Refection Entry

Technology has now saturated the workplace and future workers must now be prepared to tackle and learn new technology to properly complete their workload. As educators, we must adapt our teaching to respond to this trend and allow our students to learn from creating projects using technology and solving problems with technology. This course has given me many ideas on how I can infuse and reinforce these skills in my daily lessons.

This course has taught me about many valuable technological tools that I can use to plan my classes as well as to enrich the classroom experience for my students. In our learning resources Dr. Cennamo explained how teachers should teach self-directed learning by using the acronym GAME. Using this acronym students learn how to set goals, what actions they must take to achieve them, how to monitor their learning, and how to evaluate what they learned (Laureate Education, 2010). My GAME plan has given me guidance on how to learn and seek new information on how to use technological tools in the classroom. My GAME plan has provided me with an organized method to approach new learning and a way to structure my procedure in learning and teaching about new technology.

I have learned many new concepts from this course and my GAME plan. I have learned new ways to use wikis and software to create digital stories. Dr. Abrams explained that digital storytelling is cross curricular and emphasizes important writing skills (Laureate Education, 2010). In this manner I can address core curriculum standards while still emphasizing technological skills. I have also learned about new ways to use the internet to allow students to work and interact when they are not in the classroom. For example NING allows students to manage their work, collaborate, and communicate about their work. The learning of these new skills will have a great impact on my teaching because it allows me to view classroom planning in a different perspective. Now when I consider a topic that I am preparing to teach, I consider the type of technology that I will incorporate into my lessons. For each and every lesson, I try to incorporate as much technology as possible so my students can be better prepared for their future workplace.
My goal in my GAME plan was to collaborate with other educators to learn new ways to effectively use technology in my classroom. I believe that I successfully accomplished that because I have learned new methods to incorporate technology into my classroom even though I have limited access to technology in my school district. My colleagues from this course have offered excellent ideas to overcome limited resources in the classroom, like using centers, or using other technology such as cellphones. With these new found skills, I can truly make a change in my instruction to better prepare my students for the future. I am also going to create a classroom wiki, which will allows my students to communicate on the professional level, outside of the classroom.

In summary, this course has brought many new ideas and strategies of teaching to light. I plan on incorporating all the resources I learned from this class and the ideas that were given to me from my colleagues to enrich my existing lesson plans. Technology is here to stay and educators must incorporate as many aspects of technology as possible to fully prepare their students for the ever-evolving workplace. These skills facilitate the learning of new skills, and that is what is necessary in this constantly changing technological world.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). “Promoting Self-Directed Learning with Technology”.[Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. . Baltimore : Author

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). “Spotlight on Technology, Social Networking and Online Collaboration, Part 1”.[Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. . Baltimore : Author

Week 7

I believe that the (NET-S) and the (NET-T) are very closely linked because both educators and students need the same skills to both learn and teach using technology. I would use the GAME plan as a strategy to approach a new technological tool. The GAME plan provides and organized method for students to seek the learning of a new skill.

For instance, the second standard discusses, “Communication and Collaboration” in which “Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others (IST).” To teach this standard, I would have my students create their own GAME plan to approach the learning of this new skill. I would model how to create their plans, by showing and discussing one of my own GAME plans. Students will outline their goals, list their actions, learn how to monitor their progress, and evaluate their success. I would specifically have them create this plan for working with wikis on a collaborative project. Through this process my students can attack and be eager to learn about each every standard.

The GAME Plan is an excellent tool because it allows students to organize their actions and goals before they approach a new topic of learning. The GAME plan is an essential part of learning technology because it takes both the educator and a student through a learning process. Technology is constantly changing and both educators and students must adapt and learn these new skills.


References

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Week 6- GAME Plan Progress

I have learned many things that can improve my instruction and better prepare my students for the future workplace. I must infuse my existing lessons with technology to not only better prepare them but to increase motivation for learning. I have achieved some of my goals already, but there is still much that I want to do with technology. For instance I am planning on creating a wiki or using NING, so I can collaborate on a project with another teacher in my school district. This week’s resources addresses the benefits of using NING because it allows students to create blogs, upload media, manage their work, and interact with one another (Laureate Education, 2010). We are planning a field trip in May and we what students to work on and discuss the topic before we go on our field trip to see an exhibit on Pompeii. This way, they have the prior knowledge to really enjoy and understand the exhibit. Since one of my goals to collaborate with another teacher, I believe that collaborating with someone in my district first is a great start but I have to extend my collaboration to other schools and even countries.

Another goal I have for myself is to research and practice with Windows Movie Maker so I may use this software in my class as well. I am planning on using the extra time I have on my spring break to practice using it before I introduce it to my students.

Learning with technology never stops. The positive side of this is that technology is constantly changing and improving, making our lives easier, but the negative is that it takes time to learn how to use new technology. My biggest obstacle at the moment is to find time to learn and become proficient in these new skills, but this is a goal I will accomplish.

References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). “Spotlight on Technology, Social Networking and Online Collaboration, Part 1”.[Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. . Baltimore : Author