Final Blog Post

Reflecting on my GAME Plan throughout this course, I can say that my students have been able to use technology in a meaningful way to help improve their fluency and learning.  All of my students have improved their reading fluency rate by at least 10 correct words per minute, in just the eight weeks of this course.  It is amazing how students can grow when given the opportunity to watch and evaluate themselves by the use of PhotoBooth.  My students have also become involved in using Discovery Education to strengthen and reinforce learning of other topics discussed in class.  My students enjoy this time to use technology to enhance their understanding.  The impact of my new learning based on my instruction is that I am going to continue using PhotoBooth and Discovery Education with my students because they not only enjoy the time on computers, but they are showing growth and improvements.  When thinking about adjustments I will be making to my instructional practice regarding technology integration in my classroom will be to just continue working toward using technology more and more.  I like to take small steps to not become overwhelmed, but my students and I both like the use of technology and I will continue teaching them different ways to use it to increase their learning.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

The GAME plan process is very beneficial for students because I was able to set goals, work through a process of steps, reflect on my steps and then evaluate my students.  I feel the International Society for Technology in Education and the National Education Standards for Students relate in a way that they are both wanting students to be thinking at a higher level and demonstrate collaborative thinking.  They both also want students to be creatively conducting research in a problem-based manner.  Students need to be using technology in a productive way to aid in student achievement.  I will continue to use thE GAME plan process with my students to help them develop proficiency in the NETS-S because it is a great way to guide my instruction.  I want to use this process because students need to be introduced and use the latest technology to inspire innovative thinking to aid in higher order thinking.

Revising My GAME Plan

Reflecting back on my GAME Plan, I can see that the use of PhotoBooth has been very beneficial for my students.  Over the past several weeks, I have seen improvement in student fluency upwards of 5 to 15 words per minute.  It is amazing what students can do when they are able to listen to their reading to help them read more fluently.  If they know their weak areas, they are able to practice that part to improve their reading abilities.  As for the use of Discovery Education, I have been able to assign students videos to watch and then short quizzes to answer.  I am then given feedback immediately.

As for the goal I am still working toward is the NETS-T Standard #1: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.  I feel that I still need to work toward getting my students to be innovative thinkers and engage them in exploring real-world issues.

The new learning goals I am setting for myself is to get my students actively engaged in real world issues to become more creative thinkers.  The learning approaches I will try in the future is the use of educational networking to enable my students to not only collaborate with students within the school, but also schools around the country.  I am going to continue using PhotoBooth because I am seeing a huge benefit of this program for reading fluency.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

The actions I took this week provided a variety of positive feedback.  My students that are using PhotoBooth to help practice fluency all saw a growth in their number of words correct read in a minute.  It was neat to see how they reacted to their final timed reading with me because several commented by saying something about how they didn’t make the same error while practicing because they watched themselves and knew to pay close attention to that part in the passage.  I have also viewed some tutorials about Discovery Education that has enabled me to pick out meaningful videos to show my class.  One we were able to show was based on first women.  In Wyoming, Nellie Tayloe Ross was the first women governor.  We celebrated her accomplishments on Monday and I was able to show a video clip about government and her.

I still need to learn how to take the Discovery Education program and assign students a video clip with a quiz they are required to complete.  I will be watching more tutorials based on this during this week to accomplish this goal.  In order to meet the needs of my students, they will continue to practice fluency on PhotoBooth to ensure an increase in fluency to reach our year-end grade level goals.

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

I am continuing to make progress toward reaching my goals in my GAME Plan.  My first goal is dealing with using technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning through creative and innovative environments.  I have contacted the district Discovery Education gentleman and he has told me about using different tutorials located on the Discovery Education website.  I have looked into a few of these and they seem to be very helpful.  I have also shown my students a video to help enhance their learning off the Discovery Education website.  As I progress though this goal, I have learned that using technology can have its downfalls.  As I was trying to download a video, it did not have sound.  I was able to fix this problem by downloading it in QuickTime player.

