Spotlight On Technology

Online learning

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Reflection

“Education should help turn novice learners into expert learners – individuals who know how to learn, who want to learn, and who, in their own highly individual ways, are well prepared for a lifetime of learning” (CAST, 2009). This course has shown me that the best way to accomplish this goal is to differentiate my instruction to meet the needs of all my students. I plan to take a variety of steps to incorporate technology and accomplish this goal.
First of all, I plan to use technology to get to know my students. When the teacher understands the way individual students learn, it opens the classroom up to flexibility with instruction and develops the perspective of studying students as individuals instead of as a group (Tomlinson, 2009). I will use technology at the beginning of the year to gain an understanding of students’ interests and learning styles through a questionnaire on Survey Monkey and a webquest.
The second action I recently began in my classroom and plan to continue to expand is using technology to differentiate my assessments. I started using different methods to guide my teaching and provide immediate feedback, such as ActiVotes, educational software, and online tutorials. “Giving students feedback seemed to be more productive than giving them grades” (Tomlinson, 2008, p.10).
The next immediate action I hope to take is to call on the help of my colleagues to share ideas and materials (Tomlinson, 1999). I hope to meet with this group on a regular basis to help each other with new technologies and plan together. Finding peers who wish to grow with you will create a support group to deal with a possible frustrating situation. The teachers at our school were recently given MacBooks and taught to use iChat to communicate. This feature can be extremely helpful, especially if the colleagues you are collaborating with are in a different building.
Finally, I hope to continue learning and trying new technologies. Effective teachers have a mindset and willingness to continue to be a learner (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). To keep my instruction fresh and engaging, I will read articles and attend trainings that deal with implementing technology into the classroom. Once I find a new technology that seems promising, I will experiment with the technology and adapt the use of the technology to fit my students’ needs.
“Integrating technology into a classroom of diverse learners is a difficult process” (Bray, Brown, & Green, 2004, p. 31). Technology should be integrated one step at a time. The teacher needs to experiment with technology and get comfortable using and teaching with technology. Oftentimes teachers can rely on the help of the students when using technology tools. Students of today grow up using technology and have a comfort level beyond what many teachers are capable of depending on how long they have been teaching.








References
Bray, M., Brown, A., & Green, T. (2004). Technology and the Diverse Learner: A Guide to Classroom Practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Center for Applied Special Technology. (2009). UDL guidelines, version 1.0. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Putting it All Togethe [Motion picture]. Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. Baltimore: Author.

Tomlinson, C. (1999). Differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all Learners. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. learners. Retrieved from the Walden Library ebrary.

Tomlinson, C. (2009). Learning profiles and achievement. School Administrator. 66(2) 28–33. Retrieved from Education Research Complete database.

Final Reflection

The GAME plan I developed involved implementing technology tools as a way to assess my students progress and creating a classroom website. When I first set my goals, I was over ambitious. I expected to complete both goals within a few weeks. However, I ran into a variety of problems as I began to work towards my goals. Time was limited for creating my website and resources were limited when I was in need of the technology departments help. In the end, both goals were well on their way to being successful despite changing from short-term to long-term goals.

Dr. Ross claims a teacher should use a variety of techniques to monitor and evaluate students’ knowledge (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). Through implementing new assessment strategies, I have found that students’ engagement increases during quizzes where I use technology. The students that are so often off-task and need constant reminders to focus become on-task and listen to directions completely. This has led to many of my usually unsuccessful students to be successful and confident in their ability. Paper and pencil tests often frustrate students. Technology gives students a new way to express what they know and teachers a new way to assess these students. So I have learned there are many benefits to varying assessment and will continue to do so in my classroom.

This course has made me realize there are endless possibilities for incorporating technology into your curriculum. Technology provides the means to experience learning in a very authentic way (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I notice the difference in the students’ motivation as soon as I explain an assignment and they get to use the laptops or the Smart Board. My goal is to get my students excited about learning and allowing the students to be creative is the best way to do this. On a daily basis, I try to make my lessons creative and unique. This course has been one of the most beneficial so far in terms of providing websites, tools, and ideas to implement in the classroom right away.

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program seven. Assessing Student Learning [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Using the GAME Plan with my Students

Since the beginning of the course we have focused on helping students become self-directed learners. To do this, the students must be planning, monitoring, and evaluating their learning (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). When the students are involved in their learning in this way, they are more engaged and motivated to complete activities to the best of their ability.

The second NET for students is communication and collaboration. I use a program in math class called Power Math. Basically this program focuses on cooperative learning within teams. The students have 5 cooperation goals that they work on throughout the year. The students could create a different GAME plan every couple of weeks for each goal. For example, the first goal is everyone participates. As a team, the students could set a goal that ensures each member of the group participates every day, monitor their participation, and evaluate whether they need to continue to work on this goal or if they fully met the goal. Once the team has successfully met a goal, they will move on to creating a game plan for the next cooperation goal. The teams would work at their own pace to accomplish the goals which is realistic because no two teams will be the same.

