Carrying Out My GAME Plan

My actions to reach my goal of promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility will include teaching my students the importance of ownership for their work as well as recognizing others’ work. I will use what I have learned in my previous course through Walden to demonstrate how to recognize reliable websites (the importance of breaking down URL’s, qualifiers for authenticity, and how to validate information). The majority of my students are frequent users of the internet for entertainment, skills practice, and research at home and school. However, they do not know how to decide if a website is valid, and they are dependent on a given list of websites to choose from for their learning. Utilizing rubrics, charts, and mock websites, I will guide my students to become better qualified with choosing search engines, reliable websites, and valid information. I will also guide them on how to cite their sources. I try to remember to model this every time I show them something through my teacher computer, and I point out the URL and explain why the site I chose is valid and reliable. When my students create a project based learning production, they will be required to copyright their production, claiming their ownership. This should help them to recognize the importance of producing reliable work and recognizing the work of others from which they choose to learn.

My actions to reach my goal of engaging in professional growth and leadership will include using what I learn through my Walden courses, utilizing my peers, accessing the webinars offered through my state’s DOE, and spending more time to training “to go out and find the technology” and “know how to use the technology” (Ross, J., Presenter, 2009). I am required to attend training on new software and hardware through my school, but I have discovered that finding the time to implement all of it in the classroom is very difficult. My peers are a valuable resource to help me with the hands-on experience I prefer when using technology, and with sharing how they find the time to implement the myriad of different uses of technology daily throughout the curriculum. I have used much more technology to facilitate my students’ learning since starting my courses at Walden, and I can see a dramatic increase in motivation and effort when my students are involved with 21st Century Tools. I have also become very dependent on our DOE site for planning, teaching, and assessing. My biggest obstacle to overcome for my action plan is spending more time finding and using the technology that would best meet my students’ differentiated needs. This is an area which will require more collaboration with my peers and organizing all of my findings into an easily accessed portfolio that will grow as my technology skills for teaching grow.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Ross, J. (Presenter). (2009). Meeting Students’ Needs with Technology, Part 2. [DVD]. Laureate Education, Inc.

GAME Plan

My GAME Plan

I feel I really need to strengthen my confidence and proficiency with integrating technology into all content areas. I have set goals from the following two indicators from the National Education Standards for Teachers:
1. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers:
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.
2. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit
leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers:
a. participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning
c. evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning

According to Cennamo (2009), “self-directed learners plan, monitor, and evaluate their actions.” As I do this through the GAME plan, I realize I need to facilitate this process with my fourth graders. They need to be taught how to evaluate websites for their reliability and useful content, instead of depending on me to list websites that they can choose from on our local shares drive. They also need to be responsible with citing their sources. To be true 21st Century learners, they must develop these skills to use in all areas for their future.
Since technology is continuously changing and improving, I also need to continue to stay updated with new technology and evaluate it to support student learning. I feel staying modernized and becoming proficient with using the newest technology resources is my biggest struggle.

My actions to reach the goal for my first indicator are to demonstrate to my students how to evaluate websites. Utilizing the computer lab and portable lab, I will also require them to follow charts and rubrics to determine the reliability and content of a variety of websites and to cite any that they use in their final productions.
My actions to reach the goal for my second indicator is to utilize my peers, which Cennamo (2009) suggests and find people that will help funnel information. Through collaborative networking (Davis, 2009) and professional development courses, I will become more aware of new technology suggestions to enrich my students’ learning.

I will monitor and evaluate my students’ progress with becoming responsible digital citizenship by providing rubrics for them to follow, and I will observe and evaluate their chosen websites and citations.
I will monitor and evaluate my progress with improving my professional practice through using digital tools and resources by creating a portfolio that I can store and continually reflect upon my well-known and used technology resources, while adding new emerging tools and resources. By continuously networking and collaborating with other teachers, I will also stay updated with this goal.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. (M. Staudt, & M. Stranz, Eds.) Mason, OH, USA: Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009).Integrating technology across the content areas.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_ T_Standards

Reflection: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

Taking the Walden course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, has made me realize how important it is to teach and guide my students to use inquiry based projects. According to Armstrong, S. (Laureate, 2009), project based learning challenges students to think more broadly and deeply, and collaborate globally.

