Reflection

Throughout this course I created and followed a GAME plan. My GAME plan was to introduce a new Web 2.0 technology to my students and to design a content based self directed learning activity. While my initial thoughts were that the GAME plan idea was a waste of time, but as I worked my way through my GAME plan each week, my opinion changed. The GAME plan pushed me to actually design a self directed learning activity that uses a new technology. I am not at the point in my curriculum where I will implement the lesson plan yet, but I have plans to implement it some time in February.

Creating a GAME plan is a simple and easy way to set yourself up for success. I cannot count the number of times I have wanted to start something with my students but then never got around to doing it. Involving myself in this process actually caused me to successfully see an idea through. I have written about this before, but I think the thing that really helped me to be successful was monitoring my progress on a weekly basis through this blog. I have learned that for me to really follow through with an idea I need to have some sort of accountability in place, and I need to constantly monitor my progress in a timeline for completion. Doing this gives me the momentum I needed to follow through.

This class really opened my eyes to the difference in project and problem based learning. As most of the focus in this class revolved around problem based learning I feel I now have a good grasp on how to create a problem based learning unit. The problem I encountered in this class is that I felt it is very difficult to create a problem based learning activity with the content that I teach. My content is very fundamental and basic such as learning the letters and letter sounds. I really struggled with finding ways to create a good problem based lesson. I did design a problem based unit for math that I feel very proud of and will implement soon when I come to addition and subtraction in my curriculum. My hope is that after I carry out this lesson, the experience will give me more ideas for creating new problem based learning activities.

The one thing from this class that find easy to implement is digital storytelling. In fact, in my last discussion post I immediately thought of several ideas and ways to implement this technology. I cannot wait to start using this technology with my class. I plan to use it for math with learning shapes, in telling addition and subtraction stories, and to show sequencing, in story telling as a shared or interactive writing, and to retell events that the class participated in, in social studies to add to the curriculum, and as a way to introduce myself to the class and to highlight a student of the week. Really the possibilities are as endless as skills the students can gain from creating a digital story.

After this class I think that some adjustments I will make in my instructional practice regarding technology integration are: to consistently use the GAME plan process to push myself into learning more about technology and finding ways to implement it, to use the experience I will gain from implementing my problem based learning unit to design more of these types of units, and finally, to implement digital storytelling in all of the ways I listed above.

GAME plan with my students

Looking at the NETS-T and the NETS-S I can see how they connect with each other. As I develop my own technology skills and meet my standards, it pushes me almost simultaneously to help my students meet some of their standards. They are very inter- related. The teacher standards are about designing and the student standards are about demonstrating concepts that are essentially the same. Knowing that, I can use a GAME plan to meet standards that will help my students become more proficient.

My GAME plan was to use new technology and do a self directed learning activity. In implementing my own GAME plan and becoming proficient in my own standards, I helped my students to meet their standards and become proficient in creativity and innovation and communication and collaboration.

I believe that I will continue to use GAME plan process in this way- create plans for myself and in completing those plans, my students will gain more proficiency. I think my students are too young to get them deeply involved in the process of creating the plan. While we are constantly setting goals for them to reach as far as their own learning, I think the rest of the process is too complex for them to complete. I will get their input on what they would like to learn and then create a GAME plan to help me meet that goal. By continuing on in the process of making GAME plans, both my students and I can continue to grow and gain necessary skills in technology.

Evaluating my GAME plan

This week I am stepping back and examining my GAME plan. Over the past four weeks I believe I have met the goals I set in my original GAME plan. I have a self directed learning project with a new technology ready to go. I am going to implement it in February. As next step for this particular goal, I am going to present my lesson plan to my grade level and try to get my grade level to do the lesson along with me. I think it would be a good push for everyone. Having other teachers at the school implement a lesson with me will also ensure that I follow through and do it like I am planning!

I have been talking about the computer club that I am planning to start in January. Coming up with this project in the middle of my GAME plan has given me the momentum to keep going. Over my vacation I am going to write a GAME plan for the successful beginning of the computer club. I want to lay out a framework of the technologies I plan to introduce to these students and come up with an order of introduction along with a project for each technology. I think part of the success for me in carrying out this plan has been the element of accountability that comes from blogging about it every week. As I move forward I am going to find a way to keep myself accountable. I will either continue to blog or work with a partner that will keep me accountable. Once I start the club I have no doubt the students will keep me accountable as they will be joining for the express purpose of learning more about technology.

