Final Blog Post

I feel the GAME plan I developed is working very well. I have learned a new way to integrate technology standards and goals into my classroom that will benefit me and my students. Using this GAME plan I can help my students develop their own GAME plans to make sure they know the direction they are heading. Another result from my GAMe plan is integrating technology in my class every single day. Since I have made this a short term goal, I have been more aware about doing it. My students seemed to have noticed all of the technology that is being used in my class and they like it a lot. I feel I am working well towards my long term goal of being able to teach teachers how to use technology in their classes.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

The standards provided by my county include very little technology. For me to properly integrate technology into my classroom, I will need to use the standards and indicators in the NETS-S. Just as the NETS-S standards have helped me develop lessons and improve my use of technology, I can use these standards to help my students develop their use of technology.

With these standards in mind, I can have my students develop a GAME plan the same way that I did for this class. A GAME plan can help my students come up with an end goal in which they can work towards. Students using a GAME plan can see how great it is to develop goals and work in increments to meet those goals. Students can also give themselves, teachers, and other student’s positive feedback about meeting their goals. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010) say “The GAME plan requires you to think about and take steps to direct your learning process, specifically, while learning about technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum” (pg. 3). If students can develop their own GAME plan, then they will be able to develop higher order thinking skills. Being able to develop your own GAME plan means you can use goals to guide your learning. I feel using a GAME plan is an integral part of using technology in my class and I need to incorporate this activity into my lessons.

Revising Your GAME Plan

So far, I have learned that online discussion is a great tool to use in the classroom. Creating a forum where students can discuss topics at the safety of their key board gets many students involved who would never volunteer in class. I already incorporate a blog discussion in my class, but in the future I going to incorporate the dialogue from that into the grade book. I want my students to understand how important it is to discuss topics between each other, whether it is in the classroom or on a blog.

I am still working towards encompassing my class in technology. I took a step further to reaching that goal this week by using my updated school website to post homework and assignments. At the beginning of last week, I showed all of my students were I will be posting their homework and assignments. I am actually one of the only few teachers to be using this tool at my school. I feel it is very convenient tool that can help parents know what their students need to be doing.

The first NETS-T standard that I chose is to “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” (ISTE, 1997-2009). The second NETS-T standard that I chose is to “collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation” (ISTE, 1997-2000). I believe I am getting closer to my goals, but I have not completed them to the level that I want. I think I will need to continue to work towards these to goals before I can choose any more. My progress in the past week with using my school website to post homework and assignments is a great leap forward to meeting the second goal I chose.

Evaluating Your GAME Plan Progress

I feel my goals are slowly being met, but I am making progress. After last weeks post, I realized I need to get a move on developing more technology based lessons. I feel I did a lot earlier in the year, but stopped after I got super busy. On December 14th I have a meeting with the technology specialist at my school. At this meeting we are going to discuss different ways I can integrate technology in my class. My principal has provided a sub for me, so we can properly develop lesson plans using technology. He is going to help me do this, so I can be an example teacher at my school.

One of the main things I have learned in this class is how to use problem-based learning using technology. I have learned what problem-based learning was in a previous class, but really understand it now. I feel I have learned a lot of new ways I can use technology to incorporate problem-based learning. For instance, Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010) say “The availability of intuitive, user-friendly, video-creation software, such as Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, has also opened up a new avenue through which teachers and students can create meaningful projects that fuse images, music, video, and narration as they develop digital accounts of events in order to demonstrate their deep understandings of the topic” (pg. 297). I have used videos before, but they were just scripted by the students. I never took the time for students to create videos and then use computers to fuse aspects like music and narration. Before the end of the year, I plan on creating a lesson where students create a movie about a topic in social studies.

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

I mentioned in last week’s blog that I installed a Mimio board into my classroom. Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, I showed my students news coverage of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. While I was showing them, I was able to use my interactive board to stop and fast forward the video very easily while never actually leaving the board. Not having to use a remote was wonderful! I was also able to draw over the video with the Mimio markers to point out different things in the news coverage as opposed to using a laser pointer or yard stick. I felt this lesson was a great step forward into my GAME plan.

