Reflection Week 8

My GAME plan that I developed was to start a community podcast for my school. I have gotten quite a bit of useful feedback from my colleagues throughout this course. I am excited to get the project running.

I have gotten to explore many websites that have helped me become more familiar with podcasting. I am excited to build upon my knowledge of podcasting. This has been a great learning experience, and I can't wait to have my students begin this project. I hope that I will get the community more involved in the school district with this project. I can't wait to see the results.

I don't know that I will have immediate adjustments to my instructional practices. I teach computer applications, so I utilize technology in my classrooms on a daily basis. However, throughout these courses at Walden, I have gotten ideas involving new technologies to incorporate into my lesson plans. I am excited to try these new technologies, but I believe that some of my ideas will take some time to explore. I do hope to get my GAME plan up and running soon; however, I am at the mercy of our technology supervisor. Hopefully we will have the community podcast up and running before the second half of the year begins.

Game Plan Week 7

In my project, I will have students collaborate with the community, staff, administration, students and parents to complete a podcasting project. My students will utilize the community blog and classroom blog to determine what subjects/topics people would like discussed in the community podcast. The podcasts would be linked on the school website for the community and school district to utilize. Students would be asked to be creative and innovative in completing the project. They would be responsible for creating original works and also collaborations. Secondly students would be responsible for organizing and analyzing information from many sources and ethically using that information in the podcast. Finally, students would be responsible for planning and managing the project to ensure a weekly podcast is uploaded to the school website

GAME Plan Week 6

I have gained a great deal of information throughout the last few weeks relating to podcasts. I still do not have a finished lesson plan for my classroom. I have many ideas, and I have received many useful comments from colleagues. However, I have not finalized a set lesson. I believe that I have all of the tools and information I need to finalize the project; however, I'm still unsure as to the content / information that I should have students create a podcast for. I would like to utilize the podcast to encompass all subjects not just random thoughts.

A goal that I have set for myself is to create a few more podcasts on my own and become more familiar with the process. I have created a few; however, I would like to be more familiar with the tool and the process.

Game Plan Week 5

I have been investigating many of the websites that colleagues have given me. I am excited to try some of these sites out. I have not had an opportunity to look at all of them, but I feel more confident in putting together a podcast lesson for my students.

Some of the questions that have come up this week are:
how can I make this lesson with podcasts meaning to the students?
how can I incorporate the podcast with the content that I would like the students to learn?
how can I collaborate with other teachers to utilize podcasts for a school wide project

I'm not sure that I am adjusting my game plan as of yet. I believe that I am on the right path. I do need to investigate further and determine how I want to proceed; however, I am more confident than I was previously. I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to make this project a success. I believe that working with another teacher or teachers within the school will be a great experience for me, my colleagues and my students. I hope to utilize the podcast as tool for the school or even the community.

Game Plan Week 4

My GAME Plan is to introduce podcasting into my computer applications classes. So far, I have basically just been testing the waters to see what is blocked on our network and what is not. This year it seems that we have blocked more sites than we had previously done. This makes it extremely difficult to use certain programs and to get to sites that would be beneficial to the students.

I have mentioned the podcasting project to my students to get their reaction. They all seem really excited about the prospect of creating a podcast. I would love to hear about any programs that other teachers have been utilizing in order to have students complete podcasts. I really need to investigate further. If you have any suggestions or feedback, please let me know.

GAME Plan Week 3

In dealing with students with special needs, I believe that I will need the assistance of colleagues to help determine what technological tools would be beneficial to students with special needs. I am not familiar with some of the software / programs that were discussed in the resources. I have not utilized, for example, text to speech programs that may be utilized by those students who have difficulty reading. I am interested in these tools. This year, I have a few students who struggle with reading. I have assigned these students to read the Wall Street Journal and summarize a few articles. It seems some of my students are struggling with the daily assignment. I am trying to determine a way to tailor the assignment for these students. I have started discussing my concerns with the intervention specialist, and we are trying to determine a way for the student to complete the assignment. Have many of you come across this in your classes? If so, what suggestions do you have?

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

The two standards that I chose to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in are (1)Model Digital-age Work and Learning and (2) Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.

My goal is to be more knowledgeable in new technologies and to incorporate those technologies into my lesson plans and to help other teachers incorporate them into their lesson plans. I would like to collaborate with other teachers using these new technologies. I believe that this will benefit me, my colleagues and our students.

To achieve these goals, I need to make a commitment to engage in learning opportunities and projects that will strengthen my technology skills. I do not believe that I am currently at a place where I am comfortable with the new technologies that are out there. I feel that in some cases that maybe my students are more knowledgeable than I am. I need to take more initiative and spend more time exploring these different technologies and determine what may be useful and beneficial to me, my students and my colleagues.

I believe that I can monitor my progress in these standards by how comfortable I become with these new technologies. I believe that by becoming comfortable with these new technologies and exploring them that I will have more confidence teaching these technology tools to my students and my colleagues. Being able to communicate the advantages of utilizing these tools and teaching my students and colleagues about the unlimited technological resources available to them is my goal. However, in order to do so, I know that I need to take a more proactive approach to learning about all of these tools. I will utilize the internet and different learning opportunities that are available through my district and local colleges to further my skills.

