Master's Blog

Application 4: Online learning in K-12 Education

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:35:00 +0000

Here is the link for my presentation on online learning in K-12 education. Hopefully teachers in my school would find this presentation helpful when considering using online learning in their classroom.

voicethread.com/share/1357066/

Final Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:13:00 +0000

In the course DVD Putting it all together, Dr. Carol Ann Tomlinson described how having a positive mindset can effect both your planning and teaching (Laureate Education, 2009). I agree with this statement and I think after completing this course, I have a positive mindset for differentiating instruction and assessments in my classroom. The differentiation station groups that we set up in the class have been extremely helpful in providing me with various tools and resources to use in my classroom. There were several online resources that I was not familiar with at all before this course. The CAST website is one of these, and I think that it will come in very useful in my classroom. The members of my group also offered several other suggestions of resources to use. Since I teach the 2nd grade inclusion classroom, I need to modify everything I do for my diverse learners. I even have to modify my classroom set up in order to make my students successful. I plan on creating a spreadsheet of the tools and resources that I gathered through this course and the differentiation station group. I will need to organize my list according to type of resource, student age level, and also provide a brief description so that I remember what the resource is. I plan to keep this list by my computer at school so that I can look at it any time I need a good idea of ways to differentiate for my students. I am one of those people who will forget about something unless it is out in the open where I can see it. Hopefully by placing it next to my computer, I will look at it each day and figure out ways to incorporate these online tools and resources. I can also e-mail my list out to the other members of my faculty so that they can utilize them as well.

One of the immediate adjustments I have made in my classroom is allowing my students to answer questions and quizzes using the student response system. I feel that this is a great way to get the students excited about learning, and also answer questions in a non-threatening way. Today was our first day to use them and the students did surprisingly well. I also plan to create 1-2 alternate assessments to go along with our traditional paper and pencil reading tests. Possibly allowing the students to create a Podcast, digital story, voice thread, or simply record themselves using the flip camera are all different possibilities that I have been toying with. Since I teach the inclusion class, my students seem to do better when they can express their knowledge verbally rather than writing it down. I want my students to be successful, so I will do whatever I need to in order for this to happen. I also hope to offer my students more choices on classwork, however, this will take more planning on my part. Right now I do not have the time in order to do this because I am currently dealing with 2 behavior students in my room that require all of my time. I am hoping that after these students get acclimated a little bit, it will calm down so that I can work on differentiating my options for student products. I am very excited about all the different tools that I have learned about through this course and I will definitely be implementing them in my classroom.

References:

Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology (2009) Putting it all Together

(Laureate Education, Inc, CD-ROM, 2009 Release).

Reflection

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 20:34:00 +0000

I think that the GAME plan I developed for this course is one that will help me to improve my teaching. I have looked over the NETS for students and teachers and I now see how these two connect with one another. It is important for teachers to be familiar with these standards so that they can model and assist their students in accomplishing them. The two standards I chose to focus on: 2.c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources and 4.d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures usingdigital-age communication and collaboration tools, are a good place to start. While I already customize lessons and assignments for my diverse learners, there is always more I can do. I think that modeling cultural understanding and global awareness is a very important skill to prepare students for the possibility that they may have to work with people from different cultures and countries in the future. I did not get the chance to carry out my entire GAME plan since school ended before I was able to. I plan to continue with this plan next school year, and hopefully I can continue to learn new things to use in my classroom over the summer.

I think the main things I will take away from this class are how to use the GAME plan with students and using digital storytelling. I think that by starting to work on the GAME plan with my 2nd graders, it will help them be able to use this method with any goal they may have in the future. I know that this is something that they can build on and it will be beneficial to them. Digital storytelling is something that I am VERY excited to use in my classroom next year. I was never aware of all the different ways that digital storytelling can be used in the classroom. I think that this is something that the students will not only enjoy, but it is something that they will be able to share with their parents at home. They will be able to use these stories to share information with their classmates and teach things to each other. I have found that at times, the students do a better job of explaining a topic to each other than I can. I think that creating these digital stories for different topics will be a way to provide help to my struggling students.

An immediate adjustment I will make to my instructional practice will be to incorporate digital storytelling. I plan to create some of my own over my summer break in order to be able to share them with my students when school starts. I think that by introducing them early on in the year, my students will be able to create them on their own without much assistance after Christmas break. Maybe even before. I am excited about all the different uses for digital storytelling and I can't wait to share the different ideas I have learned with my 2nd grade team.

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.

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). TheISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) andPErformance Indicatiors for TEachers. retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Using the GAME plan process with students

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 23:48:00 +0000

I went back to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) website to review the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for teachers this week. I think that after creating my GAME plan, I have come a long way to accomplish the goals I had set for myself. By following this plan it was easy to stay on top of things. If at any point I realized I was getting off track, I could go back and modify my plan. I think the flexibility of this GAME plan is great. Nothing is set in stone. You can add and modify things as you see fit.

