Reflecting on My GAME Plan and the Use of Instructional Technology in My Classroom

The GAME Plan strategy to which we were introduced in the first week of this course (EDUC 6713, Walden University) has been very beneficial to me. By nature, I am an organizer and planner; I function better with structure and I believe my students do as well. What I appreciate about the GAME Plan strategy is its simplicity and effectiveness. The strategy is not complicated, but it has built into it the important steps of monitoring and evaluating goals which are often ignored in goal setting.

Having to write a GAME Plan for this course encouraged me to follow through with what could have been great yet unexecuted ideas. As a result, I have: 1) researched free online graphing tools to use with my algebra students; 2) completed a two-day training session on how to use the Promethean whiteboard; 3) started developing Promethean flipcharts to use with my lessons next year; and 4) communicated with teachers in our district about developing a district-wide standard for student citation of resources. I am so impressed with the GAME Plan strategy that I plan to make posters illustrating the strategy. I will hang them in my math classroom and in my computer lab next year so that students may refer to them as they work through projects following their own GAME Plans for selected projects.

I have already begun to make adjustments to my instructional practices using technology. In the past, the concept of problem-based learning (PBL) has been a difficult one for me to implement in the math classroom. This course has challenged me to think creatively and as a result, I now have one unit fully planned for my algebra students which incorporates PBL, online collaboration with local professionals, and digital storytelling. The unit addresses a real-world problem specific to my 9th grade students who are becoming licensed drivers and will discover a lack of parking space on our campus as they drive their own vehicles to school next year. Using technology, they will learn and apply content-based math lessons while they attempt to find a solution to our inadequate campus parking. Their final projects, in digital story format, will be presented to our school administration and board members. A full description of the unit and its lessons can be viewed here.

I have thought several times during this course about how much I am learning and about how excited I am to implement these instructional technology tools in my classroom in the fall. I also look forward to sharing what I have learned with my colleagues, as many of them are not familiar with the power of the technology available to them for use in their classrooms. This course has been exceptional and worth every minute of the time I have dedicated to completing its assignments.

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

In previous posts, I outlined my GAME plan for improving teaching performance in two of the areas advocated by the ISTE or International Society for Technology in Education (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx):

2a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

4a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

This week’s assignment was to monitor my progress with my GAME plan. Unfortunately, the past week at school has been very non-academic. Our focus has been on packing, moving, and unpacking…in order to prepare for next year in our brand new school building. Our high school burned down nearly three years ago, and we are finally moving into a new facility. We also just had graduation, and…we are in the middle of dealing with community-wide flooding from excessive rainfall. It has been hectic.

In an honest assessment, my GAME plan has nearly been at a standstill. Next week when school is out for the summer, I will have time to explore the GeoGebra software I downloaded to test for use in my algebra classes. I will also have time to explore other free software and Web 2.0 tools that I hope to use on our new computers. Additionally, I will be working through an online ActivInspire tutorial. ActivInspire is the software used with the Promethean board which I will have in my new classroom.

Last week I noted that I needed to speak with my colleagues at school to find out what formatting styles they require students to use when citing resources. I did accomplish that task! What I learned is that there is no consistency in what we are teaching or requiring of our students. It was agreed that we should choose one style and use it consistently. My homework for next week is to review formatting styles and choose one for recommendation to our staff next year. If anyone has suggestions for citation formatting styles to use with middle school students, I would love to hear them.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

In my last post, I outlined my GAME plan for improving teaching performance in two of the areas advocated by the ISTE or International Society for Technology in Education (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx):

2a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

4a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.

To carry out my plan for indicator 2a, I need access to information about free software and Web 2.0 tools that will enhance student learning in my algebra classes next year. So far I have researched and downloaded a copy of GeoGebra (http://www.geogebra.org/), a free program written for geometry, algebra, and calculus that allows students to create and manipulate constructions and functions. I still need to make time to use and explore the software to determine how it can best be used in my algebra classes. I have also signed up for a two-day summer training workshop to learn how to use the Promethean board that I will have in my classroom next year.

