GAME Plan Reflection Post

Reflection Blog Post

Learning to use technology and then applying what you have learned into the classroom is something that a teacher must constantly do throughout their professional career (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This statement holds true as teachers in order to best teach their students, must constantly be honing their own technological skills and expanding their teaching repertoire with the goal of connecting to every student in the classroom. Throughout this course we have been immersed into new material and new ways to use technology, learning a variety of new strategies useful to the classroom teacher. These strategies have provided ideas for individualized lessons and the customization of content area instruction allowing us to accommodate the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students that are entering our classroom today. This final assignment is broken into two parts, with the first looking at our work throughout our GAME plan, identifying what we have learned and taken from the course. The second part of this assignment identifies any immediate changes that I will make in the classroom as a result of my new skill set.

One of the biggest gains from this course came in the form of my own personal GAME plan. This plan provided me with specific guidelines to reach my goals where before I often relied on vague ideas and strategies accompanied with a little luck to reach my end goal. Using the GAME plan I found allowed me to first identify my goal, something I often did, but then took it a step farther finding then best possible to reach my goals and ensuring my actions stayed in line with where I eventually wanted to go within a specific period of time (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Basically, the GAME plan took an informal process that I often struggled with before this course and made it more formal allowing me to focus my attention on constructing activities to reach my goals. With the process being clearly outlined I was able to stay on task throughout the entire process monitoring my work as I worked and finally evaluating what I did and where I needed to go to expand my work. This process proved invaluable and will be something I continue to use in my own work and also something that I will pass onto my students, allowing them a more active role in their own learning.

I also learned that using a GAME plan will allow me to take difficult goals and work at them slowly yet efficiently in order to make them a reality. Often when goals are hard even the most diligent professional may find them tedious to implement. This plan allows four steps to be used in order to make the entire process more manageable with a focus on each specific step during the course of the work (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). This I feel is one of the greatest strengths of a GAME plan and something I will pass on to my students during my class. In global studies, the work is often seen as boring and difficult for many students. Using the GAME plan with my own students, particularly when they are working on a longer project with allow them to break the material and work down into sections, reducing stress and creating a stronger end product. I found that even though this plan may seem time consuming and difficult at first glance, the benefits greatly outweigh the time it takes to use and learn the strategy. My hopes are that this benefit will transfer into the classroom setting without much difficulty to assist the learning process and the amount of information the students are able to glean from the material.

Another strong take away throughout my GAME plan was the discovery of many different tools that can be useful in my classroom. Through my work and actions to reach my identified goals in my GAME plan I found is that there are many different online resources that are available to assist me in bringing authentic learning experiences into my classroom (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). The first thing I found was there are a multitude of different websites that have multimedia images, audio and video clips available for the students and the teacher. This information engages the students in a way that simply reading or listening to text will not do. I also, found many different websites that allow for online interactions with other students and experts allowing students to collaborate with others breaking down the limitations of the classroom walls. Students are much more eager to learn the material when they are able to find the information on their own and discuss their findings with others, both inside and outside of the classroom. My work on the GAME plan allowed me the opportunity to find these resources and to identify ideas for their usage in the classroom, hopefully bringing a larger amount of excitement and engagement into my content based instruction.

Finally, I found that many of my lessons did not need to be completely revised in order to accommodate a form of useful technology. This made changing my classroom lessons much easier as the technology itself took center stage but was much less intrusive that I initially thought it would be. I found that using technology in my lessons often “fit” and the students were much more engaged in the work when they saw images and movies or could manipulate the material using a computer (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). These tools that are available in my classroom have made the classroom setting a more conducive place to learn for students who were raised with this technology and expect its usage in the classroom. Simply put, my classroom now matches my students more closely allowing my instruction to reach more of my students thus improving their knowledge of my content material.

The second part of my reflection focused on the immediate changes I will bring into my classroom using the material learned in this course. Throughout this course I have made note of many different ideas and strategies that I found that I feel will be useful in allowing my students to learn global studies. However, I feel that overall the best plan is to bring changes into the classroom slowly as to not overwhelm the students by changing my entire instruction. I believe if I bring different forms of technology into the classroom with a “less is more” approach, at least initially, and then build upon the new skills the students learned I will be able to provide students with the skills they need without completely disrupting the flow of the classroom. With this in mind I have identified five different areas in which I will focus my attention throughout the year.

The first change I will bring into the classroom is allowing the students to guide their own learning more often, rather than having the students always follow the teachers lead and instruction. This will allow the students to not only work through the content but also to “think about thinking”, taking a more active role in the learning process (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.3). I can provide the students with the tools and the topic and then see what the students can do with the information creating various projects to show their learning. As in the real world and the workplace, a topic or problem is provided and the workers are asked to work collaboratively to find a practical solution to the problem, without the guidance of their supervisor. My global studies classroom is the perfect place for students to research information on real world topics using online resources, the same way the students find information when they are at home and also in the future. These are skills that I can have an immediate effect upon my students and the classroom. This will result in real learning that will make a tremendous impact on the students and stay with them throughout their lives.

The second change I will make is to bring digital storytelling into my classroom immediately, most likely during the next unit. Digital storytelling allows the students to take the information they have learned and deepen their understanding by reflecting, presenting and communicating the information to others, often in the form of a multimedia video (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This strategy could help the students expand their writing skills as well providing an opportunity for them to share their knowledge with an audience outside of the specific classroom in which it was created. I like the idea of having students research a topic finding useful information, create a skit, find images to fit their material and finally create and present a strong example of a multimedia project (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010d). Our school is fortunate in that the students already have the available tools in my classroom and all we have to do is utilize them to help the students learn my content. I would like to have the students take a current event that is making the news today and then interview others outside of the classroom to help identify their opinions about a specific topic. I feel this is a strategy that will allow students to really dig into the material allowing them a chance to show what they have learned while learning real world skills such as collaboration, research and analytical skills all within a guided classroom environment.

