I have found that I am finding a lot of information just from this course that is helping me reach and understand my goals more. I believe this weeks learning resources really shed some light and gave me some great ideas for my first goal of designing and developing digital-age learning assessments. I realize that a lot of the media I am familuar with can be used as assessments. Take for example a word processor, I can use that to create a math journal for my students. It would be a better tool to use for open-ended questions, because I would really be able to read what they are saying because penmanship would not be an issue, something that can be hard to read when teaching first grade(Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I liked the idea of using digital cameras and video cameras. These are tools I am comfortable using and have access to at my school. Somthing I am still waiting to hear about is the acccess to clickers. I like that it sends the results directly to the computer and gradebook. This would be such a time saver for the teacher and a truer assessemnt for the students. I considered what Dr. John Ross noted in this weeks video, it is important to have a variety of assessment tools (Laureate, 2009). I believe this will accompany my initial goal. Not only is it important to use technology but to have a wide variety of types.
As far as indicator #3 is another area I would like to improve, Model-Digital Age Work and Learning. I think by incorporating the use of different types of assessment using technology, I am also meeting this goal. It is interesting how theyt came together. I had previously thought of them as separate but really they are one in the same. I feel a boost of confidence that I can use technology to meet instructional and assessment needs.
Some questions I will still need to sort out are: how can I access the lab more often? What resources do I have available that I still am not comfortable using? When can I recieve training on those resources? Most of the questions I will have to take to my computer specialist at school but I am always open to new ideas and insight from my classmates!
Refrences:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, D.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Carrying Out My GAME Plan
As I reflect on my GAME Plan I realize that it is going to require a lot of effort on my part. It will be stretching me and changing ways I normally do things. To help me accomplish my goals I realize that I will need to reach out to others to learn more about assessment and learning new multi-media tools. I have already spoke to my technology contact at my school about using a vlog. He is checking on getting that approved through the county because of our strict regulations.
Also, I am looking for some professional learning opportunities that revolve around technology. This would be something I will need to talk with my administrator about. Last week it was brought to my attention about the use of clickers for assessment purposes. I do not think this is something we have at our schools but I am planning on talking to our technology teacher about seeing if we can get our hands on some.
I realize that I still have a lot of work to do to accomplish my goals. I think I have already taken some steps but I have noticed the lack of accessibility to some of the great multi-media tools I have learned through out my graduate work at Walden. The county I work for has very strict regulations about any blogging, vlogging, and researching. This is very frustrating. Is anyone else running into this problem? Any suggestions on other multi-media ideas that I could do with my first graders?
Also, I am looking for some professional learning opportunities that revolve around technology. This would be something I will need to talk with my administrator about. Last week it was brought to my attention about the use of clickers for assessment purposes. I do not think this is something we have at our schools but I am planning on talking to our technology teacher about seeing if we can get our hands on some.
I realize that I still have a lot of work to do to accomplish my goals. I think I have already taken some steps but I have noticed the lack of accessibility to some of the great multi-media tools I have learned through out my graduate work at Walden. The county I work for has very strict regulations about any blogging, vlogging, and researching. This is very frustrating. Is anyone else running into this problem? Any suggestions on other multi-media ideas that I could do with my first graders?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
My GAME Plan
I consider it a personal conviction to stay on top of the latest technology and resources for teaching. I believe this will offer my students the best education and the greatest advantage for acquiring 21st century skills.
The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) provides indicators that help educators gauge how they are performing. These five standards are meaningful for every classroom and boost the level teaching that is taking place in the classroom.
My GAME Plan is as follows:
Goals: While reflecting on the five standards that NET-S has created I found that I most would like to improve my standing on "Designing and Developing Digital Age Learning Experience and Assessments." I feel comfortable In having my student using technology to create authentic and self-directed learning experiences, I feel that using technology as a resource for assessments is one area that I could use more frequently and appropriately. Situations might be better suited for the use of technology as an assessment tool.
Indicator #3 is another area I would like to improve, Model-Digital Age Work and Learning. Working with first graders I feel that I do not always have the opportunity to expand beyond computer basic to create multi-media and other creative learning opportunities for my students. Sometimes I feel like it might be beyond their grasp because of their lack of exposure to basic computer components.
Action: The action aspect of a GAME plan shows how I will carry out reaching my goals.
Goal #1 of designing and developing digital-age learning assessments is something I belive will take a lo of work. I have use search engines to find more appropriate ways of assessing first grade students using technology and so much seems to be too technological for their limited skills. I have decided the most helpful source maybe to sit down with my schools computer specialist and ask for some specific ideas on what I can use with my students. Also I thought about asking him for some sources that I might be able to do some professional development regarding assessment.
