Reflection

As an ongoing part of my Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology course this semester, I joined several classmates in a Differentiation Station social networking group on facebook we called Engaging Learners Through Technology. To help me implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Differentiated Instruction (DI), I will return to that social network for specific online resources as well as camaraderie and collaboration. I found the real human “link” to my peers as valuable as the hyperlinks they shared in their posts and comments. As I begin developing lessons using the UDL approach, my fellow facebook teachers are available to review my plans, make suggestions, and provide counsel. My first efforts to incorporate UDL were greatly improved by the feedback I received from my social network. I plan to be an active member of the group even after the course is ended.

One of the immediate adjustments I will make to my instructional practice comes as a direct result of my collaboration with my colleagues on the social network. We shared so many websites, software and hardware ideas with each other in this forum, I found myself losing track of the websites I wanted to use, even when I bookmarked them. I began using the social bookmarking tool, www.delicious.com, to organize the websites we recommended to each other. Using tags, I can identify the websites with key words to help me find them later when I am ready to integrate them into my lesson plans. I will introduce www.delicious.com to my students as a resource for them to classify and share their online resources.

It is every teacher’s responsibility to know “what technology is capable of and how it can be used to foster student success” (Bray, Brown, & Green, 2004, p.3). In order to efficiently and appropriately integrate technology into my instructional practices, I need some system of referencing which tools might be a good fit for which students. While the social network is an appropriate venue to alert my fellow teachers about a new website or strategy, it is not practical way of storing information. I started collecting ideas so I could filter them the way the tags in www.delicious.com categorize websites. I began an Excel spreadsheet to gather strategies I plan to use in my lessons to customize instruction using technology. The pertinent information for each item includes what learning style or profile the strategy or tool addresses, an example of how it has been used, availability or access information, who or where the idea came from and their contact information, web address, and even pricing. I expect at some point when my “anthology of technology” grows too large, I will link it to an Access database so I can make queries instead of resorting the data in Excel.

The best practices I have learned in this course emphasize matching the right technology to the right student (Center for Applied Special Technology, 2009). While getting to know the student and careful planning are important, being flexible is also an important factor to successful technology integration for differentiation. My own attitude and beliefs are part of the equation, too (Laureate Education, 2009). I must embrace all the challenges and rewards associated with using technology as a full member of the learning community that is my classroom, modeling flexibility for my students, my fellow technology users. Just as technology is an adaptable tool to meet students at individual readiness levels, encourage them, motivate them, and support their learning; technology is a tool serves me as the teacher in the same ways. Technology helps motivate me and encourage me through the social network with my peers. Technology meets my individual needs as a novice teacher collecting new strategies and ideas to use in my instruction. Technology supports my learning: through courses like this one and through online collaboration. I believe that modeling is a powerful catalyst for students and that includes being open to the potential benefits of integrating technology for learning.

References

Bray, M., Brown, A., & Green, T. D. (2004). Technology and the diverse learner: A guide to classroom practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Center for Applied Special Technology. (2009). UDL guidelines, version 1.0. Retrieved from http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl/udlguidelines

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Putting it all together. Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

Yahoo! (2010). Retrieved from delicious: http://www.delicious.com/

Reflection

      As my course Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas at Walden University draws to a close, I have taken some time to reflect on how I can use technology in my social studies curriculum effectively and appropriately. As a substitute teacher, I was aware of how too often technology is used in classrooms for the wrong reasons. It is a convenient way to both appease students who want to be amused and also administers who are eager to claim their schools are “cutting edge.” What I have learned in this course is how technology is not only a teacher’s tool, but also a student’s.