As of this week, I feel my GAME plan progress has slowed down. I am teaching three extra classes after school and I have four meetings throughout the week. On top of all of this, I have to grade essays about the Israeli and Palestinian conflict. I feel I will not be able to meet my goal of integrating technology into the classroom every single day leading up to winter break. I believe I have the resources to integrate, but not the time. I feel it is real easy right now to use the lessons I already have then to create new ones that take planning time. I don’t feel this being a problem in the future, but in the mean time it is. I guess I feel sometimes like changing my lessons to integrate technology takes more time than I have. In the long run, all of my lessons will adapt over time and I know I can’t do it all in one year.

Carrying Out Your GAME Plan

At this point in my class, I have started to incorporate parts of my GAME plan. This past week, I installed a Mimio interactive board in my classroom. Once I installed this technology, my students were automatically interested. In my GAME plan, I want to use technology every single day in the classroom. This interactive board will help me reach my students even more than I could before. The interactive board is just the first step to what I need in my classroom to carry out my plan. I will need technologies such as clickers, lab tops, digital cameras, and digital recorders to continue to meet my plan. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2010) say “Digital media are a key factor for implementing UDL based on the flexibility they offer both teachers and students” (pg. 126). Having these technologies will help me achieve my GAME plan and assist the students in learning.

Even though I have incorporated the interactive board in my class, I still have a bunch of work to do to completely meet my GAME plan. I feel I still have some lessons and plans that I am having trouble integrating technology with. Some days, I revert back to my old ways of teaching, which include reading and answering questions with pen or pencil. Even though I make my lessons very interactive between students, sometimes I feel I need to incorporate some sort of technology. That is why I am glad I have the interactive board because now I can use more interactive websites in the classroom and not just in the computer lab.

Developing Your Personal GAME Plan

After reading the National Education Standards for Teachers, I compared them to what my personal goals are. I found two standards that I wanted to improve on and master during my teaching career. The first standard is to “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” (ISTE, 1997-2009). This standard interests me because I believe it fits in very well with social studies. Part of the curriculum I teach is real world issues and what better way to do that by using technology to learn about them.

The second standard is to “collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation” (ISTE, 1997-2000). This standard stood out to me right away. I have envisioned a 21st century classroom and community where little pencil and paper is used. Where students get immediate feedback on their work and where parents, teachers, and students are all connected in a twenty-four hour classroom. I can envision a classroom that is totally redefined by technology because students are independent and innovative.

To meet these goals, I will begin to integrate technology based lessons into my class daily. By integrating technology daily, I will be teaching my students to become independent learners and innovative thinkers. I want to create a website where students go every single day to get their assignment. From there, I want to incorporate Web 2.0 activities and give each student individualized learning to help each student succeed in my class. I believe technology can help teachers reach more students because it makes lesson easier to individualize. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) reference Rose and Meyer (2002) who said “Universal design for learning (UDL) suggests that teachers can remove barriers to learning by providing flexibility in terms of options for materials, methods, and assessments” (pg. 117). I would love for my classes to have no barriers of the type and the amount of learning that gets done by every single child. I will know when I have reached my goals when I have included technology in every lesson and I act more as a guide to social studies then as a teacher of social studies.

The way that I plan on extending my learning of these standards is to teach other teachers to use the technology skills that I have learned. My school has just hired someone with a similar job description and I would love to be able to help more students then in just my classroom. I figure the best way to do that is to teach other teachers to use technology in their 21st century classroom.

Reflection for EDUC 6712

The most striking revelation I had about the teaching of new literacy skills to my students is how to correctly show my students to use the internet. My students use the internet often and I usually tell them what websites to use, but now I can correctly teach them to use the internet themselves. One way that I can teach my students to correctly use the internet is to teach them “The ABC’s of a Website” created by Beth Phillips (Laureate Education, 2009). I can also share with them the “topic + focus” method developed by Eagleton and Guinee and described by Eagleton and Dobler in their book “Reading the Web” (2007). By showing my students these strategies, I will be giving them the tools to use the internet and streamline their research process.

I feel the knowledge and experienced I gained in this course will greatly improve my teaching practices. I have learned a lot of new ways to improve my teaching and lesson planning. My students will benefit even more than me because they will be gaining 21st century skills like what Dr. Hartman describes communicating as “sharing information on-line through wikis, blogs, and other tools” (Laureate Education, 2009). I now will be able to incorporate new literacy skills that will develop my student’s ability to use technology and communicate in a 21st century classroom.

