Final Reflection

When looking back at my GAME plan that I created I see a lot of growth in both my students and myself.  I have learned a lot of exciting information through this class and through the development of this lesson.  The first lesson that I created worked with the students on creating a problem for their lesson and finding ways to solve it.  This is the lesson that I completed with my students.  They had $50 that they could spend to help any organization in the area that works with children.  The students were to find an organization that they wanted, create a slide show or presentation that convinced others to want to choose the same organization, create a list of items they would like to buy and then use the Internet to determine the best place to buy the items that they like.  The students loved this activity because they were really interested in helping another group of students in their area.  They really felt that they were helping others and getting out into the community and making a difference.  The second lesson that I created worked with online collaboration where the students were able to talk to some of the people that they were going to work with and then some that they were going to be able to help with their donations.  The final lesson worked with digital story telling where the students were to create a story about what they have completed with the project.  They would create something that they would show others later to describe what they did and how they helped. 

 

I feel that the most important thing that my students learned while following my lesson was that there are others out there that are in need of our help.  Many of the students in my district are well off with both parents and are able to afford anything that they need.  Therefore many of them do not think about how other students in other districts around us do not have the benefits that we have. I feel that I did not just instruct them about math and calculating the best value; I also taught them about the community.   When it comes to my learning and the impact it had on me as a teacher, I really learned a lot about how the students needed to learn.  I learned about three different types of lessons that deeply impacted the way that I looked at teaching.  Each of these lessons are something that I will complete with my students next year because they make the students thinking critically and help them think of others rather than themselves. 

 

When I finished the first lesson with my students I feel that it went really well for them.  I had a couple of students tell me that they really enjoyed helping others and that they would like to do more with these organizations in the future.  As I mentioned above I am sure that I am going to use this lesson again with my students next year.  One thing that I know I am going to do for my student though is to create more graphic organizers and rubrics for them to follow.  I would also like to do other mini lessons that lead the students up to learning the information.  With the lack of time that I had this year before school ended I was not able to do any mini-lessons but I feel that these would be very beneficial to my students.  Through those lessons I will work with them based on how to use the technology and how to incorporate their thoughts. 

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

So far I have found that my game plan is working out really well. I am able to better communicate with my parents and my students.  I found this action plan very helpful this week when I found out that a cough that I had been nursing for 4 weeks had actually become pneumonia.  Through my wiki account I was able to communicate with parents as a whole about what was going on with me and I also got to communicate with other teachers to let them know what help my students needed in my absence and what was going on with my own health.  I also found it easy to communicate with my students and put any worried that they were having to rest about how I was feeling.  They also were able to ask me questions about the work they were doing in my absence.  All in all I have found that this action plan has been very helpful with my teaching and has made being sick and out of school a little easier for me and my students. 

At this point there is really nothing that I would like to modify about my action plan.  I feel that things are going well.  One thing that I know for sure is that next year I am not going to wait as long to put this plan into effect.  As I mentioned above I have really seen some positives from this plan and I think that it will be something good to start right from the beginning with my new set of students.    The main thing that I have learned so far is that communication with parents through the Internet is much faster than that from the phone.  It is easier to get responses from parents and students are able to see what is going on during all the conversations. 

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

When I look at the game plan that I have created I feel that is a pretty simple one to complete.  However there is so much gain in it for both my students and I.  Through creating a better communication between me and their parents and other teachers, I am creating an environment where they can really soar as students.  The resources that I will need are simple: a computer, a blog site/wiki site, parent emails, colleague support, and time to work on communications.  These are all things that I currently am trying to work on; however, with the extra time I will be spending on them I will be able to better support my students. 

In addition to the resources that I need I also feel that there is some extra information that I can gather from other teachers that are trying to complete the same goals.  Through communication with other teachers, I will be in a better position to help my students.  There are numerous articles and websites available for me to use while I start out on this journey.  I need to remember to keep my mind open and look for the various options that are available to me.  As the author of our textbook; and every textbook I have read throughout college, states “flexibility is key” (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009).  I need to stay flexible for both my students and I so that we can both achieve greatness. 

So far in order to jump start my game plan I have created a wiki site and have been using the blog that is currently on my districts teacher pages.  I have also started to ensure that I have all my parents’ emails so that I can stay in touch with them as the school year is coming to a close.  I think that this is a great time for me to beef up the communication because it is getting so close to the end of the year and so many students are missing this or that.  This is a great time for me to work with my students and parents to ensure that the students end the year on a strong and positive note.   In the future I would like to get in touch with next years parents quickly through the use of the wiki or the blog.  This will be a great way for me to interact with my parents other than email.  It will also allow the students to see what their parents and I are talking about.  This is going to be a great step in the communication lines for this year and next. 

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

Upon looking at the NETS-T standards there are two that really jump out to me as something that I would like to focus on during my game plan.  Both are within the category of modeling digital-age work and learning.  I feel that it is important to model for our students what we would like them to be completing themselves.  Because of the fact that my students are learning support students, I often feel more strongly about this process then others in my building.  The first goal that I would like to work on strengthening is the concept of collaborating “with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation” (NETS-T Standards).  It is important to have a strong support system when you are working with students they need to know that there are many people on their side.  The second standard that I choose to focus on is “communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents and peers using a variety of digital-age media formats” (NETS-T Standards).  Again by giving students models and support you are showing them how valuable it is to collaborate digitally. 

