As I continue to work towards my GAME plan it is clear that a conscious effect needs to be made to constantly seek new information. The effectiveness of my actions ran into a few issues due to technology limits by students at home and approval by administration. The main access the class has to technology is my teacher computer or a lab that is booked mainly by a career and computer class. My principal likes the idea and is behind the initiative of creating a class site that students can collaborate and share ideas. The support definitely leads me to think that it will work out.
After our graduate wiki was set up, the tutorials sent to my email helps build my confidence in the potential of implementing one in the classroom through Wiki Help. There are many ideas to improve and create other options for students to show what they know. I have learned that you can add audio and video to the page and a calendar to keep students current on when assignments are due. The discussion tab is one aspect of a wiki that I think will improve students’ learning, because it provides a good way for students to reflect on what has happened or to negotiate with each other (Richardson, 2009).
I still need to learn to show students what it means to be a part of a process. Being a part of a wiki and showing the enthusiasm for working together to create information as a group. Sometimes teachers work in their rooms and are busy getting the daily tasks done that little collaboration takes place until the one in-service day or meeting where some group effort needs to happen to accomplish a goal. The wiki takes the time issue away, so I am looking forward to collaborating with other teachers through our lesson plans. It is great to have some other insight into a lesson. Some additional questions come from helping students grasp and interact with different representations, such as diagrams or graphs including percents. They have the concept of percents and discounts, but being able to graphically represent the increase in costs of items over time is missing. The further exploration of the concept is necessary for students to actually understand the material. The other thought is tools that are too complex can also present a problem for students with no background experience, so balancing this issue seems challenging (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).
The focus needs to remain on adjusting to the needs of my students for the digital world and engaging them in technology to improve their understanding of mathematical concepts. The idea of using problem based learning as a way to challenge the students in their understanding of percents should promote high order thinking skills, so this will be my next step along with improving my skills using a wiki.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
GAME Plan- Monitoring Your Progress
At this point in my GAME Plan, I am still working on learning more about using a wiki in the classroom. I haven’t been able to collaborate with other teachers, because of time constraints and scheduling. To modify this resource, I looked ahead and saw that a wiki will be incorporated for our lesson plan application, and I accessed resources online about help for teachers with creating a wiki in the classroom. The visual power point presentation was extremely helpful Wiki Help for Teachers.
I have learned so far that the idea of incorporating more technology into the math classroom is vital to motivating and preparing students. The eighth graders have been talking about the one high school in the area that is focused on technology. Some students have friends and relatives that attend a high school where all work is done online and each student has their own laptop. The question becomes the monitoring of the site and making sure students have enough access to participate online. Students are eager and curious, but can struggle using the technology correctly. I guess the help that I need are suggestions for keeping students safe and working on the given assignment and helping those students who lack knowledge or access with technology.
As for locating other online resources to assist students with their understanding and to give students options on the assessment of content knowledge, I have signed the students up for the computer lab and had students create their own online shopping experience. I am still searching for a simulation for percentages, but have found other simulations for later in the year. The idea of selecting a simulation software benefits students and the teacher by recording the choices they make on a given activity and analyzed for judgments made by students after the completion of the project (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).
The activity I had students participate in to show knowledge of percents and discounts provided the opportunity to utilize technology skills. Students were given a list of stores or websites to access and then selected items or completed an Excel spreadsheet with a limit of $100 to spend using online coupons. This activity went well and students were completely engaged in the process with an added bonus of a reward the next day for the pair that were closest and did not go over the limit. The spreadsheet was then emailed and I checked the assignment later. It worked quite well and the students commented on the convenience of using the technology and I enjoyed the paperless trail of work. The GAME plan is working but time and energy needs to be focused on this one experience when there is so much more to do. Ertmer (2009) stated “the supportive culture of education can be teachers willing to take risks and other teachers being willing to work together.” This idea in mind working with others to build on lessons with technology allows next year to be more successful and the lesson after it.
Heather
MS-Math
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Ertmer, P., Program: 2. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution.