Also, I have already begun to bring more project based assessments into the classroom helping students to immerse themselves into the content completely. These assessments allow students to take what they have learned and demonstrate their learning in a real world setting, similar to the kind they will experienced after school (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010c). Right now the students are learning about different ways they are able to affect our government in comparison to the lack of freedoms experienced by people in other countries. The students are to take a right that we are provided in our constitution and then find examples of areas that do not share the same privilege, then discussing the importance of the freedom. So far the students have been eager to participate in the project and the time immediately after Christmas break should yield some strong results. In the future I would also like to look at more situational dilemmas and community issues making the information more realistic to the students and allowing for greater interaction (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I feel the greatest benefit of this strategy is allowing the students to look at real world issues with a critical eye, identifying and the underlying problems and creating solutions from their work.

Another strategy I will employ immediately is rather simple yet will yield great benefits to my instruction. I will explore new technology and new opportunities myself in order to bring new ideas fully into my classroom (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). The information I learn can be provided to my students allowing them to continue to strengthen their own skills and expand their own learning. This can be taken a step farther with the teacher working closely with the students throughout their work, allowing both parties to learn from each other helping to establish a classroom of mutual respect and learning. I feel that I will begin to take more chances and bring new ideas in to classroom using the Internet, professional journals, my colleagues as well as the students as places to gain ideas and information that will become the building blocks of a great classroom setting.

Finally, I will explore the use of wikis more in my classroom and utilize this tool to help my students collaborate on a variety of topics. I plan to use this strategy allowing the students to work as a group on a teacher selected topic bouncing their ideas back and forth to one another in search of a realistic solution or answer (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Group work allows many more opportunities for deeper level instruction while still allowing for the creativity and diverse skills that students bring to the group as individuals (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b). This will allow my content work to continue when the students are outside the classroom and over any given length of time. The beauty of this technology is that students do not have to be together to work on their project completing the work during times when their creativity and ideas are the strongest. I feel using this technology will be invaluable in teaching my students and providing them with the opportunities they need to take the material beyond the boundaries of the classroom where much of the learning in today’s world takes place.

When I recall the last eight weeks I find that this course has been greatly beneficial to my professional growth. This course has allowed me to experience first hand the construction, implementation and assessment that goes into creating solid technology based lessons that go beyond the basic use of PowerPoint or movies, a necessity in a 21st century classroom. This class has shown me that students when working together can guide their own learning as long as there is support available from an engaged teacher. Through this course I have found that technology is key to student success and many students respond differently when provided with different outlets for learning in the form of multimedia and online collaboration. Overall, my work through this class has opened my eyes to the opportunities that await my students when technology is used in a meaningful way, integrated seamlessly into the classroom instruction.

Randy
HS Social Studies

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program One: Promoting
self-directed learning with technology. Integrating technology across the
content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program Three: Enriching
content area learning experiences with technology: part one.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010c). Program Eight: Spotlight
on Technology: Problem-Based Learning, Part 1. Integrating technology across
the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010d). Program Twelve: Spotlight
on Technology: Digital Storytelling, Part 1.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Providing Students with a GAME plan

When I began comparing the student’s standards with the teacher’s standards I noticed they were similar in many regards with the teacher’s standards providing ways to teach students the necessary material. The teaching standards look at ways to gain the skills and then transfer them into the classroom while the student’s standards focus more on gaining the skills to prepare them for success in the classroom and after school (National Education Standards for Students, 2007). The overall topics are the same and I feel can be accommodated with minimal issues in class by carefully constructing lessons to use technology in a meaningful way. The teacher can help define the student’s actions to reach their goals and construct lessons providing the opportunity for new learning in through the scope of technology to take place.

I think if I was to use the GAME plan process in my classroom I would use a process very similar to one that I used in this class. I would describe how a GAME plan is used and to what ends we would use the plan. As I teach tenth grade students I feel for the most part that they will be able to handle their own plan and be able to work through their plan in the course of a year. I would present this strategy to the students at the beginning of the year or semester allowing them to formulate their own personal plan with the assistance of the teacher expanding upon their technology skills throughout the course of the year. One of the strengths of the GAME plan is it allows each individual to chose their own goals, define their actions to reach the goals while routinely monitoring and evaluating their progress (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This would allow the students to work at their own pace and review back to their GAME plan as they are working on projects during class. Similar to what we did in class, I would go over the standards for students and allow them to pick one or two standards to focus on in the GAME plan. This will help keep the students from becoming too overwhelmed throughout their work. I will allow the student to chose what they feel is the best method of establishing the GAME plan but will guide them along the way and will continue to remind them during projects to include a section about their plan. What I foresee is the students writing a two to three sentence paragraph in each project or when they use technology explaining what they have learned and how they will continue to proceed in the future. This will help keep them on track towards their goals.

Lastly, I would also like to bring the student’s parents into the activities. This will be a much stronger GAME plan if the students have support both at school and at home. These are the skills that the students need to use to be successful in the future, providing the students with an opportunity to use these skills in a guided environment will do much to help students learn the content and the technology itself. Overall, I feel that if the students are provided with a way to increase their knowledge in a self guided environment they are more likely to work harder and understand why their work is important. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on providing students with a GAME plan.

Randy

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S). (2007). retrieved December 12, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

Revising My GAME Plan

Throughout this class the use of a GAME plan has defined our actions and our classroom learning. So far I have created the GAME plan while putting it into action, refining and evaluating my work along the way. This post looks at the possibility of refining my GAME plan and changing my goals in preparation for a new direction and thus a new plan.

I would say that one of the main things I have learned is there is a definite need to have a solid, well established GAME plan in order to reach your established goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). When I began looking at my goals I thought my GAME plan would easily allow me to reach them successfully in a few weeks. I have found however, that my initial GAME plan may have been too broad as it did not seem to define exactly where I wanted to go. I knew that I wanted to include technology in the form of multimedia and primary sources but did not initially know where to start. Overall, I feel that I needed to put more thought into my GAME plan specifically with how I wanted to accomplish my goals. When I use this strategy again, I feel I will spend more time on this section which in turn may help me to reach my goals easier.

