Reflection

By setting up Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer’s GAME plan (2009) this summer, I achieved far more than I have ever accomplished during a summer. My research during this course demonstrated hundreds of ways I can use technology to enhance my instruction. When the course began, I set goals based on the ISTE NETS, reshaping my classroom to integrate technology as a tool for enhancing learning. Thanks to these goals my instructional practice will be greatly changed, with technology infused throughout most of my units.

Many of my accomplishments related to standard 2: “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments” (ISTE, 2008). Focusing on this standard, I created a poetry wiki where our poem-a-day assignment can take on more collaboration and critical thinking. This site will allow my students to reflect on our class poetry at home, adding personal insights and expanding their thinking by reading each other’s ideas. I also discovered ThinkQuest.com, where we can join students from other schools to collaborate on creative projects. I am in the process of setting up a project-based learning experience through this web site now.

This course demonstrated the value of problem-based as a tool for promoting creativity and collaboration. The recycle project I created will give my students a chance to practice reading and writing skills while using higher-order thinking. During this unit, groups will choose areas of interest to research and use self-directed learning with their own GAME plans. This lesson, based on authentic, relevant subject matter that affects my students’ lives, will “stimulate curiosity related to real-world problem solving” (Alvermann, Phelps & Ridgeway, 2007, p. 182). This unit fits my GAME plan and ISTE standard 1, where I will “facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments” (ISTE, 2008). Best of all, my students will use digital storytelling to share their findings with members of our community who have little understanding about our recycling problems. My students will become proficient in the NETS for students based on problem solving, “employing technology in the development of strategies for solving problems in the real world” (ISTE, 1998).

As I stated in an earlier blog, I strongly value goal-setting and reflection as learning tools. This summer, I set my own goals and came a long way on my journey towards becoming a 21st Century teacher.

Kris
References

Alvermann, D., Phelps, S., & Ridgeway, V. (2007). Content area reading and literacy: Succeeding in today’s diverse classrooms. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.
The power of project learning with ThinkQuest [Online Pamphlet]. (2009, August 3). Menlo Park, CA: SRI International. Retrieved August 5, 2010, from http://www.thinkquest.org/en/projects/index.html
Nets for Teachers. (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved on August 5, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm

GAME Plan for students

No matter what subject I teach, I always make time to teach my students Sean Covey’s 7 Habits, especially the first two: “Be Proactive” and “Begin with the End in Mind” (Covey,1998). I am amazed at how much my students seem to take these ideas to heart. Habit two is especially important for teens; kids have to know where they want to go in life or they end up getting pulled along, sometimes in the wrong direction. In my classes, we set life goals and academic goals. We set reading goals to plan where we want our reading to take us. We set writing goals to determine how we want our writing to grow over the year. Professionally, I set goals for myself each year in order to be assessed by my principal.

This summer, I have been writing a new type of professional goal for myself. Gearing towards becoming a teacher of technology, I have been reshaping my lessons to fit with the ISTE’s National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). To reach my goals, I have used the GAME plan presented by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer in Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use (2009). There is value in mapping out the methods you will take to achieve goals. The GAME plan forced me to plan my action steps, constantly monitor my progress, and reflect as I reached each goal (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 14). Thanks to the GAME plan, I have come a long way towards rewriting most of my lessons so that I can enrich my students with technological experiences.

This week, I took some time to reflect on my progress by comparing the NETS-T with the standards for students (NETS-S). In order to truly be digital age learners, our students have a lot to learn. I have no time to waste. I plan to begin our school year by sharing the NETS-S with my students. We can then engage in discussion about what a digital age learner looks like. How far do my students have to go? I will then ask the class to start their own GAME plans, setting goals for themselves based on the national technology standards we must reach. We can monitor our progress throughout the year, evaluating and changing goals as we learn. Giving my students an opportunity to “keep the end in mind” will set them up for success on their route to 21st Century learning.
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning.

New GOALS

This week as I continue on my GAME plan, I started searching for ways to take my classroom to a more global environment for collaboration. I am designing a problem-based lesson for my class centered on my community’s need for a recycling facility. I know this is an issue in other small towns, so I wanted to find a way to collaborate. While exploring I found Thinkquest.org. This site provides a teacher-created web page for me to start my project. Students can log in and use the site like a wiki, posting information they uncover and collaborating together to create solutions. Also, I can open this project up to other teachers who use ThinkQuest. Hopefully we can get another school on board and join forces. I am unable to use all aspects of the web site until my administrator grants them permission, so once again my GOAL is blocked by summer. We will see how this one goes…

Meanwhile, I am still working on my NETS goal to “model digital-age work and learning”. I am building a wiki through a learning community with my peers at Walden. This experience is helping me get more familiar with the process and I am pretty sure I will be able to create the poetry wiki with my students. I have set up the basic site. Now I think I will get in touch with some former students through Facebook and see if they want to help me get it started. There is nothing like getting kids on-board to create interest in a project like this one.

For the future, I have begun working on NET 1. “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity “. This standard asks that teachers “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” (ISTE, 2010). I am working on this goal as I play around with the ThinkQuest site, and am excited about finding new ways to apply problem-based learning to my lessons. Has anyone had any experience with the ThinkQuest site? Until I get my administrator to approve it, there are quite a few areas of the site that I can’t access. I wonder if the program is going to be as easy to use as it sounds?

Thanks for following my progress!
Kris