One professional development goal I would like to work on is my ability to create a student centered classroom on a daily basis. Dr. David Warlick says to “help them learn to teach themselves” (Laureate Education, 2009) and I want this to be my goal. I would like to see my class working on research projects while using all new types of technology. As my teaching career continues to develop, I would then like to be able to teach other teachers to use technology to have a student centered project based class like the one I created. Those are some of my professional goals that I have developed from this class.


References

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Author.

Evaluation of "Britain for Americans" Website

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stV0hXS0dIR1xbR1pdXFJcUFVR/evaluation_of_britain_for_americans

Reflection for Course 6711

After looking back on my “Personal Theory of Learning” I feel this class has confirmed my beliefs. In my “Personal Theory of Learning”, I said “My personal theory on how students learn is that most students learn when they enjoy what they are doing” (Application 1). Throughout this course, Dr. Orey talked about using collaborative assignments, visuals, technology, and artifacts to make learning interesting for students. I had the same beliefs during my “Personal Theory of Learning” and feel I was right in line with teachings of this class.

One adjustment I am planning on making at the beginning of the school year is to use more technology in my classroom. I have always liked to use collaborative lessons, but I don’t use technology as much as I would like to. This course has given me many ideas about how to use technology in a collaborative way. Two types of technology that I plan on using more are blogs and clickers. In my application 7 lesson, I have developed a current event blog that will let students discuss in a collaborative environment using Web 2.0 tools. The other technology that I am planning on using is clickers. I am planning on using them to review for tests and quizzes. I used the clickers once this past year and they were a big hit with the students. Dr. Orey says “Technology as a learning tool includes students using technology as active learners” (Laureate Education, 2009). That is what clickers do. Every student can use the clicker to answer questions given to them, which gives them a sense of having to know the information not just waiting on someone else to answer. That is how I am planning on using technology for the upcoming school year.

Two long-term goal changes that I would like to make are to make my technology use more collaborative and more frequent. Many of the lessons that include technology in my classes of the past were very single student centered. I would like to get students into groups to complete assignments and projects. Along with having more collaborative technology lessons, I would also like to include technology more often. I like to think I use technology a lot in my class, but I want to get to the point were I use technology almost all of the time. I believe my students will enjoy my class a lot more if they get to use technology more than any other class, but I will also feel like I am preparing them and my self for the future. Those are the long term goals that I feel I can make as my teaching career progresses.

The major need for my classroom!

http://voicethread.com/share/530829/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Dr. Orey says the social learning theory should be "students actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others" (Laureate Education, 2009). I like my students to see my class as somewhere that can come to talk and learn about social studies. I like to use projects and lessons in my class that incorporate technology. I try to incorporate technology and the social learning theory because they go together very easily. Some lessons that Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) include in their book that use collaboration, Using technology with classroom instruction that works, are web site creation, multimedia (videos), blogs, wikis, shared bookmarking, web-enables and multipayer simulation games. All of these activities can fit into the social constructivism view of Dr. Orey "work not only being student centered, but peer centered" (Laureate Education, 2009). Technology activities in the classroom can be highly peer centered. Students tend to learn a lot more in a collaborative setting. One reason is because students get to teach each other. Dr. Orey says "Teaching others helps the learner develop a deeper understanding of the content" (Laureate Education, 2009). Students who are working in groups and using technology are not only learning more, but are being trained for the 21st century work place. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) say "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" (pg. 139). I feel by using the appropriate lessons I will be preparing my students for their lives.

Lessons like web site creation, multimedia (videos), blogs, wikis, shared bookmarking, web-enables and multipayer simulation games are all collaborative lessons. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) say "Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face" (Laureate Education, 2009). As my teaching style and the technology available develops, I feel my class will get more collaborative. Right now I would my class is mostly collaboration, but not to the level that I want it. I believe being able to use blogs, wikis, and multiplayer simulation games will make my class even more of a learning experience for my students. I have tried to use all three of these assignments in the past, but my school has not let me use them. The county that I teach in is currently creating a blog site that is monitored by the county and safe for classroom use. I hope to be using this in the fall. I also tried to use a multiplayer game called "Peacemaker" before, but my school woulndn't purchase it for me and it was too expensive for me to purchase it. All of these lessons would be great to use in my class to promote the social learning theory.

