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!
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI feel you are making a difference in your school, your classroom, and the lives of your students. Starting an after school technology club is an excellent step in bringing twenty-first century skills to young people. I hope you are successful in acquiring learners with a high interest level, gaining parent support, and perhaps influencing fellow staff members to integrate technology into their teaching. I am interested in learning how your VoiceThread experiment turns out. I have thought about using this in my own class, but I have not found a lesson that I thought would work well. May I ask what lesson you plan to use VoiceThread with? Thank you for sharing with us. Good luck with the new technology club. I feel your students will be excited at the prospect.
Amber~ Your desire to improve the education of the children in your building is remarkable! You truly are making a difference! My building theme for the year is 21st century learning so we started the "TechKNOW" club for 3-5 graders. The goal was not only for the students to increase their technology understanding, but to also incorporate a community component. At the beginning of November, the students learned how to use the website Shutterfly. We advertised in the community at grocery stores, the local library and with mailings from school. Adults were able to come to school from 8-12 on a Saturday morning to create gifts for the holidays. The students worked one-on-one with community members to assist assist them with the program. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the students as they aided adults who stereotypically are the ones who teach the younger generation. Best of luck to you as you begin this exciting journey!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAmber- You seem to have a positive attitude, which I think is half the battle when trying new things. It is great that you are making progress with your idea of adding technology to your curriculum. I really enjoyed the Voice Thread project we had a few months ago and have been trying to find a way to incorporate it into my lessons as well. How are you planning to do this?
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of starting a technology club is great. You can try out all the things we learn in our Walden classes on your students, that would help me remember them all. You can also use the students in your club as technology ambassadors that can help teach their teachers and classmates what they learn from you and your entire school will be tech savvy.
You sound like you are well on your way to meeting all of your goals
Mary
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome that you have taken the initiative to start this after school computer club. What a great opportunity for the students at your school. I teach second grade, and agree that sometimes it is hard to implement the technology you would like to because the younger students don't always understand how to use such advanced technology tools. I think that this will also be a wonderful opportunity greatly benefit you as well. You will be able to design and create lessons, try them with your computer club, and then possibly tweak them to fit your own classroom. It sounds that you are doing a great job at carrying out your GAME plan and meeting your goals. Best of luck with the after school club!
Hi Amber,
ReplyDeleteI am so excited for you and the students that will be in your computer club. How will you decide who is in the club, if you have 50 students sign up. I think you are going to be shocked at the response you get. Your students and administration are very lucky to have a go getter like yourself in their lives.
A couple of classes ago when I started voice threading I had to have our school technology person come to my class and set it up so my students and myself could voice thread. Otherwise, our system was not allowing us to use this. Good luck, my students love it!
You are making a difference and well on your way to carrying out your plan.
Tammy
More applause for your idea and desire to start a computer club! What a great idea for the students. I will get together the list of great interactive websites I previously used when I taught a technology class. I could certainly use your club to help with e-folios for art projects! Too bad we couldn't work together. Perhaps this will give me some input to adjusting what our schools tech team does! Hopefully we can read the blog and follow along.
ReplyDeleteAmber,
ReplyDeleteStarting a computer club at your school is great! I think the students will benefit greatly from this idea. With the knowledge you are gaining through your Walden coursework, you should be able to expose them to some new and interesting technology tools that can enhance learning. I wish you well on your endeavors.
Thank you everyone for you possitive comments. I am hoping that it will be a success. I am not sure what I will do if I get a large response from the students at my school site. I do not want to turn any students away- I would really like to give all the students that want to take part the chance to learn more about the internet. My plan would be to borrow net books from all the teachers I can so that I have at least one computer for every 2 students in the club.
ReplyDeleteMy voice thread plan is pretty simple. We are learning about numbers, and to give my students a solid base in number sense I really focus on all the ways to make each number. For the voice thread students will pick a number (probably will be 20-30 by the time I implement the lesson) and illustrate a way to make that number. I will then take a picture of their illustration and load it onto the voice thread page where students can say the phrase ___ and ____ make ___.
The after school club is an amazing idea. I like the way that you are approaching students. Blogging is an amazing tool to introduce. My colleague Kim has a blog post about blogging. Please have a look at it, you might find it useful.
ReplyDeletehttp://kimcofino.com/blog/2010/09/05/beginning-with-blogging/