GAME Plan 2.0

This week's resources were about using technology for assessment. My GAME plan needs this component.

Goal #1 Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Concept maps, wikis, blogs, podcasts, and Voice Threads are excellent types of assessments that I can model for my students. Students can demonstrate their knowledge of the content area. I have already started using them with my lessons. Next, I plan to research online assessment sites. I wonder if anyone has a site to recommend.

Goal#2 Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Preparing students to become responsible digital citizen and using technology for assessments fit together well. Gaggle has online safety assignments I can use. I found a site for educators, parents, and students to use called Netsmartz. It has resources and lessons available. Next week, when I am back at school I plan to access it and hope it crosses over the firewall.

I will continue to build my list of resources bookmarking them on delicious.

Debbie

Let the GAME begin!

I have started a GAME plan to incorporate (NET.S) standards into my classroom. This week I will research resources I can use to facilitate my plan.

Goal #1 Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

In order to model technology, I have to be comfortable using it myself. I have used this blog in several of my Walden classes and like participating in the Discussion boards. I have started a discussion board with my students using Gaggle. I need to find resources on the internet from other teachers and how they use blogs and/or discussion boards in their classrooms.

Goal #2 Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

In my last Walden class, I devloped a unit to teach students how to research on the internet. I will use this unit to accomplish this goal. I want to add to this unit by adding lessons on internet safety. I have started looking for resources. I started with the Gaggle web site to find safety lessons. They have several lessons that can be accessed online or with worksheets that can printed.

(NET.S) and my GAME Plan

This week I reviewed the National Educational Technology Standards for Students web site. The first standard I want to incorporate into my classroom through a GAME Plan is Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. A GAME Plan guides students in self-directed learning(Cennamo,K., Ross,J., & Ertmer,P., 2009, pgs. 3-5.)
(G): I want to be able to increase my knowledge of technology available for elementary school classrooms. I currently know how to use a blog, wiki, pod cast, amd other technologies as a student at Walden, but I want to transfer that knowledge to my students. I will know I am successful when my students can demonstrate their ability to use technology in my classroom.
(A): I need to research to find other third grade classrooms that utilize technology. I need to search for content lessons that already incorporate technology and try them in my classroom. I need to collaborate with other teachers on technology projects.
(M): I need to set a goal to self-monitor my progress at the end of each trimester. I will evaluate my progress and modify my plan if necessary. I will check with my students and peers and get their feedback regarding my progress and lessons.
(E): At the end of the year I will evaluate the entire process to see if I met my goal or it needs to be extended.

The second (NET.S) GAME Plan is for the topic Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.

(G): I want to model and teach my students to show respect for copyright and other digital property.
(A): I will teach proper copyright and digital property etiquitte in my classroom.
(M): I will monitor the student's progress in learning this skill and make necessary adjustments in my plan.
(E): I will evaluate whether my students are able to cite sources appropriately and extend this into independent projects.

I look forward to your comments about my plan.

References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate
Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use

I am looking forward to this class because it seems as if it will allow me to take the standards I have to teach and infuse it with the wonderful pieces of technology I am learning. I am excited to learn from my colleagues as I go...

Building My Bridge

As I reflect on the course Building Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology, I discover that I have built a stronger bridge to connect me with my students. I am one side with learning theories, curriculum, and technology. They are on the other side, eager to learn, digital learners.

The students in my classroom come from varied socio-economic, cultural, and religious backgrounds; therefore I must create a learning environment that meets each student’s individual needs. Lever-Duffy and McDonald (2008, p.18) state “To do that, you need a working knowledge of learning theory. Then once this knowledge base is in place, it is wise for you to develop your own, possible eclectic view of various learning theories.” At the beginning of this course I stated that my personal theory is an eclectic model of different theories. Students learn in the many different ways described by Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences, community plays a role in learning developed by Lev Vygotsky, students learn by being active participants in an immersive experience constructed by Jerome Bruner, and students learn by stimulus-response described by B.F. Skinner. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008d).

Which additional learning theories am I?

Behaviorist? Definitely, homework and practice are important in my classroom. "As an extension of the classroom, homework provides an opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of the content and to gain profiency with their skills (Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K., 2207, page 187.) Web resources allow students to practice the skills needed online at school and home. They provide instant feedback to students and allow teachers and parents to monitor mastery (Pitler, et. al, 2007, page 185.)