I realized that the NETS for teachers were similar to the NETS for students. The standards for the teachers contained a lot of modeling and planning for the students, but the categories were similar in nature. This was so that the teachers would be able to help the students accomplish their own goals of learning these skills. While the teachers have only 5 standards, one being professional growth, the students had 6. These included: creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, digital citizenship, and finally technology operations and concepts. I think it is important that these standards somewhat align so that the teachers can lead their students through the process of meeting these standards while also meeting their own. If they were unrelated standards it would make it difficult for the teachers to accomplish their tasks while also having the students accomplish theirs.

I think that using the GAME plan with students will be a great way to help them accomplish the NETS-S standards. The GAME plan has students: "set Goals, take Action to meet those goals, Monitor progress towards achieving goals, and Evaluate whether the goals were achieved and Extend your learning to new situations" (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I think this plan can be used to accomplish any goals the students may have. I think one way to implement this in the classroom might be to take one standard at a time. With the younger students, focusing on all 6 standards at once might be too much. I could break it down to 1-2 each 9 weeks, or just focus on parts of a standard. I think the most important part will be to teach the students the method so that they can apply it themselves in the future. This will require modeling from the teacher. This is something that can be done as a whole group. Each of the steps of the GAME plan can be explained to the students as they happen. A flipchart can be created on the Promethean board so that it can be referred back to at any time. I think once the students get comfortable with this process, it will be something that they will use from year to year with any task they need to accomplish.

References:

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and PErformance Indicatiors for TEachers. retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Revising your GAME plan

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:33:00 +0000

This blogging assignment has been getting a little tough these past few weeks now that school is out for the summer. At this time I do not feel a need to revise my GAME plan because I haven't had a chance to carry it out yet. I think that once school is back in session and I actually have time to put my plans in place, then I can see if any revisions are needed. For now, I just plan to continue with my research and organize my findings into the different online folders I have set up. This way everything will be organized and ready to go for the start of school.

After reading other class member's blogs, I have decided that I would like to conduct more research on Storybird. In Rachel's blog, she explained how she would use this in her classroom and created a sample story. I think that this would work well with both of my NETS goals. Not only can it help me customize my lessons, but after collaborating with teachers in other states and countries, my students can create stories about all they have learned to share with the other classes. The other classes can do the same and the students can blog about their experience with each other telling what they liked and didn't like about the learning experience. I think that Storybird would be a good way to help my struggling writers. Creating an online story with illustrations could be just the motivating tool they need to get them excited about writing.

So far, all is going well and I am excited to put these new ideas in place when we start back to school in August. I think that my students are really going to enjoy these new ways to learn and it will prepare them for the future as well. I will continue my learning over the summer as well. I want to be as up-to-date with the new technologies as I can so that I can share them with my students. It is also important that I am familiar with all of the tools I want to use so I can adequately explain them if my students run into any problems.

References:

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and PErformance Indicatiors forTEachers. retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Evaluating your GAME plan progress

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 00:17:00 +0000

Since the school year has come to an end, my GAME Plan has been partly put on hold until the beginning of the school year. This summer, I will continue to gather resources and monitor my plan to meet my two NETS goals. However, I cannot truly evaluate at this time because I have not been able to fully carry out my plan.

So far I believe that my actions have been effective in helping me meet my two goals of customizing and personalizing learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources and developing and modeling cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures usingdigital-age communication and collaboration tools. I have conducted a lot of research and have found the resources to be helpful. I have begun to create lessons and folders to organize these lessons by subject matter. I have also begun thinking about possible projects for next year that will involve collaborating with a teacher from another country. I have set up a folder for these ideas as well in order to keep myself organized.

So far I have learned how to navigate my way through both the Promethean Planet website and the EPals website. I am becoming more familiar with these sites daily because these two site will greatly help me with accomplishing my goals. I have learned through the course materials this week, that incorporating problem-based learning can help to engage my students in the lessons I create. Problem-based learning can tie into both customizing lessons for students and working with colleagues from other cultures. Dr. Peggy Ertmer listed a number of benefits to this method of teaching such as: promoting students to be self-directed learners, students learn how to collaborate, students learn to use the language of the discipline in authentic contexts, students apply a broad range of skills, students learn content deeply and can apply their learning to new situations, teachers cover more content, and content is explored in an authentic and meaningful way (Laureate Education, 2009). I would like to try to incorporate this type of learning into the lessons I create to meet my goals for the upcoming year.

Since I have not been able to implement my plan yet, I do not feel that I have to adjust it at this time. There is still a lot I can learn. I would like to learn how to create problem-based units that will work well in my inclusion classes. I would like to be able to utilize this method in my class, but also be able to customize the lessons for the various needs of my students. I am still familiarizing myself with the EPals website as well. I have looked around on the discussion boards, but have noticed that many teachers leaving comments are from the US. I will still need to work on my communication with teachers from other countries and find a way to collaborate that will work with me and my schedule. I also want this collaboration to allow for customizing lessons. I feel that my two goals can work together if I plan correctly.

