Game Plan Progress

As I continue to work on my GAME plan, I am thinking about how to more effectively incorporate NETS-T goals in to the lessons. The method of instruction I am looking at is problem-based instruction, implementing more development of digital age learning experiences and also modeling solid digital citizenship.

I have learned a great deal this last week about being more effective with assessment. Using project-based assessments will work best for the middle school population I work with. Getting students to buy in to what we are doing is easier with ‘real world’ style assessments. It is exciting to think about keeping learning fresh for my students and showing them that assessment does not have to be memorizing facts and figures but can be more hands on and applicable to their lives.

Carrying out the GAME plan!

Thinking about putting together my GAME plan includes many pieces. I will need access to many pieces for me and my students…books, computers, software, interactive white boards and most important time. Helping my students to put together a great book review of their novel, a review that they will want to publish on the internet, will take time reading and journaling about their book. Doing research online about questions they might have and taking time to reflect on their findings are all important pieces that will help my students down the road to success!

NETS-T

One of the goals from NETS-T that I would like to incorporate in my classroom is to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. One way I can take action on this is to redesign successful, relevant lessons that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. I will monitor this goal by checking to see if student learning is being enhanced with the digital tools; are students learning better? Evaluating how the goal is working can be determined by student success and my success with the lessons.





Another NETS-T goal I have in to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility in our classroom. Most of the action on this goal will be students watching and witnessing how I model using technology. Are we safe, legal and ethical? Teaching and modeling proper digital etiquette is important as well. Self monitoring of my own practices with technology will be important. If my students are successfully and safely navigating their way through the digital world than I can rest assure that our goal has been meet.






Copyright © 2008, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 1.800.336.5191 (U.S. & Canada) or 1.541.302.3777 (Int’l), iste@iste.org, www.iste.org.

Here's to the future!

Another class, EDUC - 6712I – 3 with Dr. Xu has come to an end as I have completed seven of the ten classes for my master’s degree through Walden University. This class has been most enjoyable but zoomed by too quickly! One of the most striking revelations that came to me during this class is that teaching students about new literacy skills is quite complicated due to the fact that these new technologies are so new! We as teachers are literally developing ways to teach our students how to navigate through this wonderful world filled with helpful technology.


Going forward with teaching my students I will think twice when demonstrating a process that seems so natural to me; I may have done the task a hundred times but for my dear little students it just might be the first time for them to complete the objectives.

A goal that I wish to pursue with my students with the building blocks I have learned from our class is to continue to hunt treasures that are abundant on the internet. There is so much wisdom to be shared and helping kids to connect to others who can share with them and learn from us is an exciting venture to think about….so here’s to the future!

The Times They Are A Changing

The times they are a changing and I am learning so much! I’ve so many new techniques about how my students learn in the classroom. One of the best parts I learned about in this class is how people learn. Experience, hands-on, working in cooperative teams these are ways people learn and more important, how they remember! Incorporating newer technologies like blogs, Smartboards, wikis are tangible, hands-on learning for my students to use today. I think perhaps my favorite new learning technology was VoiceThread. An application that allows one to build a PowerPoint style presentation but then others can also log in and make comments as well…sorta like PowerPoint meets a wiki…a very cool way to get the conversations going.


And so…here it is…another class has come to an end and I come away with more tricks in my teacher bag to help my kids become the best that they can be!

Voice Thread

Hi Everyone!  Hope you are having a great week!  Please check out my VoiceThread link...enjoy! 

http://voicethread.com/share/775920/

Shayne

We Remember What We Teach

Being a reading teacher, I am completely for the idea that social learning is the primary way people construct meaning. However, too few classrooms in my building use this teaching style. The areas in my school that I see this most used is in our social studies classrooms. In the guided reading classroom, each week we learn a new strategy to become better readers. For example this week we are looking at text to text, text to self and text to world connections in reading. By the end of the school year my students have pockets full of strategies and know when to pull them out to use them. Often I will pair up my students, sometimes one lower and one higher reader or sometimes both will be low or high and they read out loud to each other. When one struggles with a word or passage the other student’s job is to suggest a strategy that might be helpful. When they have to ‘teach’ the strategies to each other, they usually understand them and how to use them.


Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski stated “the instructional strategy of cooperative learning focuses on having student interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning” (pp 139). When students interact with each other and teach each other key strategies for success, learning is remembered and students know how to apply what they have learned.