I have learned so far that the idea of incorporating more technology into the math classroom is vital to motivating and preparing students. The eighth graders have been talking about the one high school in the area that is focused on technology. Some students have friends and relatives that attend a high school where all work is done online and each student has their own laptop. The question becomes the monitoring of the site and making sure students have enough access to participate online. Students are eager and curious, but can struggle using the technology correctly. I guess the help that I need are suggestions for keeping students safe and working on the given assignment and helping those students who lack knowledge or access with technology.
As for locating other online resources to assist students with their understanding and to give students options on the assessment of content knowledge, I have signed the students up for the computer lab and had students create their own online shopping experience. I am still searching for a simulation for percentages, but have found other simulations for later in the year. The idea of selecting a simulation software benefits students and the teacher by recording the choices they make on a given activity and analyzed for judgments made by students after the completion of the project (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).
The activity I had students participate in to show knowledge of percents and discounts provided the opportunity to utilize technology skills. Students were given a list of stores or websites to access and then selected items or completed an Excel spreadsheet with a limit of $100 to spend using online coupons. This activity went well and students were completely engaged in the process with an added bonus of a reward the next day for the pair that were closest and did not go over the limit. The spreadsheet was then emailed and I checked the assignment later. It worked quite well and the students commented on the convenience of using the technology and I enjoyed the paperless trail of work. The GAME plan is working but time and energy needs to be focused on this one experience when there is so much more to do. Ertmer (2009) stated “the supportive culture of education can be teachers willing to take risks and other teachers being willing to work together.” This idea in mind working with others to build on lessons with technology allows next year to be more successful and the lesson after it.
Heather
MS-Math
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Ertmer, P., Program: 2. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
GAME Plan- Resources
The process of developing my GAME plan to integrate technology into the classroom involves several resources. To carry out the plan, I would need to collaborate with the other math teacher to include her class in the wiki. My colleague has worked on a wiki before and had her algebra class collaborate with another class in our school district on a project involving making tables to solve problems and then analyzing the data that was collected. Another resource to explore is more websites that vary in tasks to complete the lesson on percents (markup and discount or percent of change).
One step I have taken so far is locating other online resources for students to practice the math concepts and approach teaching them through a different method. One additional website I found integrated written problems about real world situations (http://www.purplemath.com/modules/percntof2.htm). Students can write their own after working through the examples. This task challenges student to take the information learned and apply it to their lives. The PurpleMath forum also gives students a resource for help after school.
Another step I have taken so far is looking over the wiki created by another math teacher in my building. This wiki was helpful in addressing some challenges with the task, by making sure all students participate in some way. The assessment for the task can be difficult so collecting informal data throughout from students helped with the grading. A method described in the text incorporates the KWHL chart, so students can complete the information on the math topic and give feedback on what students know and still want to learn as a guide for the lesson (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).
The additional information I would need is more confidence with creating a wiki and possibly working on one with another colleague and our classes. I have only participated in two wikis before and still feel unsure of the process. I would need more time to search online for a variety of resources, to meet the needs of all my students’ learning whether technology or non-technology based activities. It could be activities centered on additional practice with the steps to solve a percent problem or to supplement the instruction.
Heather
MS-Math
Reference
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Stapel, Elizabeth. "'Percent of' Word Problems: Markup and Markdown Examples." Purplemath. Retrieved from http://www.purplemath.com/modules/percntof2.htm.
One step I have taken so far is locating other online resources for students to practice the math concepts and approach teaching them through a different method. One additional website I found integrated written problems about real world situations (http://www.purplemath.com/modules/percntof2.htm). Students can write their own after working through the examples. This task challenges student to take the information learned and apply it to their lives. The PurpleMath forum also gives students a resource for help after school.
Another step I have taken so far is looking over the wiki created by another math teacher in my building. This wiki was helpful in addressing some challenges with the task, by making sure all students participate in some way. The assessment for the task can be difficult so collecting informal data throughout from students helped with the grading. A method described in the text incorporates the KWHL chart, so students can complete the information on the math topic and give feedback on what students know and still want to learn as a guide for the lesson (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).
The additional information I would need is more confidence with creating a wiki and possibly working on one with another colleague and our classes. I have only participated in two wikis before and still feel unsure of the process. I would need more time to search online for a variety of resources, to meet the needs of all my students’ learning whether technology or non-technology based activities. It could be activities centered on additional practice with the steps to solve a percent problem or to supplement the instruction.