Goal #2 I believe will be taking a leap of faith beyond my comfort zone. I thought about starting out small and creating opportunities as a class to learn two new multi-media or software with students a year. We could learn the ins and outs of the program and create a class project together. I might also need the help of the computer specialist to assist with some of the introductory lessons. This way we can help troubleshoot issues that my arise with first graders.
Monitor:To monitor my progress I plan on placing an area to make sure that I include one digital age assessment in each unit plan. This assessment may be formative or summative. By starting out small I believe it will kick start the momentum to include more as I become comfortable. For goal #2 I plan on creating a survey that the students could fill out that would gauge the level of enjoyment and engagement using the technology more often. I will also ask for ways to improve the two projects we create.
Evaluation: To evaluate on whether or not I accomplished my goals I believe it will come down to reflection and looking at my lesson plans to see if I was able to incorporate new assessments and multi media projects. I will also take this time to look at if my students enjoyed using the tools and areas they felt would improve the learning experience.
I would love to get some feedback on age appropriate assessment and learning projects.
References:
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) provides indicators that help educators gauge how they are performing. These five standards are meaningful for every classroom and boost the level teaching that is taking place in the classroom.
My GAME Plan is as follows:
Goals: While reflecting on the five standards that NET-S has created I found that I most would like to improve my standing on "Designing and Developing Digital Age Learning Experience and Assessments." I feel comfortable In having my student using technology to create authentic and self-directed learning experiences, I feel that using technology as a resource for assessments is one area that I could use more frequently and appropriately. Situations might be better suited for the use of technology as an assessment tool.
Indicator #3 is another area I would like to improve, Model-Digital Age Work and Learning. Working with first graders I feel that I do not always have the opportunity to expand beyond computer basic to create multi-media and other creative learning opportunities for my students. Sometimes I feel like it might be beyond their grasp because of their lack of exposure to basic computer components.
Action: The action aspect of a GAME plan shows how I will carry out reaching my goals.
Goal #1 of designing and developing digital-age learning assessments is something I belive will take a lo of work. I have use search engines to find more appropriate ways of assessing first grade students using technology and so much seems to be too technological for their limited skills. I have decided the most helpful source maybe to sit down with my schools computer specialist and ask for some specific ideas on what I can use with my students. Also I thought about asking him for some sources that I might be able to do some professional development regarding assessment.
Goal #2 I believe will be taking a leap of faith beyond my comfort zone. I thought about starting out small and creating opportunities as a class to learn two new multi-media or software with students a year. We could learn the ins and outs of the program and create a class project together. I might also need the help of the computer specialist to assist with some of the introductory lessons. This way we can help troubleshoot issues that my arise with first graders.
Monitor:To monitor my progress I plan on placing an area to make sure that I include one digital age assessment in each unit plan. This assessment may be formative or summative. By starting out small I believe it will kick start the momentum to include more as I become comfortable. For goal #2 I plan on creating a survey that the students could fill out that would gauge the level of enjoyment and engagement using the technology more often. I will also ask for ways to improve the two projects we create.
Evaluation: To evaluate on whether or not I accomplished my goals I believe it will come down to reflection and looking at my lesson plans to see if I was able to incorporate new assessments and multi media projects. I will also take this time to look at if my students enjoyed using the tools and areas they felt would improve the learning experience.
I would love to get some feedback on age appropriate assessment and learning projects.
References:
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom
Throughout this course I have learned a lot about how to use the web to teach literacy skills. Teaching students to use the Internet and how to properly navigate it, is such an important component. This course gave me some real world application on how to do that.
The biggest revelation I had during this course and learning about the new literacy skills was that I teach an age that can really take advantage of learning these skills. I work with first graders and some of the material we have learned has been way above their head. But during this course I was really able to benefit from some of the new information given. For example the websites given (www.yahooligans.com, and www.kidsclick.org) are really beneficial for my students. I would not feel comfortable, neither would my school allow, students to use general search engines. I felt like these websites really allow me to teach important new literacy skills, such as searching for and locating important information, evaluating information, and synthesizing information. All of these skills are so important for students to learn at an early age and through the ideas given in the videos, I feel that I am now more prepared to teach them.
Learning the different literacy skills has changed my views on how to teach literacy. Teaching first grade means that I do a lot of literacy work. I teach the foundations for reading. I never realized what a valuable tool the web was to help my students create that foundation. I really feel like after the first of the year my students will be ready to integrate technology as a part of our literacy program. I love that students will be using higher level thinking than just searching for information in a book. I liked that the question is given at the beginning and students must use deeper level thinking while looking for the answers. I am excited to start teaching the foundations for researching on the Internet.