To carry out my plan for indicator 4a, I will need to start citing all of the classroom resources I use as I develop lesson plans for the junior high Tech Essentials classes I will be teaching next year. I still need to research formatting styles for citations to determine which one(s) are currently taught by the librarian, English teachers, or other staff in our junior high. I will need to have that done before school is out on May 27, so that I can plan appropriately during the summer.

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

Following the GAME plan strategy for self-directed learning outlined by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), I have set goals for the following performance indicators for teachers. These indicators are part of the NETS-T standards advocated by the International Society for Technology in Education (http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx).

Performance Indicators:
2a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity
4a. Advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources

My GAME plan for indicator 2a is written for my math classes. For three years I haven’t had access to computers for classroom use, but that will change when we move into a new building in the fall. I will have access to a computer lab and will have a Promethean whiteboard in my classroom. My goal is to search for and learn how to best utilize free software and Web 2.0 tools for my Algebra A and B classes. In addition, I will capitalize on the potential of the Promethean board as a valuable instructional tool. My actions will include spending time during the summer at my computer, researching and testing free software and tools, and attending a two-day training session on using the Promethean board. To monitor my progress, I will create a schedule, allowing myself one to two hours per week for research and testing of software and tools and for writing lesson plans to integrate digital tools into my existing lessons. To evaluate and extend my learning, I will assess my teaching after using the new resources with my students in the fall.

My GAME plan for indicator 4a is written for my junior high Keyboarding and Tech Essentials classes. In a previous Walden course, we were reminded of the importance of citing resources each time we use them in our classrooms. That was the first time it had occurred to me that I rarely do that as a teacher, yet I expect my students to do it each time they perform research. So, my goal is to begin citing and documenting all resources I use in my instruction. The action I will take is to provide citations in the proper form each time they are used, and to verbally note this action to my students. I will monitor my progress by asking my students to hold me accountable to this standard, and I will evaluate and extend my learning by asking my students to score my performance with a simple weekly “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” to note whether I am modeling digital responsibility by appropriately crediting authors and organizations for their work.

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: EDUC 6712 - Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

The most striking revelation I have had as a result of this course is that it is the responsibility of all educators, not just computer teachers, librarians, or media specialists, to participate in the teaching of new literacy skills to students of all ages. This point was made by authors Eagleton and Dobler (2007) in the opening paragraphs of their book, Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet Inquiry. As a former business education instructor, I used to carry the weight for providing students with online inquiry skills. So often, teachers would send students to my classroom to work on research assignments without any guidance or previous instruction in conducting online research. It then would become necessary for me to show them how to define or refine their research questions, how to use a search engine effectively and efficiently, how to synthesize their findings, and how to cite their resources properly. It became a burden at times instead of something enjoyable. The way students learn and will continue to learn has changed. The vast world of Internet resources will continue to be used by students in all subject areas. The time has arrived for all teachers to become participants in the teaching of new literacy skills.

For me, one of the most beneficial aspects of this course has been learning the QUEST inquiry method (Eagleton and Dobler, 2007). It has been exciting to see the work that these educators and others such as November (2008) have done to synthesize the components of online inquiry-based learning and to create models for teaching new literacy skills. The texts used in this course are full of valuable tips and methods that are organized in a way that gives much needed structure to teaching online inquiry. I have shared some of the handouts and strategies with our junior high computer literacy teacher who has already successfully put them to use with her students. In the future, as I have more access to computers for my own students, I will use the strategies in my own classroom.

