Reflecting on my GAME Plan

    The goals that I developed for myself at the beginning of this class revolved around professional development and implementing technology into my classroom.  I think these were very good goals for myself.  What I learned over these past seven weeks is that my main roadblock in being successful towards these goals is myself.  I need to get past my anxieties and start implementing what I know about technology.  I have had enough professional development regarding technology what I really need is to find a professional learning community that is focusing on implementing these skills.  Seeing real people that I can talk to would encourage me more to make the necessary changes.  

    I also set a goal to become for involved in my district regarding the technology that we use and how we use it.  In the past I have been too passive.  I need to become a better advocate for all the positives that technology has to offer.  By creating samples of certain projects that can be completed and showing them to the technology director and potentially the superintendent I will be able to bring about change that will allow more social media to be used in my classroom.

    Some of the immediate adjustments that I am making in my classroom is that if I see a way to incorporate technology into my teaching and my students work I should take it.  From what I have learned in our learning resources, discussion boards, blog posts, and what I am doing in my classroom, all I see is students increased engagement when technology is involved.  This does mean I need to change some of my classroom management to accommodate project based learning.  I am also learning to find the balance of assessing student learning through both traditional assessments and projects.  

    I have found that it is very easy to incorporate project based learning, social networking, and digital storytelling into Language Arts and Social Studies.  Many of the topics being taught in these subjects are conducive to conducting projects.  Math is going to be more of a struggle, but when the opportunity is there to use technology to enhance learning I need to take it.  

    All in all, I have been very pleased with what I have learned in this class.  The strides that I have made in making my classroom a 21st century classroom has encouraged me to push on.  I am excited for what is ahead. 

Monitoring My Game Plan

                Time has been my largest struggle in Pursuing my GAME plan.  As I have mentioned in previous posts,  working full time, being a husband/father full time, in grade school full time, and mix in holiday weekend and the end of a school year there is literally no free time in my day.   As much as I want to pursue my GAME plan and use the resources that I have found I simply cannot see where it will all fit.  Can anyone else relate to this?  I think I need to apply what one of the teachers from the week 1 resources suggested (Laureate Education, n.d.)  and set aside 15 minutes of my work day to read blogs or experiment with apps.  If it is structured into my day I will have more accountability in actually using the resources that I have found.

                At this time I do not need to make any major modifications to my GAME plan.  I believe that I have good goals in place it is more of a matter of disciplining me to more actively pursue them.  As my school year winds down there will be more time available to pursue my GAME plan goals.

                In my pursuit of getting more involved in what my district is doing with technology I have come to find that the districts technology committee has disbanded due to lack of participation.  After speaking with my districts technology director I informed her that in spite of there not being a technology committee any more that I would like to be involved as best I can.  She was pretty receptive and excited by my offer.  I have also learned that there are plenty of opportunities to receive professional development in my area.

                As I am looking for ways to integrate more technology into my teaching and trying to be better prepared, one of the questions that I am wrestling with is equitability.  I am unsure if all my students have the same access or comfort level with technology than others.  How can I accommodate this?  What if the technology is a hindrance for some students?  Should they be punished or held accountable for not being able to adequately use certain types of technology?  When I have more time, hopefully I will be able to dive deeper into these questions. 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Integrating technology across the content areas: Promoting self-directed learning with technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

GAME Plan Resources

Profession development is a large component of my GAME plan.  I want to get involved in what local educators are doing in regards to technology.  I also would like to play a more active role in my district when it comes to technology.   A great resource for professional development is getting involved in an organization called Computer Using Educator (CUE). The mission of CUE is to “CUE inspires innovative learners by fostering community, personalizing learning, infusing technology, developing leadership, and advocating educational opportunities for all. ” (Computer Using Educators, 2015).  CUE is a local affiliate group that is very close to me.   This could be an incredible resource for me.  Another resource to help me achieve my professional development goal is to familiarize myself  with my district’s technology plan and resources.  This will help me to get more involved and act as an anchor document when it comes to implementing change in my classroom and in my efforts to help improve this plan.