One professional goal that this class has inspired is to learn more multimedia tools. I realized this while creating my unit plan. I felt very comfortable with all of the other aspects but this area really stumped me. I am very familiar PowerPoint but I want to offer mys students more. I feel that I must first become more comfortable with these tools before I introduce them to my students. I have considered mentioning this to our schools computer specialist and either sitting down with him and allowing him to walk me through some of the tools or even better having a staff development that is centered around the usefulness and use of multimedia tools with students. I feel that other teachers do not realize the usefulness of technology and the usefulness of the new literacy skills.
This course has taught me a lot and allowed me to expand my horizons when it comes to literacy and teaching in general. This information will help to change how I teach literacy and will me grow as a teacher and continue to prepare my students for the world outside my classroom.
The biggest revelation I had during this course and learning about the new literacy skills was that I teach an age that can really take advantage of learning these skills. I work with first graders and some of the material we have learned has been way above their head. But during this course I was really able to benefit from some of the new information given. For example the websites given (www.yahooligans.com, and www.kidsclick.org) are really beneficial for my students. I would not feel comfortable, neither would my school allow, students to use general search engines. I felt like these websites really allow me to teach important new literacy skills, such as searching for and locating important information, evaluating information, and synthesizing information. All of these skills are so important for students to learn at an early age and through the ideas given in the videos, I feel that I am now more prepared to teach them.
Learning the different literacy skills has changed my views on how to teach literacy. Teaching first grade means that I do a lot of literacy work. I teach the foundations for reading. I never realized what a valuable tool the web was to help my students create that foundation. I really feel like after the first of the year my students will be ready to integrate technology as a part of our literacy program. I love that students will be using higher level thinking than just searching for information in a book. I liked that the question is given at the beginning and students must use deeper level thinking while looking for the answers. I am excited to start teaching the foundations for researching on the Internet.
One professional goal that this class has inspired is to learn more multimedia tools. I realized this while creating my unit plan. I felt very comfortable with all of the other aspects but this area really stumped me. I am very familiar PowerPoint but I want to offer mys students more. I feel that I must first become more comfortable with these tools before I introduce them to my students. I have considered mentioning this to our schools computer specialist and either sitting down with him and allowing him to walk me through some of the tools or even better having a staff development that is centered around the usefulness and use of multimedia tools with students. I feel that other teachers do not realize the usefulness of technology and the usefulness of the new literacy skills.
This course has taught me a lot and allowed me to expand my horizons when it comes to literacy and teaching in general. This information will help to change how I teach literacy and will me grow as a teacher and continue to prepare my students for the world outside my classroom.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Effective Bridging of Technology and Instruction Reflection
The past eight weeks I have learned a lot about how I can be more effective as a first grade teacher. I have found it highly beneficial to revisit different approaches on how my students learn and then take those approaches and learn teaching strategies to meet the needs of those learners. Integrating technology along with the knowledge gained from the learning theories allows students exposure to new and inventive ways to learn.
As I reflect back to my original "Personal Learning Theory" I feel that I have had a shift in my thinking. I originally discussed three main theories that I felt alligned with my thinking; Jean Piaget's cognitive approach, Jerome Bruner's constructivist theory, and Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). I first felt that I agreed with these theories equally, but as I investigated in this class, I found myself leaning towards Jerome Bruner's constructivist theory. Jerome Bruner’s constructivist theory discusses learning as being an active process that develops from past knowledge (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2008). When students have an active hand in their learning, the learning becomes more meaningful (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). I also have seen the benefit of using a spiral curriculum. Theoretical Foundations noted that constructivist theory "encourages students to discover knowledge with instruction organized in a spiral manner so students continually build on what they have already learned". I have seen a spiral approach really work with students. The key component is making sure the students have that foundational knowledge to build off of.
There are many new tools that I have learned in this class that I would like to take back to the classroom and put into practice. The first tool that I would like to take back with me would be virtual tours and link them with concept mapping. Virtual tours allow the learner to experience a place or topic that they may not be able to experience beyond the classroom.; I think this goes hand in hand with constructivist learning because it takes the learner on a trip where they can formulate their own opinions or thinking about a topic. The concept map is an advanced organizer that shows the learner how smaller information about a topic fits together to create a bigger picture (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Another tool that I would like to bring back to the classroom is the use of a voice thread. I would like to introduce this as a cooperative learning approach, where the students work together (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).
I have created for myself some long term goals that I feel would make me a more effective teacher. The first goal I have for myself is to seek out information on new technology that will enhance my classroom. Up until this point I have yet to research technology outside of my education. I feel that there is a wealth of information and tools that I have yet to experience. My strategy to achieve this goal is to seek out staff development that focuses on technology, as well as discuss with our computer teacher on creating a staff development for the entire staff. I feel that by staying connected with our technology teacher, I can stay more current on new tools for the classroom. Another goal I have is incorporate technology at least once during the school day. Once I have achieved this goal, I will increase it to two times a day. I have recently received a projector and speaker system in my classroom that has opened up the doors to many opportunities to make technology an active resource in the classroom. I am constantly seeking out different ways to use this technology. I wish to continue to take advantage of these resources.