Progress Check

Now that I have been implementing my GAME plan for about three weeks I can take a step back and see how I am doing. My first goal was to implement one new web 2.0 technology this year with my class. My second goal is to do a self directed learning activity with my class. I have a lesson plan for a voice thread activity where students learn about a number by creating a representation of how that number is made (for example: 10 and 10 makes 20). I would like to turn this into a voice thread by uploading the student’s picture and having them narrate how to make the number. I looked at my district pacing guide to see when I can teach this lesson. I will not teach numbers 20-30 until about February. This feels like a long time to see my action completely carried out, and yet, with the holidays and benchmark testing coming up it is not realistic to fit in a big project before then. I feel like I am also completing this goal in a new way by beginning an after school computer club with upper grades. I am very excited about the possibilities the computer club holds. And through them I hope to introduce many new Web 2.0 technologies to my school. My hopes are that they go and share what they are learning about with other students and teachers.

Because I have been monitoring my progress every week, I have actually been carrying out my GAME plan. Reflecting back on failed projects of my past, I see that the vital step of monitoring was missing. Having a timeline in place and sticking to it has kept in motion throughout this process. When I first started to write a GAME plan I thought it was silly and did not see how it would fit into my professional practice permanently, but now that I have been going through the process I can see its value and I believe that this is a process I will use again and again to help me create and complete professional goals. Having this plan in place has helped me to follow through and carry out my goals. I would like to learn more about other ways to use a GAME plan, possibly grade level wide, or school wide.

As I have been carrying out my GAME plan I have already made an adjustment (or addition). Right now I see no further need to adjust my GAME plan, but this week I will begin to look at what a next step for my goals might be.

My GAME plan progress

I have made some progress on my GAME plan this week. I have a lesson plan that I would like to do that introduces my students to a new technology- voice thread. My next step is to check and see if I can access my voice thread account at work. The lesson plan not only implements a new technology, but it meets my goal of being activity based. Now I need to figure out when this lesson plan will fit in with my district’s pacing guide. It fits it with curriculum, I just cannot remember what unit.

My GAME plan has also taken an unexpected turn this week. After talking with my principal and a couple colleagues, I have decided to start an after school computer club with older students. None of the teachers at my school site teach their students about new technologies or about how to be responsible on the Internet. While I plan to expose my own students to these concepts, they are still a bit young to fully grasp them. My goal is to start the computer club and give some of the older students (grades 4-6) some of the skills that they are going to need in Jr. High and High School. I have already started a framework for what the club will look like. We will meet after school one day a week. I will start by teaching the kids about blogging and we will design a Computer Club blog page- in part for the students to communicate together outside of the club meetings. My next project will be to teach them how to do research online. Having just learned more about this myself, I have a passion to share what I learned with students. I will teach the students the steps I just learned about creating research- able questions, conducting a search online, evaluating resources, and eventually I will help them synthesize this into a project. Who knows what we will do from there. Since this is a student club I want to give them options and skills and let that design the activities we do together.

I am so excited to start this new project. If I would not have had this GAME plan, this idea would not have happened. It was only when I was researching and looking into ideas for my own class that I got the idea to expand and work with more students across three grade levels. I am learning that setting goals for myself works like oil in an engine. As I strive to achieve my goals, and focus on an area of my teaching new ideas come up and I start thinking about ways to take my goal to the next level. It has been an exciting process!

What do I need to carry out my GAME plan?

The first goal in my GAME plan is to implement one new technology in my classroom this year. The information I will need to carry out this plan is to talk with the technology department in my district and learn exactly what technologies are allowed and which ones are blocked. I already know that we are allowed access to blog sites, but not to wiki sites. I will need to find out about the voice thread site I am registered with along with podcast sites.

The second goal in my GAME plan is to do one self directed learning activity with my students this year and allow their feed back to shape the activity. I have a lesson plan that I created in another class that I want to try to implement. What I need to do now is clear it with my principal and make sure I have the technologies available to me to carry it out.