Also, I have found ways that the Internet can be of use in my classroom. I have always used this tool but in a very basic format, often bringing movies and photos into my lessons. It seems that in the past I have neglected opportunities to bring different ways of teaching and manipulating the material that can be accomplished by using the school computers and the Internet. I have found that bringing the students into a virtual fieldtrip is an easy way to accommodate technology usage into my classroom while using my lessons as a starting point for my work (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). For me this has been successful with bringing the students into the material. I found success with this method by creating a Podcast that played along with photos and movies clips to display information about the time of the black plague. This is a fairly interesting topic to begin with, but the photos and sounds really brought the information to life.

Upon further reflection, at this point I really do not want to set new learning goals but rather I will extend the goals that I have already begun to use in my class. I have begun to look at ways that technology can be used in my classroom and would like to continue in this direction, pushing the boundary of what is actually possible given my current classroom situation. I feel as though I have only begun to scratch the surface, identifying ways to use multimedia found on the Internet to enrich the learning experience. I have found excellent websites that provide primary sources in the form of audio clips, videos and pictures and would like to use these in more of my lessons to augment what the students are reading in their books and finding on their own. Once I feel that I have reached this specific goal I will then expand my examination of this topic, creating a new GAME plan to accommodate my goals. As we know the last step of the GAME plan is to evaluate and expand your progress with your goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Although I am at this point, I still feel there is much work to be done before I can move onto a new topic.

Lastly, I think that in the future I will not be as hesitant to try new methods of teaching and learning in my classroom. I often approach new methods carefully examining each minute detail before and during implementation both in my classroom and in my own work. Although this is an excellent trait to have and beneficial in many cases, it seems to hinder my success as I often change and implement strategies in a minimal way as to not destroy what is working in the classroom. I feel that if I am able to really dig into the material without fear of failure I can really begin to benefit my students and provide even stronger lessons than I am already completing. The few lessons I have completely redone have worked successfully and have built my confidence to trying new methods of instruction in the classroom. I think at this point I really need to continue to add new strategies and take chances that may pay off exponentially for my students.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

The final step in a GAME plan is evaluating the progress you made towards your goals. This step looks at the actions you have done to accomplish your goals, your success to date and looks for areas to improve and expand your work (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Overall, I think I have established a solid GAME plan and have been working successfully towards its implementation.

Through the last four weeks I have examined many different sources and tried a few of the more solid activities in my classroom. I have found resources in the form of my peers and also from the Internet that have brought the material more fully into my classroom using multimedia, newspapers and even blog sites to offer different material via technology. As I identified in my GAME plan I wanted to use the technology that I have available in my classroom and have been using my Smartboard regularly to augment my lessons with photos and videos found online and also to bring current events directly into the classroom. I have also brought the students into the computer lab to research topics of interest and find information on a teacher established topic rather than teaching the students from their textbook in the classroom. This has brought the students directly into the material and provided a sense of realism and personal connection to the classroom providing a much needed link for global studies.

These new strategies have been implemented fairly successfully in my classroom and through the majority have shown to be useful in bringing students more fully into the content. Although it has only been a few weeks, students seem to be more eager to come to the classroom and to learn the content, all while gaining necessary skills for life outside of the school system. I have also collected data from quizzes and informal interviews showing where my greatest gains are when bringing technology into the classroom as well as showing some areas of need. I believe that continued collection of data and comparison between assignments and methods will yield data showing exactly where the strategies can be of use and which students find them the most useful (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

I have learned that using a GAME plan is much more precise than I initially thought and the activities take a great deal of consideration before actually reaching the classroom. Each activity and assessment must look at the students themselves, the material being taught and the time allotted for the topic. The teacher must ensure that the technology matches the content or it becomes just another distraction in the classroom rather than a tool for student success (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Technology though readily available must make sense when it is used or it is not any different than the strategies already being used in the classroom. This has become more and more evident as I continue to add more technology to my classroom.

I have found that some strategies are more effective than others with certain students and are more conducive to my teaching style than others. Some of my students like researching and presenting information while others simply like answering online questions or posting to a blog. Personally, I like bringing video and audio clips into my lessons to explain a concept or strengthen an idea, keeping the concepts as simple as possible when teaching my students. I have also found that many of my lessons can simply be modified to include some form of technology in a useful and reasonable fashion although a few others need to be completely revised to use a form of technology. These are the lessons that I usually examine more closely to identify if technology is really a benefit for the students or a distraction from the content.

However, I think there is still some room for growth in my GAME plan and in my classroom itself. My progress so far has been a good start towards a classroom where technology is common place and has shown me that students often respond better when technology is used. In the future, I want to provide students with each a specific topic in history to research, the students will be able to research the topic and then teach the information to the rest of the class. I think this lesson will fully engage the students and allow for some creativity in the classroom. Also, I plan to continue to build and refine my “treasure hunt” idea for use in the classroom. Although my original plan called for use of a GPS system, I may use either cell phones or digital cameras instead to help the students learn a topic of either the teacher’s or the student’s choice.

Overall, I think my GAME plan is for the most part usable in its current form and provides a solid basis for my future work. At this point I need to continue to work technology in its many forms into my classroom starting with my current technology and expanding to include Blogs, Wikis and multimedia projects. This continued growth also means I will need more resources and more time to implement my GAME plan as changes are not immediate but rather take place over time. The more I grow in my knowledge the more eager I am to bring technology into my lessons to help my students grow as well. Changing my methodologies and strategies in the classroom has provided me with a new look into my content and also the best way to teach my students. Through careful consideration of my content and technology I can continue to grow as a learner and as a professional while my students reap the benefits of my knowledge.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Monitoring My Game Plan

The third step in the process of a GAME plan is monitoring the progress of the plan and your actions to reach your goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). When I first established my goals I stated that I would review my progress at the end of each week to ensure that I was staying on task and implement the strategies that I need to become successful. Although I review my GAME plan each week I still feel as though I am a bit overwhelmed with all of the information and still appear to be in the initial stages of implementation. Although I know I am working towards my overall goals, I feel as if there has been little tangible progress made in my GAME plan that I can show to my colleagues. I think I may keep a copy of my plan with me when I am looking at my lessons to ensure I am staying on task and making smart changes that will benefit my students.

