Application 5: GAME plan update

Goal 1:. To promote student reflection using collaborative tools.

After trying out blogging with my students I have realized that I want to use a tool that has more capabilities for collaboration. Kidblog.org is a useful tool and seems to be a great way to introduce students to the concept of collaboration, but it is somewhat limiting. I can see that other tools such as a wiki offer more flexibility for sharing and collaborating.

Goal 2. To Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make use of emerging tools and resources that support student learning.

I can see how useful a wiki is in creating opportunities for students to collaborate in a Project Based Learning environment. I will continue to explore how to incorporate a wiki into my teaching.

I have learned that incorporating technology takes time when working with elementary aged students. There are skills that need to be taught and changes need to be made as their understanding progresses. I will make adjustments to my GAME plan by incorporating tools that will better meet the needs of my students and their learning goals.

Application 4: Game Plan Progress

As I continue to work towards my goals that I listed in my GAME plan, I have not only found some new resources, but new ways to use them. After learning more about assessments, I have realized some new ways to utilize the online tools that I have discovered. In my goal to learn more about blogging and how to use it in the classroom, I have discovered that it would be a useful tool for assessing all kinds of learning outcomes. I can also see that some of the online concept mapping tools such as Spicynodes.com or Webspiration.com is a great way for students to create a map of their thinking and a helpful way for me to assess their thought process. As I use these tools with my students I will continue to monitor and adjust along the way. I will continue to seek out new tools and discuss with colleagues how to best use what I find.

Application 3:GAME Plan in the Works…..

As a part of my GAME plan I have discussed my desire to create a blog with my students and fellow teachers and have explored a few different options. I decided to go with a blogging site that I have used before that is “kid-friendly” and has lots of options for me to monitor its use. However, after gathering ideas from colleagues I have decided to go about using it in a different way than I had before. Last week I had my students try writing a response to a question that I posted. My goal at the moment is to get students familiar with blogging and the appropriate way to use it before I have them create one of their own. After I receive all of the responses from my students I will be able to reassess and decide on what step I will need to take next. I think it is important to be open to trying out such projects and then make necessary adjustments along the way. Of course, if anyone has any advice or experiences that might be insightful as to how they have used blogging, or sites that host blogs in the classroom it would be much appreciated!
I have also made great use of my favorite blog, Free Technology for Teachers, to search for useful sites that I can use with my students!

My GAME Plan

After examining and reflecting on the National Education Standards for Teachers I feel that I have been working towards implementing each of these goals into my classroom on a daily basis. However, there is always room for improvement. Each day I try to incorporate some sort of digital image or information to help solidify lesson objectives because I find that students who can see examples of topics or watch animations are much more able to relate to the information I am presenting. Using technology I incorporate experiences that enable students to be active participants in their own learning. I use our classroom website and various other tools to collaborate with parents and students and share what we have been learning in the classroom. When completing projects that involve gathering information from the Internet, I teach my students the importance of ethical use and am consistently keeping up with new ways to help support the learning of my students.
Even though I feel that I have touched on each of the five NETS-T standards in my teaching, there are things that I still need to improve upon. The following is an outline of my GAME plan, which describes how I plan to improve:

Goals: 1. To promote student reflection using collaborative tools.
2. To Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make use of emerging tools and resources that support student learning.

Action: 1. I will research different bloging sites that I can use with my students that will allow them to reflect on and share information about what we are learning. I will explore blogs that have been created by teachers to find out how others are using them.
2. I will continue to pursue information about technology tools that will be useful in supporting my students’ learning. I will collaborate with other colleagues to learn about what other teachers are doing in the classroom.

Monitor: 1. I will take note of different blog sites and the different features that they have. I will also make a list of possible problems and things to keep in mind when using a blog with my students.
2. I will make a list technology tools that I learn about and reflect on their effectiveness. I will collaborate with colleagues to discuss different ways to incorporate the tools that I learn about.

Evaluate: 1. I will reflect on what students have posted respond appropriately. I will make notes about what worked and what I would do differently.
2. I will share what I have learned with my colleagues and brainstorm how they can be used in the classroom.

Resources:

ISTE(International Society for Technology in Education), 2008, retrieved from: iste@iste.org, www.iste.org. on March 5, 2011.

Week 8 Reflection: Final Thoughts

Upon reflection on what I have learned throughout this course I think the most striking revelation is that being literate in the 21st Century involves much more than just being able to use a computer. It involves being able to navigate, evaluate, question, communicate, collaborate, and synthesize information that is found using the Internet. In that past I have taken it for granted that students would be able to determine the authenticity of a website and to find relevant information on their own. The thought of embarking on an inquiry project was overwhelming because I was never sure where to start. My eyes have been opened to some important aspects of what I need to do to help my students be literate in the 21st Century.

I think the QUEST model (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007) will help me in future inquiry projects because I now have a much better understanding of how to break it down into pieces that will create learning opportunities for students to not only practice the 21st Century skills, but gather and construct knowledge on topics that are relevant. I have learned the importance of allowing students to create their own questions to be answered. By teaching them how to find the answers to these questions I am instilling some valuable tools that my students will use for the rest of their lives.

My own personal goal includes taking the steps to be involved in creating an Internet usage, plagiarism, and copyright policy for our elementary school. Currently the policy that was adopted by our school board is very generic and outdated. After talking to fellow colleagues I am not the only one that wasn’t aware that there was one. I think there is a strong need to develop a plan that is not only clear, but shared, understood and followed by all the teachers, students, and parents in our school. Using what I have learned from this course I will develop a committee of parents and teachers to develop a plan that will outline what is acceptable Internet usage. We will also develop a plan that outlines the steps and guidelines that teachers and parents should follow to teach students how to be 21st Century literate.


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

How to Evaluate a Website

I explored the website about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Watch the following Screencast that explains how to determine if a website contains accurate information.

Legit Website

Final Reflection

After completing the readings, discussions, and watching the videos, my beliefs of how students best learn have been verified, but better yet, I have new tools to help me be a more effective teacher. My teaching philosophy centers around the belief that students need to make meaningful connections to what they are learning in order to build upon and retain information. Some of the tools that were introduced in this course will help me translate this philosophy into what I teach. The immediate changes I will make will be the use of technology as a collaborative tool. Students will learn from one another by utilizing tools that allow them to share, build projects, and understanding together.

Voicethread is a tool that I plan to incorporate into many different areas of my curriculum. I can see the value of this tool as a way to get students to be active learners and I am looking forward to using it with my students. Voicethread provides an opportunity for students to learn by using both visual and auditory tools which is key to student learning. The other tool that I plan to use with my students is Webspiration. I like the collaborative nature of this tool and the versatility it will provide for students while learning about and mapping out information for different topics.

One of my long-term goals that I have for my instructional practice is to make more of an effort to use technology as more of a learning tool and less of an instructional tool. Although I can see the value of using it as a learning tool, I can also see that it is even more important to get technology into the hands of students. This leads me to my second long-term goal. I will use technology as a way to incorporate more project-based learning where students are given the tools and freedom to be more active participants. It is important for students to develop an understanding of material through doing and creating and technology is a great way to do this!