     In particular, I was impressed by the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) which suggests that technology can help meet the needs of diverse learners by making the curriculum more accessible and flexible (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). Assistant technologies like cell phone text reminders, online calendars, and Twitter updates are easy strategies to employ and familiar tools for many students who are disorganized. For students for whom English is a second language, text-to-speech software will bring otherwise difficult content to life. High achieving students will thrive with the UDL approach which encourages the sharing their work with the option of using a variety of technology like digital storytelling, podcasting, or blogging. Most importantly, UDL inspires me to develop instruction and assessments for student learning and not student entertainment. It is exciting for me to know, too, that there is more that can be done as we educators look at the technology as a more than the old notion of a classroom novelty.  Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer agree saying technology offers “promise for overcoming challenges to customizing instruction that may not have been possible previously” (2009, p. 110).

     Thanks to my classmates and the excellent textbook from this course, I can also immediately and easily incorporate some resources available online beyond my basic list of the usual social studies sites. Incorporating digital resources was one of my actions from my original GAME plan to utilize more digital resources like news sites and the Library of Congress database of documents and images. The resources I plan to use include some known and some previously unknown to me. I really like the idea of introducing my students to bubbl.us to help them organize their ideas with concept mapping. The digital format is valuable because it is easily adjusted and reworked as ideas evolve and grow while pencil and paper concept maps are less forgiving. Google Earth is another tool that can be employed to increase student understanding of content by providing a visual and kinesthetic experience (Laureate, 2009). I will use delicious social bookmarking and collaborative databases like Knowledge Forum with my students to organize their resources and results for group projects.

     Finally, I will introduce the GAME plan process to my students. As a student myself, I found the steps helped keep me focused. Setting goals was the easiest step for me. I chose NETS-T standards that would make me a culturally responsive teacher, specifically modeling digital-age learning and working (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). As I began to take action on my goals and monitor my progress, a couple of action plans seemed to dominate my work. Familiarizing myself with my state’s technology standards for students naturally took precedent because I need to know what they need to know. Even as a social studies teacher, my responsibility is to reinforce and in some cases, provide opportunities for my students to master these 21^st century skills. Developing my own website is the other action that most occupied my time as I devoured the resources online looking at exemplars from my colleagues’ sites as well as learning how to use free web authoring software like Nvu and Amaya.

     I find myself much better prepared to evaluate and extend my own learning through the GAME plan principles. I can use technology to support learning, develop creative thinking skills, and check understanding – my own and my students. The GAME plan outlines the objectives on both a small and a large scale, public and private. The motivation triggered through the steps highlights for me the interconnectedness of the aspects we discussed during our first week of class:  creative thinking, integrating technology, self-directed learning, and content understanding. Ironic, isn’t it, that the content understanding for this course is in fact, the other three?

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). (2009). Program four. Enriching content area learning experiences with technology II. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore : Author

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

ARGGGH! I logged in today to see the comments on my most recent blog post and found my most recent blog post missing! I should know better than to assume the technology has performed as expected without going back in to confirm. My mistake....

That being said, let me enter the blogosphere late but with the best of intentions. 

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has set the standard for technology skills among teachers and students to be successful in the digital-age learning environment. The standards can be reviewed at the links here:


National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•S) and Performance Indicators for Students
National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers

When I think about the progress I have made over the last several weeks on my GAME plan I see my goals evolving.  The process provides both the structure and the flexibility to grow! I will use the GAME plan with my students to familiarize them not only with the NETS standards for students, but to build a scaffold for them to imitate the process we've used here to develop our own skills through blogging and sharing. I found the arena to be perfectly suited for collaboration and personal reflection.  It is a winner!  The students will find, as I did, a motivation to follow the GAME plan process through weekly blogging and response requirements but also through the support and camaraderie among the online community of learners.  I has been a pleasure to have the shared insight of my colleagues here.  Thank you to everyone!

Revising my GAME Plan

What have I learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

One surprising thing I am learning is just how much more student-centered the learning is when we incorporate technology in the lesson. One laptop with an internet connection and a camera replaces pencil, paper, brick and mortar libraries, books, journals, dark rooms, recording studios, and more. The students move so fluidly through and between the applications and resources in this digital environment that learning becomes and extension of themselves.

