in regular class time to devote to the project. I will monitor the engagement and progress of my students, and provide support as needed. After the project is completed I will evaluate the effectiveness of the activity and share results with colleagues. My hope is to encourage colleagues to branch out and try collaborative projects as well.
The second area I would like to improve is standard 4a-"advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources." During the last course I realized that there is so much more to using technology with students than introducing them to new programs. As more technology is being used in the classroom, teachers are responsible for teaching a much broader tech curriculum. While carefully citing sources in my own school work, I have not required my students to do this yet. To address this goal I am spending much more time incorporating tools to help students keep track of sites they visit and using a two-column journal adapted from Eagleton and Dobler (Reading the Web, 2007), in which students record sites (or texts) visited, key facts, and their personal response to the facts. By introducing third graders to this type of note taking, I hope to establish the ethical use of resources. To monitor progress in meeting this goal, I plan to have students complete a two-column journal for each unit in social studies this year. To extend this goal I will demonstrate how to properly cite sources used and encourage students to include a reference page with each project. I also hope to work with the media specialist to encourage safe, legal, and ethical use to all staff and students.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
The first area is standard 1b-"engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources." To address this goal, I plan to research collaborative student projects. During the last course I found many great ideas such as epals, digital storytelling, participating in a science data collection project, and a folklore project. These types of projects promote global citizenship and prepare students for real world work experiences. Once I find a project that seems like a good fit for my class I will plan activities to provide prequisite knowledge, establish rules and procedures, and build in regular class time to devote to the project. I will monitor the engagement and progress of my students, and provide support as needed. After the project is completed I will evaluate the effectiveness of the activity and share results with colleagues. My hope is to encourage colleagues to branch out and try collaborative projects as well.
The second area I would like to improve is standard 4a-"advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources." During the last course I realized that there is so much more to using technology with students than introducing them to new programs. As more technology is being used in the classroom, teachers are responsible for teaching a much broader tech curriculum. While carefully citing sources in my own school work, I have not required my students to do this yet. To address this goal I am spending much more time incorporating tools to help students keep track of sites they visit and using a two-column journal adapted from Eagleton and Dobler (Reading the Web, 2007), in which students record sites (or texts) visited, key facts, and their personal response to the facts. By introducing third graders to this type of note taking, I hope to establish the ethical use of resources. To monitor progress in meeting this goal, I plan to have students complete a two-column journal for each unit in social studies this year. To extend this goal I will demonstrate how to properly cite sources used and encourage students to include a reference page with each project. I also hope to work with the media specialist to encourage safe, legal, and ethical use to all staff and students.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom
Transitioning from Knowledge to Synthesis-Reflection
As a result of this course, I realize that there is a great deal more to incorporating technology in the classroom than just introducing new tools. The literacy skills needed to search, evaluate, and synthesize information on the internet are similar yet different than those needed for traditional research.
Students must be taught how to effectively use search engines and utilize key words to find information. Then they must be taught to evaluate the sites for validity and reliability. Students can use the "Get REAL" acronym by Dr. Almasi to read the URL, evaluate the content, ask about the author and owner, and look at the links within a website. But the most important skill our students need to learn is how to synthesize and transform information into new knowledge. To support my students in this area, I plan to use the two-column web journal form (Eagleton and Dobler, 2007). The sentence starters/prompts that are provided on this form help students personally respond to new information and turn it into their own words. By using this form to take notes from different websites, students can learn to link or synthesize information from multiple sources. When creating artifacts, using personal responses encourages intellectual honesty.
As educators we need to teach and model both technology literacy and responsibility. As the technology coordinator in my building, I feel it is my responsibility to encourage and lead others in these areas. To that end, I hope to work in conjunction with our media specialist and administrators to initiate conversations addressing the SMART acronym on the CyberSmartCurriculum.org site.
Safety and Security online
Manners, bullying, and ethics
Authentic learning and creativity
Research and information fluency
Twenty-first century challenges.
Hopefully through staff discussions and monthly technology related e-letters, we will develop a unified approach to these important literacy skills and issues.