References:

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and PErformance Indicatiors for TEachers. retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas (2009) Spotlight on Technology: Problem-based Learning Part 1 (Laureate Education, Inc, CD-ROM, 2009 Release).

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:58:00 +0000

So far I have had great success finding the resources I need. The Promethean Planet website has been extremely helpful in providing lessons to use with my students, as well as, resources packs so that I can create my own lessons. This summer I plan to dig a little deeper into this website and look at the message boards and tutorials to see if I can find anything new and exciting to use when creating my lessons. The end of the school year is just too hectic to do any real searching! I am also attending an Autism training the first week of June. I am hoping that this training might give some insight on ways to help these students in the classroom. Hopefully I will learn some helpful tips and will be able to work on creating lessons that will help these students to be engaged. Since one of my goals was to individualize my lessons, I feel that this is a good start.

As far as the resources for connecting with teachers in another country, I have found the ePals website helpful. I have begun looking at the site and setting up a profile, but again, I have not had the time to really look around. I have looked at a few of the project ideas and have found some that interest me. Hopefully within the next few weeks this will be a possibility. I have also been talking with other teacher friends of mine to get their feedback on using pen pals and to see if any of them have done this type of activity before. Sometimes other teachers can be the best resources.

I do not feel that I need to modify my action plan at this time. I think that I have 2 good goals, and I think I will be able to accomplish these goals in the upcoming school year. Once the school year starts back up, I will reevaluate my plans to see if any modification needs to occur.

I learned that a lot of time and effort need to be put into creating individualized lessons and connecting with other teachers around the world. It is very difficult to accomplish these things with the limited amount of free time in the school day. I have found myself doing most of my research on the topics and creating these lessons at home after the school day is over. There really isn’t any way to accomplish these in school when you have 15 children who need your constant attention. You really have to take the time to plan out when you can sit and work on these things to make sure they get done. If not, you will end up with a To-Do list a mile long!

Right now I am pretty comfortable with creating individualized lessons. No new questions have arisen so far in this area, but this is not to say that they won’t. As far as my second goal of connecting with a teacher in another country, I do have a few questions. What happens if I find a teacher willing to collaborate and then they do not pull their weight? Should I plan a back up teacher to work with as well? Then I run the risk of not being able to hold up my end of the bargain if I am trying to collaborate with too many teachers at once. I am trying to figure out a way to start small with this collaboration and work up to bigger projects. Any suggestions?

References:

Carrying out your GAME plan

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Wed, 19 May 2010 23:58:00 +0000

Last week we were asked to choose two NETS standards that we would like to improve upon and become more comfortable with. The two standards that I chose were: 2.c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources and 4.d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures usingdigital-age communication and collaboration tools. I think that by improving in these two areas, my students will be able to gain a much better understanding of the content and be able to retain the information.

In order to carry out my plan, there are certain resources that I will need. In order to customize and personalize learning activities, I will need access to the Internet. This is usually where I go to find new ideas for my teaching. Visiting different forums and blogs allow me to gather a wide variety of ideas to create lessons from. Since receiving our Promethean boards this year, I have also found the Promethean Planet website extremely helpful. While this website has activities that are already created, they also offer resource packs for you to download to create your own activities and games. There are also several different forums and message boards on this site in order to gain new ideas. Finally, I can use my colleagues for new and exciting ideas. Sometimes, just listening to a lesson others teach inspires a whole new lesson that would work wonderfully for your own students.

The additional information needed for this standard would obviously be knowing the students I will have next year. I will need to look through their files, learn what areas they have trouble with, and just spend time getting to know them so that I know what learning styles fit them best. You cannot create a personalized lesson without first knowing the people you will be presenting it to. There are several lessons I have used this year that never would have worked in the past based solely on the students that were in my room. So far, I have taken several steps to implement this plan. I have spent a lot of time on the Promethean Planet website, as well as, brainstorming with other teachers in my building for different ideas on teaching skills. I take what I have found in these areas and add personal touches to them that I know will capture the attention of my students and assist them in learning the material.

In order to model cultural understanding and engage with colleagues and students of other cultures, I will need to find an online "pen pal" system such as Epals. Through this site, I should be able to connect with a teacher from another country. This teacher and I would be able to correspond and decide if a partnership could be set up. We would be able to discuss the different standards our students must learn and decide how we can help each other accomplish these. We would need to e-mail often to correlate lessons and activities we would want our students to complete together. It would take some time and effort on our parts, but hopefully it would turn out to be a rewarding experience for the students. I would still need to gather a great deal of information in this area because I have never done anything like this before. Therefore, I have not taken many steps to implement this plan yet. So far, I plan to look into these sites over the summer and try to get something set in place for around the middle of the school year next year.

