Revising My GAME Plan

When thinking about how I would revise my GAME plan, I realize that I have learned a lot that I can apply in my instructional practice. I've learned more about reaching out and connecting with other teachers. I got to try out some new things on the internet that I wouldn't have if not for this class.

I would still like to continue to work more towards the goals I have been reflecting on and some others as well. One of my goals for my GAME plan was to learn more about assessment with technology. I need to experiment more with different programs to use for assessment. I've gone as far as finding out some different options, but haven't has an opportunity to put them into action. One that I used for my unit lesson is http://www.proprofs.com. This is a free online tool for creating quizzes, polls, flashcards, games, blogs, and wiki's. I just used it for creating a quiz, but I liked how it gave the option of writing in an explanation for the correct or incorrect answers.

In reference to the NETS-T standards a new goal I would like to work on is finding ways to promote student thinking through reflection using online collaboration tools. I chose this as my next goal because reflection in learning is important and students should be aware of how technology can help them reflect on their work. Online collaboration tools also provide teachers with different ways to assess students.

Some ways that I can improve my learning for next time are to set aside a designated time to research information for my goals, take time to reflect more often, and continue to keep record of things that I find that I could use in the future.

Evaluating my GAME Plan

I am going to evaluate my GAME plan and the meeting of my selected goals by answering the following questions:

*How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?*
I feel that my actions were somewhat effective in meeting my goals. I was able to use my resources to begin to find the information I was looking for, but did not receive as much feedback as I had hoped for. I got a few responses from people, which created a deeper interest for me. I think that although I did reach out, I needed to reach out more. My classmates from Walden have been very helpful in their suggestions. I think I effectively tried new things. I had never had any motive or interest in wanting to use twitter. I didn't see the point in it, but now it seems as though it could be something very useful. I created an account and plan on using it just to follow educational posts. I also liked that there is a whole category named "technology." I found out some more information about assessment from my Walden classmates, which was helpful. I also was able to look into some online applications.

*What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?*
I have learned that if you take the time to search for resources, there are usually several others who have similar interests. I thought that it would be hard to find ways to connect with teachers in different countries, but there are quite a few ways of doing so. I also learned that social networking sites and discussion boards are more useful than I had originally thought in communicating with other teachers. I'm really starting to see how professionals can use different internet tools to communicate effectively. I would like to start more discussions on discussion boards and possibly even create something of my own (a blog, wiki, or other type of web page) to invite other teachers to join and share ideas on different topics of interest.

*What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?*
I still want to learn more specifics of what types of technologies are being used by teachers in different countries. I feel that a lot that I want to learn will come with experience and willingness to try new things.

*How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?*
I don't think I need to adjust my plan, as much as just continue it. I just need to continue reaching out and connecting with others.

*Monitoring my GAME Plan Progress*

I have made some progress in beginning to achieve my goals of connecting with teachers/students in other countries and updating my knowledge on formative and summative assessments using technology.

So far I have had luck in finding resources and information. I'll start with my goal of connecting with other countries. I have been able to contact some Ilex workers at my school, one who lives in the Netherlands. She said she would be happy to help. (Ilex, again, is an international learning exchange program.) People from other countries come to our school to work for a period of time. Usually, they work in a related field back home. I am looking to converse more with the Ilex individuals I have met and see what more I can find out about learning and technology in other countries. I have also been using my social bookmarking site to keep track of different websites and organizations that will be helpful in making and maintaining my connections. I am really excited about one application that I have actually found on Facebook! It is called, "I Am Teacher." It is an application used to connect with teachers from around the world. (http://apps.facebook.com/iamteacher/home) You can click on teachers finding teachers and select what areas you teach and where you are interested in searching for other teachers to connect with. I don't think all aspects of the application are working correctly right now, but there are still ways to message other teachers, which I have began doing. I contacted a teacher in Indonesia and am awaiting a response. I have also found a Twitter page where teachers share ideas. (http://twitter.com/WeAreTeachers) I haven't had any experience with Twitter before now, but have heard a lot about it. I think I will look into these Facebook and Twitter options for connecting more thoroughly because I think they are good sources that would give me live updates and make it easy to connect with others. I had also stated that I was going to look more into ePals, which I did and found a way to connect to teachers on there. (http://www.epals.com/forums/t/27975.aspx) There are many other teachers that have the desire to learn with teachers from around the world and I will contact some of them. ePals can also be used for making student classroom connections. Unfortunately, I cannot experiment with that now because I do not have a classroom of my own. Something else I have looked into is Skype connections with other classrooms. (http://theedublogger.com/want-to-connect-with-other-classrooms/) There are different countries that you can click on to find classrooms. What I have learned from searching so far is that you just need to push yourself to go out and do it. Don't be afraid to message other teachers because chances are they want to connect with you too.

I haven't had as much excitement with my second goal of learning more about assessments and technology combined. I did learn a lot through our class resources this week, especially Chapter 6. I was able to read about the different types of assessments and how technology can be used with them. Technology can also make collecting, analyzing and reporting data more organized and efficient. Recently, we just finished testing our students using the PEP-3. (Psychoeducational Profile: Third Edition). These tests do not involve computers or technology, but I found out there are computerized test options. There are CD's available that can be used to administer, score tests, and print out results. I need to work more on this goal. I might also be able to connect it with my other one and ask teachers from other areas how they assess their students with and without technology integration. Has anyone used an electronic grade book? The web site (www.orbissoft.com) allows a demonstration version to try.

