Carrying out my GAME plan

In order to carry out my game plan I will need the ability to access computers both for myself and the class, the library media specialist, and the technology specialist in district. In addition, I can also access professional development opportunities in the area in order to enhance the creativity of my lessons. The two days after school gets out I am attending two full day sessions the first day has outcomes of; learning about new tech tools to use with students, considering how to use these tools in new projects or GTEs, and hands on time to register logins and play with these Web 2.0 tools. The second day has outcomes of; applying what I learned from two prior professional development sessions to create a new project and/or GTE and exploring the Stafford 2.0 Wikispace.

In regards to my second goal I will again need access to computers. I have recently found that the NSTA website has great opportunities for authentic learning. In cleaning out some filing cabinets today, I also found some one minute readings about real life science that I could build upon as well. The above mentioned professional development day, involves one of the discovery education experts, who also has some great ideas for science labs and the incorporation of authentic science learning.

At this point in the school year, we are wrapping up our unit on the human body, reviewing for the final exam, and taking the final exam, so there is not much time to create new lessons and labs. Therefore, so far I have been able to schedule my attendance at the professional development days, begin thinking about my GAME plan for next year, and how to be reflective in practice.

My intended learning strategy for this GAME plan will incorporate all of the learner-centered strategies as mentioned in the course text. I will incorporate creating a collaborative environment, promoting content learning, and promoting reflection. I will be a participant in the collaborative environment as the presenters at the professional development workshops will ask us to create in groups. I will be using content learning by doing in both workshops “we need to remember that one of the primary reasons we use authentic learning is to promote students’ deep understanding of subject- matter content through the process of doing” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, p. 169, 2009). Lastly, throughout my GAME plan next year I will think about thinking, or be metacognitive (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, p. 170, 2009). I plan to be reflective as stated in my above plan by writing myself a note in my lesson plan book to check and see if I achieved that goal after implementation of the creative lessons and authentic science activities.

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.

Game Plan

I would like to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in two of the NETS-T standards. Those two standards are; facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity and design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. The actions I will take in order to achieve these goals are:

1. Set goals
2. Take Action to meet goals
3. Monitor progress
4. Evaluate achievement level (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009)

The goal I would like to set for myself are to involve one lesson a month that inspires creativity, currently I feel that I incorporate technology and learning, however if I could involve creativity students would be able to express their creative side more often and therefore feel successful. In order to meet that goal I will place a note in my plan book for the first Monday of the month to plan a creative lesson in that month. In order to monitor that progress, the last Friday in the month I will also write myself a note indicating to check and see if that goal was achieved. At the end of each school year I will do a review of all 9 assignments and see if the required creativity level has gone up as the year has progressed.

The second goal I would like to set for myself is to pick two labs throughout the year where I can incorporate more authentic learning; in a science class this change to the curriculum is manageable. In order to meet that goal in my plan book I will place a note about once every two months to create an authentic lab experience. In order to monitor that progress, I will also write myself a note indicating to check and see if that goal was achieved after implementation. At the end of each school year I will do a review of 2 labs to see if the authentic labs have increased since the previous year.

In order to evaluate and extend my learning, if I am having trouble incorporating the creativity with the technology, I will access the web or the technology education specialist in the district. I also plan to continue to seek out professional development in applying technology to the curriculum.

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.

ISTE (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers Retrieved May 15th, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Reflection of Walden Course 6712

Throughout this course the most striking revelation I have had about the teaching of new literacy skills is having students use multiple modalities in their creation of products. I often use multiple modalities when I present information to students; however I have not given much thought to asking students to. Eagleton & Dobler state the QUEST Inquiry Model: Questioning, Understanding Resources, Evaluating, Synthesizing, and Transforming. Within this transforming stage is using the information found and presenting it in text and visually. I plan to utilize this amazing tool in future inquiry projects.

In additional to use multiple modalities in inquiry projects I also plan to ask students to evaluate websites to a further degree than I do now. I will give students a handout each time internet research is completed. This handout will be a graphic organizer for easy visualization. Each row will have a place for the websites’ URL, author of website, date created and or date last updated, the governing body (university of government association), URL backtracking, and lastly does the information seem reliable. These steps will insist that students take the time to decide off the website is reliable. After a couple projects are completed in this way, these steps will become second nature to students.