Cognitivism? Certainly, connecting previous knowledge with new information is what teachers do best. Concept mapping and virtual field trips are two new resources I found that strengthen my lessons. Concept maps are different because they allow the student to construct the meaning or connections between the concepts and "help students focus their learning (Pitler, et., al, 2007, page 73.) In the DVD, Dr. Michael Orey states that "concept maps are a graphical way of explaining the network model of memory" and because they are "a visual representation they tie into Paivio's Dual Coding of Information" (Laureate, 2008b.) One concept that is hard for my students to learn is to make connections between the levels of specificity from our California State standards for Language arts. (e.g., poodle/dog/mammal/animal/living thing (California Department of Education, 2010.)I will use concept maps with images and text to make these connections. Afterwards, I will have my students create their own. Dr. Orey states that "images are powerful tools" and reinforce Paivio's Dual Coding model (Laureate, 2008b.) Virtual field trips take students to places around the world to enhance the learning taking place in the classroom, add to the "episodic memory" and help students make connections (Laureate, 2008b.) I plan to add virtual field trips to my language arts lessons to enhance the stories. We live in Southern California, yet many of my students have not been to the beach, desert, or mountains. Not only can I take them to visit places in our home state but to the places around the world where the characters and people from our stories are from.

Constructivism?Constructionist? Actually, I have always had project based learning in my classroom. It is important for students to create an artifact that explains and demonstrates their new knowledge. There are many examples of technology that can be used by the student to accomplish this goal, Microsoft Word, spreadsheets, power points, voice threads, podcasts, wikis, and blogs, to name a few.

Technology used by the teacher as an instructional tool and by the student as a learning tool are supported by research based instructional strategies. Dr. Debra Pickering states that “Strategies are effective only if students become proficient at using them” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008a.) I have two long term goal changes to make regarding instructional practice and technology integration to reinforce the bridge for next year. First, I need to get technology my students. Dr. Orey states that we should "not be afraid to give technology to the kids" (Laureate, 2008c.) Too many times, I get caught up in getting the lessons done to get ready for the test, or saying, "we do not have enough computers, or time." I plan to start the year teaching blogs and charts with the first theme of our reading series. I spent last week developing the blog questions and charts that I outlined in application 7. I already made up the blogs for themes two through five. Second, I want to add concept mapping to my lessons. Next week, I plan to go back to the first theme and add concept maps to the stories. By the time summer ends, I will have blog questions, concept maps, and virtual field trips for each story in my reading book. Finally, I will tie these technology tools to the standards for the benchmarks and standardized tests.

References

California Department of Education. (2010). California academic standards for english language arts. Sacramento, CA: Author. Retrieved June 17,2009, from http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008a). Program eleven. Social Learning Theories [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008b). Program four. Instructional Strategies, Part One [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008c). Program thirteen. Cognitive Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008d). Program one. Understanding the Brain [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

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

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Social Constructivism is a learning theory in which students are actively engaged in their learning and produce a product to demonstrate their learning. The most important component of this theory is the interactions amongst the learners while they work together in collaborative or cooperative groups to accomplish the goal. Connectivism extends this theory by embedding technology into the lessons or products. George Siemens states that "Learning is the act of forming networks and navigating networks of knowledge"(Laureate Education, Inc., 2008.)Information is global and not static, therefore by utilizing technology in the classroom,the most up to date information is available for students to use in their projects.

Cooperative learning can be supported in a technology rich classroom through multimedia, web resources, and communication software. Creating a video is an excellent artifact to demonstrate a cooperative multimedia project. Improved technology at schools allows students to collaborate not only in their classrooms but globally as well. An example is the JASON Project. It is geared for students in grades 4-9, but I can adapt it for my third graders. Electronic pen pals or Keypals are another way for students to communicate or collaborate with students in another school, city, state, or even country. This is an idea I would like to research and use in my classroom next year. WebQuests are both interactive and cooperative. The activities focus on higher level thinking skills such as inquiry, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Another way to engage students is to have them create a web page as their project. Students will think it is fun to share their knowledge with the world. Book reviews, social studies, and science are three content areas where a student created web page would work in my classroom. Communication gets easier everyday by using shared calendars, bookmarking, wikis and blogs.

I also learned how to create a Voice Thread this week. My voice thread is based upon the first story we read, The Lost and Found, by Mark Teague. In the story, Mona, Wendell, and Floyd go on an adventure into the lost and found bin. In my voice thread, Hats!, I ask my students to imagine what kind of hat they could be. I will use this to spark a writing and art assignment that could be published as a class voice thread.

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program nine. Connectivism as a Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author.

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

V vs N: Constructivism and Constructionism in the Classroom

Dr. Michael Orey explained the difference between constructivism and constructionism in the dvd this week. Constructionist learning theories are important in the classroom because they help students make connections between the lesson and the real world. I like to use project-based learning and Interact simulations in my classroom. Students have fun while learning and produce a product to demonstrate their knowledge. I have bookmarked all of the resources this week and plan to explore them fully during the summer. Creating power point presentations and using Microsoft Word to make books and papers are examples of technology based projects.

I have taught students how to test a hypothesis to create a Science Fair Project, but never realized that the simulations I have used are similar. I plan to incorporate the Plimoth Plantation web site into my Pilgrim simulation next year.



Resources
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program four. Behaviorist Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore: Author