Completing these steps will put me on my way to meeting my goal.

My G.A.M.E. Plan

When examining the technology National Education Standards for Teachers I certainly see room for improvement. However, there are two areas where I am not as confident in executing as I would like to be. Those two areas are standard 2.a and standard 2.b. Standard 2.a states: teachers design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. Standard 2.b states: teachers develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress. In order to meet these goals I have set up a plan for myself called a G.A.M.E. plan (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009).

The first step in my plan is to set goals (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009). I would like to work with my district to find new ways to incorporate more web 2.0 technologies into my classroom. The current thinking in my district is that if you use the SMARTboard you are integrating technology, but I think that technology integration can be much more than that. To be more specific in my goal, I would like to actually implement one new technology probably Web 2.0 in my class this year. Another goal I have is to turn over some of my teaching time to my students where they can participate in a structured, content based self directed learning activity. Again, to be more specific, a realistic goal for me would be to do one self directed learning activity where I also use student input to shape and guide the experience. Knowing if I am successful in my goals is easy- I will either follow through or not.

The next step in the G.A.M.E. plan is to take action (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009). To meet my goal I will need to use my curriculum to find a subject area and content standard to focus on. I will also need to research to find which technology best supports the content. To do this I might turn to the internet to research, or look up lesson plans in a teacher café type of website. Once I determine the technology I would like to use, I will have to work with my district to make sure that the technology policy allows me to use my desired technology. Finally, I will have to create lesson plans that help me to meet my goal.

The third step is to monitor my progress (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009). I might consider setting timelines for myself for each part of my action process that ultimately leads to my implementation of new technology and incorporation of a self directed learning activity. As each due date in my timeline approaches I can stop and evaluate if I have completed the task or not. If I have not completed the task I will stop and ask myself what is keeping me from completing that task. As I answer that question I can evaluate and change steps in my action plan as needed.

The final step in my plan is to evaluate and extend (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009). My goals are to implement a new technology and to incorporate a self directed learning activity. Monitoring these goals is as simple as checking to see if I have done them or not. If I am successful in my goals I will evaluate what a next step might be. A next step could be anything from creating lesson plans to use my newly implemented technology, to designing more self directed learning lessons. I will also be sure to journal some of the struggles I had during the process along with things I can do differently next time to make the process easier. If I am unsuccessful in meeting my goals I will sit down and evaluate what my struggles were that kept me from meeting my goal and create a G.A.M.E. plan to overcome those struggles. I will also consider modifying my goals to make them more attainable.

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

Reflection

The most striking revelation I had this semester about teaching new literacy skills to my students is that learning to read on the web is a complex process and involves several skills that traditional reading does not. I had never really thought about the difference in reading on the web vs. traditional reading, but there is so much more students need to know how to do when reading online. The internet is filled with millions of different web pages, each with their own unique layout and design. Children do not always instinctively know how to scan a web page for information. Web pages are also full of links that take you to other websites or to different parts of the webpage you are on. Children do not always know which links are worth clicking on or how to navigate back to the original web site. Another consideration in reading online is the grammar and syntax of a particular web page. Some web pages are more kid friendly and easy to read and some are more academic and difficult to read. Before this class I had always assumed that if you could read a book you could read online. I now believe differently. I believe that traditional reading skills are the building block for web literacy, but as a teacher I also need to teach my students the specific reading skills that are needed to be literate online.

A large part of the knowledge and experience I gained in this course has to do with conducting what I think of as good solid research online. As a long time fan of Google, I had always taken for granted the information that was presented me in a Google search. After this course I feel as though I am a little more savvy in using different search engines and typing in keywords and phrases that will yield me the most useful results. I have also learned about evaluating a web site for reliability of information. This is a new skill to me. In the past I have read some websites that I have questioned the information, but I never really had a clear process for doing it. Learning the Get REAL strategy of evaluating web pages was very eye opening for me and I believe has made me a better consumer of online information (November, 2008). This knowledge has given me fuel to teach my student to be better at navigating the web when conducting a search, and to be better at questioning and evaluating what they are reading. I have already taken what I have learned and shared it with other teachers. A teacher friend of mine would like to use my screen cast where I walk through the steps of evaluating a web site to teach her high school students this skill. I feel so much more empowered when I am online now and I want to share that feeling with as many students as I can.