References:

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and PErformance Indicatiors for TEachers. retrieved from http://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

References for GAME plan

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Sat, 15 May 2010 02:32:00 +0000

I forgot my references!

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and PErformance Indicatiors for TEachers. retrieved from http://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/For Teachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Personal GAME Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Tue, 11 May 2010 22:44:00 +0000

After looking over the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) on the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) site, I feel pretty comfortable with the 5 standards listed. I do my best to incorporate technology into my lessons daily when relevant. If we happen to be working on a skill and I cannot find any worthwhile websites or online activities, I will usually just create my own activity to use. However, I have found that the majority of skills have corresponding technology activities. I create many of my own digital lessons and assessments for my students to participate in. I try to model digital-age work and learning by introducing the students to the different programs available for them to use on the computer. I do my best to promote digital citizenship and responsibility by discussing with my students the correct way to use the Internet, and also how to cite sources used in different projects. I feel that by completing my Master's degree online, I am engaging in professional growth and leadership.

These 5 standards also contain different indicators. It is here that I looked for the two areas that I would like to strengthen my confidence in. The first is: 2.c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. I am constantly modifying and customizing learning activities for the students in my inclusion class. However, this year, the majority of the modifying was done on work completed on paper to be turned in. I might modify the pages in a homework packet or the number and types of questions on a test. This year, we have received Promethean boards in our classroom. I would like to use this wonderful tool to modify my lessons where I integrate technology. I would like to incorporate more of a range of information in order to reach all my levels of learning in one presentation. Currently, my technology lessons are usually geared to my lowest students so that they can participate. This usually leaves the higher level students bored. Hopefully, I can work to solve this problem.

The second indicator I would like to strengthen is: 4.d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. As of now, I do not collaborate at all with students or colleagues in other countries or cultures. We discuss various cultures in class, but it would be great if they could learn about this information first hand from someone who actually lives in that area and is immersed in the culture. I thought about this also in our last class when talking about the EPals online pen pals.

To set up my GAME plan, I will probably need to concentrate on each area separately since they deal with different topics. My goal is to be more confident in these two areas by the end of next school year. Hopefully working on these throughout the year will help to accomplish this task. I will try to plan different activities that deal with these two when possible. For the differentiation of lessons, I can try to plan 1 a week. For the area of working with colleagues of other cultures, I can try to plan a unit ahead of time and gather all the information I will need on collaborating so that it will all be ready to go when the time comes. I can also try to attend professional development or talk with other teachers in my building to try and improve these areas.

I will be able to monitor my progress by keeping a folder online for the various lessons I create that will meet the varying levels of my students. This way I will be able to refer back to them and see which ones were successful and which were not. I will be able to tell what to do the next time to improve. To monitor improved collaboration I can e-mail back and forth with an educator from another country/ culture. I can keep track of these e-mails and save lesson plans and ideas in a file to use during the unit.

To evaluate and extend my learning I will ask myself if I have met my goal. I will reflect on my plans to see if there is anything that should be modified. I will decide if there is anything I will need to do differently in the future. I will be able to tell if I am reaching all of my learners through my lessons by looking at their engagement and participation in the lessons. I should be able to tell at the end of a lesson whether I was successful in reaching my goal or not. For collaboration, I will consider myself successful if I am able to connect with another educator to introduce and explain a different culture to my students. This way they will be able to compare and contrast various cultures. I will also be extending my own learning of cultures through this task.

Final Relection: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:57:00 +0000

I think one of the most striking revelations I had about teaching new literacy skills is that you cannot assume that the students come to you already possessing these skills. It is true that students today are more comfortable and familiar with technology than before, but this also depends on what type of area you teach in. In the area where I teach, many students do not have access to the computer or Internet at home. They do, however, have video games and cell phones. This makes it very difficult to teach these new literacy skills. The students come to you with no background knowledge and no way to practice these skills outside of the classroom. Also, with so much emphasis being placed on test scores, there really is not much time in the day to work on these important skills. If the students will not be tested over the material, we are encouraged to wait until after the test to teach it. It is a shame because there are many great projects that could be incorporated into the curriculum, but the fact that they take so much time causes many teachers to forget about them.

