Well another week as gone by which means it is time to take a closer look at how I am progressing with my GAME plan.
This week I was able to overcome a couple of significant barriers that would potentially get in the way of achieving my plan. My school unfortunately has very limited access to technology in our classrooms so even though I had big plans to get my students making digital storybooks and viewing a large variety of United Streaming videos that tie into our curriculum, it does get difficult to schedule ample times in our schools shared computer lab. So after doing some research to see what others have done to break though this very same barrier, I came across an excellent substation for the expensive smartboards that all of the teachers in our school wish for on a daily basis. Using johnnylee.net as a resource, I was able to build my own interactive whiteboard in my classroom for less than $70. Since this was about $1500 cheaper than the actual Promethean Boards themselves, our principal has agreed to help get all the teachers in our building funding for this project! My students can now have unlimited access to this useful tool so they can share, edit, view videos online, all while working hands on.
After seeing how much time my GAME my game plan is taking at this point, I have decided to modify it a little bit and take things one step at a time. Originally I wanted to set up a digital portfolio online of all the student artifacts that were created over the years. Now I have decided to just keep my basic digital file folder of all student material and notes from the lesson. I do still hope to create a digital portfolio that can be shared with teachers, parents, and students, but at this time, I would like to focus on the creation of the actual lessons, and then later on, work on getting them out there to the world.
The main question that I am still pondering over is what real-world scenario I want my 1st graders to create digital storybooks about. I want a topic that excites them, pulls out their creativity, but also does not make them feel overwhelmed. Any good suggestions out there? I would love to hear them!
Magan
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
GAME Plan Update
On a continued note from my last post, I have reviewed and revamped my GAME plan a little bit as I went through this week’s resource materials. First, a few things that I feel are going to be essential to accomplishing my goal…
Resources I will need to carry out my GAME plan: Internet access, promethean or any other smart board technology that will allow students to work interactively together on websites, software programs, and collaborative works, as well as a subscription to United Streaming in order to expose my students to real-world videos that tie in with our curriculum. I will need access to a document camera or scanner, as well as audio recording software. I will also be needing help from my colleagues as well as experts in the education field to collaborate with to get better ways I can expose my 1st graders to real-world problem solving while using technology. Additional Information I will need: How to step up a working digital portfolio that tall students, parents, and teachers can access, and how to assist my students in creating digital storybooks.
So, what have I done for to work toward my goal? Research! Being a self-directed learner I’ve always been one to gain as much information about a topic as I could before jumping into something that I have not through all the way through yet. So through talking with my own colleagues and searching online for ideas of what other teachers have done to use technology to help expose their lower elementary students to real-world situations, I’ve been able to piece together a few ideas for my 1st graders. One of the ideas I had gotten from a colleague was to have my students create a digital storybook on how to solve some type of real-world scenario. I am still working on what topic might be the best for my 1st graders so any suggestions would be great! I’ve used United Streaming in my classroom for a number of things, so I have been sifting through some of the videos available on there for some ideas.
Magan
Resources I will need to carry out my GAME plan: Internet access, promethean or any other smart board technology that will allow students to work interactively together on websites, software programs, and collaborative works, as well as a subscription to United Streaming in order to expose my students to real-world videos that tie in with our curriculum. I will need access to a document camera or scanner, as well as audio recording software. I will also be needing help from my colleagues as well as experts in the education field to collaborate with to get better ways I can expose my 1st graders to real-world problem solving while using technology. Additional Information I will need: How to step up a working digital portfolio that tall students, parents, and teachers can access, and how to assist my students in creating digital storybooks.
So, what have I done for to work toward my goal? Research! Being a self-directed learner I’ve always been one to gain as much information about a topic as I could before jumping into something that I have not through all the way through yet. So through talking with my own colleagues and searching online for ideas of what other teachers have done to use technology to help expose their lower elementary students to real-world situations, I’ve been able to piece together a few ideas for my 1st graders. One of the ideas I had gotten from a colleague was to have my students create a digital storybook on how to solve some type of real-world scenario. I am still working on what topic might be the best for my 1st graders so any suggestions would be great! I’ve used United Streaming in my classroom for a number of things, so I have been sifting through some of the videos available on there for some ideas.
Magan
Friday, January 15, 2010
Keeping up with the standards?
Does anyone else find that just because you have grown up in a digital age, teach in a digital age, and even study to learn more of the latest technologies out there, that it is easy to assume you are on top of it things? I don’t know about any of you, but I appreciate the opportunities when I am forced to take a step back and look at the areas of where I can even improve more in my knowledge and teachings using technology.
After going though the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers, there were two main standards that I can see that I need to be more proficient in. So I have developed a little GAME plan to help me achieve higher confidence and proficiency in the standards that I will “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity” and “Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.” They both may seem like simple tasks, but I think because of that, I have tended to overlook the importance of making a point to spend conscious time on each of these standards.
My GAME plan is as follows:
Goal: Expose students to solving real-world problems using technology while using professionalism and responsibility of their use of the web and other technology tools.
Actions: I will continue taking class and keeping up on the latest research to improve my knowledge of the available tools in the digital world. I will collaborate with other teachers in my district as well as on various teacher forums and blog sites to gain and share ideas of how other teachers have integrated real-world scenarios and projects with the curriculum and technology tools. I will develop lessons that keep students engaged, include appropriate technology tools, and make clear connection to students’ lives. I will teach specific lessons and model year long proper citations of courses, the seriousness of plagiarism, and proper netiquette.
Monitor: I will keep a digital portfolio of student work that allows me to see how well they are applying proper citizenship and responsibility on their projects. I will constantly take note of the amount of respect students have for the tools they are using. I will take time to reflect on a consistent basis how many of the strategies and suggestions I am applying in my own classroom that I have learned though discussions and research about integrating real-world situations into the curriculum.
Evaluate: I will compare lessons that I have planned and taught to the student products to evaluate if outcomes were met to the highest standard or not. I will make notations as to how I can improve lessons the next time around.
So that is my plan for now. As with everything, I’m sure it will need tweeking along the way, but we all know we have to start somewhere, right?
After going though the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers, there were two main standards that I can see that I need to be more proficient in. So I have developed a little GAME plan to help me achieve higher confidence and proficiency in the standards that I will “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity” and “Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.” They both may seem like simple tasks, but I think because of that, I have tended to overlook the importance of making a point to spend conscious time on each of these standards.
My GAME plan is as follows:
Goal: Expose students to solving real-world problems using technology while using professionalism and responsibility of their use of the web and other technology tools.
Actions: I will continue taking class and keeping up on the latest research to improve my knowledge of the available tools in the digital world. I will collaborate with other teachers in my district as well as on various teacher forums and blog sites to gain and share ideas of how other teachers have integrated real-world scenarios and projects with the curriculum and technology tools. I will develop lessons that keep students engaged, include appropriate technology tools, and make clear connection to students’ lives. I will teach specific lessons and model year long proper citations of courses, the seriousness of plagiarism, and proper netiquette.
Monitor: I will keep a digital portfolio of student work that allows me to see how well they are applying proper citizenship and responsibility on their projects. I will constantly take note of the amount of respect students have for the tools they are using. I will take time to reflect on a consistent basis how many of the strategies and suggestions I am applying in my own classroom that I have learned though discussions and research about integrating real-world situations into the curriculum.
Evaluate: I will compare lessons that I have planned and taught to the student products to evaluate if outcomes were met to the highest standard or not. I will make notations as to how I can improve lessons the next time around.
So that is my plan for now. As with everything, I’m sure it will need tweeking along the way, but we all know we have to start somewhere, right?
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