My second goal revolved around finding ways to implement digital technologies into my classroom.  A great resource to help my achieve this goal is the blog www.thewiredteacher.com.  This blog is created by educators using technology in their everyday classroom with the purpose of helping other educators do the same.  Their testimonials and examples of what they are doing is a great resource for me.  I will be able to take what they are doing and apply it to my classroom.  By being more active in this community, asking questions, and offering my own feedback it will help me to better implement technology.

References:

Computer Using Educators. (2015). Purpose and vision. Retrieved from www.cue.org.

Hermosa Beach City School District. (2015). 2011 Technology plan. Retrieved from www.hbcsd.org.

www.thewiredteacher.com

Stoking the Fire: Setting and Pursuing Goals Breathes Life Back Into Teaching

            I love teaching!  I feel like I am doing to exact thing that God created me to do.  After ten years in the classroom, the passion is still there, but the fire and drive is dwindling.  I am starting to rely on things I have done in the past rather than working to create new lessons and modes to deliver content.  I believe that the fire is dwindling because I am not pushing myself anymore.  It is like I have put my teaching on cruise control.  Cruise control is boring.  I need to create some goals that will cause myself to work, and hopefully through pushing for these goals I will be able to stoke the fire of my teaching.  The two areas that I would like to focus on come from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). 

            The first goal is in the area of professional involvement.  Standard 5a focuses on getting involved in local learning communities with the goal of improving student engagement by using technology (International Society for Technology in Education).  Time has always been my excuse.  I work a very full work week, I am a father of two adorable young daughters that I want to spend time with, and I am a full time graduate student.  There is not a lot of margin in my day. It is hard for me to imagine finding time to get involved.  Luckily, while I have been in graduate school I have found a great community of colleagues that support and challenge me.  I am more concerned about what happens in October, when I am finished with graduate school.  I need to force myself to get involved in a learning community.  For starters, I should volunteer to be on the district technology committee.  By doing this I will be held accountable for being involved.  It will also force me into being part of the conversation.  Being involved in a community like this will also provide me with what Dr. Ertmer (Laureate Education, n.d.) described as a supportive culture.  If I am involved in a group with a shared goal we will be able to support each other. 

            The second goal is in the area of modeling digital age technology.  Standard 3a alludes to teachers integrating technological tools into their instruction and the ability to demonstrate a familiarity with the different learning tools that are available (International Society for Technology in Education).   I feel like I keep up on the new tools in technology that are available, but I struggle in finding ways to incorporate the technology into my teaching.  My goal is to do a better job planning my instruction so that I can purposefully incorporate technology into my teaching.  I would also like to do a better job modeling using technology to my students.  If I want my students to create a digital storybook, I need to show them an example of one first.  This goal can be accomplished by dedicating time to planning out my instruction and by collaborating with my peers in developing samples and exploring new ways to use technology.

            I feel that these goals will provide the spark that I need to get off the plateau.  I recognize that I cannot do this alone.  I need accountability and support.  Do you have any advice to help me achieve my goals?  

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (n.d.). Integrating technology across the content areas: Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Course Reflection

            This course shed light on my personal learning theory.  I am still a firm believer in the importance of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and Garner’s multiple intelligences.  This course helped me to identify specific learning theories that I can relate to.  If I were to rewrite my week one application I would add that my teaching falls mostly in line with constructionist and constructivist learning theories.  I frequently use Garner’s multiple intelligences to assist my students in creating their own understanding of a topic which is a cornerstone of both constructionist and constructivist theories (Orey, 2001).  This course also provides great strategies of how to use technology to help students engage in learning.

            Over these past seven weeks I have had the opportunity to take a critical look at how I use technology in the classroom.  After learning about Paivio’s dual coding hypothesis I started to think about how I present information.  Paivio (Laureate Education, n.d. a.) argued that people remember pictures better than text.  Since learning of this theory I have tried to utilize pictures as much as possible in my instruction.  This class also reminded me that because we live in a technology saturated culture our students are accustomed to using technology.  I need to continuously be integrating technology into my instruction and into my students’ assignments as much as is reasonably possible. 