I will evaluate my progress by setting short term goals and monitoring my success. For example, one short term goal would be to introduce a tool to a colleague and collaborate on a project utilizing the tool. I believe that by collaborating with a colleague I will be more apt to take the initiative to further my skills in order to help the project succeed.

Any thoughts that you may have please comment. I look forward to hearing from you.

New Literacies Week 8

This course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom, has been a very beneficial and helpful course. The most striking revelation that I had about the teaching of new literacy skills is the importance of verifying sources. I believe that many of my students do not verify the correctness and validity of their sources. Most assume that all information on the website is correct. I am also one who probably did not spend as much time and effort as I should in verifying website for validity. This is definitely something that I will review with my students in the classroom.

I hope to utilize many of the techniques that were outlined in this course. This course has been very helpful for me. I teach computer applications so I feel that many of these techniques will be beneficial to my students and help them with their other courses as well as future projects. I am excited to incorporate many of the ideas / techniques into my lesson plans.

One professional development goal that I would like to pursue is to become more Internet savvy. I believe that there is so much to explore on the Internet. Also, I do not feel that I am where I need to be professionally when it comes to utilizing, verifying and synthesizing Internet sources. I hope to explore the net and review the techniques that I learned from this course. By doing so, I believe that I will be more comfortable with my information literacy skills. This not only will benefit me, but will also benefit my students.

Reflection

After reviewing my personal theory of learning, I do not feel that I will make any major modifications. I will continue to utilize collaboration in my classroom. I believe that by allowing students to collaborate and to utilize each other’s strengths and build upon their weaknesses, they become more involved in the learning process and are more inclined to retain the material. Also, I will try to encompass as many learning theories into my classroom as possible to try to reach all learning styles and abilities.
I am eager to use Voice Thread and virtual tours in my classroom. I have already had my students try out the virtual tour. They seemed to enjoy the experience. I am getting ready to have my Computer Apps II class complete a project using Voice Thread. I’m excited to see how this will work out.
One goal that I have is to use more images and graphics in my PowerPoint presentations. From listening to Dr. Orey speak in his videos, I realized that maybe I use too many words and not enough images. Another goal I have is just to embrace different technologies and to not be afraid to make changes and expand on what I have been doing in the past. I am excited to learn and use about different technologies and to utilize them in my classroom.

Respect in the Classroom

Voice Thread Post

http://voicethread.com/share/1041236/

Attached is the link to my voicethread.

Social Learning Theory

This weeks lesson deals with social learning theory. I believe that one of the most important skills that students can learn in the high school setting is how to effectively interact with others. I believe that this skill will be invaluable to them in the future. If students are unable to communicate and collaborate with others, they will have a difficult time in the workforce.
In many of my classes, I try to create projects in which I can group students together and have them work toward a common goal / assignment. Currently, the technologies that I utilize most are blogging and wikis. I am excited to learn about the Voicethread technology. I believe that I can find many uses for this in my classroom. Also, I believe that it might be a great way to have the students interact and gain confidence in their communication skills.
We teach our students many things but are they just memorizing facts or can they apply the knowledge? I believe one way to ensure that they can infact apply the knowledge is to allow them to work collectively and to collaborate to build upon each others strengths and weakness and gain a better understanding of the content.

Constructionism

There are many tools that were discussed in the learning resources this week that can be utilized to accomodate the constructionism theory. Many of the Microsoft Office applications are great tools that allow students to create and build. I also use wikis as a tool to allow students to explore. By utilizing these tools students are engaged in learning and the process of creating.

Cognitive Learning Theories

This week deals with cognitive learning theories. Dr. Michael Orey discusses different strategies and hypotheses. One of the the three stages of information processing that Dr. Orey discusses is long term memory. When dealing with long-term memory I try to tie most of the content material that I teach to life experiences. By giving my students experiences to tie their learning to I believe that I am providing them with a link to recall such content. I also try to utilize many pictures and images in my instruction. By giving the students a visual representation, I am helping students make the necessary connections and links to material.
One of the tools that Dr. Orey discussed was concept mapping. I have yet to utilize this tool. Our application this week deals with concept mapping. I can't wait to experience the tool and utilize it in my classroom. I am hoping the experience will be a pleasant one.

Behavorist Learning Theory

In reviewing the resources for this week on behaviorist learning theory, I noted that I utilize the tutorial approach as discussed by Dr. Michael Orey in the resource DVD "Behaviorist Learning Theory." This approach is used in my computer applications classes which deals with MS Office in the first part of the course. Using the tutorial approach allows students to work through the lessons step-by-step then test their retention by answering review questions and completing projects. I believe that this approach is effective in this class due to it being a "starter course."
Typically, students need about 24 practice sessions with a skill in order to achieve 80-percent competency (Marzano et al., 2001, p.67). I believe that by allowing my students to utilize the step by step tutorial in this class, I am giving them the practice that they need to comprehend the material. By allowing the students to utilize MS Office on a daily basis, they are increasing their level of understanding and are able to build upon what they have learned in each lesson.
I believe that the tutorial approach gives the students a feeling of autonomy and self-empowerment. They are working alone or collaborating with their peers to complete lessons which gives them a feeling of control in the learning environment. By allowing students a feeling of control in the learning evironment, I believe that they will put forth more of an effort in the process which in turn lead to achievement in the course.

Week One

Hello, everyone. One week completed in the Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction and Technology course at Walden. I am looking forward to the next few weeks.