Constructivism in Practice

After reading Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works and being a social studies teacher, I was immediately drawn to the World War II multiplayer strategy game (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). A high school history teacher in Indiana uses this strategy game “to help his students better understand the political and economic causes and conditions that led to the war” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). In the past, I have tried to use a game similar to this. The game was called “Peace Keeper” and it helped students solve the situation behind the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I am not able to use the “Peace Keeper” game because it costs too much for me to purchase and I have not been able to get my principal to purchase it for me. As a teacher, I am always looking for new technology to help my students create and learn. I believe gaming can work it way in the classroom and be that new technology.

Gaming can fit into the principles of the constructivist/constructionist learning theories in a few ways. Dr. Orey says that “All minds want to be in equilibration, which is the process of achieving balance between differences in external reality and one’s current beliefs and understandings” (Laureate Education, 2009). In this game students take a situation that is in “disequilibration” and need to put it in “equilibration” (Laureate Education, 2009). Letting students try to solve this problem and build a peaceful world is a very new way for learning history. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) say “Each student takes on the role of a country leader and makes policy decisions about diplomacy, economics, domestic, matters, and military actions to achieve that country’s goals” (p. 213). From this description, I get the idea that these students are building and running their own country. I see this game as the students building relationships with other countries to try to stop a world war. Dr. Orey says that constructivism “Focuses on getting kids to build stuff” (Laureate Education, 2009). In the game, students build a country and relationships with other countries to try to solve the problems of the world. With the combination of learning and students creating something, this game seems to be a great resource for the social studies classroom that correlates with the principles of the constructivist/constructionist learning theories.

Cognitivism in Practice

The cognitive learning theory, according to Dr. Orey, is an "information processing model, which includes the sensory input of information, the short term memory, and the long term memory" (Laureate Education, 2009). I believe to properly use the cognitive learning theory teachers need to present information for all levels of the information processing model. One way to do this is by "integrating multiple senses in presentations to improve learning" (Orey, 2009).

A good lesson to me incorporates many different learning styles. In my 7th grade Social Studies class, I incorporate graphic organizers, technology, and visual aids to help my students learn the material. I start off every lesson of mine with an essential question and short activity to get the students thinking about the material. I like to use short videos from BrainPOP and United Streaming to help me get my students interested because these resources have a lot of great videos on Social Studies topics. Along with watching the video, I have my students fill in a graphic organizer to help them understand what they are watching and what they need to understand. These are some of the ways I run my daily lessons.

One reason I use multimedia to help my students learn is because Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) in their book Using technology with classroom instruction that works say "multimedia is very effective because it helps them both activate prior knowledge and develop mental model to help them understand new information" (p. 82). I feel students learn more about Social Studies when they can see and hear actual events or actual footage of topics. According to Dr. Orey, "Paivio's dual coding hypothesis is stated as information is stored in the brain as images and text" (Laureate Education, 2009), so I figure why not help my students store the information by giving them the appropriate types of lessons.

Behaviorism in Practice

The Behaviorist Theory according to Dr. Orey is based off two things, “Reinforcement of desirable behaviors and punishment of undesirable behaviors” (Laureate Education, 2009). I believe teachers can use technology in many ways to correlate with behaviorism. Teachers can use technology for “Reinforcing Effort” made by the students and to help them with “Homework and Practice” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

Dr. Orey says that “The reinforcement of good behavior is more powerful than the punishment of bad behavior” (Laureate Education, 2009). The reinforcement of effort and good behavior can also be helped by using technology. For instance, at my school I require my students to keep up with their quarter grades, test grades, and benchmark grades on an excel spreadsheet that we print out and put in their notebook. I actually got this idea from a fellow teacher during my first year of teaching. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski (2007) in their book Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works say “Technology makes it easier for students and teachers to track the effects of effort and facilitates more immediate feedback” (p. 156). Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski go on to add effort into their spreadsheets to show students how effort correlates with achievement. This is a great way to show, using technology, how good or bad behavior and effort directly relate to classroom achievement.