I don't feel I need to modify my action plan at this time. I am just going to continue to make connections and ask questions. I will be recording my progress here on this blog.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Last week, I discussed the NETS-T standards and which ones I felt I needed further development on. Two goals that I named were becoming more familiar with different types of assessment, especially in relation to technology, and connecting with other teachers/students from different countries online. I'm going to be writing about what resources and information I will need. The steps I am taking so far are reading feedback from my Walden classmates and researching online.

"Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching."

Resources for finding more information about assessment will probably be any information, articles, or reviews I can find online, my colleagues and classmates, and software programs. Diane responded to my previous post with a few suggestions for assessment using technology, Examview and aplia.com. Assessment is important because it shows how effective your teaching is and can also provide students with feedback about what they are doing well and what they need improvement on. Using technology for assessment offers more flexibility and student engagement. I will also want to look into what types of online assessment different schools are using. To do this, I will research different school districts and record the assessment strategies that appeal to me.

"Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning."

In my previous post, I also spoke about connecting with teachers/students in other countries. A step that I will be taking is finding out more about the ilex exchange program at my school. I may be able to get some contacts or advice from the people who came to work at our school from other countries. As far as different resources, here are some sites that I am going to continue to research:
http://www.hotchalk.com
http://www.epals.com/
http://teachercorners.com/

Most of the information I will need will come from researching and reaching out to colleagues and classmates.

*My GAME Plan*

For my GAME plan, I will need to:
1. Set Goals
2. Take Action
3. Monitor my Learning
4. Evaluate & Extend my Learning

I plan on following these steps to help develop professionally and to keep up to date on new things in order to help my students learn better. The NETS-T standards describe the ways that teachers should guide student learning experiences when integrating technology. Honestly, before taking these classes at Walden, I wasn't very familiar with these performance indicators for teachers. I'm glad that I am looking more into them so that I understand them. I am going to use these standards to determine what indicators I feel I need more confidence in.

The first standard/ indicator I am looking to improve on is Standard 2: "Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experience and Assessments." The indicator is D: "provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching." My goal would be to become more familiar with different types of assessment. Especially assessment when working with technology. The action I would take would be to talk more with other teachers about what types of assessment tools they use and why they like certain methods. I would also like to collaborate with other technology teachers from different areas to see their perspectives on student evaluation when integrating technology and content area learning. I would have to monitor what I learned by keeping some type of record of different assessment strategies that I have collected. Finally, I would evaluate my learning by actually putting some of these strategies into play and reflecting on the results.

A second standard/indicator I would like to gain more confidence in is Standard 5: "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." The indicator is: "participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning." This also is similar to Standard 4d, which includes modeling cultural understanding by engaging with colleagues & students using collaboration tools. I am choosing this standard because I have not had an opportunity to connect with other teachers or students on a global level. It would be nice to connect with others to see what they are doing and what types of technology they are using. My first goal is to find some way to connect with teachers in other countries online. I would like to gain cultural insight and share what I know. Does anyone have any good ideas for connecting with teachers from another country? My course of action would be to find blogs, sharing communities, or teacher collaboration sites and become a dedicated visitor. In order to monitor my learning, I would have to make a set time in my schedule to collaborate with others. I could evaluate my learning by sharing information I learned with teachers that I work with.

I need more confidence in all of the standards because I have not had experience in a classroom all my own, besides student teaching. The GAME plan can be applied to all different areas and I am going to try to use it more to be sure that my goals are successfully met.

Resources:
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Course Reflection

As this course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, comes to a close, I reflect on everything I have learned about helping my students use and understand the internet and how to use it appropriately to research. Teaching new literacy skills is something that I see more teachers focusing on now and in the future. These new skills are essential for students to be successful in their future. They are also essential for making sense out of the mass flow of information available at our finger tips everyday. I’ve had a few revelations about teaching new literacy skills. One is that students come into your classroom at all different levels of computer knowledge, so it is imperative to be able to scaffold lessons appropriately. The teacher should also model different techniques for finding information frequently. If students see how you are thinking as you are modeling for them; it helps them to understand the reasoning behind it.

Everything I have learned in this course will definitely influence my teaching practice. I have had the opportunity to create a wonderful inquiry-based unit plan on Weather. It has given me experience with creating lessons and assessments on developing essential questions, locating and evaluating internet resources, synthesizing resources, and communicating effectively. I know more concretely understand how to design lessons for each step of the research process and tailor them to students needs. I think my greatest learning experiences during this course were evaluating websites and assessment strategies.

I have several professional development goals. My first goal, of course is to get my own classroom and move up from being a teacher’s assistant. Once I do that, I would like to take part in some type of teacher group (or possibly even lead one) on integrating technology. I would like for teachers to have the opportunity to share what they are doing with technology in their own classrooms and also experiment with new things. In order to do that, I would probably talk with other teachers at the school I would be working at and see if I could get enough that are interested. I would also have to talk with administration to see about getting the resources we need to learn ourselves.

Think Out Loud Website Evaluation: www.savetherennets.com

The assignment for my class at Walden was to evaluate a website from a given list. I used Screen Toaster to record myself navigating the web page and evaluating it. This was a great assignment because it demonstrates how important it is to be able to think critically when evaluating the reliability of a website. The most difficulty I had with this assignment was getting it to upload to youtube and my blog. It seemed to take a long time to upload even though the video is only a little over 10 minutes long.