- 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.
I like your idea of adding to your bag of tricks while researching different types of technology to use in the classroom. Technology enriched classrooms allows students to participate in their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009). It is important to use technology in the classroom and allow students to prepare for their future. Have you used the Smart table? The students use an interactive table to enrich their understanding of the material. The document camera can be used as a complement tool with the table.
ReplyDeleteI have never heard of the Smart Table before, but this can definitely be a question for the "Tech Tuesday" session that I am hoping that my district will hold. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteChristina
I think that because you articulated the specific application of the document camera you requested, and the learning competency it supports, you have a better chance of your request getting approved. You are also fortunate to have a principal that is interested and informed about technologies, or at least trying to be. So many administrators have no idea what their students, and teachers, are missing or what the administrators could be doing to support them all.
ReplyDeleteYour principal might appreciate visiting your classroom later to see the students and you in action with the camera. You may even suggest that as a follow up to your Tech Tues, some students or teachers could present some of the achievements to the school board.
I think you have made a perfect match with poetry and the document camera, as so often poetry is about imagery.
(And this is the last time I will post without putting my writing into a word doc first)