Almasi, J. (2009). Critical evaluation. Laureate Education, DVD.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
As a result of this course, I realize that there is a great deal more to incorporating technology in the classroom than just introducing new tools. The literacy skills needed to search, evaluate, and synthesize information on the internet are similar yet different than those needed for traditional research.
Students must be taught how to effectively use search engines and utilize key words to find information. Then they must be taught to evaluate the sites for validity and reliability. Students can use the "Get REAL" acronym by Dr. Almasi to read the URL, evaluate the content, ask about the author and owner, and look at the links within a website. But the most important skill our students need to learn is how to synthesize and transform information into new knowledge. To support my students in this area, I plan to use the two-column web journal form (Eagleton and Dobler, 2007). The sentence starters/prompts that are provided on this form help students personally respond to new information and turn it into their own words. By using this form to take notes from different websites, students can learn to link or synthesize information from multiple sources. When creating artifacts, using personal responses encourages intellectual honesty.
As educators we need to teach and model both technology literacy and responsibility. As the technology coordinator in my building, I feel it is my responsibility to encourage and lead others in these areas. To that end, I hope to work in conjunction with our media specialist and administrators to initiate conversations addressing the SMART acronym on the CyberSmartCurriculum.org site.
Safety and Security online
Manners, bullying, and ethics
Authentic learning and creativity
Research and information fluency
Twenty-first century challenges.
Hopefully through staff discussions and monthly technology related e-letters, we will develop a unified approach to these important literacy skills and issues.
Almasi, J. (2009). Critical evaluation. Laureate Education, DVD.
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Monday, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Reflection
At the beginning of this course I described my personal learning theory as an "eclectic" mix that is mostly social constructionist. I still feel that this is a good descriptor. I agree with cognitive theorists that when students develop an awareness about how they think, they improve their understanding. The cognitive tools we explored such as concept mapping and virtual field trips work to develop connections in the brain to new learning. I believe in using these tools and others to create connections and pathways. Many of the routines in my room are aligned with behaviorist theory such as behavior management and skill practice activities. However, I believe true, meaningful learning occurs when students are creating artifacts and learning with or from others whether peers or "more knowledgeable others" (Laureate, 2009). We had an excellent debate in week 5 of our course about whether or not social learning is the primary way in which people learn. When "more knowledgeable other" is defined as a peer, teacher, or computer, that opens the door for many definitions of social interaction. I normally wouldn't think of a computer tutorial as social learning but I do learn from the computer when I see someone model a task and hear them describe what is happening. The fact that I can replay the tutorial and use a chat feature for additional help assists in my learning. While I am capable of learning information on my own, my understanding of a topic is deepened when given the opportunity to discuss it, teach it, or create an artifact about it.
The immediate adjustments I plan to make to my instructional practices this year are to focus on the strategy clusters that are proven to make an impact on student learning, particularly identifying similarities and differences. This strategy can be implemented immediately regardless of the technology available in the classroom and when students are proficient in this strategy, they have shown a 45 percentile gain in achievement (Laureate, 2009). Another adjustment I plan to make is to design my current projects to be more collaborative using the tools to which we have been introduced. Voice Thread is a very easy tool for students to use. The other tools I plan to use are Kidspiration for concept maps and virtual field trips.
The long term goals I have are to work with grade level colleagues to revamp the curriculum units with a focus on integrating technology tools and to take a leadership role in the professional development of colleagues in my building. Many teachers continue to think of technology as an "add on" to our curriculum. I hope to share my knowledge and enthusiasm to show that technology incorporated into what we already do will create more engaging and meaningful learning experiences, and increased student achievement. I have accepted the position of tech coordinator for my building for this school year and will use this position to work on these long term goals.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Social Learning Theories. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD.
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Instructional Strategies, Part One. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD.
The immediate adjustments I plan to make to my instructional practices this year are to focus on the strategy clusters that are proven to make an impact on student learning, particularly identifying similarities and differences. This strategy can be implemented immediately regardless of the technology available in the classroom and when students are proficient in this strategy, they have shown a 45 percentile gain in achievement (Laureate, 2009). Another adjustment I plan to make is to design my current projects to be more collaborative using the tools to which we have been introduced. Voice Thread is a very easy tool for students to use. The other tools I plan to use are Kidspiration for concept maps and virtual field trips.