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three. Instructional Strategies, Part One [Motion picture]. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. Baltimore: Orey.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
As I reflect back to my original "Personal Learning Theory" I feel that I have had a shift in my thinking. I originally discussed three main theories that I felt alligned with my thinking; Jean Piaget's cognitive approach, Jerome Bruner's constructivist theory, and Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). I first felt that I agreed with these theories equally, but as I investigated in this class, I found myself leaning towards Jerome Bruner's constructivist theory. Jerome Bruner’s constructivist theory discusses learning as being an active process that develops from past knowledge (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2008). When students have an active hand in their learning, the learning becomes more meaningful (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). I also have seen the benefit of using a spiral curriculum. Theoretical Foundations noted that constructivist theory "encourages students to discover knowledge with instruction organized in a spiral manner so students continually build on what they have already learned". I have seen a spiral approach really work with students. The key component is making sure the students have that foundational knowledge to build off of.
There are many new tools that I have learned in this class that I would like to take back to the classroom and put into practice. The first tool that I would like to take back with me would be virtual tours and link them with concept mapping. Virtual tours allow the learner to experience a place or topic that they may not be able to experience beyond the classroom.; I think this goes hand in hand with constructivist learning because it takes the learner on a trip where they can formulate their own opinions or thinking about a topic. The concept map is an advanced organizer that shows the learner how smaller information about a topic fits together to create a bigger picture (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Another tool that I would like to bring back to the classroom is the use of a voice thread. I would like to introduce this as a cooperative learning approach, where the students work together (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).
I have created for myself some long term goals that I feel would make me a more effective teacher. The first goal I have for myself is to seek out information on new technology that will enhance my classroom. Up until this point I have yet to research technology outside of my education. I feel that there is a wealth of information and tools that I have yet to experience. My strategy to achieve this goal is to seek out staff development that focuses on technology, as well as discuss with our computer teacher on creating a staff development for the entire staff. I feel that by staying connected with our technology teacher, I can stay more current on new tools for the classroom. Another goal I have is incorporate technology at least once during the school day. Once I have achieved this goal, I will increase it to two times a day. I have recently received a projector and speaker system in my classroom that has opened up the doors to many opportunities to make technology an active resource in the classroom. I am constantly seeking out different ways to use this technology. I wish to continue to take advantage of these resources.
Resources:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three. Instructional Strategies, Part One [Motion picture]. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. Baltimore: Orey.
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Voice Thread
Hello everyone! Here is the url for my voice thread:
http://voicethread.com/share/654544/
http://voicethread.com/share/654544/
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Cooperative Learning
Cooperative Learning is a great approach that offers students the opportunity to work with peers. The strategies with this learning encourages students to interact with eachother to strengthen their learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). I believe that this directly realates to the social learning theory. Both approaches have students actively engaged and working with others. What the students are learning is able to be taught in context with these approachers (Orey, 2008). It gives meaning to what the students are learning and therefore becomes more important to the learner. Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works reccomended these five basic componenets: "Postive interdependence, face to face interaction, individual and group accountability, interpersonal and small group skills, and group processing".
Multimedia, web resources, and communication software can be valid tools for cooperative learning(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). Multimedia would be a great tool for uppergrades. Allowing students to collaborate to make a video would not only be fun for the students but the class would be able to reap the benefits of the knowledge gained by watching the video at the end of project. There are also a lot of web resources available to aid cooperative learning. Keypal allows students to be virtual pen pals with students who live in other parts of the world(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). This would directly tie into letter writing as well as general writing strategies in the classroom. Lastly, communication software is another useful tool. Using the VoIP can increase communication capabilites with social learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007).
Cooperative Learning is a great tool because it allows students to share ideas and collaborate. When paired with technology it only increases their ability to work together and collaborate.
References:
“Social Learning Theories” featuring Dr. Michael Orey and Karen Casselman
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Multimedia, web resources, and communication software can be valid tools for cooperative learning(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). Multimedia would be a great tool for uppergrades. Allowing students to collaborate to make a video would not only be fun for the students but the class would be able to reap the benefits of the knowledge gained by watching the video at the end of project. There are also a lot of web resources available to aid cooperative learning. Keypal allows students to be virtual pen pals with students who live in other parts of the world(Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). This would directly tie into letter writing as well as general writing strategies in the classroom. Lastly, communication software is another useful tool. Using the VoIP can increase communication capabilites with social learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007).
Cooperative Learning is a great tool because it allows students to share ideas and collaborate. When paired with technology it only increases their ability to work together and collaborate.
References:
“Social Learning Theories” featuring Dr. Michael Orey and Karen Casselman
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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