            I feel that these goals are grand and are not something that a teacher can easily tackle in the next four weeks that I have of school.  However, I would really like to start this transition as soon as I can.  I feel that one of the most important ways that I am going to grasp these goals is to make sure that the communication lines are open and flowing with my peers and the parents of my students.  These next few weeks I am going to work on strengthening the relationships that I have with each.  When it comes to the peers that is going to be rather easy.  I currently feel that I get along well with my peers and because I work with many of my students from grade 6 to 8 I have a relatively good relationship with my parents as well.  One way that I could improve both is through sending home good/positive emails and communications.  I feel that all too often I have to contact parents and peers when my students are not doing what is asked, but if I start to contact them with good information we will be able to form stronger bonds.  From there into the next year I will work with my parents and peers closely to ensure that we are on the same page.  I will also create a wiki for communication between all of us.  I think that these are valuable sites because they allow all the members to contribute to the conversation.   You are also able to make things private so that you may talk to just one parent or one teacher at a time.  Through this steps I will be able to better serve my peers and parents while aiding my students along the way. 

            I will monitor the progress with the others through the amount of transactions that I have a day.  I would like to make sure that I have conversations with at least two parents and with two peers through the wiki a week.  I will make sure that I am starting worthwhile conversations with each group.  I feel that it will be easy to track the progress as I look at the conversations that I am having.  

            I plan on evaluating the extent of my learning through the progress that my students are making in their own media conversations with each other and their parents.  I know that far too often students and parents are not talking about school at night and through helping them communicate on the wiki they will start working together and talking about the things that are happening at school.  Through my students progress I will learn the progress of my learning. 

Final Reflection

In November we were asked to complete an application that discussed our personal theory of learning.  At that time I compared not being prepared for a lesson with hiring a contractor that refused to create a blue print for your kitchen.  Essentially I feel that we need to have clear and concise plans for what we want our kids to do before we even start teaching.  I wrote that a lesson “needs to be student-centered with a focus on the varied learning styles and a strong integration of technology.”  Today I still feel that same way. Through this course I was able to gain a better insight to what it truly means to be student-centered. 

First of all I feel that we should always have some component of creation in our lessons.  This allows those students that do not learn through lecture and worksheets to really be brought into the lessons.  Creation of an artifact creates a desire to succeed and accomplish more.  Secondly, I feel that lessons should be collaborative with other students and even other classes.  I feel that students learn more when they are actively engaged and learning about the curriculum through the eye of their peers.  It is also a wonderful way to build confidence in students.  When they are able to share and answer with a friend and see that they are right, there is more of a chance that they will volunteer that answer in class. 

When I look at my own teaching and integration of technology I always feel that I can add more.  However, I always thought that it would be too much work and that in the end I would lose the basic concept that I was trying to get across to the students. However, through this course I have learned that technology is a wonderful way to supplement all the information that I would like for them to understand.  Technology is a wonderful tool that can expand their knowledge and their desire to learn. 

When looking at all the technology that we have recently learned about, I feel that the two tools that would be most valuable to my students are video conferencing tools such as Skype and Epals along with various webquests and web sources.  These tools allow my students to interact with others without having to leave the classroom.  This gives them a greater range of opinions and ideas as well.  Through this course I have been able to learn more about technology and have gained a better understanding of the tools that are out there. 

Long-term Goals

•   To integrate more technology into my everyday lessons, at least two items a unit. 

• To create more of an emphasis on using technology with my students, continued use of epal and other internet based collaboration.   

Voice Thread

Below is a link to my voice thread about technology for special education students in the regular education classroom. I feel that is important that we put funds towards getting better technology to help this group of students. They are in great need of enrichment and previewing and this can easily be done through the incorporation of technology in the classroom. Watch my voice thread and please let me know what you think.

http://voicethread.com/#q.b1556753.i8213811

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

This week we looked at the idea behind the social learning theory and strategies to work with our students. The strategy that I found to be the most interesting for my students is the idea of the students having a keypal. As I have explained in past posts. I currently teach two learning support math classes. In the one I have six students and in the other I have only one. I have found ways to work with that one student and get him interacting with the other student in his grade level. He is currently not allowed to be in the classroom because of his distractive behaviors. By using the keypals my students would be able to talk to other students in other places; “communication with students in other cities, states, and countries broadens the perspectives of students and challenges them to learn about other cultures” (Pitler, 2007). We are currently working on the metric unit of measurement compared to the measurements that we use in the United States. I feel that it would be good for my student to be able to discuss the differences with other students his age from other places around the world.

This strategy works well with the social learning theory because it allows my student to converse with other students about subjects of interest. Palmer, Peters, and Streetman (2001) explain that cooperative learning is when students work together to "attain group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively." It is important to allow students to work with other and keypal and programs like it do just that for students. This program shows that “Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face” (Pitler, 2007). It is important to get students work with on another on things and to allow them the freedom to make mistakes and ask questions. Students also feel a sense of accomplishment when they are able to be the teacher and answers questions for other students.

Palmer, G., Peters, R., & Streetman, R. (2003). Cooperative learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved November 29, 2010, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2007). Social learning