My knowledge and learning from this course has caused me to think about different ways I can incorporate these new literacies into my teaching. Even if it is only briefly for 10-15 minutes, I think that I can spare that amount of time in order to teach my students the importance of using the Internet and how to use it properly. I really enjoyed the website evaluation project we had to conduct. This is something that I would like to do with my kids. I teach 2^nd grade, and at that young of an age, they do not quite understand that not everything on the Internet is true. They think that if you search for a question, any and all answers that pop up are correct. They do not realize that the Internet is a place to share information, and that anyone can post something out there for the world to see. I think that this is important for them to learn especially when they begin having to conduct their own research in middle school and high school where they may not be monitored as closely. I want to incorporate more use of technology by my students. I want them to be able to search for and locate information. I also want them to be able to tell if the sites they are finding contain relevant knowledge. I also want them to be able to share information on the Internet as well. Dr. David Warlick stated that technology is a way to “connect to each other, to content, to experts, and other classes” (Laureate Education, 2009). Of course I will have to start with baby steps. I want all of my students to be able to log in using their password and be able to access the Internet and open a search engine. I think once they can all accomplish this task, the rest should follow. It will require a great deal of teacher modeling, but I am confident that they can do it.

One professional development goal I have for myself is to become more familiar with Promethean boards and all that they have to offer to the students. The majority of the teachers at my school will be receiving Promethean boards this week. I think that this will be a great way to have students work on new literacy skills. They will be able to come up and use the board and it will be something new and exciting that will keep their attention. I don’t want to be one of those teachers that gets new technology to use in the classroom and then just lets it sit there, or never lets the students use it. Technology is in the classroom not just for the teachers, but the students as well. I would also like to attend more inservices that involve using technology in the classroom. I am sure that in the coming year there will be more opportunities for this. Our county Differentiated Instruction Conference is offering several sessions this summer on using technology in the classroom. There are sessions on interactive whiteboards, using wikis and blogs, and ways to incorporate technology across the curriculum. I am excited about all of the opportunities. I can’t wait to share what I learn with my students.

References:

Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom (2009) It’s not about the technology (Laureate Education, Inc, CD-ROM, 2009 Release).

Final Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 23:45:00 +0000

As I reflect on my personal theory of learning I developed for this course. I do not think that there are any major modifications I would make at this time. In my theory I stated that I feel students learn best when "they are actively involved in hands-on activities that require them to collaborate with other students". I still believe this after completing this course. We learned about several different learning theories throughout this course, and I will try to incorporate these into my daily lessons when applicable. The learning theories I agreed with most throughout this course all had students working together and creating artifacts of their learning. I feel that I will continue to use these theories along with the others.

As far as integrating technology into my lessons, this course has provided me with some new tools to use with my students. I plan on using these tools more often in my lessons when we return to school after the break. I am going to begin incorporating more concept maps into my lessons. I think that these will be very helpful when learning new vocabulary as well as other concepts. I will be sure to have my students include images in their concept maps in order for them to retain the information better. Dr. Orey stated that "students remember images better than text"( Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, 2008 ). I would also love to begin incorporating the use of Voicethread into my classroom. I think that there are a variety of ways I could utilize this tool with my students. I would love for them to use this tool to help improve their reading fluency. I would also like to use this as a form of assessment at the culmination of a lesson. I think it would be wonderful to have my students type in a response, as well as, record a reasoning for their response. I cannot wait to begin using these 2 tools in the classroom.

Two long-term goals I have for integrating technology are to make my technology more student centered and to use utilize technology more for researching information. I think that it is important that students realize the textbook is not the only source of information on a topic. I try to show them how to locate information of the Internet, as well as, in the library. I think that I would like to begin having my students complete mini-research activities in order to strengthen their researching skills. Since this would be completed using the computer, I think that the students would be excited about completing the assignment. I would begin by completing these as a whole class and then letting the students begin to work with groups and eventually independently. I want for my students to be able to find information on their own rather than just depending on my to dispense information. This is something that I believe I can accomplish in the remainder of the year. We can begin after the break with the whole class projects, and then move on to the group projects in a few weeks. After about 6 weeks I feel that they would be able to complete the assignments independently. This would also get them ready for the standard of conducting research and writing a research report.

As far as making my technology more student centered, we are supposed to be getting a Promethean board sometime in the near future. I would love to begin using this tool and allowing my students to use it in a center to expand their learning. I would also like to begin having them create PowerPoint presentations for various lessons along with Voicethread assignments to share with the class. The PowerPoint and Voicethread activities can begin after the break, and I think the students should be able to do these independently within 6-8 weeks. Using the Promethean board will depend on when we receive them in the school. However, as soon as we get it I know my students will be excited to get to work using it.

Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. (2008). Cognitive

Learning Theories. (Laureate Education, Inc, CD-ROM, 2008 release).

Voice Thread

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:17:00 +0000

I have to say that I found this extremely easy to use and I think it is something even my special education students could utilize in the classroom.

Here is the link:

http://voicethread.com/share/782294/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 01:30:00 +0000

According to Dr. Orey in the course DVD, social constructivism involves collaborative learning and students working together to construct an artifact of their learning. I think that this learning theory goes along with the strategy of cooperative learning discussed in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Cooperative learning "focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning" (Pitler, Hubbell, Kunh & Malenoski, 2007,p.139). I think that cooperative learning is a wonderful way to get students actively involved in their learning. It lets them have a sense of ownership and it can also build their social skills which is important for when they move into the real world.