Throughout this course I have developed a pretty solid research project to conduct with my class. A goal for me will be to actually do the project with my class. Sometimes I get so caught up in my everyday work that I do not do projects like this that take a lot of preparation. I have also designed smaller lessons that use new technologies such as a screen cast or a voice thread. A goal for me is to get permission through my district to use these technologies and then to not only use them with my own class, but to train other teachers at my school site how to use them as well. The steps I have taken to accomplish this goal is to give myself a timeline on when I want to have accomplished them. By January I want to have permission to do screen cast and voice thread and begin to implement them in my classroom. I would like to start working with other teachers in my school and showing them how to use those technologies by February. By giving myself a timeline and sticking to it I will achieve my goal of implementing these strategies.
References
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.

Reflection

When I started this class eight weeks ago I was of the mind that my personal theory of learning was mostly constructivist. The core principle for the constructivist approach is that “knowledge is unique to the individual who constructs it” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008, pg. 16). Now that I have learned more about other learning theories I think that my personal learning theory is still strongly constructivist but it also contains parts of each theory. I use behaviorism as classroom management and sometimes as motivation. I see the role of contructionism and the importance of student’s creating artifacts that they can share with others.

One adjustment that I will make in regards to my integration of technology is that I will make more of an effort to make my students the creators. They can help create PowerPoints, publish stories on Word, and help write on a class blog. The norm has been that I create all presentations for the class, but if by turning technology over to them I can increase their engagement and understanding in a lesson I will certainly do it. Since the brain seeks meaningful patterns, making information meaningful will help students to remember it. These tools help to create networks in their brains through concrete experiences, and the more networks to information that we can create the better chance students have of retrieving it later (Laureate, 2008).

One of my long term goals I would like to make in my instructional practice is to let my students create more. I said it before in the previous paragraph, but as a teacher of young students with limited technology in my classroom this is a very big goal for me. This will take a lot of very careful planning on my part. I will have to create organized lessons to teach my students how to use the technology and have them practice using it. Once they are comfortable using technology such as PowerPoint or Word, I will create projects where I give my students a subject such as a letter of the alphabet and they create a power point for that letter with minimal teacher help.

A second long term goal for me is to integrate Web 2.0 technologies. I currently do not do any of those technologies in my classroom. I would like to start a classroom blog next year where I can inform parents of our weekly activities and we can highlight students who did exemplary work for the week. This is actually not very difficult to do. I just need to set up a blog account and then make the commitment to update it weekly. The real key will be to do the blog with my students where they are helping to add information and create a website they can be proud of and excited about.

References
Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Program number 2. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. [Motion Picture]. Brain research and learning. Baltimore.

http://voicethread.com/share/1194456/

Here is the link to my voicethread. The voicethread shows the biggest problem with technology in my classroom

Social Learning Theory and Technology

The social learning theory is based on collaboration. It is about being actively engaged/constructing learning, but it also includes an element where the learner has conversations about what they are doing. Social learning has the idea that students teach each other. Dr. Orey states that teaching others helps the learner to develop a deeper understanding of the content. Social learning also has an element of connectivism in it. Connectivism holds that knowledge resides in the pattern of how different concepts are networked. Learning is the act of forming networks and navigating networks of knowledge (Laureate, 2008).

Technology is the perfect tool for the social learning theory. “Technology can play a unique and vital role in cooperative learning by facilitating group collaboration, providing structure for group tasks, and allowing members of groups to communicate even if they are not working face to face” (Pitler, et. al, 2007, pg. 140). “Student created multimedia is a natural environment for cooperative learning” (Pitler, et.al, 2007, pg. 141). In a project such as this students often use the jigsaw strategy where each member of the collaborative team is responsible for learning information and teaching it to teammates (Laureate, 2008). These situations are great preparation for the workforce students will one day become a part of.

