Course Reflection

     I thoroughly enjoyed developing and carrying out my GAME plan. I am now aware of exactly how eBooks work and how to access them. I have been able to assist a few of my colleagues with eBooks and am currently working with a peer to develop a unit based on one of the available eBooks. We are looking forward to carrying out the lessons in the future.

     Also, I have been doing very well at documenting my sources of information and web sites in my lesson plans. Most of my weekly plans have sources clearly listed. It has almost become second nature to do it. One part of the process I have really enjoyed is including a peer for guidance and help with monitoring my progress. It has been great to have someone else’s perspective on planning.

     Overall, my favorite part of the GAME plan process has been monitoring the progress I have made. I took the time to write in a journal on a daily basis and through that, I have realized that it really helped me stay focused. Not only did I reflect on my progress on my GAME plan, but I found myself writing about ideas and feelings about other events of my day.

     I plan to use the GAME plan with students in the future. I think that most students are used to setting goals and making a plan of action. However, I do not think that students take enough time to monitor what they are learning or evaluate the process in the end. I will use the goal, action, monitor, and evaluate parts of the process. Since I am working with 4^th graders, I will need to break down each part and model the process more, but I think I will work out well.

     There are also going to be some adjustments made to my instructional practice as a result of this course. Through carrying out my problem based unit, I realized that my students need additional practice in locating, extracting, and summarizing data from internet sources. So, I will be including that skill in many future lessons. Also, my students were very excited about creating our Wiki space and digital storytelling. They were wonderful methods of teaching content and they allowed my students to be expressive and creative. I can foresee myself including them in my plans at least once on a monthly basis. I already have ideas about poetry, book reviews, book summaries, and mock newscasts. There are so many ways to integrate digital storytelling and online collaboration that the possibilities are endless.

Monitoring my GAME Plan

            So far, I feel that I have been very lucky. Both of my plans seem to be moving along smoothly. I have been able to find the information and resources that I need to move forward. I have started to include my sources of information in my lesson plans and have exposed my students to two lessons about citing sources of information. I feel that my students have responded positively and understand the importance of citing sources. I have also been able to use an EBook with one class of 4^th graders. The students enjoyed it and are excited to be able to access them at home as well. I have not needed to modify my plans thus far and hope that it continues that way.

            I feel that I have learned a lot through my progress. I have found that having a colleague look over lesson plans to help monitor my progress has been very valuable. It is great to get someone else’s perspective on how I plan. Also, I have noticed that it does take a bit longer when writing/planning my lessons when I include the sources. It is a good thing though, because I keep my lesson plans on a data drive and that means I will always have those sources documented to refer to. There have been many times that I have used web sites for lessons and have forgotten where to find them.

            Finally, I have thoroughly enjoyed documenting my progress in my journal. It is all too often that I come home after a long day and see nothing but a blur. I have formed a routine to write in my journal after lunch and right before I leave school. Then, I have something to look back at when I am at home. At home, I can write new ideas and responses to things I wrote earlier. It is kind of like having conversation with myself and it really does help!

           

            I will need several resources to carry out my GAME plans. I will need the assistance of my peers, my computer, the smart board, my lesson plans, and a personal journal. I will need to enlist the help of a peer to help monitor my progress of siting sources and to observe my teaching and modeling. I plan to use a personal journal to document my progress of learning how to use EBooks and to graph my use of siting sources. My lesson plans will be used for viewing my progress of documenting the sources for my lessons. Finally, the computer and Smart Board will be used of carrying out lessons and modeling techniques for my students.

            Some additional information that I will need to complete my GAME plans is to learn more about the use of EBooks. I will be sitting down next week with several of my peers to help each other through the process of accessing and use of the EBooks. Through this meeting of the minds, I will be able to continue to assist other colleagues on how to use the EBooks.  

            So far I have been able to site the resources I have used on three different sets of lesson plans. I have begun to graph the amount of times that I have documented my sources. I have also started to write in my journal about the progress of learning how to use EBooks. I have planned a lesson for next week that will show my students examples of how to document sources and explain why it is important to cite the sources.

My GAME plan

I feel pretty confident with technology use on a daily basis in my classroom. There are a few areas that I would like to become more proficient in. I feel that these areas are very important because they will have a strong impact on my students learning and my way of teaching. The two NETS-T standards and performance indicators are as follows:

Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility (a. advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources)

G – My goal for this is to do exactly what the indicator says, model, model, and model some more. I think if my students see me using digital information properly which means citing copyright, intellectual property, and sources, they will catch on to the necessity. When I use digital information in my lessons and planning, I will be sure to point out where I have documented my sources.

A – The action that I plan to take here is to document. I will be documenting all of my sources right into my lesson plans. I do this already, when I can remember. Now, I will be sure to include sources in all of my plans. Also, when I use the smart board, I will add a page or some sort of notification of my sources and reference them when teaching.  