Overall, I have been fairly successful in find the resources I need to make my GAME plan a reality and finding time to bring my resources into the classroom. I have been scouring the Internet, utilizing professional journals and asking other professionals to find possible ideas for integrating technology into my lessons. I have gained many great ideas that I hope to modify to make them useful in my classroom including multimedia learning journals and lessons that incorporate digital cameras into the classroom. Among the websites I have found for suggestions on lessons as well as video and audio clips are:

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/

http://www.uen.org/general_learner/multimedia_resources.shtml

http://www.teachersdomain.org/collection/k12/socst/

www.americanrhetoric.com

http://www.teach-nology.com/ideas/technology/

Secondly, I have realized that my initial hope of modifying lessons to create minimal work when integrating technology is much more difficult than I initially thought. Some lessons can be changed easily but others need to be completely revised starting from scratch. This causes another issue, that of time to redo the lessons to make them worthwhile for use in the classroom. I usually look at all of my lessons for the unit and change only those where technology, particularly multimedia can be implemented easily and where it makes sense in the lessons. As described in our resources, not all lessons need to incorporate technology, particularly if it doesn’t make sense to change the lesson when the students are understanding the material (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This part of my GAME plan may need to be modified to allow for a more narrow approach focusing on fewer lessons to hopefully gain more results than I feel I am gaining currently.

However, one part of my GAME plan that I have successful in implementing is adding lessons that teach in a real world fashion to my classroom. I seek to use the Internet and the Smartboard to bring current events in the world news directly into the classroom and assign work based upon how the topics we are learning connect directly to the student’s lives. I have also begun using more lessons that allow the students a more hands on approach to their learning by allowing them to choose their own topic and conduct their own research, displaying their findings to the rest of the class. However, this was something that had begun before this class and as such I have had more time to work out the kinks in this part of my continuing GAME plan.

I have also begun interviewing students informally regarding the use of technology in the classroom to work on the assessment portion of my plan (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This is done via a survey where the students are asked what they liked about the lesson, if they thought the technology was worthwhile and what they would do differently. So far the results have been interesting with mostly positive feedback on the lessons. However, there is a small group of the student’s population that does not seem to like the use of these tools for lessons. This raises the question of why these students are not finding these tools to be helpful and what can be done differently. At this point I need to examine this group of students further to examine whether different tools can be utilized to close the gap between the instruction and the students themselves. I have also collected data from the last two lessons that I hope to compare to data before this technology was implemented. This should provide a glimpse of whether the technology is closely matched to the learning objectives and my teaching methods (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). This data will once again allow me to make any necessary changes to bring more students into my lessons.

When reflecting on my work to date, I know I am on the right track but there is still much work to be done. At this point I feel like I need to keep on the path I am headed but plan my next steps carefully as to not deviate from my end goals.

Lastly, on a completely different note, I want to throw out a thought for a lesson that I have been playing with for some time. This lesson could either be for my current Global Studies class (which may be difficult to implement) or for a US history honors class that I have next year. I want to use a GPS system in my classroom to construct a sort of treasure hunt centered around a main theme in history. The teacher could either provide the coordinates for items to find and have the students find them, examine what they mean and create a multimedia project on their findings or the students could create the treasure hunt and pass it on to other members of the class to find. This would engage the students fully into the material and allow them to actively participate in their learning. However, there are some complications that arise in this lesson. The first is the amount of time needed for this lesson to be constructed and be implemented. The time is significant but the learning experience if done correctly could be remembered for a lifetime. Secondly, although many people have a GPS system, not everyone has access to this technology. I would need to ensure that someone in the group had the technology available for use and pair members carefully. Lastly, I will need to gain the permission of the school system and parents to send the students outside the confines of the school itself to gain information. At this point this lesson is still up in the air with much planning to do. However, I think it is possible and could be a wonderful experience if done correctly.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts both on my GAME plan and also on my lesson.

Randy

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program Seven: Assessing
Student Learning with Technology.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Carrying Out My Gameplan: Week Three

Once specific goals have been established, a person has to work towards their goals each and every week. As such, this week I will expand my GAME plan, describing what resources I will need to carry out my plan, any additional information I will need and the progress I have made so far in the classroom.

The first standard from NETS-T that I will incorporate is standard number one: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. In this standard, Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments (National Education Standards for Teachers, 2008). The second standard from NETS-T that I will incorporate is standard number two Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments (National Education Standards for Teachers, 2008).

The resources that I will need for the first part of my GAME plan are broken into two categories, technological and additional resources. Technology wise I will need access to the computer lab in order to further my students learning and allow them to practice what they have learned in my classroom. This should help provide opportunities for my students to display their creativity and guide their own learning in the classroom (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Also, I will utilize the classroom computer and the Smartboard to model different methods for the students and to bring a sense of realism into the classroom setting. By utilizing my available technology I will allow my lessons and material to be more individualized to the specific student allowing more content to be learned by every student (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). Technology allows increased personalization of the material helping to build on the information the teacher is able to teach in the classroom.

The additional resources I will need are first and foremost, that of time. As a working professional time is always at a premium and will be needed to make changes in the classroom. Before each lesson I will sit down and examine what I have planned and see how it can be changed to benefit my students the most in my classroom (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). The most beneficial changes to the classroom will be those that have minimal stress on the students and in the classroom yet implement changes by integrating technology in a useful, helpful manner. Secondly, I will need support from my colleagues and the school system in general to help make changes in my classroom. I will need to reach out to my peers to help with ideas for changes and to support my progress, maybe even extending my ideas into their own classrooms.