This course introduced to me many new ways to produce student project based learning, which I plan to implement in my classroom. When working on these type of inquiry based projects, it is especially important to teach online literacy skills so students can validate reliable websites. Strategies like Phillip’s ABC’s of evaluating websites (Laureate, 2009) teach students how to navigate around websites and use their critical judgment to assess their accuracy.

The biggest revelation of this course has been the need for my fourth grade students to cite their sources and to copyright their own publication. According to Warlick, D. (Laureate, 2009), students become more responsible when they claim what they own, and teachers should model this by citing their technology resources during instruction.

I would hope that my district would provide more professional development for integrating technology through student and teacher collaboration. The ethical use and monitoring of wikis, blogs, and other tools could be taught and monitored, and would be advantageous for our students’ learning, while keeping them up to date with Century 21 skills they will already use at home and will use in their future.

References

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

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Armstrong, S. (Presenter). Inquiry Based Projects

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Hartman, D. (Presenter). Developing Students’ Digital Literacy


Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Warlick, D. (Presenter). Skills for the future [DVD]. Supporting information literacy and online inquiry in the classroom.

Reflection: Effective Bridging of Technology and Instruction

This course has made me realize that it is very important for teachers to understand student learning to effectively plan for instruction. It has also shown how important it is to use technology as a learning tool instead of just an instructional tool.

At the beginning of this course, my personal theory of how students learn was the constructivist theory. Lever-Duffy and McDonald explain that Piaget “theorized that children construct mental maps as they encounter information,” and “new knowledge is either assimilated or accommodated.” I still believe my students learn predominately through constructivism, but now I realize that they also use the social constructionist theory as they work together in cooperative learning groups or with partners; most of my students prefer this style of learning.

This course has also made me very aware of how important it is to consider Gardner’s multiple-intelligence theory since students have distinctive cognitive and learning styles. These learning styles are accompanied by different intelligence considerations. Using differentiated instruction in a diverse classroom allows students to learn best according to their preferred learning style. This course has made me realize that providing a variety of leaning modalities to meet students’ learning styles will enhance their learning.

I plan on using more learning tool technology such as Voice Thread and concept mapping. Voice Thread would promote active engagement in the classroom. “Student-created multimedia is a natural environment for cooperative learning.” (Pitler, H, [et al], 2007). Visual field trips create episodes with rich experiences and incorporate all of the cognitive theories (Orey, 2007).
Using concept mapping tools supports dual coding with visual representation and helps visualize ideas and make connections; something my students need more practice with.

I also plan on using more virtual field trips as an interactive learning tool. Virtual field trips will allow what Orey calls the elaboration and rich opportunity to witness history and engage in critical thinking.

My long-term goal for integrating technology into the classroom is to incorporate it into every lesson as a learning tool. I also plan to provide my students with a wide variety of technology as learning tools while not depending on it so much as an instructional tool. I can do this by accessing the mobile laptops or the computer lab daily. I can also allow the students to use the Smart Pad through ELMO and the LCD screen more often. My students are much more motivated, focused, and engaged when working with technology, and these strategies will provide them with this opportunity and will enhance their learning.

Cooperative Learning and Technology

My students are much more motivated and focused during group work. Using technology such as constructing a Voicethread or Power Point further enhances their learning and they enjoy it so much more!

My VoiceThread

Constructionist Theory

Requiring students to construct an artifact keeps them engaged, motivated, and active in the learning process. Constructivism allows students to gain more knowledge while they build their artifact rather than being given direct knowledge by the the teacher. Project based learning is a very effective tool in facilitating students' learning. Incorporating technology into their projects enhances their learning while keeping them actively engaged.

My students love project based learning. They use technology throughout their research, and then they use technology frequently if their final production is a microsoft document, Power Point, or other software driven base project. Whether constructing a technology based project or a model replica, my students are incorporating new experiences that build on their learning and they put much more effort into their project because they know they will be sharing it with others. I have found that providing a rubric greatly improves their final production.

My school is currently changing over to standards based classrooms which require much more of a teacher facilitator mode. Incorporating constructivism based learning is the preferred way of meeting this requirement, but finding the time to implement project based learning has become a conflict. I believe a project based lesson would best be better managed as a culminating activity after completing a unit which incorporates several elements. I would still like to find more ways to incorporate shorter projects into my forty-five minute segments.