The long term goals I have are to work with grade level colleagues to revamp the curriculum units with a focus on integrating technology tools and to take a leadership role in the professional development of colleagues in my building. Many teachers continue to think of technology as an "add on" to our curriculum. I hope to share my knowledge and enthusiasm to show that technology incorporated into what we already do will create more engaging and meaningful learning experiences, and increased student achievement. I have accepted the position of tech coordinator for my building for this school year and will use this position to work on these long term goals.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Social Learning Theories. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD.
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Instructional Strategies, Part One. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice
Cooperative learning has been around for a long time. This instructional strategy gets a 21st century facelift with the introduction of technological tools for collaboration and presentation. Students today can find information easily. Using the web, they can do searches or ask experts questions directly (Pitler etal, 2007). The hard work they must do is apply that information to problem-solving situations. A wide variety of sites allow students to "meet" no matter where they are or time of day such as wikis, blogs, and "keypal" sites. Students can share documents and see changes made by group members on sites such as Google Docs or by emailing Word docs and utilizing the "track changes" feature in Microsoft. Online calendars can be used to monitor progress of group members.
One tool I was introduced to this week that I really liked was VoiceThread. This is such a simple yet effective way to share ideas with others. In one of the tutorials, a child posted an illustration on VoiceThread with a brief story about his creature. Several people commented on his picture and his creativity. I think this is such an easy way to start sharing content on the web because the privacy settings allow you to limit the people that can view or comment on the artifact. There is also a way to moderate the comments. Another feature I really like about this tool is the variety of options for commenting. People can use a microphone, webcam, type, or call a phone number to add a comment.
Another tool I was introduced to this week that was very foreign to me was "Second Life" and virtual world simulations. I had never heard of these avatar environments for business or education purposes. I have long used Kathy Schrock's website for ideas and I see that she is involved in training teachers to create educational experiences in "Teen Second Life." I will have to check that out more. Because so many of today's video games are simulation type games, I think students would enjoy and respond well to such applications. However, since I am just beginning to use Read/Write Web 2.0 tools, I think virtual worlds are still a long way off for me.
People today are very connected. Younger and younger kids are carrying cell phones with texting capability and are on social network sites. The younger children start off on WebKinz or Club Penguin and quickly graduate up to Facebook. Many of the video game systems such as XBox and Playstation have online versions of their games. Adults are constantly hooked into the internet through smart phones. There must be value in all this connectivity. Are we being more productive? Are we learning from each other? Or is it up to educators to guide this connectivity toward learning purposes?
Resources:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Social learning theories. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD.
Dembo, S. (2008, October). Virtual worlds for educators. District Administration, 44(11), 48–52.
One tool I was introduced to this week that I really liked was VoiceThread. This is such a simple yet effective way to share ideas with others. In one of the tutorials, a child posted an illustration on VoiceThread with a brief story about his creature. Several people commented on his picture and his creativity. I think this is such an easy way to start sharing content on the web because the privacy settings allow you to limit the people that can view or comment on the artifact. There is also a way to moderate the comments. Another feature I really like about this tool is the variety of options for commenting. People can use a microphone, webcam, type, or call a phone number to add a comment.
Another tool I was introduced to this week that was very foreign to me was "Second Life" and virtual world simulations. I had never heard of these avatar environments for business or education purposes. I have long used Kathy Schrock's website for ideas and I see that she is involved in training teachers to create educational experiences in "Teen Second Life." I will have to check that out more. Because so many of today's video games are simulation type games, I think students would enjoy and respond well to such applications. However, since I am just beginning to use Read/Write Web 2.0 tools, I think virtual worlds are still a long way off for me.
People today are very connected. Younger and younger kids are carrying cell phones with texting capability and are on social network sites. The younger children start off on WebKinz or Club Penguin and quickly graduate up to Facebook. Many of the video game systems such as XBox and Playstation have online versions of their games. Adults are constantly hooked into the internet through smart phones. There must be value in all this connectivity. Are we being more productive? Are we learning from each other? Or is it up to educators to guide this connectivity toward learning purposes?
Resources:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Social learning theories. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD.
Dembo, S. (2008, October). Virtual worlds for educators. District Administration, 44(11), 48–52.
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