Heather
MS-Math
Reference
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Stapel, Elizabeth. "'Percent of' Word Problems: Markup and Markdown Examples." Purplemath. Retrieved from http://www.purplemath.com/modules/percntof2.htm.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
The GAME Plan
As a professional, the goal would be to increase technology usage to promote and support learning in the mathematical classroom and model digital-age work and learning. This involves practical and effective digital media being implemented in lessons to engage students in the curriculum. The real concern is the creation of lessons that can be modified to present students with challenging problems to solve. That is applicable to their lives. One site that teaches students to be better consumers is Percent Shopping. The activity teaches student to understand percent markup and discount in a game format.
Technology in the classroom allows students to collaborate with others and clarify their thinking by sharing the creative process. I would be interested in creating a wiki for students to post questions and collectively work on a given lesson. The access this link would provide parents support at home to help with assignments and tutorials to explain lessons, but created by students. Giving students’ ownership of their learning can be essential to providing that extra motivation to participate in class.
Technology gives students confidence to learn new skills and continually increase knowledge of programs and software. To be effective as an educator, we need to learn to create blogs, podcasts and wikis to present to students. This technology increases my network of professionals to access and discuss issues. It enhances students’ learning and allows students to work with others outside the classroom walls. It provides the connection students will encounter in the workplace.
The opportunity technology presents is the continuous work on projects throughout the year and not just over a few weeks. This paperless trail helps with monitoring students’ progress and creative use of technology to solve authentic problems. To determine the success of technology in the classroom the use of data and reflection on learning goals will be helpful (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). Data can be collected through problem solving examples and assessment software linked to progress for individuals.
Technology affects the classroom from being teacher-centered to a more effective way of focusing on the students (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). The teacher should prepare students not just for high school success, but for the rest of their lives through enriched activities in multiple digital formats. Teaching changes when incorporating technology, because it allows students to be self-directed learners. Usually students are tested on skills that should be mastered by an individual. Instead they can work with peers and create stories, websites, and projects over periods of time for others to read and provide feedback. My mindset has changed from being the answer person in the room, to facilitating students to find and solve problems using different strategies on the Web. Students become involved in projects they care about and not just something presented in a textbook. Establishing these NETS-T goals in the classroom increases student knowledge and understanding while challenging the teacher to continually seek ways to connect the global and digital society with the classroom.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Ertmer, P., Program: 3 Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences With Technology. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution.
Technology in the classroom allows students to collaborate with others and clarify their thinking by sharing the creative process. I would be interested in creating a wiki for students to post questions and collectively work on a given lesson. The access this link would provide parents support at home to help with assignments and tutorials to explain lessons, but created by students. Giving students’ ownership of their learning can be essential to providing that extra motivation to participate in class.
Technology gives students confidence to learn new skills and continually increase knowledge of programs and software. To be effective as an educator, we need to learn to create blogs, podcasts and wikis to present to students. This technology increases my network of professionals to access and discuss issues. It enhances students’ learning and allows students to work with others outside the classroom walls. It provides the connection students will encounter in the workplace.
The opportunity technology presents is the continuous work on projects throughout the year and not just over a few weeks. This paperless trail helps with monitoring students’ progress and creative use of technology to solve authentic problems. To determine the success of technology in the classroom the use of data and reflection on learning goals will be helpful (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). Data can be collected through problem solving examples and assessment software linked to progress for individuals.
Technology affects the classroom from being teacher-centered to a more effective way of focusing on the students (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). The teacher should prepare students not just for high school success, but for the rest of their lives through enriched activities in multiple digital formats. Teaching changes when incorporating technology, because it allows students to be self-directed learners. Usually students are tested on skills that should be mastered by an individual. Instead they can work with peers and create stories, websites, and projects over periods of time for others to read and provide feedback. My mindset has changed from being the answer person in the room, to facilitating students to find and solve problems using different strategies on the Web. Students become involved in projects they care about and not just something presented in a textbook. Establishing these NETS-T goals in the classroom increases student knowledge and understanding while challenging the teacher to continually seek ways to connect the global and digital society with the classroom.
