Carrying Out My GAME Plan

I need a variety of resources to carry out my game plan. The first goal I chose was to create a website that would be helpful to my students and parents. The resources I will need to build the website are a computer with Internet access and communication with the office secretaries in my building to get school schedules, lunch menus, and other documents to put on my personal website. According to Dr. Ross, a website can be used as an organizational tool for many students and parents (Laureate Education Inc., 2008). The additional information I need will come in later when I give the parents and students a survey about how often they use the website and any suggestions for additional information they would like displayed there. My intended learning strategy is to model how to use the website and the different options available to the students and parents. So far I have begun creating the website. I will not be able to introduce the website at meet the teacher night this year because that has passed. However, I will send home a flyer with details about the website when it is completed.

The second goal I chose to work towards is to use different assessment strategies with my students. The resources I need for this goal include laptops for my students to use Power Point, recording devices, etc. I will also need ActiVotes to use with my Promethean Board. I will have the head of my technology department explain how the ActiVotes work once I receive them. ActiVotes can serve as a formative assessment so I can adjust my instruction based on the students’ responses. “Formative assessments also provide feedback to your students – who can use the data to monitor their own learning progress and determine where they may need extra help or enrichment” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 111). The feedback from the ActiVotes is immediate for both the teacher and the students to use. My students will learn to use all of these tools by the use of scaffolding. I will show the students how to use them first and allow for the practice of using each tool. So far, I have introduced my students to using laptops. The rest of the technology tools should be incorporated in my classroom within the next two months.

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.

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

Dr. Ertmer claims that there are four variables present when effectively using technology: knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and supportive culture (Laureate Education Inc., 2009b). As I reflected on the NET Standards there were two areas that I felt far less confident about applying than the rest.

Set Goals:

The goals I chose fall under the “Model Digital-Age Work and Learning” and “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences” NET Standards (2008). My first goal is to create a website to communicate information to my students and their parents. The second goal is to use a variety of technology tools to assess my students’ knowledge of the content.

Take Action:

I will create a website with a variety of different pages for the students and parents to use. Some of the sections will include: schedules, homework, upcoming events, extra practice, and useful websites. I will inform the parents of my website on meet the teacher night and encourage them to use the website on a daily basis to stay informed. To meet my second goal I will explore the options available to me to assess my students. I will try a few of the assessment options, such as SMART Board response systems, PowerPoint presentations, and Digital Storytelling (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009)

Monitor:

I will send a short survey home to poll the parents about how often they use the website and if they found the website helpful. I will include a section in the survey where the parents can offer suggestions for the website and comment on the ease of use. I will do the same activity with my students. After trying some of the assessment strategies I researched, I will decide the advantages and disadvantages of assessing the students in these ways. I will also look at the validity of the results and make sure the type of assessment shows the students knowledge of the content.

Evaluate and Extend:

Once I get the results of the parent and student surveys, I will update the website. I will then add interactive components where the parents can contact me and where the students can interact with each other on the website as well. I will also display student work, without giving out student information (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I will continue to use the forms of assessment I found successful and continue to research new ideas for testing students’ knowledge. Nichole Allmann discusses using technology to target multiple intelligences (Laureate Education Inc., 2009a). During assessment, this is necessary as well because some students may need the test read aloud or students may need the use of visuals or manipulatives. Finally, I will collaborate with my colleagues to see which assessments work best in their classroom.

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.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. Retrieved September 14, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program four. Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program three. Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Final Reflection

As I look back on my personal theory of learning from the beginning of this course, I realize there is only one major addition I would make. A challenging and non-threatening environment, a variety of instructional strategies, and connections to everyday life are the three things I listed for instruction to be effective. With teaching today’s 21^st century students, I would add to not only use a variety of instructional strategies but also to use many different technology tools as learning tools within the classroom. “Teaching, learning, and technology work together to achieve the ultimate goal of effective knowledge transfer” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008, p. 26). Today’s students need more than paper and pencil activities to be engaged in a lesson and technology gives the teacher the power to provide the students with more.

When I look at my instructional practices, I find that I use many technology tools as instructional tools. According to Dr. Orey, an instructional tool is what the teacher does with technology (Laureate Education, Inc. 2008b). A learning tool on the other hand, consists of what the students are doing with technology. I would like to change the activities I do into activities the students can do. For example, instead of creating a concept map to simply show the students, I will have the students make their own concept maps. Concept mapping allows the teacher to help the students find important information, organize the information, and put the information in their own words thus creating a more meaningful learning experience (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

The two technology tools I would like to use in the future is a virtual field trip and a WebQuest. Both virtual field trips and WebQuests can be used within the cooperative learning theory. Interacting with others in cooperative groups helps build student confidence with using the technology tools and learning the new material (Laureate Education, Inc. 2008a). Both of these tools are inquiry-based so the students are finding the information on their own which leads to a higher level of engagement.

The first long-term goal I would like to achieve is to use technology primarily as learning tools for my students. The first step would be to introduce the students to all the technology tools available to them. Then I would provide mini lessons that incorporate each of these tools. Eventually, I would be able to assign an activity that used a technology tool and the students would be able to complete the activity independently.