Although inquiry projects at first glance may seem to take a lot of class time, I strongly believe that students learn a great deal more content and process skills than the typically class instruction, activity, and test. Student’s ability to make decisions for themselves and evaluate sources is a step in the right direction for preparing students for the 21st century globally competitive workforce. I would really like to pursue professional development about creating and sharing effective inquiry projects. In order to accomplish this goal I will find the companies that provide professional development within this state and look for development of inquiry science projects. I will also utilize Discovery Educators Network and online resources.

Resources
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Glogster

End of Course Reflection

At the start of this course I was an advocate for the constructivist learning theory. However, throughout this course my train of thought has converted to the social learning theory with the use of technology. At the start of this class and currently I strongly believed in the use of multiple intelligences and learning style inventories.

The only immediate adjustment that I would like to make in my instructional practice in regards to technology integration is to use technology as a learning tool rather than an instructional tool. Yes technology has made my life easier as an instructor; however, I need to further start impacting the students learning by using technology in conjunction with the social learning theory. The multiple technology tools that I plan to use are VoiceThread, Audacity, virtual field trips, Wikispaces, Cover It Live, and Skype.

The first long term change that I would like to make is to incorporate the use of learning tools to benefit student learning. In order to do so I would like to more often incorporate websites like VoiceThread, audacity, virtual field trips, and Wikispaces as learning tools. I plan to utilize my once a month assigned date in the computer lab to achieve this goal.

The second long term change would be to incorporate the use of collaboration with other schools throughout the state, country, and possibly world through the use of Cover It Live or Skype. My plan is to continue looking into finding connections to collaborate through National Lab Day and Discovery Education’s Network (DEN). National Lab Day is National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) sponsored website that connects classroom teachers with scientists. The DEN is a location for teachers to post questions and comments. The technology specialist in the district put a post on the DEN looking for teachers to collaborate on the state required food preservation unit. After I find a connection, I plan to set up a date for online collaboration.

Although my thoughts and goals have evolved throughout this course, I believe that they have changed for the better!! These theories and goals are striving toward using learning theories and technologies to better the learning that occurs in the classroom.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social learning theories, according to Dr. Orey (Laureate Education Inc., 2008a), are when students are actively engaged in constructing something, in order to apply concepts learned. Dr. Orey (Laureate Education Inc., 2008a), explains how it is also when students are having valid conversations about what they are doing. It is that time of creation and discussion that students are learning through the social learning theories.

According to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski “the instructional strategy of cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning. When students work in cooperative groups, they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

These two theories are related to each other by both theories asking students to work together to augment learning. The tools that we explored to employ the social learning theory this week, such as cooperative multimedia projects, keypals, website creation, collaborative organization, communication software (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007), are all ways to incorporate technology and the social learning theory. Between technology integration and group work most students are engaged. Students enjoy using technology and working together.

Often time group work becomes hindered because of the logistics, like sharing work, not having a ride to get together in the evenings or weekends, computers not being compatible, etc. However, with the use of web based tools, students can streamline the hindrances and be much more productive. “Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

Lisa Nielsen, in Tech & Learning, states “wikis are a great tool to help a school enrich instruction and increase communication and collaboration among staff. They are also free and provide unlimited storage for digital materials” (Nielsen, 2009). Nielsen also mentions that wikis can “decrease disruptions of instructional time, make meetings more efficient, collaborate on important documents, enhance professional development, share and collaborate on curriculum maps, save trees and time, and a portal for all your lessons” (Nielsen, 2009). Although these seven ways do not directly help students apply technology through the social learning theory, they are ways for the teacher to help the student. While reading this article I was finding myself stumbling on exact ways that my school could use a wikispace. For example with the Nielsen’s first example of how to use a wiki, “decrease disruptions of instructional time” (Nielsen, 2009), all of the announcements that we need to get, as teachers, could be posted on the wiki, teachers could even collaborate about ideas etc. I also found myself coming up with ideas of how to employ wikispaces in the classroom, for example with “share and collaborate” (Nielsen, 2009), students instead of teachers can share and collaborate about their group work etc.

When students are asked to in small groups create something that displays their ability to apply knowledge, students are being held accountable for each other’s learning and are more likely to grasp the concept by being able to bounce ideas off each other and learn from each other. Employing the social learning theory through technology is an excellent way to deliver curriculum and prepare students for this technology age.

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008a). “Social Learning Theories”. Baltimore: Author.

Nielsen, L. (2009, August). Eight ways to use school wikis. Tech & Learning, 30, 32-33.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

VoiceThread Link

Click here for my VoiceThread on Homework/Transition Team!!