Another important aspect of teaching and learning is “Homework and Practice” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). The school I teach at is a Title one school and I have noticed over the years that very little students turn homework in. With the advisement of my superiors, I have taken the path of giving homework for remediation. Dr. Orey considers remediation as “a drill and practice activity” (Laureate Education, 2009). Another problem that I have is only 40 percent of my students have computers at home. This makes it difficult for teachers in low socio economic schools to give homework using technology. One way that I use technology to help my students practice Social Studies skills is by giving them online tutorials. Dr. Orey says “The online tutorial is today’s programmed instruction” (Laureate Education, 2009). I currently use websites like Geo-Net, Study Island, and the state CRCT website. I believe they provide my students with the practice of basic knowledge that they need to succeed in Social Studies.

Dr. Orey said that many people don’t follow behaviorism today, but along with him I believe it is very prevalent in the classroom. Two ways that behaviorism is prevalent in today’s classroom is in “Reinforcing Effort” and “Homework and Practice” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). I believe the evolution of behaviorism has benefited the teacher of today because of the technology that can be integrated.

EDUC 6710 Reflection

This course has taught me a lot about new technologies to use in the classroom. Before this class, I thought the only reasons for students to use computers were to use the internet, power point, word, or excel. I never thought of using a blog, pod cast, or Wiki as a classroom tool. Now that I know how to use all of these things I will start to incorporate these Web 2.0 skills into my social studies classes.
With my ability to create lessons using Web 2.0 technologies, I will be able to let the students learn on their own and use me as a helper. I will no longer tell them what they need to know, but instead will give them the opportunity to figure out what they need to know. I have always grown up in teacher-centered classrooms and have known little about learner-centered classrooms, but this class has taught me the difference. It is my goal from this point forward to incorporate more learner-centered activities in the classroom. I want to change the process of my class from being a teacher-centered class to a learner-centered class. This will take me a couple years to completely change my lessons and activities, but I am willing to do that to ensure that my students learn and are engaged in my class.
I am definitely committed to expanding my knowledge of technology use in the classroom because I chose Integrating Technology into the Classroom as my Master’s degree. One reason it has taken me 4 years to start my Master’s degree is I could not find a degree that I was interested in. This was the only degree that interested me and I looked at many different degrees. With every new technology available, I wanted not only to be able to use them efficiently, but I also want to be able to use them in the classroom. A few of my goals dealing with technology over the next couple years are to help my fellow social studies teachers incorporate Web 2.0 into the classroom and to totally change my lesson plans from teacher-centered activities to learner-centered activities. With my continued education and hard work, I believe I can achieve these goals.

Podcast about Technology In My Students Life

http://www.gcast.com/user/TonyCafarella/podcast/main?pe1UdnYOULdsaSnaFG-Ym1lEMxgak3bccN-VJM

My Reaction to www.21stcenturyskills.org/

When I first started to browse the website, I felt a little overwhelmed. The more I browsed, the more I felt like I was looking at a web page that was created by a government or corporation that talks a lot, but does little. The main thing that I was surprised by was there are only a few lessons for teachers to help them teach 21st century skills. A majority of what is on the site is talking about how states and teachers need to incorporate these skills into the classroom, but it was very hard to find ways to do this. Overall, I would say the site is very informational, but a little confusing because of the massive amount of literature about how everyone needs to teach 21st century skills. I think this website is helping to start the movement of teaching 21st century skills, but I think it should take a greater part in providing lessons for each type of "core subject" that the site lists.

Blogging in the Classroom

I teach at a Title 1 school in a school in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia. Many of my students don't have the Internet. This makes it very hard to include a blog in my classroom. Taking into account my circumstances I have thought of some different ways to use a blog in my 7th grade social studies classroom. I think I can use a blog to talk about current events with my students. I can post an article about a topic we are covering in class along with my thoughts about the situation. I then could take my students to the computer lab or give my students assigned time on the classroom computer to respond to the topic. For instance, I give my students a current event every week to read at home. This week is about the situation in Darfur. Specifically about asking the President of Sudan to surrender to the International Criminal Court. After they read the article I can have each student respond to specific questions I have on the blog and give them time to respond. I can check in everyday and grade the responses. I think this will give the students freedom to work on their own, while learning about state standards, and being able to talk to the class without being on the spot in front of 28 other people.

TWIC (This Week In Class)

This week in class I am taking my classes to the computer lab to complete a web quest about African Cultures. During this web quest the students will get information about different cultures across Africa. After they do their web quest they will research African Tribal masks and then create their own Tribal mask. I used this assignment last year and my students enjoyed it very much. I hope that my students this year will enjoy it even more.

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