Another thing I have learned, and I am almost ashamed to admit it, is that it IS worth it to go through the tutorial on a new product. I will make using the tutorial a part of my instruction!

What goals am I still working toward?

I am still working on both my goals: developing my dream teacher website and really familiarizing myself with the OH technology content standards. I want to know them as well as I know my own content area standards for social studies. As far as my website goes, I expect it will be an ongoing project, a living breathing extension of the classroom that changes and my and my students' needs do.

Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will I set for myself?

I haven't had a moment to myself to think about set new goals.

If I am not ready to set new learning goals, how will I extend what I have learned so far?

After reviewing the NETS-T, I realize that I must MAKE the time to extend my learning and keep my forward motion! One of the things I am wanting to do is to get some magazine subscriptions (yes, actual magazines made of paper) that are dedicated to educators' use of technology. I love to flip through the pages of a journal over my morning coffee. Any title suggestions for me?

What learning approaches will I try next time to improve my learning?

I will stick with the GAME plan approach. I am growing and feeling really confident about my progress using the GAME plan steps for goal setting, action steps, monitoring, and evaluate/extend. I find the steps keep me focused and reinforce success. I come away from the reflection feeling positive and encouraged.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?

So far my actions are indeed helping me meet my goals. I took a step back on my research for creating a teacher website. I had seen so much that I needed to regroup and sketch out what I really wanted to do with mine. I am using my delicious tags to sort and organize the sites I review so I can go back to the sites and features I like.


What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

My review of the OH technology standards has showed me that students do need to have instruction on the technology skills. I cannot assume that when they arrive in my classroom that they have had this instruction. I will need to make some concerted effort to include time in my lesson plans to cover the technology, even when I think it is something they should already know.


What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

I need to learn how to fit it all in! Between the blog entries, the discussion board, my reading, my applications, and my GAME plan it is overlapping and overwhelming.


How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?

I am going to need to prioritize all of these tasks better so not one of them lags behind. I may adjust my GAME plan as the last item on my list of priorities because it is really a “future” goal and I see it as something I will be working on always and in all ways.

Monitoring my GAME plan progress

I am finding a lot of resources, more than I need! In particular, I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with the number of teacher websites that I have reviewed. I should be keeping better records of what I like and don't like. At this point I can't remember what I wanted to remember or where I saw it. I completely underestimated the sheer VOLUME of sites to explore. The questions is how to pare it down and find meaning. This is an important lesson for me to learn; because if I can be overwhelmed then my students will need to be taught how to evaluate what information they find and how to organize it in a useful way.

I need to modify my action plan by mocking up a site. Dare I say it? Maybe draw out my "ideal" teacher website on actual paper!

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

I must take a few moment to review my GAME plan.

* What resources will I need to carry out your plan?

Since I want to incorporate more technology in my lesson plans, I need to get a copy of the Ohio technology standards so I know that I am reinforcing skills my students should have and should learn.

* What additional information do I need?

I need to develop a survey tool or locate one to poll my students about their current technology use.

I also need to learn more about the Ohio technology standards.

* What steps have I been able to take so far?

My biggest frustration to going forward with my GAME plan is that as a substitute, I feel impotent! There is no regular classroom for me to grow and develop my GAME plan with students who will realize the benefits.

For my website goal: I should sit down and do some research online, particularly reviewing other history teachers' websites and starting to collect a wish list of what I would like to do with mine one day.

For my techology/history lesson plan goal: I can peruse the Ohio technology standards. I found them online and printed a hard copy to mark up. Here they are: http://www.ode.state.oh.us/GD/Templates/Pages/ODE/ODEDetail.aspx?page=3&TopicRelationID=1707&ContentID=1279&Content=72514. Once I familiarize myself with this content, I can think about how they might fit into my existing lessons and/or develop new lessons which incorporate the technology with the history content.

Hey! That might actually be a bonus! As a new teacher, I don't have to reinvent the wheel by dismantling and reconstructing established lessons. Building them from scratch using the technology makes more sense.