My professional development goal after taking this course is to share the methods I have learned with as many teachers in our district as I can reach. I have already offered to provide in-service training during our weekly Wednesday afternoon professional development hour. My second goal is contingent upon my assigned teaching duties next year, which I hope will include teaching computer literacy classes to 7th and 8th graders. If I am assigned to teach those courses, then I will work to establish one unit of study with each of the teachers in math, science, and social studies that will include online inquiry as one of its major components. This is exciting for me to look forward to, as I have so many new ideas as a result of this course. This new role will allow me to share my passion for creating an awareness of the need for all teachers in all grades and subject areas to become involved in the teaching of new literacy skills.

References

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Reflection: Final Blog Posting for EDUC 6711

Looking back on my personal learning theory as I described it at the beginning of this course, I would say that I have both strengthened and added to that theory. The theory I described at the time was most closely related to that of constructivism which, by definition, states that “learning is not seen as just the product of mental processes; it is an entirely unique product for each individual based on the experiences within which those mental processes occurred” (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008, p. 16). Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) reinforced this concept for me when he described that constructionism, an extension of constructivism, is the belief that people learn best when they build some sort of artifact that can be shared with others. A second point I made in my original theory is that learning processes are greatly affected by the emotion attached to them, both positive and negative. After studying the social learning theory in this class, I would add this component to my theory, as it states that human knowledge is constructed mainly through interaction with others and the environment. Interaction with others and the environment are where emotions are generated. This social learning theory is now an important part of my personal learning theory.

One technology tool that I learned about in this course and would like to use immediately is the VoiceThread. My plan is to have each of my students create a document containing a math problem. Each student will then show how to solve the problem using a microphone and the drawing option that allows the student to write on the document while it is displayed. Other students can then respond with comments or questions about the lesson. This idea is appealing to me because I think my students are going to love the social interaction aspect of the technology as well as the fact that they are creating their own artifact to be posted online. Additionally, I believe this is a great example of how students can use a technology tool to practice reciprocal learning as described by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007). Reciprocal learning requires students to teach lessons to each other. To teach a lesson to others is one of the most powerful ways to gain understanding of the lesson.

A second tool I plan to put to use very soon is the concept map which can be created using free online software applications such as Webspiration (http://www.mywebspiration.com). Concept mapping, a method of graphically organizing information to show how it is related, is something I can do more of in my algebra classes in order to tie units together. In math, it is very easy for students to get caught up in the details of the “how to’s” in single lessons and then forget how that lesson applies to the larger picture. By introducing my own concept maps first, and then guiding students through the process of building their own, they will develop a greater understanding of how their math skills apply to the real world.

One long-term goal I have for improving my instructional practice with regard to technology integration is to get more equipment into the hands of my students. The only way for technology to be effective as a learning tool (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) rather than as an instructional tool (i.e. used strictly by the teacher) is to make it available to them! My colleague and I are preparing to write a $50,000 technology grant application for a grant designed to help educators purchase the computers and equipment needed to use technology innovatively in their classrooms. Armed with the knowledge I have gained in this and my other Walden courses, I feel confident that we have an excellent chance of being awarded this grant.

My second long-term goal related to technology integration is to share what I have learned with other teachers in our district so that we can collectively begin to improve our students’ learning using the amazing tools we have been exposed to in this course. Recently, a committee to which I belong created a questionnaire designed to gather information from our teachers related to their current knowledge of technology tools. We are preparing to put this survey online so that we can gather data to determine which tools are being used and which ones need to be introduced to our teachers and then included in future professional development sessions.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. [DVD]. Baltimore: Author.

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

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

VoiceThreads

Our most recent assignment in EDUC 6711, Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology, was to create a VoiceThread. What is a VoiceThread? Well, it is an amazingly easy way to create an online conversation using multimedia. Pictures, documents, or videos are used to create a slideshow, and then comments can be added by anyone from anywhere around the world using a microphone, telephone, text, audio file, or webcam.

Here is the link to my VoiceThread: http://voicethread.com/share/1041433/. In this slideshow, I have shared with viewers one of the problems that was created as a result of losing our high school building to a fire 18 months ago. Feel free to comment -- either in this post or on the VoiceThread!