I think that the various strategies in the course text follow along with the social learning theories of having students work together and create artifacts of their knowledge. Creating a video as a group allows students to transfer their knowledge onto the "big screen". They can showcase what they have learned and possibly other talents that they may possess. Through working together and actually putting the information on tape for others to see increases the students' knowledge on the subject area. I can remember completing a video project in a high school English class. The fact that we were collaborating with others and recording our findings really helped me to understand the information we were covering much better than if I had sat through a lecture by my teacher.

Several web related activities were listed that involve students working collaboratively on a topic. I enjoyed the idea of having an online pen pals. I think that this would be a great way to extend the students' knowledge. Not only would they be learning from members of their own class, but from members of other classes around the world. This would be a wonderful way to view different perspectives on various topics.

Webquests were also discussed in this chapter. I utilize webquests in my room as a cooperative learning activity already. I separate my students in to mixed ability groups and allow them to complete webquests together. At the completion of the webquest, I usually have them present their findings to the class in the form of a poster. I could utilize technology in this lesson by having the students create a PowerPoint or blog about the information they have learned.

I also enjoyed reading about the simulation games. I have never participated in one of these games or seen them in action, but they seem like they would capture the students' attention and make them eager to learn. I like the fact that they are interacting with others in real time over the internet. The Revolution game discussed in this chapter seems like it would be a very effective way of having students interact and learn about this historical event as well. I wish that I had gotten to participate in the activities when I was in school. I'm sure that it would have made the information much clearer in my mind.

Constructivism in Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:09:00 +0000

This week we were asked to read Chapter 11: Generating and Testing Hypotheses in the course text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Several different tools were listed that could be used to generate and test hypotheses. These included: spreadsheet software, data collection tools, and web resources. I think that the tools and examples listed in the book follow along with the constructionist/ constructivist theories of learning. All of the tools require the students to construct their own learning. The information is not just given to them by the teacher. They students are also required to construct an artifact from their findings in the form of a spreadsheet or graph. By creating an artifact from their learning, the students are more likely to retain the information.

I like the idea of using spreadsheets in subjects other than math. This is where you most commonly see them. I like how it was used in a Social Studies class in our text. I thought that by creating this spreadsheet, it would be much easier for the students to understand savings, investments, and interest rates. The students actually had to make a choice and then fill in the chart according to this choice. I think that this created a great concrete example for the students to actually see how these things work. If the students did not actually participate in this activity, I think fewer of them would have understood the concept.

I would love to try out the digital probes and microscopes. These seem like interesting tools that my school does not have access to. Anytime students participate in science experiments, they always seem to remember the information better. Our county utilizes Hands-on Science Kits which go along with these theories. The students are actually answer questions and testing hypotheses while performing hands-on activities. There are also instances where the students build artifacts to aid in the learning.

I think that web resources are always a great tool. They can definitely require the students to think and create artifacts. The web quest was an example listed in the text. I usually have my students participate in at least one web quest a year. I think it would be a great project to have them create one on their own. This would incorporate the project based learning as well. After conducting all the research on their topic, the students would be able to work in collaborative groups in order to create their web quest which would be the artifact of their learning. I think that by completing this project, the students would really retain the information because they have such an active role in it. They would also enjoy the fact that others would get to view their web quest online.

I think that these theories are great ones to use in the classroom because they get the students actively involved. I would like to try more project based learning in my classroom and include more creating of artifacts. I already utilize PowerPoint and creating drawings or foldables, I would like to try to incorporate different types of artifacts as well.

Resources:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Cognitivism in Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Cognitive Learning Theory revolves around information processing. Dr. Orey stated that integrating multiple senses improves learning, and he also said that people can remember images better than just text. He said that long term memories are stored in networks and to move information into long term memory you must create connections with information you already have.

In Chapter 4 of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, cues, questions, and advanced organizers were discussed. I believe that these three strategies go along with the cognitive learning theory. Both cues and questions are used to provide reminders or trigger memories to access prior knowledge about the information about to be learned. The advanced organizers then allow the students to focus their information. This chapter provided several programs that could be used to create these advanced organizers. All of the different programs could easily be used in the classroom. It would just be a matter of deciding which one works best for you and your students. They discuss word processing applications, spreadsheet software, and organizing and brainstorming software. Kidspiration was a tool that they discussed in this chapter and one that we have access to at school. I think this program is great to use with my younger students. It allows them to create concept maps about any topic. The students are able to create the organizers digitally and save their responses, or they can create a blank organizer and complete them by hand. These organizers are very helpful when helping students access prior knowledge and organize the new information that they are learning.