            Two technology tools that I would like to add to my teaching toolbox are virtual field trips and utilizing VoiceThread.  I have use the internet frequently in my instruction and I have had students conduct web quests, but after looking at virtual field trips in more depth,  I have found that I have not been utilizing these internet resources as well as I should be.  I need to take opportunities to create the episodic memories that virtual field trips help to create (Laureate Education, n.d. b.).  Virtually taking my students to a place like Jamestown is much more effective than simply reading about it in the text book.  I would also like to utilize VoiceThread in my classroom.  VoiceThread could be a great website to use for cooperative learning activities or for individual projects.  VoiceThread would work great for cooperative learning because multimedia type projects are conducive to cooperative behavior (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2010).  I think my students will love creating audio, type, or video memos and solicit feedback from their peers.  It is a great way to engage students in the learning process and to become active contributors. 

            Two long term goals for integrating technology into my classroom would be for me to utilize social media in my teaching, and utilizing online communities as both a contributor and a consumer. I would like to create YouTube videos and VoiceThread discussions and use them as tools for teaching and collaboration.  To help my achieve this goal I am going to look at my curriculum map and identify certain topics that would lend well to utilizing these tools, and choose one topic per month.  One strategy per month would allow me to ease my way into utilizing these tools.  As I become more comfortable with them then I can increase the amount.  I have learned so much from my colleagues through their blog posts and discussion boards.  I think it is important to spend time learning from my colleagues that are in the trenches with me as well as sharing with them what I am doing in my classroom.  It is refreshing for a teacher to learn new things.  To help me achieve this goal of being active in online communities I will schedule time in my plan book to read the blogs on my Feed Reader account and to post to thoughts and ideas onto my own blog.  The important thing for me is that I actually have a set apart time to do this.  Penciling it in my plan book will keep me accountable. 

References

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.a.). Cognitive learning theories [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.b.). Spotlight on technology: Virtual field trips  [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from 

            http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is an essential tool in the classroom.  It is a strategy that sets our students up to be successful in the real world.  Most careers that students go in to will require them to work within a group.  Teaching our students how to do this now will help to teach them how to problem solve, how to handle conflict, and how to effectively collaborate with one another.  Cooperative learning is also a style of learning that students enjoy being a part of.  When you use this strategy in the classroom teachers will often experience an increase in motivation from their students, and a greater buy-in to what the are learning (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012).  There are many ways a teacher can incorporate cooperative learning into a classroom.  They can use the jigsaw strategy, assign a group project, or they can take part in computer based simulation activities.  

The jigsaw strategy work will when the content being covered is broken up into different categories.  In this strategy the students split up into equal groups.  Within those groups each student decides on a section to become an expert on.  Once all groups of delegated each section to members of their group the students from the various groups that have the same section will get together and research and prepare the content that they will be sharing with the initial group (Laureate Education, n.d.).  Each group needs to depend on their members to teach the content that is important.  I use this strategy frequently during social studies.  If you wanted to incorporate technology students can create a PowerPoint style presentation and share it with each other and they can bring that back to each of their groups to share.  

Group projects is another great cooperative learning strategy. Like a jigsaw, members within a group are usually responsible for different roles. Working in groups promote positive interdependence and individual and group accountability (Pitler et. al, 2012).  Within these projects students are assigned various roles and are responsible for completing their portion of the project.  If students are working on a multimedia project responsibilities could be split up into researcher, writer, tech expert, and coordinator (Pitler et. al, 2012).  Each student needs to depend on each other in order to achieve success.  

Computer based simulations is a style of cooperative learning that takes place outside of the classroom rather than inside. Peter Tromba (2013) said, “Video games and simulations are one way to meet student needs and leverage their interests for increased student learning.” (p. 20).  Minecraft is the simulation game that students are participating in.   While playing this games students can connect and all be a part of the same world (Tromba, 2013).  The students will need to work together with each other to create something that they can thrive in.

As you can see, cooperative learning is a great strategy to encourage student engagement and increase learning.  Students will walk away from their classrooms excited about what they are learning.  They will also be gaining skills that will equip them to be successful in life outside of school.

References:

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Social learning theories [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Tromba, P. (2013). Build Engagement and Knowledge One Block at a Time with Minecraft. Learning & Leading With Technology, 40(8), 20-23.

Voice Thread

I'm seeking support on supporting my students in learning their states and capitals.  Specifically in the area of spelling and labeling.  Check out my Voice Thread link.  I welcome any recommendations! 

Thanks in advance for your help.