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Ertmer, P., Program: 3 Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences With Technology. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Reflective Essay
The new literacies are essential skills students develop and understand in the classroom today. Teachers need to be aware of technology policies and safety for students including teaching them curriculum. The digital skills are engaging to middle school students and incorporate relevant skills for their futures. Students need to be aware of ethical usage and not just present information as their own. If students learn to be digital citizens they will incorporate a strong sense of locating and evaluating information, by developing essential questions and putting it all together to share with others.
The Fair Use Policy that teachers have some leeway in the use of online material for instruction helped reassure my use of articles and other resources in the classroom (Laureate Education, Inc, 2009). Teachers should help ensure that students will use the materials in an ethical way. Before this class, it seemed that there are some stipulations on work created by others, but teaching this to students was not completely part of each assignment. The use of the websites for clarity and teaching students about ethics in informational literacy is valuable for the 21st century. Students need to be taught to respect an author’s photo or published information and give them credit for it. Students need to learn how to synthesize information from multiple resources that contains accurate and appropriate facts after they evaluate a website for credible information. Getting students to go beyond the facts is an important literacy skill of using critical thinking skills to process the facts in sources and then create their final products that represent what they have learned (Jansen, 2005). Teaching students those transferable skills is something that will benefit students’ learning in the future, so creating writing, technology, presentations and performance assignments helps students learn material, but also associate it with other interests and digital media.
As technology becomes embedded into the classroom, students must learn the appropriate ways of sharing and using everything that is available online. There is a strong need to educate students and teachers on how to navigate the Internet’s vast amount of resources responsibly, safely, and productively by establishing a clear set of rules and expectations for usage. The specific focus for having rules shields students from finding inappropriate or sharing unsafe material, but when it does happen students should know what to do. This enlightened my teaching practices of digital citizenship and made me more aware of what guidance should be provided in the classroom for students’ safety.
The professional goal I would like to pursue would be to incorporate better essential questions into the curriculum to guide students’ inquiry. There needs to be a balance between students choosing their own topics as the focus area and the teacher selecting a central theme for research. Then after topics are selected questions are necessary to guide the process, but learners need to be skilled at asking the right questions while reading online (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007, p. 82). As the teacher developing and determining researchable topics and not topics with questions that students have too little or too much prior knowledge. The steps to improving students’ essential questions includes keeping students’ interests and prior knowledge in mind along with assessing students’ understanding of good research questions by using a research questions assessment as a tool to begin a class discussion. Improving this step of the inquiry process should increase the effectiveness of projects and student motivation to complete assignments with vital and relevant information as they evaluate and synthesize the information into a comprehensive project.
If class instruction and student awareness is extended to increasing the new literacies the potential for continued success is available not just in the classroom, but globally. The new literacies require students to be more sophisticated in their technology usage and broaden their digital understanding. Giving students a worthwhile purpose for inquiry will improve their questions and make a difference in their online success, as I continue to work on my professional goal. As Jukes (2007) states “The primary task of the educational system must be to give learners the right tools and provide them with a critical mind, so that they can ask the right questions and make the right connections.”
REFERENCE
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
Jansen, B. (2005, October). Meaningful products: Making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Library Media Connection, 24(2), 27–28.
Jukes, I. (2007). 21st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21st century learner. Retrieved from http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Warlick, D. Program: 7. Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution.
REFERENCE
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
Jansen, B. (2005, October). Meaningful products: Making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. Library Media Connection, 24(2), 27–28.
Jukes, I. (2007). 21st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21st century learner. Retrieved from http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf
Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Warlick, D. Program: 7. Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
A New Perspective about Technology
As a professional, I have improved my technology skills throughout this course. The practical and effective media taught and implemented in applications gave me the confidence to learn new skills. To be effective as an educator, we need to learn to create blogs, podcasts and wikis to present to students (Richardson, 2009). This technology increases my network of professionals to access and discuss issues with to enhance student learning. Being new to the English Language Learners (ELLs) field this course provides a connection where language skills are lacking.