As for my second goal, we have one week of fluency checks done.  The way we were able to test fluency with Photo Booth was by allowing students to practice a few times and then take their hot reading test.  It was fun to go through the final recordings with each student and pause and go back to different parts to discuss errors or phrasing miscues.  I feel with continuing to work with students by using Photo Booth and the conference time, my students’ fluency will increase.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Resources:

The resources I will need in order to carry out my GAME Plan will include student access to the Discovery Education website.  They will become involved in using this resource, so it is imperative for my students to understand how to access this Internet-based tool.  My students will need to be shown how to use the website to obtain the information, such as the videos, to complete the assignments.  As for my second goal, my students will need to be reminded how to use Photo Booth to assess their fluency.  They will need to have a computer and their small group reading materials to help assess this.

Additional Information:

I will also need to make sure students are able to e-mail me their completed assignments via Discovery Education and my e-mail account.  This will need to set up in advance so students are successful in submitting assignments.

Steps Taken This Far:

As of right now, my students have been working on Discovery Education to locate videos I have assigned to the class.  They also have become familiar with Photo Booth by modeling it and they have begun testing one another’s fluency.

Personal GAME Plan

My Personal GAME Plan

After reviewing the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T), I have chosen two indicators I would like to work on to strengthen my confidence in the use of technology in my classroom.

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. Teachers:

a.	promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.
b.	engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.
c.	promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
d.	model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S. Teachers:

a.	design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
b.	develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
c.	customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
d.	provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.

GAME Plan:

Set Goals:

            Technology is constantly changing and it is important, for me, to continually assess my technology integration skills to ensure my students are gaining the skills needed.  As I review the first (#1) NETS-T indicator, I would like to set my goal as student reading comprehension by using Discovery Education.  I have not used Discovery Ed. in its fullest capacity yet, but I know it has a tremendous amount of potential.  It is my understanding that I would be able to assign students an article, video, or other digital information that they could become involved in.  Once they have learned about whatever the topic may be, they can take a comprehension quiz, created by me, as well as being assessed in a short or extended response format that will be e-mailed to me to be graded.  I would like to have peer feedback, in order to see if this seems fitting to fulfill indicator #1.

            As for my second goal, I would like to work with students on their reading fluency.  My students will be practicing a passage throughout the week and will be able to assess their progress by using Photo Booth to practice and test their fluency.  They will be able to replay their recording to listen for their errors and watch their eye motions, as they are reading.  Students’ diverse learning styles will be addressed, due to their specific reading level.  I would also enjoy feedback on this goal.

Take Action:

            Students will be working on reading comprehension skills, based on my school districts’ goals on Expository, Narrative, and Functional texts.  Students will become involved in these types of text or video and be required to answer multiple-choice questions, as well as short or extended response questions.  This will be good practice for my students when it comes time for our state and growth assessments.  Students will be submitting their answers, via e-mail, to me from Discovery Education.  As for my second goal, I will be using Photo Booth to aid in student achievement based on fluency skills.

Monitor:

            As my students and I work toward meeting my goal #1, I will be graphing student achievement based on multiple-choice and short and extended responses.  I will like to progress monitor student achievement on goal #2 by working with students to create an on-going graph on Excel.  They can update their information weekly to show improvement in fluency scores.

Evaluate and Extend:

            I will be able to evaluate student achievement based on their abilities to read or watch a video based on different topics and answer multiple-choice and short or extended responses.  In my second goal, students will be evaluating themselves each week.  If their graphs are showing a trend of improvement, the practice must be working.  I will be continually collaborating with teachers within my building, as well as my peers in this course.

References:

Cinnamon, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P., Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach, Cengage Learning 2009.

ISTE Website, http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-, 2008.aspx, accessed November 10, 2010.

Reflection: Final Blog Posting ~ Personal Theory of Learning

            Learning theories are important because each student has a different way to learn.  It is important for teachers to keep an open mind when teaching a classroom of different learning styles.  When thinking of my personal learning theory, I feel I learn best with hands-on activities and being able to visit with others around me to discuss possible outcomes and other understanding.  This is mostly the social constructionist theory.  I also feel this is how most students learn best, as well.  If students are being active learners, they are actually being able to demonstrate their understanding and ability to show the knowledge they are obtaining.  If a learning theory is based on what is in the mind and what is going on, students need to be fully engaged and excited about the learning.  (Orey, 2009)  As Dr. Michael Orey stated, “students need to be embedded into the learning” to get the most out of it.  (Orey, 2009)  The behaviorism theory of learning complements my model because if students are off-task during a hands-on activity it can defeat the purpose of learning together.  Students need to have positive reinforcements for acceptable behaviors and punishments for off-task behaviors.  If this occurs, then the learning will also be greater and students will be active learners.  The constructionist approach also influences my model.  I feel if students are able to build on their previous understandings, they will be more aware of misconceptions our further their learning.