Technology also offers us web- enabled collaborative learning where students can engage in collaborative projects across the globe. A technology that I want to explore for use in my own classroom is keypals- an email pen pal. “Communication with students in other cities, states, and countries broadens the perspective of students and challenges them to learn about other cultures, languages, and issues throughout the world ( Pitler, et. al, 2007, pg. 145). I think my own students would really love to have pen pals from across the world. I remember having a pen pal when I was in grade school. Getting and writing letters to someone I had never met was exciting.

The amount of web based collaborative projects available to us is really limitless. Web 2.0 allows students to work together to create web or wiki pages, blogs and podcasts. These types of projects allow collaboration without restrictions to time and space. Students could work together with people from all over the globe. These types of collaborations would expose students to cultural experiences that would not have been possible a few years ago. It is these types of collaborations that I believe will be the most beneficial to students in regards to preparing them for the world outside of school.

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

Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program 8. Social learning theory [Motion Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology Baltimore: Author.

Contructionism

According to Dr Orey, the constructionist theory of learning states that people learn best when they create an external artifact or something they can share with others (Laureate, 2008). There are several modes of technology that support this learning theory.

The technology that is the most practical for my kindergarten students is Power Point. We have made many class power points, where they students help write and insert pictures, but we make just one Power Point together as a class. We have made Power Points for each letter of the alphabet, with our site words, we have re written our favorite stories, and we have made Power Points to tell about other specific academic content. While my students are not creating their own Power Point, they still have a major part in creating one as a class. As students get older they can be even more independent in the creation of a Power Point project to share with the class.

Using software to generate and test a hypothesis “enables students to see the bigger picture and recognize patterns” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, pg. 210). Microsoft Excel enables the teacher to set the formula so all students have to do is input their data. This allows them to focus on the product instead of the process. I can see how this would really be of benefit for upper grades. I struggle with the idea of having my 5 year old students input data into a spreadsheet. I cannot even think of what lesson that would fit with.

There are several web resources that allow students “to use background knowledge, make decisions, and see the outcome of their hypothesis, often in virtual situations that would be impossible or financially unfeasible in real life” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, pg. 212-213). Again, I feel that this is a tool probably better suited to upper grades, but I am curious to explore some of these resources to see if any of them can be used in my class.

In all of these instances students are creating projects that can be shared with others. This fits in with what Dr. Orey states is the constructivist learning theory and in turn will help students to learn better.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. [Motion Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author

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

For about six years my school district has been really into the use of thinking maps. Thinking maps are a type of graphic organizer. I have been to several trainings on the use of thinking maps and have implemented them into my classroom because it is district required. This week I had a bit of an “aha!” moment. I now have a good reason to use thinking maps in my classroom- aside from doing it because it is required.

Thinking maps along with other concept mapping tools replicate the network model of cognitive learning. They are a way to organize and link ideas. One of the primary modes for storing information into long term memory is through elaboration. When we help our students make many connections to information they will have more connections with which to retrieve the information (Laureate, 2008). Because my students cannot read, when I do thinking maps I use graphics instead of words most of the time. According to Pavio’s duel code people store image more than text (Laureate, 2008).

I can say from experience that using thinking maps has greatly increased my student’s acquisition of information. The easiest way for me to use them is when retelling a story. A flow map is relatively easy to make and helps the students see the flow of a story and aides in their ability to retell it. I also use thinking maps to classify and group objects, and to make comparisons. Once my class has done a thinking map I leave it up on the wall. I am always pleased to see them going back to a thinking map months later, during choice time and retelling stories or discussing the information presented on the organizer. It shows me that this tool is effective at helping students to learn and retrieve information.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Cognitive Learning Theories [Motion Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

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

This week I read about some instructional strategies. One of the strategies that I read about is reinforcing student’s effort. The concept is that if you show your students that their academic achievements are based on how much effort and work they put into school, they will start to put forth more effort. This strategy can be easily supported with technology such as Microsoft Excel. Using this strategy to have students chart and graph their own effort and achievement can certainly be eye opening for some students.

This strategy fits in with the behaviorist theory of teaching. It is a type of positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is presenting a stimulus that improves the likelihood for a response (Orey, 2001). The stimulus in this strategy is getting better grades. When students can physically see that their effort increases their achievement they are more likely to continue trying hard. “Students work for things that bring them positive feelings, and for approval from people they admire. They change behaviors to satisfy the desires they have learned to value” (Orey, 2001).