There are so many ways to incorporate new technology into the curriculum, which has made it a little overwhelming. I appreciate the videos, readings, and interaction with peers to make sense of the knowledge. The wealth of information on blogs by teaching professionals puts the teaching process in a new perspective. The aspect of delivering the same information with a paperless trail and creating a notebook on the Web for student work sounds more efficient. This gives students the opportunity to continue to work on projects throughout the year and not just over a few weeks. The lessons in this course allowed for me to practice new methods and receive feedback from other teachers before incorporating the assignment into the classroom.
Thornburg (2008), stated technology affects the classroom from being teacher-centered to a more effective way of focusing on the students (Laureate, 2008). The teacher should prepare students not just for high school success, but for the rest of their life through enriched activities in multiple digital medias. Another way teaching has changed would be the collaborative aspect of learning. Usually students are tested on skills that should be mastered by an individual. Instead they can work with peers and create stories, websites, and projects over periods of time for others to read and provide feedback. My mindset has changed from being the answer person in the room, to guiding students to find and solve problems using different strategies on the Web. Students now become involved in projects they care about and not just something presented by me.
The ways to build upon my current knowledge of technology to teach my class for better achievement would be to model, design and implement digital technology throughout the curriculum. Students can continue to utilize the different methods and strategies for research and problem solving to develop critical thinking skills. As an educator, the value of constantly learning from peers and my students will provide more confidence in my abilities. The access of technology in this course with colleagues and their ideas helps with my professional development along with the research journals. The aspect of becoming a leader in my building, reminds me of what barriers I may face from others. As a change agent, I will look to be creative and resourceful about aligning certain tools to accomplish student achievement among peers (Richardson, 2009).
One of my long term goals would be to allow students to develop their own website tutorial for other ELL students to follow throughout the year. This includes a video and audio assignment connected specifically to my classroom. This assignment encourages the students to take ownership of the class, collaborate, and see development of skills from the beginning to the end of the year. The challenge comes from our technology department and what is allowed to be attached to the school website. I will look for outside resources to attach as a link to my class website. This project provides the parent connection that is missing from current access to my website. The student can translate and inform parents about what happens in class by accessing the site at home or at the library, but currently the school will start providing parents with computer access during the week.
My second long term goal involves a clear understanding of the 21st century skills necessary for student success. This comes from being familiar with the technology standards and incorporating it in the classroom. My expectation of student’s increasing their decision making skills and communication skills will be valuable to their success in the future. My awareness of developing all the diverse needs of my students by guiding them and not providing as much linear instruction. The challenge will come from some students who are accustomed to being told what to do and adjusting to thinking outside the box to accomplish tasks. Some students struggle when little direction is given and there is not a clear answer to the assignment, especially my Asian students.
All of this information has led me to reflect on my teaching experience this year. I look forward to changing and improving curriculum to meet student needs for digital media projects. I see a need to step up and work with colleagues to accomplish further technology usage in my school building. Technology can connect the classroom with global networks and expand the learning opportunities for my students which will open their eyes to the possibilities of their future.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Changing Role of Teacher Part 1.
Baltimore: Author.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Podcast Survey: Profiling Today's Student
To listen to my podcast of the student survey, click on the blog title above. Then click on the green "play" button located next to the Type of File line.
This assignment provided me a new experience in creating a podcast. It would be remiss of me if I did not say that it was challenging at first to go through the steps of creating, editing, saving, uploading and linking everything. Now having gone through the process, I feel confident in my ability in creating additional podcasts in the future. I am looking forward to finding and creating ways that I can use them in my classroom to enhance the lessons that I teach. This survey brought to the surface how valuable the educational experience is for my students. Most will not have the same expose to technology at home, so their academic exposure to technology in my classroom is important for success.
This assignment provided me a new experience in creating a podcast. It would be remiss of me if I did not say that it was challenging at first to go through the steps of creating, editing, saving, uploading and linking everything. Now having gone through the process, I feel confident in my ability in creating additional podcasts in the future. I am looking forward to finding and creating ways that I can use them in my classroom to enhance the lessons that I teach. This survey brought to the surface how valuable the educational experience is for my students. Most will not have the same expose to technology at home, so their academic exposure to technology in my classroom is important for success.
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