            I feel my personal learning theory is reflected in my instructional practices in a variety of different ways.  The curriculum we use at my school involves hands-on instruction and social environments during learning.  The math program we use is Bridges in Mathematics, which is based on students being active participants and using tools to discover their understandings.  As for our language arts program, we use Literacy by Design and this is also another hands-on type of learning where students are engaged in think-pair-shares as well as table talk to discuss topics.  As students are sharing and conversing with other students, it is very important students are on-task and able to complete this process without other distractions.  This is something I have worked with my students since the first day of school.  I feel with these programs and my personal learning model, I am able to help students become immersed in their learning experience and become engaged with the discussions.  My students are able to work with each other to think through and process what they are learning.

            During my lessons, technology is embedded into each activity.  Technology is very important to me because if they are unable to become involved with it at a young age, they will be behind the rest of society.  Each lesson I teach, rather it be math, language arts, Social Studies, ect., I create a Flipchart for my Promethean Board.  This way students are able to see what the objective is for the day.  It is also a neat way to get students up and demonstrate understanding by also becoming involved with technology.  Another way technology is used in my classroom is with the ELMO.  Students are able to bring up their work and discuss it with the class.  The way I am able to use technology in my classroom is just another way to help students become actively engaged in learning.

            At this time, I feel my only modifications I would like to make to my personal theory of learning is to include technology in my everyday lessons.  If students become more involved with technology, it will make the learning more exciting to them.  This will be an immediate adjustment I will make to help improve my instruction.  The two technology tools I will like to use with my students include the Concept Map and Spreadsheets.  The Concept Map will be a great way for my students to get an organized idea of how the lesson or unit will go.  I feel this will help with their abilities to understand what is coming next in the lesson.  The second tool will be Spreadsheets.  I have never used this tool in my classroom, as of now.  I feel this will be a great way to help my students collect data in an organized way.  One long-term goal I would like to make for myself would be to integrate technology into each lesson I am teaching.  I already use the Promethean Board for each lesson, but I would like to have my students be using a laptop or some type of technology at their desks.  This would help my students become actively engaged in the lesson.  Another goal I am setting for myself is to cut back on my lecturing type of teaching.  When I create my flip charts for my lessons on the Promethean Board, I want to make sure I have images and not words for my students.  I know this will help with student engagement.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and             technology. Baltimore: Dr. Michael Orey.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Cooperative learning and the social learning theories correlate in a variety of different ways.  The instructional strategy of cooperative learning “focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning (2007, pg. 139).  The social learning theories want students to be actively engaged in construction artifacts and by conversing with others.  When students are working together, they are able to discuss their different ideas to come up with one solid conclusion or answer.  Students who are working cooperatively are able to “make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others” (2007, pg. 139).  This enables students to apply knowledge in the real-world setting and make connections with their prior understanding.  The social learning theory has a construct, jigsaw strategy, which each member of the collaborative team is responsible to become an expert on one part of the project.  They, then, go and share with others so students are teaching students.  The cooperative learning theory and technology that goes along with it is a way to help students gain a deeper understanding of the concepts being taught.  As teachers we need to keep in mind that “the hope of schools as places that serve students anytime, anywhere and facilitate their growth into life long learners” (2007, pg. 140)

Resource:

