This week in my Walden classes I am looking into assessments of the GAME plan and how that affects my overall strategy. As I am hoping to incorporate more student uses of technology I feel as though I need to look specifically at assessing students while they are using technology.
The first thought that comes to mind is having students take a formal, forced-choice test online. I have seen a couple on online websites that do something on those lines (surveymonkey being a free site that I have used for informal surveys in the past). I also have a set of Renaissance Responders that I use sparingly - they are a little cumbersome to input questions and then exporting them is not easy. My school uses ROSworks for its testing documents (scan-trons and test review qualities).
I would like to implement more technology for assessing performances and project-based learning as I know that those are highly effective ways of achieving student learning. If I am truly going to digitize my student's experience in my classroom, I have to implement more projects and performances that are real-world applicable. I have to get a little out of my comfort zone to find additional formative assessments. As Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) state: "Formative assessments can include video-taped performances, electronic journals, checklists and rubrics, as well as many other formats." This is where I am going to have to look into getting more information and ideas to expand my proverbial bag of tricks. As I am the senior member of my district in the areas that I teach, I am going to search the web for other teacher's sites and ideas.
This is not really a modification to my GAME plan, more of an incorporation. In order to be a leader of technology in my building and provide a tech-based learning environment for my students I need to expand what I have learned in the past. I will be incorporating these new ideas and modifying to fit my specific classroom. "There are a variety of methods for incorporating project-based assessments in a classroom, as well as many different tools to support them" (Cennamo, 2009). I am positive I can find several authentic assessments, simulations, portfolios, and problem based learning ideas to benefit my classroom goals.
My GAME plan is right on track. As the school year begins I will be sharing with other teachers many of the new technologies that I have learned during my studies at Walden University. My classroom website has begun construction and will continue to get worked on before school starts. I think it is important that if I am to take this activity I must go all in. If I were only to implement a couple of my ideas I would not be able to assess whether or not my plan was effective or was it simply the group of students and colleagues I had.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Updating My GAME Plan
Last week I stated I would like to increase my student’s use of technology for learning and creativity as well as be a tech leader in my building, both NETS*T standards. In my GAME plan, that is my “Goal”, and this week I would like to look at some "Actions" I can take to make my goal a reality. As stated by Dr. Ertmer in this week's videos, the four requirements for integrating technology effectively involves: "knowledge of technology, confidence that it works, beliefs in problem based learning, and supportive culture."
Carrying out my plan to increase my classroom's digital environment will require some new resources and information from myself and others at the school. I will be creating a FaceBook page for my professional endeavors before school starts. I have not run my own website in a while, so I will need to work with our building's technology person to properly upload my site. On "Back to School" night I will have my FaceBook and website published and handed out to students and parents. As the year gets moving I will need to record my lectures onto a data file and then upload them to a podcasting site. I have done this before with student projects. During the course of the year my lessons will be, "inclusive of all students in the learning environment... and clearly support all students, regardless of special needs" (Cennamo, 2010).
I do have a few question marks I have coming into next year. One involves my school getting new laptops for each teacher. The old ones had certain programs build in, but I am apprehensive about their being included again. I was told that the school is purchasing software that will easily enable all teachers to get their own websites up and running. I had planned on working on mine over the summer but will now wait until the teacher work days to see if the program works better than others I have used.
In order to become a tech leader in my building I have sought out my principal's assistance. Myself and another teacher are to operate an adhoc committee of volunteers that will ostensibly be for the avowed purpose of adding technology projects to teacher's classrooms. As my principal is sometimes big on ideas but not on follow-up, I plan on seeking out individuals whom I think would be receptive to a few new projects for their classroom.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). 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/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program six. Meeting Students’ Needs with Technology: Part 1. [Webcast]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Technology & Education: Confidence in NETST
Making oneself better in anything, being it a sport or a profession involves looking in the mirror critically and being able to assess strengths and weaknesses. Strengths are to be built upon, weaknesses are to be improved. As I have learned from my Walden University resources in the past months, improvement involves a GAME plan. But, in this case, GAME stands for Goals, Actions, Monitoring, and Evaluating (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).