Chapter 6 of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works discussed the topics of summarizing and note taking. These are important concepts that go along with the cognitive theory as well. These strategies allow the students to gather information, separate the important facts, and restate them in their own words. By doing this, the students are participating in higher-order thinking skills because they are synthesizing information. I enjoyed learning about the "Track Changes" feature on Word that allows you to see any changes that are made onto a paper. I also found it interesting to learn about the Auto Summarize tool. I think that this is a great feature. Many times summarizing is difficult for younger students. I think that it would be so helpful to type in a passage and then use this feature to find the summary. This way they can see if what they think are important facts, actually are things worth keeping in a summary. The combination note model was also something new that I really enjoyed. I think that this would work well with my students when learning new concepts. It allows them to use multiple senses in their learning. Not only are they taking notes on a topic, but they are including pictures and a summary. This is a wonderful way to really embed this information in their memory.

Wikis and blogs were also discussed in this chapter and I think that they are great tools to use for summarizing and note taking. Groups can work together to edit information and they can also post questions to each other with will require some higher order thinking to take place.

Finally virtual field trips were discussed in this week's resources. I have never used these in my classroom, but they are something that I plan to use. I think that it is wonderful to be able to visit places you may not normally get to experience otherwise. Many of the students in my school have never been to museums or plays. They do not have background knowledge that other children may have in order to help them understand different concepts. By being able to take these virtual field trips, they will be able to expand their background knowledge. This will aide in building networks that will eventually help move information into long term memory.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:14:00 +0000

For this week's learning resources we were asked to read the chapters "Reinforcing Effort" and "Homework and Practice" from the course text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. I really enjoyed reading about the different ways to incorporate technology into these areas, and I also feel that they go along with the behaviorist theory.

The chapter on reinforcing effort had some great suggestions. I think that it is a great idea to have the students complete an effort rubric in response to their work. This gives them a concrete example of how their effort effects their grades. I think that it is important for the students to fill this out on their own because then they are taking ownership of their work. The chart that they create from this information solidifies the statements the teachers make: the more effort you put in, the better your grades. I think that students hear this all the time, but without actually being able to see it, it doesn't mean anything. The students are receiving immediate feedback by using this system. When they input the information, it shows up on the chart and spreadsheet. It also offers a system of reinforcement. The students are being rewarded with better grades depending on the amount of effort they are putting in. The students then begin to see the correlation and the positive behavior is encouraged. I also liked the idea of putting success stories on the school website as a way to provide motivation for others. I know that my students would love to have a story about them posted on the school site for all to see. It would be a great reinforcer for positive behavior and study habits.

The section on homework and practice also provided a lot of good resources to use in the classroom. The information I found most useful and closely relating to the behaviorist theory is the web resources. I have set up a portal for the students in my class to use that contains a variety of educational games and websites. My students really enjoy going to this site in order to find "games" that allow them to review various skills. This is a much better way to encourage students to practice needed skills. I don't know any student who enjoys completing workbook pages. After they complete these pages, they spend time waiting for them to be graded in order to find out how they did. The majority of the web resources listed contain review games and quizzes that provide immediate feedback. If an answer is correct, the students are rewarded with a good job, star, etc. If the answer is incorrect, the student will usually be allowed to try again or the correct answer will be shown. This feedback is another form of reinforcement that goes along with the behaviorist theory. Personally I think that these web resources are wonderful tools to use both at home and in the classroom. I know that my students are learning the information and they are having fun doing it.

Final Reflection Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:39:00 +0000

I think that I can continue to increase my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology by reading articles pertaining to the issue. I found our course text this time to be very informative and helpful. I also plan to look for different professional development opportunities dealing with integrating technology in the classroom. Since it is becoming more common to integrate technology into the classroom, school districts should begin to offer more inservices in this area. I also plan to play around with new technology on my own in order to figure out what works best for me in my situation.

One goal I plan to set for myself is to try to give all my tests online. This will eliminate a lot of copies on my part. Also, by giving the tests online, I will be able to have them graded online as well. This will create more time for myself in order to work on lessons for my class. I won't be spending nearly as much time grading papers because it will be done automatically. This would be an ideal situation for me. Also, it would be better for my students to type their answer. Even though they are in 2nd grade and not very good spellers, at least with the computer I will be able to tell what letters they are using. In order to accomplish this, I will need to overcome the obstacle of out of date technology in our school, and also a county wide internet that crashes quite often. I will also need to overcome the fact that my students do not have access to computers at home, so it will require more teaching on my part on taking tests online.

Another goal I have it to plan more online collaborative assignments for my students. I would really love to use blogs and wikis in my classroom. Again, even though I work with younger students, I feel that these would be beneficial lessons. It would take a lot of modeling, but I think towards the middle and end of the year they might be able to accomplish these assignments with little help. The challenges I face with this is having access to enough computers for my students to use. We have a computer lab, but you must sign up to use it. It is often difficult to get 2 days in a row on this schedule. Also, our county blocks various websites so I would have to do some research at school to see which sites are available to use.

I think that these are 2 goal that I should be able to accomplish. I am excited to get started and see how far I get!

