Week Four: How Is My Game Plan Going?

Week Four: How Is My Game Plan Going?

In last week’s blog, I commented that I had e-mailed my district technology coordinator about making one of our “Tech Tuesday” sessions all about the document camera, its soft ware, and its uses in the classroom. I received an e-mail this morning from Adam, the tech coordinator, who thanked me for my suggestion and said that he could definitely do not just one session, but several due to the fact that because of budget cuts, teachers will have to consider making sure that they use technology in the place of making paper copies as much as possible. These sessions should begin taking place in August. I am not sure how many other teachers will attend, but it is very exciting! So, as far as my GAME plan, I feel that I am on my way to reaching my goal of learning this new piece of technology, but that I can begin my own learning over the summer months with the online tutorials that I mentioned last week and being able to explore using the document camera that I already possess in my classroom. I certainly do not want to wait until August to really begin my learning here. One of the indicators in the ISTE NETS Performance Indicators for teachers from, http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx,  that I chose to address during week two, was modeling the use of technology in every day situations. In this sense, I feel that I can really demonstrate this standard to my students as I use these new technologies in the classroom often. 

My action plan has been successful so far in incorporating “Tech Tuesday” in to the mix and finding the online tutorials that I have found. I still think that I need to elicit my colleague whom uses this piece of technology quite often so that I can learn some success tips to begin. I think that I need to make clear a time limit for myself so that I know that I am really staying on track. When I had taken the course, “Action Research for Educators,” I learned that making a timeline for my action research project would help me to focus not only on what I was doing in the present, but where I needed to be headed for the coming weeks. I would like to say that by the end of the first quarter of the school year, I would like to feel comfortable with using the document camera as a lesson tool completely and then be able to extend to student use of the technology during the second quarter. 

So far, I feel that I have learned that when it comes to technology, it is not just about what I am comfortable with. In Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer’s text(2009) this week, a “Story From Practice”(p. 138) quoted a teacher who commented that she “was dragged in to technology kicking and screaming.” After experiencing the technology and how it changed her classroom for the better, she could not imagine her teaching without it. I feel the same way. I never would have thought that a classroom website would have been more than more work for me and no help to the students, but after experiencing its benefits, I am amazed at how easily students can access homework, take practice quizzes, view videos, participate in discussions, etc. What a great tool! As a teacher, I have to keep in mind that I cannot let my uneasiness or nervousness stop me from learning new ways of instruction when it comes to technology, otherwise, my students are missing out on some very authentic classroom work. 

I cannot say that I have any new questions at this point, but I know that I will have many questions as I really begin learning about this technology. 

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 NETS Performance Indicators for teachers. Retrieved on May 9, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

An Addition To My Week Four Post:

As I was reading through my post again, I realized that my second indicator that I would like to improve upon was to better assess students using technology. I am glad that this week's learning resources addressed this issue head on because though the assessment piece was not a specific part of my GAME plan, I feel that it is very important to consider. It reminds me of my initial discussion post this week when I asked the question,"should we be assessing the technology use, the content in the project, or both?

Christina

Week Four: How Is My Game Plan Going?

In last week’s blog, I commented that I had e-mailed my district technology coordinator about making one of our “Tech Tuesday” sessions all about the document camera, its soft ware, and its uses in the classroom. I received an e-mail this morning from Adam, the tech coordinator, who thanked me for my suggestion and said that he could definitely do not just one session, but several due to the fact that because of budget cuts, teachers will have to consider making sure that they use technology in the place of making paper copies as much as possible. These sessions should begin taking place in August. I am not sure how many other teachers will attend, but it is very exciting! So, as far as my GAME plan, I feel that I am on my way to reaching my goal of learning this new piece of technology, but that I can begin my own learning over the summer months with the online tutorials that I mentioned last week and being able to explore using the document camera that I already possess in my classroom. I certainly do not want to wait until August to really begin my learning here. One of the indicators in the ISTE NETS Performance Indicators for teachers from, http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx,  that I chose to address during week two, was modeling the use of technology in every day situations. In this sense, I feel that I can really demonstrate this standard to my students as I use these new technologies in the classroom often. 

My action plan has been successful so far in incorporating “Tech Tuesday” in to the mix and finding the online tutorials that I have found. I still think that I need to elicit my colleague whom uses this piece of technology quite often so that I can learn some success tips to begin. I think that I need to make clear a time limit for myself so that I know that I am really staying on track. When I had taken the course, “Action Research for Educators,” I learned that making a timeline for my action research project would help me to focus not only on what I was doing in the present, but where I needed to be headed for the coming weeks. I would like to say that by the end of the first quarter of the school year, I would like to feel comfortable with using the document camera as a lesson tool completely and then be able to extend to student use of the technology during the second quarter. 

So far, I feel that I have learned that when it comes to technology, it is not just about what I am comfortable with. In Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer’s text(2009) this week, a “Story From Practice”(p. 138) quoted a teacher who commented that she “was dragged in to technology kicking and screaming.” After experiencing the technology and how it changed her classroom for the better, she could not imagine her teaching without it. I feel the same way. I never would have thought that a classroom website would have been more than more work for me and no help to the students, but after experiencing its benefits, I am amazed at how easily students can access homework, take practice quizzes, view videos, participate in discussions, etc. What a great tool! As a teacher, I have to keep in mind that I cannot let my uneasiness or nervousness stop me from learning new ways of instruction when it comes to technology, otherwise, my students are missing out on some very authentic classroom work. 