The fourth NET standard for students focuses on problem solving and critical thinking. In math, the students are constantly explaining how they got their answer. When my students answer word problems, they follow a 5-step plan to solve the problem. This strategy can serve as a GAME plan. The steps include: find the facts, restate the question, eliminate any extra information, choose a strategy, and ask if the answer makes sense. The goal of the GAME plan would be to solve the problem. The students then take action to find the answer and monitor their progress by crossing off the steps as they complete them. Finally, the students ask if their answer makes sense, which allows them to evaluate if they answered the question successfully or not.

When the students take part in the thought process of starting with a goal and being the one to evaluate whether or not that goal was met, they are learning a 21st century skill. Self-directed learners become creative learners. Creative learners are confident, motivated, persistent, open-minded, and flexible (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). All of these characteristics lead to success in school and life.

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program two. Promoting Creative Thinking with Technology [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Revising My GAME Plan

According to Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, one of the primary roles a computer can serve in the classroom is the role of a mindtool (2009). Creating a classroom website, my first goal for my GAME Plan, falls into this category. I have learned that providing students and parents with access to a website full of scheduling and homework information can serve as an organizational tool for the students who have trouble keeping track of this type of information (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). Having this information available to the parents in an electronic form will help minimize frustration and also help the parents feel connected to their child’s education. I have already extended this goal to my website being up and running for the next school year. I think the most important thing I need to remember as I complete my website and modify it, is to keep the purpose of the website in mind. My goal is for the website to be useful to my students and their parents. When a new need arises, I hope to adjust my website accordingly to fill the new need.

Effective assessment informs the teacher what the students know as well as what the students need to spend more time on. There are many different formats teachers can use to assess students. Having a variety of ways to assess students will lead to more valid results. Students not only learn differently, they communicate knowledge differently also. This leads me to the reason I chose my second goal: to use Activotes as an assessment tool in my classroom. Using Activotes would be considered a forced-choice assessment format. “A benefit of this assessment format is that it can be quick to administer and score” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 143). I have learned this first hand this past week, as I used the Activotes for the first time. I was able to quickly give and score a short, 5 question quiz. I used the quiz as a close activity to a lesson and used the results to guide my plans the next day. I spent the beginning of the next period addressing the concepts the students appeared to need more time on. By simply putting this tool in the students’ hands, I was able to keep their attention during the entire quiz. I would like to extend this goal to using other technology tools for assessment. Having the students make a rap using their multiplication facts and creating a movie as the final product, for example.

“While technology is not essential to creating authentic, learner-centered instruction, it offers a powerful resource for engaging students in authentic experience, typically increasing both their motivation and their learning” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 51). Both of my goals work towards incorporating technology into my classroom daily so the students are learning 21st century skills and participating in authentic learning.

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.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program 6. Meeting Students’ Needs with Technology, Part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

My GAME plan goals include creating a classroom website and proving my students with different assessment strategies involving technology tools.

After reading the responses from my colleagues in this course, I explored some of their suggestions in regards to my website goal. I found two major perks at onmycalendar.com. The first one is the calendar feature. Each student has a personal “What’s up” calendar that can be updated in one simple step. Also, the website can be used no matter what school I’m teaching at. This is something I did not consider until recently. If I’m taking the time and effort to create a great website, I want to be able to use the website when I change to a different school. I have decided to start a new website at the above site which brings me back to square one on my first goal. However, I have come to terms with my goals being long-term and am taking my time to create and implement them.

Working towards my second goal, I looked into the actual assessments I will use with the Activotes. Some questions I am considering: how many questions to use, what types of questions to use, whether to use this type of assessment as an actual grade or for formative assessment reasons only, and whether or not to allow the students to change their response once they have entered one? My plan for using the Activotes is trial and error until I find the most efficient and effective way to incorporate the tool into my classroom.

Monitoring My GAME Plan

Creating my classroom website is slow moving. I was able to complete a homepage with a menu down the side listing the different pages available. Realistically, my webpage will not be completed until the middle of the school year. I will still send home a flyer to parents about the availability of the website but I will modify my plan to wait until my next full school year to survey the parents. I have received a school schedule to place on the website. The lunch menu changes each month and I now realize I need to find the place on our school’s public drive that keeps the menus so I do not need to count on someone to email it to me each month. Overall, I learned that time is a major factor influencing the progress on my website. Once my website is set up, I think it will be a great tool to use for parent communication. Also, as I learn more about my parents and my students this school year, I have come to the conclusion that the website will be a great tool for disorganized students who do not bring any information home to their parents (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

The activotes have not been hooked up for use on my Promethean Board, so my second goal is at a standstill. The learning resources from this week discuss the use of wireless response systems when assessing students in the classroom. “This type of live polling of responses is ideal for monitoring learning through formative assessment and can help you and your students quickly determine content areas that require further instruction or where there are obvious gaps in understanding” (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009, p. 145). Once I am able to use the activotes, I will be able to take a quick assessment of what the students understand from a lesson and use that to guide my follow-up.

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.