Last week, I set goals for my GAME plan and
shared the steps I needed to take to meet those goals. The focus of my GAME plan is on the ISTE
Standard proficiency indicators 2.a., 2.b., and 3.b., which entail designing
learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources into the
classroom, enabling my students to become more self-directed learners in a
technology rich environment, and to communicate with students and community
effectively using a variety of digital media (ISTE, 2008). Today, I am going to
discuss what resources and additional information I will need as I carry out my
plan and share what I have done so far.
This week I started gathering the resources
I will need to evaluate my curriculum for the incorporation of digital tools to
engage students in self-directed learning.
I have curriculum maps and lesson plans in Word and Excel that are kept
on my school server space. I am already
involved in the process of incorporating the English Language Arts standards into
our curriculum maps so this will be a good time to add the ISTE standards as
well. I have also begun the tedious job
of organizing the bookmarks in my delicious account as I locate links I have
created for to digital tools. I started
saving descriptions and adding tags a couple of months ago, so the process is
somewhat easier, but there are a lot of links that do not have either. Another resource I am taking advantage of is my
Professional Learning Community (PLC). I
have been sharing my goals and what I plan to do and they are supportive and
very interested in the sharing of resources.
Another group I would like to consult is the Technology team I serve on;
however, they have not met yet this year.
Lastly, I am using the Web as a resource for locating and evaluating teacher
blogs, websites, and wikis that might serve as a model for designing my
own. My intention was to create a
checklist of criteria for rating each site; however, I didn’t have time and I
couldn’t find one online, so I am using a reflection journal saved to my
computer. If any of my readers have a
resource for checklists used to evaluate blogs and websites for layout and
design, I would appreciate it.
I have begun to explore technology that
more effectively meets the needs of the diverse learners in my classroom and
familiarize myself with what is already available on the school computers. I asked the Media Specialist what software we
have available for students and discovered that we have the basic programs that
come free with Windows 7 and have Adobe Photoshop on one set of computers for
photography class. We had a discussion
about whether I would be able to access some of the software online such as
Voicethread or webpage design software and learned that it is a filtering
issue. Tech Support will open any
website that I request through the Media Specialist. Not only do I need to understand what
resources are available in my school, I need to assess the learning needs of
all of my students. I am going to need
additional information about student access to technology outside of school, so
I have requested that information from the Media specialist. He conducted a technology survey last year. Cennamo,
Ross, and Ertmer (2009) stated that teachers need to use a variety of
technologies in order to engage students because individuals have differing
levels of ability, backgrounds, and learning styles, which may require
different types of software, different amounts of time, and opportunities to
work both independently and in diverse groups (p. 174). My hope is to have a repertoire of tools in
my technology tool bag that I can be proficient with; however, I want to be
sure that I am using student performance data from assessments and state tests
to inform my decisions about what learning experiences and technology can
support my diverse classroom (Cennamo et al, 2009, p. 113-117). I need to access state test data on my
students so that I can compare that performance to the grades my students are
achieving in class. This will help me
identify struggling students, but it also may help me identify students who may
not feel challenged in class. I need to gather
information from the students on their proficiency level and interest in using
computers and help them identify their strengths and preferred learning
style. If any of my readers know of
online resources for assessing learning style, please share them with me.
This week I have felt a range of emotions
from excitement to frustration as I tried to make the time to begin the steps
toward achieving my goal. I am getting
there, but I realize that this is going to be a journey that may take a year or
maybe even years as I traverse the rocky terrain of acquiring resources for my
classroom and meeting the needs of so many different types of learners.
References:
Cennamo,
K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning.
International
Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for
teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Posts
6 comments:
Lauri,
I like how you are going to assess the learning styles of your students to better understand which technology resources would work best. I know that Edutopia has learning style quizzes to take and also this website includes an online quiz as well: http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles.shtml
Both sites allow students to take online learning style quizzes. In my PLC group we are all evaluating different resources and then discussing them when we meet every other week. We realize what works for one teacher will not work for another, but it helps to gather feedback from other teachers that teach the same demographic of students. Do you think your PLC group might be interested in something like that? It makes it a little easier when you have support navigating through all the technology resources out there! It sounds like you are a passionate teacher and it seems like you are off to a great beginning in reaching your goals.
Angie Murphy
Lauri,
You have shared some great ideas and you seem to be well on your way to putting your goals into action. From what you have shared about your experience it seems that the most important thing is for me to be an expert about the curriculum into which I plan to implement the use of technology tools effectively. I really like the idea of using the curriculum maps and lesson plans. Do you develop these things by yourself, is it a collaborative effort, or they provided? I am not yet very efficient with my delicious account but, I really the idea of bookmarking and using the account to help organize links to various resources. Are these links for teacher use, student use, or both?
As you mentioned, I have really benefited a lot from even the online PLC through Walden. Your ideas are very inspiring and I have gathered some great ideas for things I need to do to take action. You have truly given me a different perspective and I true idea for what it is going to take for me to improve in this area as well. I need to have that conversation with my media specialist. I know that there is a filtering system for my county but, there may be some options available. I need to know what technology is already there and what technology is needed in order for my students to be successful. Great post! Thank you!
Liana G.
Angie,
Thank you so much for those resources.
Lauri,
You make an excellent point about the different learning styles of students. With so many different learners, we are forced to differentiate if we want to successfully reach each student. Luckily, with technology, differentiation is becoming easier. It is still difficult, but as you said, technology can support your diverse classroom. Here's a pretty cool link that has suggestions for 21st century teachers: http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2012/06/33-digital-skills-every-21st-century.html
I hope you are able to use some of these to differentiate in your classroom. I have the same issues you have with filtering. There have been many times I have wanted to use something for class on the Internet but our school has it blocked. I hope your school will work with you so you can use these resources. Good luck & thank you for your post!
Liana,
Thank you for your comments. The curriculum maps and lesson plans are supposed to be collaborative, however, the other woman in my department claimed to be technology deficient. She did not know how to put information into the templates and I ended up doing all of the maps. I have always kept my lesson plans up-to-date using Word because it makes it easier to adapt changes as I make them. I have most recently been adding the Common Core standards and Technology standards as I tweak my lessons. It seems to be an efficient way to do things as I teach a lesson, to update them with the standards.
This is not best way to do things, however. I have been learning about backward design, which requires you to start with the standards, determine assessments, and then the instruction that you will use to meet those standards. As I develop new lessons, I am using this method, however for the lessons that I am just updating, I am looking at what standards fit. Here is a link to a backward design template and more information, if you are interested.
http://digitalliteracy.mwg.org/curriculum/template.html
Lauri
Angie,
Thank you for the link to Edutopia's multiple intelligences quiz and for sharing what you do in your PLC. Our PLC is designed to be data driven, so whatever we choose to focus on must support improving the literacy strands from the state reading test results. My school has not met AYP and so we are still working on bringing up test scores. The teachers in my group bring in resources as well. This is one of the personally gratifying parts of the PLC, to collaborate with my peers. Of course, technology is one of the resources we are looking at in order to engage students in reading more non-fiction and increase their literacy skills. It is a natural fit.
Lauri
Whitney,
Thank you for the link on the digital skills that teachers should have. There are some really intriguing ideas and I plan to share this with my PLC. In order to meet the needs of our diverse students, teachers need to know how to use technology in their classrooms (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). We just need the time to do it.
Lauri
Reference
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Video Six: Meeting Students Needs through Technology Part Two. [DVD] Supporting information literacy and online inquiry in the classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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