Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Resources: I will need to make some phone calls to ask volunteers to come to my classroom to talk to students about careers that involve technology. I also need to contact someone from the police department to talk to the class on internet safety. I have seen them speak before and they do an excellent job. I will also be inviting district technology support staff into my classroom when we near the end of our novel unit to talk about the updates in iMovie and iPhoto. This will help them when they begin their technology project at the end of the novel.

Additional Information Needed: I do not know how to go about getting a team of students trained to do the troubleshooting. It sounds like a wonderful idea, but I’m not even sure that my principal or district administrators would go for this. This would mean they would be touching another student’s computer, which is currently against the technology rules for our building / district.

Steps taken so far: One of my goals is Students will exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity. We have already begun to work on this goal. Students are currently reading a novel called “Beyond the Western Sea” to support our immigration unit. All of the activities that go with the novel will be completed on their laptop. So far students have made predictions about the book and held a discussion over chapters 1-10 on their laptops. We are using a site that has been approved by our district called Gaggle. For each class I have set up five or six chat rooms. The students in the chat rooms make up their discussion group. Students only have access to chat with the students in their group. One thing that was bothering me was that I couldn’t figure out how to print out their conversation/discussion. I want to make sure that their conversation is appropriate and each group member is participating, so I could attach some points to the assignment. Through their conversation it is also obvious which students have kept up with the assigned reading. When I asked our district technology staff abut this they were unsure of how to do it. I found that when I printed it only printed what was in the window at the time instead of the entire conversation. It also would not let me copy and paste the entire conversation into a Word document. I ended up sending an email to the Gaggle staff asking them how to do this and they responded very promptly. Students definitely have a positive attitude about this unit, they are collaborating, and they are using technology.

My GAME Plan

The standards that I feel most comfortable with are Communication and Collaboration, and Research and Information Fluency. Students in my 8^th grade language arts class use digital media to communicate and work collaboratively through presentations and online discussion groups. They use applications such as iMovie, Garage Band, iPhoto, and Gaggle Students present information through the form of book reviews, newscasts, character monologues, etc. Recently, students have used Gaggle to chat about the immigration novels they are reading.

Our 8^th grade students also write a 5-7 page research paper about Illinois history. Through this assignment students use digital tools to gather, evaluate, synthesize, and use ideas from a variety of sources and media. Students create a formal research paper with note cards, thesis and outline, bibliography, and end notes. Students also use their research to create a visual display or a technology presentation.

One standard that I feel I need to work on is Digital Citizenship. Recently we conducted a school wide on internet safety. This is the first time I recall doing this in the four years our students have had their laptops. Another area I do not feel as proficient in is Technology Operations and Concepts. Even though our students are pretty good with the applications on their laptops, I feel that they could use work on some of the other indicators.

Since every student in my class has their own laptop, it makes coming up with a GAME plan quite easy.

Goals

• Students will practice safe, legal, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior.
• Students will exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.
• Students will troubleshoot systems and applications.
• Students will transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.

Action

• Have a speaker come in to talk to the classes about internet safety.
• Have community mentors come in to talk about different careers in technology.
• Have students also do fun activities with technology such as chatting on Gaggle about different classroom assignments such as literature discussions.
• Train a team of students on troubleshooting techniques and have them work with students having technical problems.
• Have district technology support staff come into the classroom to teach lessons on new technologies and updated applications.

Monitor

• When using Gaggle to chat about their novel, are students practicing legal and ethical behavior?
• Can students discuss different careers that involve technology?
• Can students participate in appropriate conversations through chatting online?
• Can students learn different troubleshooting techniques and then use these techniques to help/teach others what to do when experiencing technical difficulty?
• Can students learn new applications and adapt to updates on previous applications?

Evaluate and Extend

• Are students attentive during presentations of visitors?
• Can students take the knowledge they have acquired and use it appropriately?
• Can students use Gaggle appropriately and effectively?

Transitioning from Knowledge to Synthesis

As I reflect over the past eight weeks, I realize that I have learned a great deal about the 21^st Century Fluency Skills, and the tools that are needed to be successful. As stated by Jukes and Macdonald, “The problem is that the world is not the stable, static place it once was. The world has changed and continues to change.” With this in mind, teachers must familiarize themselves with the list of 21^st Century Fluency Skills if they are to prepare their students for what awaits them after school in life and the workplace.