This strategy is also a type of behavior modification. Behavior modification can be achieved by finding and using a suitable reinforcer- in this case an intrinsic one, and then reinforcing certain behaviors until students start to become successful with that behavior (Orey, 2001).

A second strategy I explored this week is homework and practice. “As an extension of the classroom, homework provides opportunities for students to deepen their understanding of the content and to gain proficiency with their skills” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p.187). Homework reinforces the materials covered in class.

A great way to tie practice with technology is through the use of websites that employ programmed instruction. “Online educational games have an inherent appeal and generate immediate feedback that allows a student, parent, and teacher to monitor progress toward mastery” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p.195). My favorite programmed instruction site is starfall.com. I use it all the time in my class. It uses reinforcement to teach letters and letter sounds, and to teach beginning reading. My students love to read and do the games on that website, and I believe it is through the practice we do whole class on starfall that my students have reached their current level of mastery so quickly.

Reference:

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

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

Reflection

As I am wrapping up my first technology class for my Master’s degree I look back on the last eight weeks with a bit of surprise. I have always been relatively technologically savvy. When I was applying for my master’s program and saw the course work I did not think it looked very hard. In fact I remember telling a friend “one class is about how to do a blog. How hard can that be?” Oh how foolish a statement. This class proved to be a challenge for me, pushing me into a realm of technology I had never explored before. I feel pretty comfortable now using some of the web 2.0 technologies- namely blogging and wikis. I mean, here I am posting on my own blog! And making a wiki page was a lot of fun and very satisfying. In fact I have gone to my group wiki page several times and even used some of the links we posted. In these ways I feel satisfied that I have really developed a whole new set of skills that I otherwise would never have even thought about.

Everything that I have learned has put my brain on a sort of information overload. I am one of those people that need to sit on information, and mull it over before it really all sinks in. I believe the best way for me to expand my knowledge of integrating technology to increase my students achievement is to use and practice all of these new technologies myself. I believe the more I use them and become comfortable with them the more ideas I will get about how to utilize them in the classroom. If I let my knowledge and new found skills go cold I will no doubt lose them and never be able to fully implement their use in the classroom. While taking this course I did find my Achilles heel of technology – the podcast. I had a lot of fun recording the podcast, and my students had a lot of fun being in it. In fact, for a couple of them, just recording got them to speak in complete sentences and practice good English. My problem was in the uploading and production. As it turns out my sound bites were saved in the wrong format, and to be candid led to a total meltdown on my part. In a small way I am glad for it because I will have a level of empathy with my students if they struggle with technology in the classroom. I know I am going to need to try a podcast again soon and get over the hurdle I encountered or I am never going to use it in my classroom, and that would be a shame.

A second way to expand my knowledge of technology is to continue to familiarize myself with the skills of 21st century learning. I have a grasp on those skills needed but I feel as though I need to continue to reference these skills- possibly through the 21st century skills website, and find ways to purposefully include skills such as: critical thinking, problems solving, communication, teamwork/collaboration, creativity, self direction, and social responsibility into my teaching. Making a conscious effort to teach my students these skills will help to equip them for life.

One goal I have for transforming my classroom is to incorporate the lessons and projects I created in my class. One of those projects is a classroom blog page. In one of my first blogs I talked about how I can make a classroom blog and my goal now is to start it. I also came up with two classroom wiki projects. One of the projects is to have a question wiki where my students can post the many questions they have about how things work, and animals, and well, about everything. My goal is to have parents, fellow teachers, and fellow students answer the questions posed by my students. My second wiki project is one to develop an essential skill in my students and will involve them working together to create pages on the letters of the alphabet and add words and pictures that begin with each letter. Accomplishing this goal will require me to dive in and get started. I will have to set aside time to create the blog and wiki pages and then carve out time every day to incorporate these projects.