Final Reflection Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:37:00 +0000

I feel that this course has been extremely helpful is helping me develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher. This was the first course that actually dealt with the meat of our major. I think that it has set a good standard of what it to come. I found the course text and DVD to be very helpful. I will definitely bring the book to keep by my computer at school! I learned a lot of different ways to incorporate some 21st century skills into my room through technology. This class actually allowed us to work with the web 2.0 tools that we should be using in our classes. This was the first time I had ever created a wiki, and it was a great experience.

I think that my knowledge of the teaching and learning process has changed as well. It has been a while since I have been in the position of student. I think that by taking this class, I understand what my students are feeling a little better. I enjoyed the lessons that required us to actually work the the web 2.0 tools hands on. This is similar to the feelings of my students in my own class. It was great getting to experiment and have options of things to include in our projects. We were given the freedom to do what works best for us. We were also able to talk with others about possible alternatives to different assignments. By completing this course, I now know that I should be offering my students more options in their work. This was something I particularly enjoyed, and I'm sure my students would also like having the choice of how they complete their assignments.

I am excited to create a more student-centered classroom this year. I think that by giving the students more opportunities to work collaboratively in groups, and decide how they want to learn, my students will be more successful. They should be more in control of their own learning. They should not depend on me to dispense all of the knowledge, but instead, seek out answers on their own. I am ready to incorporate some of these ideas into my room.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:25:00 +0000

When I visited this website, I noticed that the site itself is very inviting. It is clearly labeled and it is easy to navigate between the tabs. The mission of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is to build a partnership among education, business, community, and government leaders. The partnership wants to close the gap between what skills students are learning in school and the skills that they will need to be successful in the business world. I think this is a great thing, however, I'm not sure how exactly they will accomplish this. I was surprised to see that only 10 states are participating in this initiative. It seems that there is a lot of work that has to go in to becoming a part of this partnership. In order for your state to get involved: " a state demonstrates commitment from the governor and chief state school officer and submits an application to P21 that describes the state’s plan to revise standards, create assessments and implement 21st century skills professional development programs." (www.21stcenturyskills.org) This seems like a lot of work. I am surprised that larger states such as New York, California, and Texas are not participating in this partnership. I'm curious as to why.

I didn't really find the resources very helpful on this site. The site has a link to the Mile Guide, but there
really aren't any lesson ideas found on the site. This would be something that would be helpful to me. If
they would list the skills that they are trying to promote and give an example of ways to accomplish this in
the classroom. I think the site is set up more to inform people about the partnership, but not really how to
implement it. I would like to see how these states are teaching these skills in the classroom, and see
opinions of how the teachers and students feel about it. I think the partnership has good intentions, but I just
don't know how long it will be before more states get involved. I think I will do my best to incorporate 21st
century skills on my own for now.

Blogging in the Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Lindsay) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:25:00 +0000

After watching the clip of Mrs. Martin's 6th grade class and reading the uses for blogs in the text "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools", I have to say that I am excited to use Blogs in my own classroom. I teach a self-contained 2nd grade class in LaVergne, TN. While I am a fan of using technology in the classroom and look forward to using a class blog next year, I do face some challenges. One of which is that our county currently blocks the Blogger site from the server. This means that I would not be able to log on to the class blog at school in order for my students to participate in it. The second challenge I face is that I work in a high poverty area, and many of my students do not have access to a computer at home. In spite of these challenges, I am going to make an attempt to use a class blog next year.

For a first attempt at a class blog, I think I might start out using it as a way to showcase student work. I think that the students would really enjoy seeing their work out there on the web for others to see and comment on. I would also use my class blog as a way to communicate with students and parents by including important information such as: class calendar, assignment due dates, newsletter, etc. If possible, I would love to be able to record important lessons (such as math lessons) in order to have them online for students to watch if they are absent or need a refresher over the topic. This would be a wonderful tool instead of having to reteach the same skills over and over again. The blog could be open as a center for students to visit and watch different lessons as needed. They would also be saved in the blog to refer back to later on in the school year. It would be a great year long review especially for skills such as counting coins and telling time. These are particularly tricky for 2nd graders.

I also like Mrs. Martin's idea of using the blog to work on student writing, and I would like to work on this after getting used to the blog itself. This would be such a fun and exciting way to get my students to write! This could easily be set up as a writing center in the classroom. I'm sure that they would all beg for their turn to go to the computers and add their writing to the class blog for others to read and comment on. As Mrs. Martin said, it would also be a good way to work on the correct way to write. You would be able to emphasize the fact that other people will be reading this, so it should be written in their best spelling and grammar. By including writing on the blog, not only would I be able to comment, but also other teachers, students, parents, and others in the cyber world. I think it is important for students to receive feedback from more than just one person in order to improve their writing. This would be a great tool! We shall see if it is a possibility for next year.