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

VoiceThread

http://voicethread.com/share/1172126/

Constructivism in Practice

The idea of generating and testing hypotheses correlates very closely to the learning theory of constructivism.  If students are asked to create his/her own learning based on previous experiences, they are in fact making a hypothesis based on previous knowledge.  “When students generate and test hypotheses, they are engaging in complex mental processes, applying content knowledge like facts and vocabulary, and enhancing their overall understanding of the content” (2007, pg. 202).  When students are engaged in activities where they are doing a task over and over, the lesson begins to be very boring and tedious.  If students are shown how to create a spreadsheet of some sort, they are then able to take their learning to a higher level.  Another important aspect when creating a spreadsheet for students to use during a lesson, we need to remember that it needs to be student friendly and allow them to manipulate it in a way best suitable for them.  “By calling the spreadsheet interactive, we mean that the students will be able to manipulate it, consider graphical patterns, and test their predictions by receiving quick feedback on multiple scenarios” (2007, pg. 204).  I feel this type of lesson would be very beneficial for my students because it will be a nice depiction of a graph or table of the information they have gathered or tested. 

Resource:

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

Cognitivism in Practice

The daily use of technology in a classroom is very beneficial for students.  If teachers are able to make their students’ lives easier by allowing them to take notes on a computer or use an advanced organizer to aid in their understanding the learning can be very advantageous.  As the authors of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works stated, “cues are explicit reminders or hints about what students are about to experience” (2007, pg. 73).  As the cognitive theory, elaboration, describes, if students are given time to recall prior knowledge they will be able to make associations and connections to a piece of learning.  This will, in turn, create an active learning process.

When thinking about graphic advance organizers, I bring to mind this weeks application assignment.  I enjoyed creating the concept map because I can see it very helpful for students when given a project to create.  This type of organizer can be used to help students see what the essential question is and the routes they will be taking in order to gain the understanding to answer that question.

Students need to be able to take notes or summarize their learning.  This “enhances students ability to organize information in a way that captures the main ideas and supporting details, helping students to process information” (2007, pg. 120).  If students are able to take notes in a way that is beneficial to them, they will be able to store that information and be able to recall the facts.  When thinking about the concept mapping application, I believe the cognitive theory of the Paivio’s Dual Coding of Information is helpful here because if students are able to store the information as an image, or diagram, it is a very powerful understanding.

Resource:

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

Behaviorism in Practice

The behaviorist learning theory is a very broad strategy.  It encompasses several aspects when thinking of a classroom and technology.  One of the instructional strategies, reinforcing effort, is tough at times when students are unwilling to complete an assignment or do not see the benefits in doing so.  It is important to remember not all students realize the importance of believing in themselves and their abilities.  As a teacher, we are also looked upon as a coach because we not only need to help students discover their own knowledge, we also need to be able to get students excited about learning.  If teachers reinforce student effort in a positive manner, not only will that particular student become aware of the behavior, but the other students around that student will, as well.

The instructional strategy based on homework and practice is also important in terms of behavior.  As a teacher, I assign homework to give students a chance to demonstrate proficiency on a topic discussed in a lesson or a multitude of lessons.  I also make it a priority to give each student feedback on the assignment in order for students to grow and see the importance of completing all homework assignments.

The two instructional strategies, reinforcing effort and homework and practice, both play an important role when discussing the behaviorist learning theory.  Students need to be able to see the importance of student achievement and along the way positive reinforcement or punishment may be needed to make this possible.  It is important to have all students actively engaged at all times to ensure all students understand the topics being discussed.

Reflection

This course had changed my outlook on my classroom as a whole.  I have truly enjoyed this class because it has opened many doors to technology that I may have never known about.  I have not used or created a blog or Wiki before and I can several benefits to these aspects of technology and 21^st century learning.  This course has helped me to create a blog site where I have interacted with my peers and posted a podcast.  The most challenging part of my blog experience was getting my podcast onto the blog site, but I was able to get it posted.  During the group project of creating a Wiki, I had several wonderful experiences.  This was truly a great way for me to connect with my peers and to create something together.  I have worked with podcasting prior to this course, so this was not as much as a challenge for me.  I enjoyed creating this podcast and so did my students.

I am excited to continue to expand my knowledge of technology integration with the aim of increasing student achievement throughout my Master’s program.  I am able to continue this journey by staying updated on the most recent findings based around 21^st century learning.  There are several websites I was introduced to throughout this course I intend to check back and see the newest findings.

