GAME Plan Progress

One of the most important parts of a GAME plan is being able to accurately monitor and analyze your progress. So far for my first goal, demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations, I feel I am off to a good start. All this week, I have been facilitating a Lewis and Clark Webquest in which I have been able to show my students how to navigate through multiple pages, windows, and tabs. On top of that, they have been shown how to toggle back and forth between word processing and internet explorer programs. In addition, tomorrow I am showing them how to use the "print screen" function to capture an online image to complete their webquest. They have been doing a remarkable job with everything so I feel that my first goal is moving along at a nice pace.

My second goal (reflect and evaluate current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emergent digital tools and resources in support of student learning) is something that has to wait until after I am done with Walden, but in the meantime, I am currently gathering a list of reputable websites for future reference. As of right now, I plan on keeping both GAME plans as they are, but am still currently searching for websites that will help me with my second goal. Once again, anyone with suggestions for reputable educational technology websites please let me know. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

GAME Plan Action Planning

As I reflect on my GAME plan developed in my last post I need to get some information in order to begin planning my Actions. For my first Goal: To be able to teach a student how to use a blog or wiki. I first need to develop a list of blog and wiki sites that I can actively participate in to get improve my blogging and wiki-ing skills. I did some research and some good educational blogs are sites like Eduwonk, This Week in Education, and The Open Classroom. Wiki World has provided me with a number of Wiki project sites in which I can join to fine tune my Wiki skills throughout my GAME plan. Any suggestions for either type of site would be helpful.

As for my second Goal: To stay on top of the latest technological advances in education after graduating Walden University, I am currently compiling a list of reputable educational technology websites as to which I can visit after my tenure at Walden. Once again, any suggestions will prove to be extremely valuable to me. Thanks for helping me with my GAME plan!

NETS-T GAME Plan

As a teacher, not only is your job never done, but learning is continuous throughout your career. I have always considered myself as a pretty tech-savvy teacher and after looking of the National Educational Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers I feel pretty confident in my ability to meet a majority of those standards. There are a couple indicators that I know I want to improve on so I need to set my GAME Plan to continue my professional development as an educator.

NETS-T Indicator 3.a.: demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations.
Now I know this sounds very contradicting to my last paragraph so let me clarify. I am a very tech savvy teacher to all the technologies available at our school because I use them all on a daily basis. The new web 2.0 technology that my school is not authorized to utilize yet due to "bandwidth" and "liability" restrictions are technologies that I would like to know more about.
Goal: To be able to teach a student how to use a blog or wiki
Action: Participate in at least one blog discussion per week and contribute to an online wiki project (suggestions welcome) at least once a month. This will help me become more familiar with the new technology and will make it easier to teach it to students.
Monitor: I will keep a outline of the different ways I utilize each online tool and any tricks I learn along the way. I will also teach some of my fellow teachers with blogging or wiki experience how to use one.
Evaluate: I will evaluate the teachers' performances and their ability to utilize a blog or wiki after my instruction. Once blogs and wikis are approved in my county I will do the same with my students.

NETS-T Indicator 5.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. During my tenure at Walden University, this is something I am asked to do on a constant basis. When I have completed my masters, I want to promise myself to make sure I spend time learning about new technologies on my own time.
Goal: To stay on top of the latest technological advances in education after graduating Walden University.
Action: I will visit educational websites that discuss new technologies at least twice per month after graduating from Walden University. (suggestions for good websites to visit would be appreciated)
Monitor: Each new technology I discovery will be added to a categorized database according to its use across the curriculum.
Evaluate: I will visit the list quarterly to monitor the number of technological additions to each list. I will also evaluate my proficiency in the more popular new technologies.

Strengthening myself in these two indicated areas will allow me to truly be the tech-savvy teacher I need to be to make sure I equip my students with the necessary tools to be successful in the 21st century.

Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom Reflection

My first four years teaching, I based my days teaching my students to become "literate." Now in my fifth year, and after taking this course, I realize that I have been training my students to become more "literate" than I thought. I have always integrated slightly online inquiry-based lesson into my curriculum, but I now understand the importance and the learning involved in each and every step along the way. I never realized how important and easy it really is for students to evaluate websites before getting information from them. I always thought it was something that I would have to do on my own for my students. The researching aspect of an online inquiry project is, perhaps, the most crucial component. Information students find could be information that sticks with them for a lifetime. Because of this, students need to realize if this information is reliable. I don't want them to go through their life believing facts that aren't entirely true.

Realizing this helps me understand the significance of each and every step of the online inquiry process. In the past, I placed so much emphasis on the final product, not realizing the importance of each step along the way. That's exactly how my teaching style will change: Each step is a learning experience with its own set of objectives and ways to assess new learning.

My one professional goal is to conduct a true online inquiry based project in my classroom with the use of Web 2.0 tools. Currently, I can carry out every step of the online inquiry process with my students except for the final step: Communication. Since Web 2.0 tools aren't accessible in my school due to county restrictions, my students can't share their learning through any online medium (wikis, blogs, VoiceThread, etc). I hope my county realizes the importance of allowing students to access such public mediums to truly learn the new literacies that are essential for their future success. As soon as I get the OK from my county, a true online inquiry project in my classroom will be on!