There is also some additional information I will need to help my GAME plan become successful. Finding ideas and strategies to use technology in my lessons may be challenging and I may need to examine what research proven strategies have been used via online material and professional journals. I want to ensure success in my GAME plan and thus will research material that has been proven to be useful in helping students to succeed. I will also need to keep my class resources close at hand to ensure I stay on task when creating a GAME plan and make sure my is developed fully in my own classroom.

At this point the GAME plan is still in the initial stages of creation and implementation. I have begun to examine my plan more fully and have looked at some of my lessons changing them slowly to bring more technology into my room. I have also began to converse with some of my peers to see if it is possible to bring the same strategies into other classrooms across multiple disciplines.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program Five: Meeting
student needs with technology: part one.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008). retrieved November 9, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

My Professional GAME plan

Part of being a good teacher is reflecting on your work in the classroom and with your students while constantly revising your methods to become better. This specific post is for a graduate level class at Walden University entitled Integrating Technology into the Classroom. During the course of this class we will develop a personal GAME plan that will assist us as professionals when integrating technology fully into our classrooms in a realistic and authentic manner. I plan to establish goals to help integrate technology, take action on my goals, monitor my progress and finally evaluate whether my goals were achieved through my work.

The first step when developing a GAME plan is to set goals for what you want to obtain and where you want to be at the end of the process (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). These goals can focus on any part of a classroom where the teacher feels that change may be needed. To help establish these goals we first looked at the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) and chose some of their benchmarks to focus our attention. For this particular class I will focus on standard number one Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and standard number two Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments (National Education Standards for Teachers, 2008). The two standards I selected I feel are the strongest performance indicators and the most useful for developing technology use in my classroom. I want to create a classroom where technology is the norm rather than the exception and a place where students learn skills necessary for success in the future.

The second step when creating a personal GAME plan is to take action upon the goals you established (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). For this particular plan I feel I can implement many changes in my classroom without completely throwing out all of my current lessons and instructional methods. The simpler the changes the less possible issues there may be when implementing any questions into the classroom. I think when implementing many of the changes I will focus on first bring technology fully into my classroom and then allowing the students to work using the technology in the classroom.

The first action I will take is to allow for more opportunities to use technology in a realistic manner in my classroom (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). I have access to such tools as a computer, Smartboard, projector and television in my classroom and often use these tools for very basic methods of instruction. I would like to implement more methods of instruction by creating lessons that use more forms of technology into my classroom. To reach my goals I will try using virtual fieldtrips, WebQuests allowing the students to find information and also lessons that utilize and seek out information in the form of primary sources to help students understand the material (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b). I have the technology at my disposal I only need to take advantage of what opportunities are available to help my students to succeed. I will also attempt to gain the support of my colleagues to maximize the benefits of the technology in the school. If one teacher uses technology successfully the students gain a great deal of knowledge, if more teachers use the same strategies the possibilities are endless.

The second action I will take is to model the technologies for my students. I will first learn how to use the technology that I will use in my classroom and this will help me to become better suited to guide my own classroom and students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). To teach my students successfully I need learn how my technology will best allow my students to interact with the material and how I can best display content. I will then teach my students what I have found to be the “best practices” and allow them to be modified from that point. This is not a omni-directional path however, I plan to continue to learn from my students even after I have implemented the technology into my classroom.

Once I have provided the technology and opportunities for its use to my students I will use what we have learned to teach my content in a real world context. This is key in a global studies classroom as one of the greatest complaints is the lack of connection of the material to a students personal life. I plan to use technology to make a connection to each student’s lives allowing them to make the most of their education and to retain the information at a deeper level. I will rely on the Internet to bring the material directly to the classroom and even the students to the material. I feel that that when the students are immersed into the material I will have a better chance of reaching them and allowing the material to really sink in and truly be learned.

The three actions that I have suggested will allow me to integrate technology into my classroom while adapting my current lessons. This should increase the creativity and self-direction of my students while allowing a sense of realism to my content. Also, by utilizing more technology I can reach out to students with different learning styles and abilities creating an environment increasingly fair to all of my students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). However, the last two steps of the GAME plan will help to ensure the actions were successful in teaching my students.

The third step in the GAME plan is to monitor your actions as they are taking place (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). In an effort to monitor my goals I will continuously examine my goals and check to make sure I am staying on task. At the end of each week I will look at my goals and compare them to my lessons to see what progress has been made. This will allow me to get back on track if I somehow strayed from my original goals.

The last step in the GAME plan is to examine the results and look to continue my development. This step allows you to examine what you did right and what changes you would make in the future (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I plan to examine my results utilizing data via a student assessment before I utilize technology in my classroom and then after I have changed my instruction. I will look for changes after each new method is used to see what has been successful and what was not in my classroom. I will also interview the students informally to inquire about what they liked about the material and the use of technology in my lessons. This should provide solid data and also personal experiences to prove the success or failure of my game plan.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program Three: Enriching
content area learning experiences with technology: part one.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program Three: Enriching
content area learning experiences with technology: part two.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008). retrieved November 9, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

My Final Thoughts and Reflection

When I began this course I believed I was on the cutting edge of innovation in the classroom, all I can say is: boy was I wrong. What I found through my reflection was I was on the right track to integrating technology but I was nowhere near reaching the full potential of what new technological ideas will allow me to achieve. Technology has reshaped our society and the lives of the students we strive to teach. Any educator will tell you, students today are connected all of the time through their technology and in many ways better at using these tools than the adults teaching them. One interesting observation I found through my studies was, in many cases this same technology widely available outside of school is largely absent or misused for instructional purposes. This class has helped me to identify the strong need for teachers to change their methods quickly or risk losing an entire generation of students who will not have the skills necessary for life outside of school.