One of my goals for the coming year is make my classroom more digital. In the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T), this fulfills standard one, "Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity". I will be creating a Facebook page for my class with status updates that will remind students of tests as well as offer links to enrichment opportunities. I plan to blog weekly to include thoughts and extensions that I cannot get to in class, as well as posting homework assignments and hints. I hope to podcast all of my lectures (using podbean) so that the students may still listen to the important information even if they missed a day (as well as reviewing for a test). This will promote student use of technology as a learning tool when students are not in the classroom (as Facebook and most blogs are blocked by the school servers).
A second goal I have for myself is to become a better professional by contributing to my school community as a technology leader. This past spring my principal asked me to take a few other teacher's under my wing to promote greater technology use in my building. Every classroom has a SmartBoard, but in most cases it is only the teacher's that use them. I hope to make our building more student centered. This falls under the purview of NETS*T standard five, "engaging in professional growth and leadership". Prenski states that, "once we let students (particularly in groups) take the lead on technology projects, teachers tend to see more engagement and better results." If I start by getting students more digitally involved in my classroom then other teachers will see their results and desire to try similar projects.
The actions I will take to achieve these goals are pretty straight forward. I will get my students to log onto my blog and podcast site early in the year so that they are familiar with it when they go home. (They will have to find me on Facebook on their own, even I cannot get around the school server's in that case.) Following up on my principal's plan I will be working to infuse greater student-centered technology projects in classrooms other than my own. At the end of the year I completed a couple of activities using classroom sets of IPods, that will be my first area of focus in regards to my fellow teachers.
I believe that monitoring this process will be a monthly endeavor. A month into school I should have started my digital classroom rolling and will be able to tell how effective it has been. I may switch my blog to a website if things are not going well at that time - my district just bought a new website program that I have been encouraged to try out. I hopefully, by the second month of the school year, will have helped institute a couple of changes with my colleagues as well, if not I will strive to work with a couple of them on my own.
Evaluating the success of my goals will be the final step in the process. Greater technology use by students, both in and out of the classroom should be evident during the course of the school year. If I find that my digital classroom has been more analog than I would like I will step back and evaluate the reasons why. While my lessons in past years have worked at acceptable levels, I believe that incorporating more technology will improve my students learning over the long run.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). 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/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.
One of my goals for the coming year is make my classroom more digital. In the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS*T), this fulfills standard one, "Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity". I will be creating a Facebook page for my class with status updates that will remind students of tests as well as offer links to enrichment opportunities. I plan to blog weekly to include thoughts and extensions that I cannot get to in class, as well as posting homework assignments and hints. I hope to podcast all of my lectures (using podbean) so that the students may still listen to the important information even if they missed a day (as well as reviewing for a test). This will promote student use of technology as a learning tool when students are not in the classroom (as Facebook and most blogs are blocked by the school servers).
A second goal I have for myself is to become a better professional by contributing to my school community as a technology leader. This past spring my principal asked me to take a few other teacher's under my wing to promote greater technology use in my building. Every classroom has a SmartBoard, but in most cases it is only the teacher's that use them. I hope to make our building more student centered. This falls under the purview of NETS*T standard five, "engaging in professional growth and leadership". Prenski states that, "once we let students (particularly in groups) take the lead on technology projects, teachers tend to see more engagement and better results." If I start by getting students more digitally involved in my classroom then other teachers will see their results and desire to try similar projects.
The actions I will take to achieve these goals are pretty straight forward. I will get my students to log onto my blog and podcast site early in the year so that they are familiar with it when they go home. (They will have to find me on Facebook on their own, even I cannot get around the school server's in that case.) Following up on my principal's plan I will be working to infuse greater student-centered technology projects in classrooms other than my own. At the end of the year I completed a couple of activities using classroom sets of IPods, that will be my first area of focus in regards to my fellow teachers.
I believe that monitoring this process will be a monthly endeavor. A month into school I should have started my digital classroom rolling and will be able to tell how effective it has been. I may switch my blog to a website if things are not going well at that time - my district just bought a new website program that I have been encouraged to try out. I hopefully, by the second month of the school year, will have helped institute a couple of changes with my colleagues as well, if not I will strive to work with a couple of them on my own.
Evaluating the success of my goals will be the final step in the process. Greater technology use by students, both in and out of the classroom should be evident during the course of the school year. If I find that my digital classroom has been more analog than I would like I will step back and evaluate the reasons why. While my lessons in past years have worked at acceptable levels, I believe that incorporating more technology will improve my students learning over the long run.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). 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/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.
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