Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

      While monitoring my GAME plan, I found a weakness that I may need to modify. As I said in my blog previously, my goal is to add components of technology into these plans so that students can engage in ‘learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments” (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 2008). I want to add a “face-to-face” interview with my host from old Soviet Russia, Valentina. Valentina’s father fought in WWII, called the Great Patriotic War in Russia, and I want my students to have the opportunity to talk to her about her father’s stories from the war. My students study the eastern front, and learn about the battles of Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad. They see documentary footage from the battles, do a comparison paper between the actual battle of Stalingrad and the Hollywood interpretation of the battle of Stalingrad. It would make the lesson complete to have Valentina give them her father’s stories about the war. However, even though Valentina has Skype, we are not allowed to download it at school or use it through the school computers. I met with a member of the virtual field trip team and explained the problem to him; he is going to talk to the head of technology communication and from there we will see what can be done. We are allowed to use ClearSea, but Valentina does not know how to download that, she’s not even sure if they have that program available for free download  in Russia. Therefore, if the head of technology communication cannot set us up with Skype, we may not be able to get the face-to-face interview with my Soviet hostess. To modify the situation with Valentina, I may Skype with her from home, tape the session, and with any luck play it for my students. Nevertheless, this is not the lesson I want to teach them; I want them to be able to ask the questions they are interested in hearing the answers to and interact with Valentina themselves, not through me.

            To my colleagues, do any of you know of another program, other than ClearSea and Skype, which will allow my class to have a face-to-face conversation with my friend in Russia? If any of you were thinking of Tango, I just want you to know that my sister and I downloaded Tango onto our phones so we could talk free to each while she was in France. It does not work unless both parties are online simultaneously, her in France and me in New Jersey; Tango did not meet our needs.

References:

International Society for Technology in Education (2008). National education standards for         teachers (nets-t). Retrieved from   http://www.iste.org/Libraries?PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Skype.com

Tango.com

ClearSea.lifesize.com

Resources and Information for Meeting my GAME plan

               In last week’s post, I mentioned that I wanted to set my goal at improving the use of technology into NETS-T standard 1. My goal for improving my lessons for NETS-T standard 2 is to meet the diverse learning styles of my students by using a myriad of technology tools. After reading this week’s resources, I realize that I need to learn more about the technology I want to integrate into my lessons. Resources: I will need easy access to computers and internet service, which can be problem since I can no longer sign up for the computer lab months in advance. Without being able to reserve the computer lab far in advance creates a situation where the onus is on me to get reservation in time but not too soon or the office will not allow me to reserve the lab.

 We also do not have a technology department that trains the teachers on any new software. The technology department repairs the computers and adds software it does not run workshops for teachers to learn the new software that was loaded onto our computers. Now, many of the teachers are running behind in learning the new software that has been installed on our classroom computers. However, to meet the goals set forth in my GAME plan, I am going to have to learn new software quickly.

            I currently use the following technologies in my lessons:

·         Power point

·         Short throw projector (turns your white board into a SMART board)

·         Include images, videos, and text on power points

·         Have students in cooperative groups for homework, study guides, projects, and review.

·         The use of PBLs (Problem Based Learning) for all major projects

·         Google Earth, maps, apps, and blogs

·         E-Board (teacher website through the school district)

·         WebQuests

·         Concept (mind) maps

·         Digital storytelling

·         Voice Threads

·         Word Processing

The technologies I want to learn to infuse in my class are:

·         Setting up my own websites

·         Creating multimedia websites

·         Wikis

·         Clear Sea (A video conferencing tool, we’re not allowed to use Skype at school)

·         Other online tools that can help in my classroom (i.e. historypin.com)

I am willing to try ideas from other teachers who have already mastered many of the technologies I want to add to my repertoire. I need to learn how to use the technology listed, add the technology to unit plans that need infusion, and not lose content in the process. Students still need to be ready for state assessments, department benchmarks, and to meet the core standards that govern the course. Advice from my colleagues is much appreciated in the process of integrating technology into my content area.

GAME Plan for integrating iste.nets-t standards

Developing a GAME plan for you can be difficult but is necessary for teacher improvement and helping students meet 21^st century skills.  “Setting goals, taking action to meet those goals, monitor progress toward achieving goals and evaluate whether the goals were achieved and extend your learning to new situations” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009 p. 3). are the key components of any GAME plan. My goal is to create a plan while using iste.nets standards for teachers. Of the five standards, I have chosen to work with standards one and two. Standard one for teachers is to “facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity” and standard two states “design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments” (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 2008).

            For standard one, I will continue to have my students explore “real-world issues” while using digital tools and collaboration. My goal is to add components of technology into these plans so that students can engage in “learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments” (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 2008). Given the example set by Laufenberg, when her classes held interviews on Election Day and posted their findings via twitter, Flickr, Gcast and other programs, she was able to have her students interact with the community, with each other, and with a school in Texas (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). I need to improve my lessons to include collaboration with other students from other schools because it will only enhance the learning experience for my students.

            ISTE.nets-t standard two is to “design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), 2008). To meet the performance indicators that are part of standard two, I will continue to adapt my lessons to include the use of digital tools and to promote “student creativity”. I will work on continuing and improving the use digital tools as a way to meet the diverse learning styles of my students. Using digital storytelling, blogs, voice thread, podcasts and other digital tools I will improve on meeting the needs of my diverse students.

            To monitor my progress with standards one and two,  my department chairperson will be conducting informal observations and aiding me in my use of the new short throw project and its’ interactive capabilities. Using the short-throw will be one of many digital tools I will use to meet the diversity of my students and improve the quality of my instruction. In addition, I will have students evaluate the unit lessons to see what they like the most in the classroom. I will adapt according to the feedback from students and my department chair. I plan to extend my learning by continuing to attend workshops for technology and content infusion in the classroom.  Finishing my program at Walden University will be meeting a goal I set for myself as well as a tool for extending my learning.

            To my classmates, I would love if you could share with me some of the lessons you have used with a short throw projector. Do you have any insights on how I can make my presentations more interactive in the classroom?

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: Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education (2008). National education standards for teachers (nets-t). Retrieved 09/10/2012 from 

                 http://www.iste.org/Libraries?PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Enriching content area learning experiences with technology- Part 2. Integrating technology across the content areas [DVD]. United States

All posts below this one are from other courses and workshops.

For course # 8, Integrating Technology across the Content Areas, in the Walden University MS in Education program, Technology infusion in the classroom K-12, all posts are above this one.
Thank You,
Debbie