Through this course I have rediscovered the need to utilize new classroom instructional methods using available technology. Available technology can be used to build on student’s knowledge if a teacher changes their methods from the traditional teacher centered instruction to a format where the teacher is the facilitator of student learning. Teachers today need to utilize the Internet in the classroom and teach how to locate information and evaluate the information they have found, skills that are perhaps more important than writing a research paper (Miners & Pascopella, 2007). I have learned that I need to implement technology in ways that fully engage students into the lesson and help utilize and build on their skills and ideas to guide their learning and maximize their potential for success. I cannot simply be happy with the results I get from my previously used lessons but rather I need to try new instructional methods and ideas using technology that is already present in the classroom and bringing in technology that is not. Through work and student teacher collaboration we can create an environment where everyone can learn information and skills useful while seeking to eliminate antiquated material and methods.

One of the biggest ways this course helped me was to provide the opportunity to use new technology in a guided environment, an environment similar to that which I hope to create for my own students. Without this class I may have never tried these tools or tried them with little success, this would have further limited my opportunities for professional growth. I always wanted to learn how to use technology to convey a message to a larger audience and teach in way that uses discussion and creativity to formulate knowledge. The use of blogs, wikis and podcasts has given me new tools to achieve my goals and provided a whole new realm to take my instruction. Using these methods, I can now reach my students at home and utilize tools they are already using in their personal time allowing for greater opportunities to help later in life. Personally, I have also found that I really like using these tools and will continue to use them both in my classroom and in my own outside life. Currently I seek out education blogs and continuously contribute to the discussions to provide and glean information from other professionals. Due to this class am now one of the millions if people that can provide information for others to see and have a solid place to start when creating my own lessons.

I have also found that this class has provided new ways to integrate technology into my classroom in a realistic authentic way. Previously most of my technology had taken the form of work processing, PowerPoint and movies. I was only scratching the surface of what is available for students to use, and mainly repackaging old information in new ways (Laureate Education Inc., 2008). I have discovered that teachers must use technology in new ways to expand communication across larger areas, to teach information literacy and promote collaboration to work on larger real world issues. Often school is seen as having little relevance to students lives with the real learning taking place after school (Prensky, 2008). I wish through my instruction to make my material more relevant and worthwhile for all students. Through reflection I have found that I still have much to learn to successfully integrate my new knowledge in my classroom but I am now on the right path.

This course has brought to light the wide difference between students and educators, specifically that between digital natives and digital immigrants. Through the strict definition I am considered to be a “millennial student” and a digital native, one who uses technology over another available source and a person who was born after 1980 (Cramer, 2007). However, I feel as through I am still well behind my students regarding their use of technology in the classroom and sometimes find myself struggling to use the technology I wish my students to learn. This course has helped me to identify the large differences and has provided ideas to bridge this gap between teacher and student allowing for every student to have the same opportunity to learn and utilize technology at school. I am still behind my students in regard to their technological skills yet I know through hard work and practice I can change my instruction to more closely match the students I teach.

This course has also strengthened my longtime idea that the teacher makes the greatest impact in the classroom. Even if new pedagogy is not being supported by other teachers or the administration, teachers are able to bring new ideas into the classroom for the benefit of all students. Whereas the state and district determine what I need to teach, my methods of instruction are entirely my own. With this in mind I can change how I teach to incorporate more student centered activities that rely on collaboration, critical thinking, internet research and other twenty-first century skills that have been shown as necessary for survival in the workplace (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). Simple changes by even a single teacher can truly make a difference in a student’s life.

Through my reflection, I have found I can continue to expand my knowledge and become more technology literate in many ways. The first way is by experimenting and learning new technology. Now that I have created a blog and a wiki I plan to find new ways to utilize them in the classroom and may even create a website next. In order to successfully teach my students I need to first learn how to use the technology myself. Through our reading we have learned that “teachers must be content creators as well” building websites, blogs, and wikis (Richardson, 2009, p.136). The more we use technology the better we are able to teach the material to our students. However, we do not need to master the technology but rather learn the best methods to implement it and how to best provide opportunities in class (Prensky, 2008). Our job as teachers is to provide the opportunities for students to practice the material and learn from each other in a secure environment.

Also, I can find out how my students like to learn and change my lessons to accommodate their needs and likes. Teachers must “understand where kids are going in their future and help them to get there” (Prensky, 2008). This is as simple as talking to my students, getting to know them as individuals and then teaching to their characteristics. It is my job to connect my students to the world and first I need to get to know them. Students can provide ideas and thoughts I may have never considered and their knowledge should be utilized when a roadblock is reached in the material. This can also help me to personalize classroom learning eliminating “one size fits all” instruction and making the material and presentation more interesting (Trilling, 2005). Classrooms can be a two way learning environment with the teacher learning as much from the students as they are learning from the teacher.

After taking this class I have gained a great insight into the skills needed in the outside work environment allowing me to teach twenty-first century skills, including social skills and new forms of literacy to my classes. Working in retail has provided me with ample opportunity to see the skills needed for success in the work environment yet I was still weak in implementing these skills into my instruction. This class has clearly identified what skills my students need and has provided examples of how these skills can be added to a curriculum. Rather than changing everything we have been doing in class, this course has suggested that we still need a solid basis of traditionally taught material with an addition of twenty first century skills built into teaching the material (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). I can still use the same overall outlines for instruction but allow ample opportunities for discussion, teamwork and real world assignments that serve to provide an engaging and exciting classroom.

However, as with any good teacher I have identified some areas I would like to improve as I grow as a professional. To better myself as a teacher, I have established two main technology goals and a personal goal to word towards a place where technology is integrated fully and appropriately into my class to meet instructional goals.

The first goal that I have established for myself is to accommodate more technology in meaningful ways into my classroom. Through this course I have found that many teachers have technology available to them but may not know how to use it or have the support to use it. Also, those that bring “technology” into the classroom often use new methods to do the same old things, such as PowerPoint to present material and word processing to format their research. These methods are little different from the poster and the typewriter respectively. As Dr. Chris Dede identifies, teachers need to evaluate what will help change pedagogy and what serves only to automate instruction (Laureate Education Inc., 2008). I will seek to change my lessons to accommodate more use of WEB 2.0., allowing for students to creatively publish their findings and learn from others. Blogs and wikis help to expand the walls of the classroom and make learning more conversational rather than lecture (Richardson, 2006, p.27). This is widely different from lessons that simply present the material then test what the students have retained. I plan to use technology in my classroom to begin a student centered curriculum where everyone can provide input in regards to classroom material and instruction.