The second long-term goal I would like to make is use technology to accomplish more collaborative learning activities. I would first use simple pair-share activities to begin working on appropriate social skills when working in a cooperative group. Then I would start with a small project for the students to work on in small groups and work up to a more in depth assignment. I believe that providing students with a variety of different instructional strategies is important for the students to continue to stay engaged. Overall, this class has given me a lot of great ideas to incorporate into my classroom.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008a). Program eight. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008b). Program thirteen. Technology: Instructional Tool vs. Learning Tool [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

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.

Cooperative Learning and Social Learning Theories

“To be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, today’s students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007, p. 139). An important 21st Century Skill that must be taught in the classroom is being able to collaborate with each other. According to Dr. Orey, there is a zone of proximal development which is the information the student is able to learn. However, the student cannot learn that information on his/her own. Collaboration must take place between the teacher and the students and oftentimes amongst the students themselves before learning can be turned into something meaningful. Students see concepts in different ways and can help each other make sense of a topic by sharing their own personal insights and thoughts.

Many different networking tools directly correlate to social learning theories and cooperative learning. When students work together to create or experience webquests, blogs, or facebook pages, they have to interact with one another. Using these tools together can help the students build confidence with their ability to correctly use the tools.

Here is a video that supports the idea that learning and developing is based on the influences, such as people, around them.

http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=216542

Voicethread

References:

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

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program eight. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Strategies that Correlate with Constructivist/Constructionist Learning Theories

Constructivism consists of each person developing an understanding of things based on their personal prior knowledge. Construtionism is the idea that people learn best when they have first hand experiences and are able to fit information into what they already know (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008).

Students can have first hand experiences in many different ways by generating and testing hypotheses. "When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental process, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 202). When students are creating and testing hypotheses they are considering a question and making a prediction based on what they already know. Therefore, students can make very diverse predictions that would be unique to each of them. Also, when testing the hypotheses, the students are finding out for themselves if their prediction is correct or not, creating a first hand experience.

Problem based learning tools can be effectively incorporated into the above types of learning experiences. Teachers can use project based learning tools to explore their experiments, to inform others of their experiments, and/or to get others involved. I found many helpful websites when exploring problem based learning tools.

The first website I found is a site for teachers to create a checklist when using a problem based learning tool.

The Learning Box website has interactive internet activities, children's stories and multimedia units, and problem solving software available.

Monsters 2009 is a project made by a variety of teachers and students from all over the world. This is a neat idea!!

Think Quest is a website that schools can join for free and then use to create classroom projects.


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program seven. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

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

Cognitivism in Practice

The learning resources this week explored implementing concept mapping and virtual field trips into the classroom. David Ausubel had a variety of ideas that led to his beliefs in learning which focused on cognitive psychology. "The fundamental idea in Ausubel's cognitive psychology is that learning takes place by the assimilation of new concepts and propositions into existing concept and propositional frameworks held by the learner" (Novak & Canas, 2008, p. 3). Concept maps and virtual field trips allow learners to create and organize these connections.

Meaningful learning is required in order for understanding and retention to take place. Concept maps are considered graphic organizers to aid students in understanding information. When the students have a tool to structure the links between what they already know and the new information they are being exposed to, the students are being given the chance to discover personal connections. The learning is made meaningful by making it personal. Mind maps are another type of concept map that can be used to understand a topic and how that topic fits with prior knowledge. The following article discusses why mind maps are useful and gives simple directions on how to make mind maps, including tips on how to improve your mind map.

Mind Maps, Note Taking Skills, and Techniques

A virtual field trip is a terrific tool for discovery learning. First, give the students a topic to explore and a few questions to focus their explorations. Then, take the students to the computer lab and give them access to a virtual field trip site. Finally, let the learning begin. This is a hands-on, concrete experience for the students to take part in.

Great Virtual Field Trip Site

Both concept maps and virtual field trips can increase motivation for students to take control of their own learning. Engagement also increases because the students are using new, unique tools that allow them to make their own connections and learning experiences.

References:

Novak, J. D. & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008. Retrieved from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Web site: http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf

How Reinforcing Effort and Homework Correlate with Behaviorism

Behaviorism deals with how students react to reinforcement and consequences within the classroom. Behavior must be managed for effective learning to take place. Technology can be integrated into all activities, including reinforcing effort and homework, to increase engagement and oftentimes improve behavior.

"Effort is the most important factor in achievement" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 155). Teachers need to take the time to help students understand the importance of putting forth their best effort into each classroom activity. One of the best ways to create this understanding is to teach the students to keep track of their effort and achievement for a period of time. When the students improve their effort and are able to see an increase in their achievement as a result of this, they are being positively reinforced. Students take more responsibility for their successes and failures.

Homework is an opportunity to provide extra practice and support for a skill the student has already been taught. A homework policy must be established within the behavior plan. There must be rewards for completing all homework and doing it well along with consequences for not choosing to complete the homework or doing it poorly. Homework must have a clear purpose and not simply be busy work (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). The following website discusses the necessity of homework and how to make assignments purposeful.

When Homework Becomes Busy Work

Reinforcing effort and having a homework policy correlates directly with behaviorism. Through instruction, effort can be understood and enhanced by the students. Both effort and homework will create responsibility within the students which will improve the overall attitude and behavior within a classroom.

References:

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