The most striking revelation I’ve had during this course is that we are focusing on the 21st Century Fluency Skills in my district, even though this isn’t what we call them. I was quite overwhelmed when I read through the huge list of literacy skills, which included the Professional Skills and Teacher Skills. Many of these skills are things we do with our students on a daily basis, such as the ability to read fiction and non-fiction for meaning, and the ability to apply Bloom’s hierarchy of skills. On the other hand, there are skills that we are not teaching our students, such as having the ability to look critically at the content of various media formats and be able to determine how that medium is used to communicate with the users and shape their thinking.

Having the knowledge of the 21^st Century Fluency Skills will help me to prepare my students to be successful in the future. I can use this list to ensure my students are getting the skills they need to be successful in life and in the workplace. The resource “Reading the Web Strategies for Internet Inquiry” taught me a great deal about the QUEST model of internet inquiry. This book also has many great resources that can be used with students in the classroom, such as Handout E-7 Middle School Website Evaluation and Handout S-9 Synthesis Map.

One goal I would like to pursue is to identify the 21^st Century Fluency Skills that we do not work on in my district and incorporate them into my curriculum. Being a technology magnet school where every student has their own laptop, I would like to focus on the Information Skills, Technical Skills, and Media Skills. For example, one of the media skills is the ability to identify the most appropriate media format to use to complete a media product. Although students use a wide variety of tools and software, we usually tell them which program or tools we want them to use to complete an assignment. I will begin to give students choices when they use technology. When an assignment is introduced, students will be given several options of different media they can use to complete the project. Having the freedom to choose will hopefully give students confidence when working with new media, which is another of the 21^st Century Fluency Skills.

Critical Evaluation of a Website

In my master's class we were asked to evaluate a website and use screen shots as we narrated our way through the evaluation. I have created my evaluation in iMovie and exported it as a Quick Time movie.

Reflection

My personal learning theory has not changed throughout this course. However, there are adjustments that I plan to make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration. My students each have their own laptop. Although I integrate technology into my lessons, it is usually through some type of project, such as an iMovie or a podcast. I need to find more ways for my students to use technology in their daily lessons.

  One new technology tool I plan to use is Concept Maps. As long as you have an essential question, mind maps can be used to organize any type of information. In language arts, this would be helpful to use as a character map or to organize information when reading a novel.

  As I mentioned above, I would like my students to use technology in my language arts class more regularly, and not just for projects. One of my goals is to have them use the online textbook to read stories on their computer.  There are also homework assignments that can be done online. This is something that has been available that I have not yet utilized. This goal will not be hard to achieve since they used their computers in this manner as 7^th graders.  I will simply need to talk to our building technician to make sure the online textbook is put on the 8^th grade laptops when they are re-imaged.

  Another long-term goal is for students to collaborate with other students globally. I would like to learn more about programs such as Skype and ePals. Again, this is something I will have to learn more about before utilizing it in my classroom. I will have to check with our district technology staff to make sure it is acceptable for our students to use these programs on their laptops.

Voice Thread

I am new to Voice Threads, and like most people, I do not like listening to the sound of my own voice. Anyway, I have a problem with students completing their work in my class and would love any suggestions you may have!

http://voicethread.com/share/530854/

Social Learning Theory

I do not think social learning should be the primary method used in the classroom. In the experiences I have had with cooperative groups, at times there is too much playing around by some of the team members. In some groups it seems that one or two people are doing all the work. Social learning is important, and it definitely has its place in today’s classroom, but it should be used in conjunction with other methods of learning.

 Now more than ever, technology allows students to collaborate on projects without the constraints of time or geography, (Pittler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, 2007). There are many different ways students can use technology to work in cooperative groups.

Students in my language arts class often work in cooperative groups. Sometimes they work together to problem solve or simply discuss their assignments. Other times they work in cooperative groups to create a project. When working together to create projects, they are shown exemplar projects and given organizers and rubrics before they begin the project. This ensures they understand what is expected of them, and there are no surprises when the assignment is graded.

One of the benefits of social constructivism is that conversation with others helps students to understand things. At times the learner needs a more knowledgeable person to help them understand, and this can be a parent, teacher, peer, or even a computer. Having students explain things to others also helps them to get a better understanding of the text. One activity that helps with this is the Jigsaw Activity. This is where each student is responsible for reading a certain section and then teaching the class about that section. After everyone has taught the group about what they read they have heard about the entire selection.

Having students work together is a powerful strategy, but students need a balance of teacher instruction, cooperative learning, and independent learning.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Laureate Education Inc. (2008). “Social Learning Theories.” Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education Inc.