A more important goal and perhaps a goal that will take some time to fully incorporate is to begin to shift my way of teaching from directing what they learn into facilitating what they learn. I want my mindset to be “how can students use technology to create their own learning?” and then work to create activities that accommodate this type of student centered learning (Laureate, 2008). Since my goal as a teacher is to create effective members of society and the workforce, I also feel it important to teach media literacy along with information literacy by bringing the media into the classroom. Instead of the teacher being the only source of knowledge, I need to teach students how to find and interpret the information that is so easily located on the internet. I need to model for students how to discern what kind of information is accurate as well as teach them how to contribute accurate information to the web (Laureate, 2008). This goal might prove to be more difficult because of the expectation of my district to be a teacher that directs learning. I do believe that if I continue to use technology, remind myself of the skills my students will need, and begin to incorporate some of the web 2.0 technologies that I have learned over these last eight weeks, in time I will be able to make this shift into student created learning.

Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The changing role of the classroom teacher: Part 1: Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate, Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). The changing role of the classroom teacher: Part 2: Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

21st Century Skills

As an educator I feel it my responsibility to prepare my students to be successful in life. That is one of the main reasons I became a teacher- I want to impact the future by preparing today's children for it. As a life long learner myself, I have been learning a lot lately about the skills that our children are going to need in order to be successful in such a technological society. Unfortunately, there seems to be a huge gap between the advancements of technology in society and in the classroom.

To help close this gap and prepare our students for the 21st century, there is an organization called the Partnership for 21st century skills. The program currently runs in 14 states. This week I spent some time investigating their website and found it to be informative. The partnership helps to fund the development of such skills as creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration to name a few. They have a framework of all the 21st century skills they stress posted on their website.

I was very surprised at the amount of corporate sponsors backing this project. The volume and nature of the sponsors show that businesses are aware of the need for our students to become capable in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (Laureate,2008). We are currently not producing enough capable people in the work force in these areas, leading to the outsourcing of these jobs to countries with a ready work force.

If partnerships like this one work its way into my state, our daily classroom lives will change pretty dramatically. The focus of teaching will not just be reading, writing and math, but also a strong focus on technology, life and career skills. We'll start to see more project based work, emphasizing the use of collaborating and a much more wide spread use of technologies such as web 2.o. Teaching will become more group focused and inquiry based. I wonder which will come first: Changes in what and how we teach leading to changes in our standards and state tests or changes in our standards and state tests leading us to change what and how we teach. If my past experience has taught me anything, it is that nothing moves slower than getting classroom policy to change.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Skills for the 21st century. [Motion picture]. Baltimore: Author.

How can I use blogging in my classroom?

I have been thinking about how I might use a blog in my classroom. Blogs are a powerful tool in the instructional setting in so many ways: reading, writing, collaborating with people across the globe, and archiving and sharing student work (Richardson, 2009). Since I am a kindergarten teacher I feel somewhat limited in the ways I will be able to use a blog in my class. Since they are just learning how to write phonetically, I don't feel it practical to have a blog where students write themselves. Because of this I am struggling with ways to use a blog within a lesson. I see my use of a blog as more of a communicative tool.

I would like to start a classroom blog as a way to post student work, and communicate with parents. It would keep parents updated on homework, and upcoming school activities. As a class we could even write a summary of our day together and post it so that parents know what we did that day. I will be sure to include links to websites that have good educational games on them so that students can get extra support in a fun way.

Another use for my classroom blog is to find a classroom we can be blog pals with. A technological twist on the traditional pen pal. It could be educational for my students to learn about what life is like for children outside of the the small community they live in.

Currently, if we have extra time in our day we will research a topic on the internet that my students want to know more about- for example animals, and bugs. When I get better at blogging, I can have my students post questions to the general public about things they want to know about and see what kinds of responses we get. Students might even chose to research the topic at home and post a response with their family.

My question to anyone who might be reading this is simple: what are some different grade level appropriate ways I can use a blog in my classroom of kindergarteners? While I have no problem imagining the uses of this technology for older students I am stumped for ideas of to use blogs in my own situation. I would be appreciative of any ideas.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

my first blog

Hello to all of you who are looking at my blog page. I do not know exactly what I should write in my first blog post, so I will keep it short. To my Walden classmates I look forward to chatting with you on this new medium for the next seven weeks!