My second goal has a wider range and may take time to achieve; I will attempt to sway my colleagues and administration to bring more twenty-first century skills into the classroom. Many teachers may be hesitant initially as bringing new skills into a classroom means more work and a revision of the classroom curriculum. Though talking with other educators seems to initially deviate from a specific classroom goal, I believe by gaining more support in the school environment I can create a stronger atmosphere for my students to learn. One of the best ways I can do this is through success in my own classroom and using my instruction as a model for others to follow. If technology and twenty-first century skills are taught in my classroom and feedback gained from the students and their parents is positive I have a strong chance of swaying their opinion in my favor (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). Once I have the support of the school I have a much better chance of fully integrating technology into my curriculum. Ultimately, the students still need to be successful on the Regents Exam at the end to the year as this serves to gauge their learning and determines if they pass the class, how I teach them is up to me.

Once I have established context and taught my students using technology in new ways, I can then present my new ideas and skills at a department and school wide meeting to let others experience what I have found. This professional development may help gain the support of my colleagues by showing how easily these new ideas can be brought into the classroom environment and help present the new role of the teacher (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). I feel if I am able to gain the support of my school I have a better chance of fully implementing new methods into my classroom in a meaningful way instead of working individually for change.

A third goal, though not part of my two year plan is that of cell phones. I wish to experiment with cell phones in the classroom and see what areas I am able to implement these tools into my instruction. The majority of students in school today have access to a cell phone, and bring them to class daily. I feel that rather than continuing the fight of eliminating this technology, my time can be better spent finding a constructive use to something that is often disruptive and considered detrimental in class (Prensky, 2008). This is a personal goal, though I feel the benefits may be well worth the time that is spent changing my classroom.

My final thoughts are in regard to implementing new skills and activities into my classroom. The use of technology is necessary for the survival of students in today’s workforce. This will take time and effort of the part of the teacher to change instruction and pedagogy to match the students in the classroom. However, implementing technology will not be without challenges both from educators and the administration. I believe I will receive pushback from my administration and other educators who teach in a traditional fashion and do not wish to change (Richardson, 2006, p.137). I know that I will have a battle ahead of me but realistically I believe my results from using technology will speak volumes about the possibilities available to teach students. I actually look forward to talking with these individuals and attempting to change their opinion and their instruction to more closely match their students.

All in all, I found this course to be very helpful in preparing me as an educator to teach my students in the future. I understand fully now how schools in many cases do not fulfill the needs of students and how we as teachers can make a great difference through small changes in our methods and pedagogy. It is my job as a teacher leader to help expand the use of technology to further the knowledge and expand the skills of my students. Technology has provided a great opportunity for a massive amount of information to be brought directly into the classroom; we only need to take advantage of what is available and thus bring our students back into the “light” and make instruction relevant to their lives.


References

Cramer, S. (2007). Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first
century skills. Clearing House, 80(3), 126-132. Teacher Reference
Center Database.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. Understanding the Impact
of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, “Evolution of Technology and
Pedagogy.” Baltimore, MD.

Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District Administration,
43 (10), 26-34.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills.
Washington DC: Retrieved from
http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf

Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6).
Retrieved from Academic Search Premier, February 15, 2010.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Trilling, B. (2005). Towards learning societies and the global challenges for learning
with ICT. TechForum. Retrieved from
http://www.techlearning.com/techlearning/pdf/events/techforum/ny05/Toward_Learning_Societies.pdf

Podcast for Digital Abilities and Learning

This blog is to introduce a podcast that I created in regards to technology usage in the classroom. In order to gauge my students digital abilities and learning styles I created a questionnaire that was given to each of my students in the classroom and then interviewed five students in more detail. I used my results to formulate a podcast explaining the technological profile of my classroom and my students. A link to my podcast can be found here: http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/3743/episodes/16675

Enjoy my results and thoughts and I look forward to your comments.

Randy

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The application for this week calls for an examination of the Partnership for 21st Century skills website and identification of the usefulness of the site. Overall, what I have found is a site that shows a strong plan for teaching students the skills they will need to survive in a world that utilizes technology readily and is widely different from the currently level of schooling. Today’s students are immersed in technology in their personal lives, both at home and in society, yet face little technology when they are at school. Often this disconnect between home and school leads to behavior issues and is a disservice to the lives they will lead outside of the school.

My initial reaction to this site was that it was just another site outlining an educational plan. I was expecting some good ideas but maybe not really realistic or completely thought through in regards to the effects on students. Entirely the opposite, the more I examined, I found a site that includes an excellent plan for accommodating all students through building on essential 21st century skills. The idea for teaching 21st century skills are built off a framework that combines core subjects with skills needed in the workplace. This framework is solid and serves to provide the guidance for teachers looking to add these skills to their curriculum. Success in “today’s world” does not mean a focus on a single branch of this framework but rather strengthening both core academic skills and 21st century skills. Through this partnership, students are expected to strengthen their life and career skills in conjunction with innovational and technology skills becoming increasingly diverse in their outside lives.

The site itself was well developed and easily accessible displaying the entire history and methodology of the 21st century learning and also provides ways to bring it fully into the classroom. The information itself is backed by educational and technical associations encompassing the entire spectrum of 21st century skills with the students first learning the basics of core knowledge already taught in schools through the expansion of critical and analytical thinking of the high school years. Among the members supporting this foundation are Dell computers, the National Education Association and Sesame Workshop a mix that helps ensure a focus on students regardless of age or circumstance.