I cannot say that I have any new questions at this point, but I know that I will have many questions as I really begin learning about this technology. 

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 NETS Performance Indicators for teachers. Retrieved on May 9, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Week Three Post: Reaching My Game Plan

• What resources will you need to carry out your plan (video, reading, experts or colleagues, etc)?
• What additional information do you need?
• What steps have you been able to take so far?

Hello all, I am so sorry for the late post, but I spent quite a bit of time working on this week's application, and did not realize that I also needed to update my blog until today. However, I have had quite a bit of time to study this week's resources and to understand how my instruction can reach more students with different types of technology and resources. When I think of my GAME plan that I formulated last week in order to learn more about the document camera and its uses in my classroom, I am able to use several web sites to help in my journey as well as colleagues who might be of assistance. As I look at my Goal, which is to learn about how to use the document camera myself so that students might also use the same technology, I realize that I will need to illicit the help of colleagues that have used the document camera before in thier own classrooms with success. These fellow teachers can help me to understand the different kinds of features of the camera and to help me understand what kinds of practices are most successful in the classroom.




I learned from my assistant principal this week that youtube.com offers several tutorial videos on using the document camera that might be of use to me. I found other tutorials that were also helpful for my students that had to do with research, using search engines, etc. These are all things that I plan on exploring more in depth. Though I have found these resources that I did not know had existed a week ago, I still feel as if I would need a formal training. Our district sponsors what is called "Tech Tuesday," which is where a new type of technology is presented each week or an extension of a technology that we already use in the classroom. I am hoping that with a suggestion, one of these sessions might include the document camera so that I can have the opportunity to ask more questions and to practice the software "hands-on." I realize through the CAST website this week that I am definitely a learner that needs to be able to experience and manipulate in order to understand. This is the "how" of learning and is referred to as the "strategic" network. I think I should carve out twice a week during my personal planning time, to take twenty minutes in order to explore the technology that I am learning about and to evaluate my progress, which was a strategy mentioned in a video resource during week one of our course.



Today, I was able to put in a formal request for the document camera session when I used our district website and found a "technology desk request form." I am excited to not only learn about this software, but to tackle how to integrate what I learn in to my units next school year. I have mentioned in my application this week that I would like to specifically improve my unit on poetry to help student engagement and understanding by incorporating many of the UDL and CAST resources that we have had access to this week as well as other technologies. The document camera could be of so much use for this unit when students are presenting thier final projects to the classroom and introducing the poet and poetry of thier choice.

Week Two: GAME Plan for Performance Indicators

As I looked through the ISTE NETS Performance Indicators for teachers from, http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

I realized that though I could use some improvement in each indicator because of its specific components, I would like to focus on indicator 2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments and on indicator 3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning. Both of these indicators seem like a great start for what I would like to accomplish next year, which is to use some of the technology tools that I already have in a better capacity than I have used them in the past.

For both of these indicators, I not only need to incorporate technology use to help students to understand and achieve, but I also need be modeling their specific uses during classroom time within my own lessons. Students need to see the critical and creative thinking behind technology use so that they can become comfortable themselves. Going back to the "GAME" plan introduced by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer(2009) in thier text, I think that the following plan will work well to put in to place during the beginning of the next school year and even during the summer months that I will have off. In order to take the advice of our video resources this week, I would like to start off with one specific goal and then move on as I feel that I am progressing. I would like to focus on the use of my document camera in the classroom, as it is an amazing tool. I feel that this goal will help me with indicator number two by integrating the document camera in to lessons and units. I can then move to how to assess students as they begin using more technologies in the classroom. By specifically modeling these processes on a regular basis, I will become more comfortable with indicator three, as I will be sharing information more effectively and using technology to help support thinking in the classroom.

Goal- I will learn to more effectively use the document camera and its software in order to bring new ways of viewing documents,assignments, and using live tools such as cameras and video to the classroom first hand.

Action- I will ask my principal to move forward with the idea of having a specific professional learning class in the use of document cameras for teachers either during the summer months or at the beginning of the school year. I will also ask for the help of colleagues whom I know use this tool regularly in thier classrooms.

Monitor- I can monitor my own progress by taking a self inventory each quarter of the school year to ask myself how often I have used the document camera and its features in the classroom, how successful my experiences were, how the technology helped my lesson planning, and then move to other technology that I might explore.

Evaluate- I will ask myself what other technology goals can I make once I feel like I am comfortable with document camera use. I can also poll students on how they felt the use of the technology helped them to better understand the content.


I will be curious to read about other teachers' goals as far as technology and what steps you might be taking also :)

Just Thinking...

I was just sitting here thinking about how easy it was to create this blog! I think that I might like to use this with my students next school year! This year, my school district has subscribed to a program entitled, "School Fusion." This site gives me the chance to have an online site for each of my classes to post discussions, online quizzes and tests, videos, homework assignments, announcements, etc. I think that possibly, blogging might also give students a chance to become more interactive with class material. I can blog on "school fusion" with students, but I think I might really consider having them create a blogging account where they might also post things on their own time. 


Well, I am looking forward to learning along with the rest of you during this course. Have a great weekend!


Christina