At the school I currently am employed at we believe in the looping process.  This is very beneficial when setting long-term goals.  This is my second year with my students, so next year I will get a new set of students.  I am looking forward to introducing to them from the start the ideas of a blog site.  With this blog, students will be able to interact with me during after-school hours, or during school.  I will post reminders and any additional information the students and families may need.  In order for the blog to be successful, I will need to inform them of how to post and also make comments to previous postings.

The second long-term goal I am setting for myself is to introduce a Wiki site for my students.  This Wiki will have links to homework, assignments, supplemental materials and ways to check their grades online.  This will enable students to take responsibility for getting missing assignments turned in in a timely manner.  I believe my goal will help meet instructional goals for students because they will feel excited and successful to get assignments off the web instead of waiting for the consequences that come along with not turning in homework on time.

Podcast

In this podcast, I have stated the demographic profile of my classroom population.  I have also interviewed three of my students on what type of technology they have at home and what they use in school.

Click on the link below to listen to the podcast.



http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/3721/episodes/16608/media_files/41264/download/3/file_128kb.mp3

The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills Web site is a great way to gather ideas to incorporate into a classroom. The mission of the leadership organization is to “Serve as a catalyst to position 21^st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders” (2004). After taking some time to explore the Web site, I have realized the members of this group have the best interests of the kids and their futures in mind. The members of this organization were fairly well known for me and I enjoyed looking through all the educational leaders, businesses, policymakers, and parents involved in the group.

There were a variety of different types of resources available on this site and I enjoyed scanning through the pages. The one that interested me the most was the “Video 21” page. This page has several videos dealing with 21^st century skills needed for our children. The first video I viewed dealt with explaining what this organization was about. I enjoyed watching this video because it helped me to see what the framework of this organization was all about. It is to help move students to be better critical thinkers, innovators and problem solvers through the use of technology. They also believe in having students becoming great communicators, which will make them be better global citizens. Our students need to have an idea of the 21^st century skills to help them be prepared for the world around them. The members of the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills created this video and their top priority is to come together, generate ideas and address issues.

The second video I became interested in was titled “Coin Toss Experiment.” I was intrigued with the title because the unit we are currently teaching, in math, deals with data analysis and probability. In this video, the elementary age students were conducting an experiment with a one thousand-coin toss to see the probability of heads vs. tails. In the lesson, the teacher had the students first make predictions. At this time, if I could have changed the lesson, I would have had the students pair-share with a tablemate so all the students were held accountable for a prediction. This would also have allowed students to have time to collaborate with a peer and hear another way of thinking. Then, the students began the experiment. In order to find the final data, the students used calculators to find the final count. After the data was totaled, the teacher created a bar graph using an Internet graph-making program. I felt this was a valuable lesson for the students and creating a bar graph using this type of technology is great for the students to see.

This page would be a great resource for teachers to help improve their classrooms toward a 21^st Century learning environment. The implications for my students and for me as a contemporary educator will be to work on incorporating these easy Internet websites to enable my students to see the tools available for them in the future. If they watch me, or create a graph themselves, on the computer, they will be able to use this tool in the future.

Resources:

The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills. 2004. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/.

Blogging in the Classroom

I am new at blogging, but I am seeing great potential for this type of technology. A way I might be able to use blogging in my classroom is something that my students brought up to me today. At my school, we currently have a grant for all students to receive a snack each day. These snacks include many different types of fruits and vegetables from all over the country. One way I could use blogging in my classroom would be to have a way to visit with students from other countries about how these types of food are grown. My students are very inspired by learning from one another and I feel a blogging situation could improve their knowledge about this concept. I can only imagine how excited they would be to receive a message from someone in another state, as well as a different country.

There are several other ways blogging could be used in my classroom which could be by just interacting with other students from around our state. At my school we truly believe in the looping process, so I taught 4th grade last year and now I am teaching the same students in 5th grade. This is my first time being involved with looping and have seen many benefits to this process. Blogging is a good tool for the instructional context because my students would not only be able to learn from their own peers, they would also learn from others around the country.

Hi my name is Wendi Elsen. I graduated from the University of Wyoming and moved to Casper, Wyoming. I currently teach 5th grade and truly enjoy each day! I am very excited to start using technology in my classroom and further my students abilities with technology.