M – I can monitor my progress by creating a graph that will display the number of lesson plans I write per month and the number of lesson plans that I add sources to. I am sure that I will forget to add sources at first, but as time goes on I will get better.

E – I will enlist a peer teacher to help with my evaluation. I would like to have a peer come in to watch at least one lesson and help me monitor my graphing. Having someone to monitor my graph might just help.

Model Digital-Age Work and Learning (b. collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success

and innovation)

G – My goal is to work with our public library, my colleagues, and parents to gain access to eBooks for students to use in the classroom and at home. Then, I would like to learn how to use the eBooks to the fullest potential.

A – I am planning to attend a meeting with my administrator and a peer at our local library to discuss the purchase and acquisition of several eBooks to use with students. These books will be on several grade levels and can be used by the entire school.

M – My way of monitoring this process is through a personal journal. I will document the outcome of the meeting. I will also document my progress of learning to use the eBooks.

E – My evaluation here will also be a part of the journal. I will be documenting how effectively I have been able to use the eBooks in my classroom and if I was able to pass on my knowledge to my colleagues as well.

Final Reflection

                In week 1, I stated that my personal theory of learning was that children learn best when they are totally immersed in their learning through hands on, concrete activities and when they feel a connection with what they are learning. I also mentioned that I identified with the Constructivist learning theories best. Now that I am at the end of this course, I feel that my views have stayed somewhat the same. However, my understanding of all learning theories has become deeper and more concrete. This is very useful to me because I do not think that one theory covers all children in all situations. I think that having knowledge of all learning theories can help any teacher become more proficient in their instruction.

                As far as technology goes, this class has really broadened my horizons of technology use. I am so very excited to begin a new school year and use/share all of the new ideas that I have learned through this course. I also have a better understanding how technology can enhance almost any lesson. By adding technology tools, a normal lesson can be transformed into one that really deepens and impacts student learning.  I am very anxious to use tools such as VoiceThread, online concept mapping, virtual field trips, and many more. In fact, my principal is eagerly awaiting a list and demonstration of some of these fantastic tools.

                One immediate adjustment I plan to make to my instructional practice is that I will be devoting more time to investigate all possibilities of adding technology to my lessons. This year I used technology in a good bit of my instruction, but it seemed like I used the same resources over and over. It always felt very tedious to me to search and test out new things. Now, I realize how much of an impact skilled technology use can have on the education of my students. I am now more excited to check out all of the new resources I have been exposed to.

                Two resources I plan to use right away are VoiceThread and online concept mapping. I think that they are going to be great for my students to use collaboratively. VoiceThread is going to be a fresh new way to make learning exciting for my students and there are so many ways to incorporate it. I already do concept mapping with my students, but I think students will love creating them online to share with each other. These tools are really going to get my students interacting with the curriculum and each other.

                I have two long term goals as a result of taking this course. As I mentioned earlier, I would like to start spending additional time looking for more ways to use technology tools in my teaching. That would be my first goal, to devote the time to finding/testing more technology tools. This will be easy for me now that I have knowledge of the great resources from this course. My second goal is to spread the excitement that I have for technology use to my colleagues. Most of my colleagues use technology; however, I plan to share the many resources that have been exposed to so that they can enhance their students’ education as well.

                To conclude, this course has been an incredible asset to my knowledge of teaching. I have become more adept at integrating new technology tools into my instruction. My understanding of the many learning theories has become greater. All of these things will help strengthen the quality of my teaching and boost my effectiveness.

Voice Thread

Parent Involvement

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

            In his lecture, Dr. Michael Orey explains that social learning occurs when students are actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others (Laureate Education Inc., 2010). While the students are conversing, they are sharing ideas, validations, and boosting each other’s confidence. I think that allowing students to work together is very important strategy to use in any classroom. In fact, I have my students work together as much as possible. I have had students work together to complete projects using power points, Wiki spaces, word processing, and podcasting. The results have always been fantastic and the learning powerful.

            Cooperative learning and the social learning theories go hand in hand. Cooperative learning is when students work together in groups to enrich their learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Cooperative learning is also an important strategy to help with interpersonal skills and decision making. These are skills that work to prepare students for the future workplace.

            Adding technology to cooperative learning is fantastic way to make collaboration more interesting, fun, and exciting for everyone in the classroom. Technology can also help to add some structure to projects and assignments. The idea of cooperative learning is not a new strategy to me; I have been using it for years. However, some of the tools presented in this week’s resources are very novel. I am very anxious to try tools such as ePALS, iWeb, Jigsaw classroom, and Voicethreading in my classroom. I think that students will enjoy working together with tools like these and they will do a lot to boost learning.

            Also, the possibly of reaching out to other classrooms all over the world is amazing. I think it is important for our students to be able to socialize and collaborate with students of different cultures. It is so easy for our students to communicate with each other through texting and Facebook. Why not allow them to bring that into the classroom and communicate globally with other students? We live in a connected society; it is time for education to catch up with what is happening in the global community.

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program eight. Social learning theories [Webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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