This site includes a lot of solid information outlining the role of educators, administrators and technical advisors in strengthening the role of 21st century skills in the classroom. Much of the information is what I expected form this type of site, a plan from start to finish that serves to strengthen academic skill and life skills. One thing that surprised me was the way the plan would be implemented. Often new frameworks for learning chose to eliminate the traditional ways of teaching. 21st century learning does not call for elimination of the traditional core information, but rather chooses an augmentation of new skills on top of this basic information.

Also, the list of states that have accepted this plan has surprised me, both in the amount of states working towards this plan and which states have already joined this partnership. After examining this website, this partnership and mission makes sense that students will need specific skills that will impact their potential in the future workforce. However, only a handful of states have accepted this plan and are working to change their instruction. I was also surprised that New York was not one of the states that is on this list. Teaching in New York, I believed this state to be on the forefront of new methods and ideas in technology, however, they are not part of this partnership. Granted some of the ideas that are found on this site such as technology becoming commonplace and life skills have gained popularity in recent years, yet we still are not a supporting member state. This is rather surprising.

Overall, I find most of the information to pertinent and realistic to what schools may need to prepare our students. The only issue I have is the underlying assumption that this will be an easy change. I felt like this website portrayed these ideas as the fix all for education and the workforce today. While these ideas are really great and well thought out, I foresee some pushback from many different arenas, particularly those that still embrace the traditional methods of teaching. Unfortunately conflict is common when new methods gain popularity and are used more readily in the classroom.

Overall, this plan holds some implications for both students and educators alike. First, for this plan to be effective there must be a retooling of the curriculum. Currently, much of the instruction in schools is based on a traditionally based method that focuses on teacher based instruction and core subject areas. If utilizing this plan correctly, teachers need to find a way to bring increased life skills, technology and collaboration into each lesson providing essential knowledge and lifelong skills for each and every student. This means a lot of work for educators and school systems, but work that could be widely useful to all students.

References

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. www.21stcenturyskills.org, Information retrieved from website January 25, 2010.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills.
Washington DC: Retrieved from

Blog Use in the Classroom Environment

When examining this week’s content, I began to examine how I would use a blog in my own classroom and identified a few ways blogging could help my students to be successful. My current classroom is at the ninth and tenth grade level teaching global studies in New York. Overall, I believe that blogging is an excellent addition to my classroom and can benefit my student’s ways I had previously not considered.

The first way I would use a blog in my classroom in to create a teacher blog posting classroom information for students and parents to access any time a computer is available. I plan to incorporate class rules, the class syllabus and current homework assignments. This way the students always have a way to find out their assignment, teacher expectations or additional resources. One of the biggest issues I still encounter is the students claiming they did not know about an assignment or a particular due date. By having the information always available and updated this will eliminate any chance the student did not know what was expected of them (Richardson, 2006, p.21). Also, at any time parents could access class information eliminating many possible classroom issues. Once a teacher provides the opportunity for parents to become involved in the classroom, the student’s grades will often improve as there is another adult closely monitoring student progress.

Secondly, at specific times during the school year I would like to post discussion topics for the students to comment upon. Many of these topics will be open-ended opinion questions where there is not a single correct answer and the students will gain credit from participating. This use of a blog serves to promote critical and analytical thinking, strong skills that can be used throughout the students lives (Richardson, 2006, p.20). The students will have to work to find an answer and will be expected to compare and contrast their thoughts to other student’s opinions (Laureate Education, “Spotlight on Technology”, 2008). Using a blog as a format for discussion I can further benefit my class by allowing all students to provide an opinion about a topic and participate in a discussion we could not work into the finite time in class.

Also, I would like to have the students create their own blogs on a topic in history. Rather than creating a boring essay or PowerPoint presentation the students could create a multimedia presentation that could be viewed and commented on by the teacher, other students and people outside of the school. The students not only learn and research this material but rather they become a part of the scholarly work available on the Internet. This blog allows students to interact with each other about their topic and showcase their work in a meaningful way. As a teacher I could easily establish a RSS feed to an aggregator account monitoring all of the student’s blogs ensuring the information posted stays on our selected topic and is academically based work.

One major issue that I see with the use of blogs in the classroom is many of these blogs are blocked through the school security system. Many of these sights are considered to be personal information and the schools have deemed much of the information to be inappropriate for the students to view. Instead of having the teachers monitor what the students are working on, they have simply eliminated access to all blogs and a great source of information. This specific rule can be changed and blogs can be viewed; yet to accomplish this task a solid game plan needs to be established to appropriate student use of the Internet. I could overcome this challenge by using an RSS feed to an aggregator account and monitoring what the students post on their personal blog (Richardson, 2006, p.71). Also, by providing parents with the links to their child’s blog, I have another adult closely monitoring the progress of each student. Finally I could have the students sign an acceptable use form outlining the expectations of using school technology.

A second issue that needs to be addressed is the difference between academic and socially based work. The students must understand that other people outside of their peers are able to see their work so proper grammar and format are essential. In class I will overcome this challenge by teaching what is considered to be correct grammar and how blogs are different from the language used in instant messages and text messaging (Laureate Education Inc., “Spotlight on Technology”, 2008). By explaining to my students that everyone can see their work, this issue should take care of itself, as students will work harder if they know others will see the final product.

Blogs are an excellent tool that is often underused in a classroom. Yet the benefits of blogging are real and allow the students to create an authentic project that can be viewed by others outside. Blogs provide a great way to share ideas a shrink space between people both inside and outside of the school (Laureate Education Inc., “Technology and Society”, 2008). The students are able to participate in a different type of learning experience while gaining skills that can be used later in their lives.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. “Technology and
Society”. Baltimore, MD.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). [DVD]. “Spotlight on
Technology: blogging in the classroom”. Baltimore, MD.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for
classrooms. (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Just a beginning blogger

I have created this account to experience all that blogging has to offer. I know it doesn't have much to offer currently, however this will soon change.

I will posting throughout my master's class Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society 6710D-1 that I am currently taking at Walden University. I look forward to talking with everyone in the future.

Happy Learning!!

Randy