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Reflection

I started this course believing I was a cognivist at heart. After eight insightful weeks of class, I still stand firm in believing in the cognivist learning theories described in this course, but I have also learn to accept other learning theories to be of great value. I still believe that every child learns in a different way and it is our duty as educators to get to know each of our students' personal learning styles to best cater to their needs to ensure success. My goal each day is to get to know each of my students just a little more so I can design lessons that are engaging to them and are presented in a way that they will be able to store that information in their long-term memory for years to come. This is, essentially, modeling my classroom around Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. I have always conducted my classroom in this way and will continue doing so.

Even though I'm a cognivist at heart, I do realize the potential of other learning theories such as the Constructivist and Social Constructivist theories. In today's workforce based on mass global communication and teamwork, Social Constructivism really caters to preparing students with the necessary 21st century skills students will need to be successful in the future. Students working together to accomplish one common goal is a exactly like the successful business models of many multimillion dollar companies. This is something that has always been implemented in my classroom, I just now have the realization of the label and an understanding of its benefits.

In terms of technology, this course has also taught me the importance of using PowerPoint as a learning tool, rather than simply an instructional tool. Each component of my lessons contribute to its success. My presentations need to be more interactive and filled with images to promote the "dual coding" process. Also, implementation of Web 2.0 tools such as virtual field trips, interactive concept maps, and VoiceThread will prove to be crucial in my students educational development.

In fact, one of my goals throughout this year is to get my classroom, and eventually my school on board with utilizing the power of VoiceThread. I have already talked to my vice principal about its potential and have priced out some hardware to be used in the classroom and, if the budget allows us, we should be able to order them within the month. Once I have the supplies, I would like to train my students on how to use VoiceThread. I would show them how to create one, respond to one, and everything else that goes along with it. I plan on doing this throughout the third and fourth marking period and would like for them to have a completed product by the end of the year.

Another goal of mine is to make my PowerPoint presentations more interactive. I am receiving a SmartBoard sometime in January and my goal is to make my "instructional" PowerPoints more of a learning tool. Basically by utilizing the hardware and software that comes with my new SmartBoard, I'll be able to accomplish this goal. My ultimate goal is to ensure the success of each student that walks into my classroom. This course has given me the tools and ideas on how to conduct my classroom to help me reach my ultimate goal.

Cooperative Technology

Tomas Friedman quotes "we are living in a time when learning and innovation are increasingly global. 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" (2005). With that idea in mind, I have fully embraced the idea of utilizing various forms of educational technology to aid the social learning process. And to top it off, I'm pretty pumped about it!

I remember when I was a student in ninth grade, one of my favorite assignments was a group project in which we had to create a video illustrating our view on the effects of media and the human mind. We all did our research, came together to discuss our findings, and cooperative created a video with a camcorder and index cards for on-screen text that we were really proud of at the time. This is a prime example of social constructivism and social learning.

Looking back on this video, which I still have by the way, I can only imagine how much better it would have looked if we recorded it on a digital video camera, inserted titles and texts with our computer, and maybe even added some special effects digitally. These multimedia upgrades allow students to produce a better looking product in only a fraction of the time.

A more global form of social learning which is becoming easier by the day is the creation of student websites. Programs like Microsoft Office Publisher, TOWeb, and SiteSpinner can allow even the most novice of students to create a professional looking website. Students can easily collaborate their ideas to construct a worthwhile artifact.

Even gaming has taken a form of social learning. Games and websites such as www.homesofourown.org, www.jigsaw.com, and even Sid Meier's Civilization III allow students to work cooperatively to accomplish a common goal, thus emphasizing social learning. The best part is, just about everything I have mentioned is at the fingertips of all our students in our very own classroom. The possibilities are endless and with a steady stream of Web 2.0 applications like VoiceThread developing everyday, its only going to get more and more global and educational.

Check out a VoiceThread I made about how students can use VoiceThread to create presentations at voicethread.com/share/786134/.

Learning by Construction

Constructionism is "A theory of learning that states people learn best when they build an external artifact or something they can share with others" (Orey, 2008). Constructionism is a way for students to work cohesively as a group, but at the same time, each task can be focused on the individual learner. In many constructivist activities, the product is only as good as the sum of its parts. Dr. Orey discusses the power of PowerPoint software in which you can have students model Project Based Learning in a cooperative creative activity that also focuses on each individual contribution. In doing research for many PowerPoint projects, students often have to accommodate to the new information they learn in order to retain their equilibration.

In Generating and Testing Hypothesis in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Words, the authors discuss the use of web resources "in the form of interactive applets and simulations, that allow students to use background knowledge, make decisions, and see the outcome of their hypothesis, often in virtual situations" (Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, and Pitler 2007). This section of the book really reminded me of the "Stock Market Game" played at my school. In Math, we assign stock market "teams" of 4-5 students, give them $10,000 of fictional money to invest in real life stocks. Through the use of background knowledge of individual companies, current spending trends, and just flat-out blind faith, students strategically chose and hypothesize the positive outcomes of their investments. Their progress is checked once per week and they compete with not only our school, but other schools from around the U.S. Once the project is done, the students have to present a PowerPoint project describing their wins or losses in this project. This whole experience is all about constructing their success. Whether they make money or not, the knowledge that these students have gained by doing this project-based constructionist activity, is priceless!