I have been working to follow through with my goals in my game plan. Creating this game plan helped me to focus on integrating technology into my classroom in a way that will benefit all of my students.
My first goal was to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. To meet this goal, I have been completing some searches online to try and find some student projects that the students could create which give them the opportunity to think creatively and to create excitement in my students. I have also been working with my second grade team to come up with math assessments that do the same. We have completed assessments for a few units. I have learned that students show more knowledge when they are able to think creatively and put more effort into their work. Creating problem-based learning activities will help me to continue to meet the needs of my students. I need to continue to always look for new ways that I can teach topics to my students.
My second goal dealt with modeling digital work and learning. As I continue to work to meet this goal, I will need to reflect on the technology tools that I have learned about and used in my classroom. If there is a new piece of technology which I feel will benefit my students, I will also need to learn more about it so that I can become an expert before teaching my students. Also, as I thought about what my students know about the computer, I realized that some are not familiar with some of the basic tools that they need to use to create digital work. For example, saving a file and shutting down the computer are two things that we only sometimes do and are things that I believe my students need to know how to do in order to use the computer for problem-based learning projects. I realized that I need to spend more time with the basics before I jump into the different programs. I believe that these things are an essential first step of completing digital work and need to be learned.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress
In order to meet the goals of my GAME plan, I need to make sure that I have found all of the resources I will need and I need to make modifications to my plan as needed after thinking about what has went well or has not.
For my goal of facilitating and inspiring learning and creativity, I have realized this week that technology can be used for assessing, while still giving students a chance to use creativity and continue to be motivated in the classroom. I have been talking with my co-workers to try to create some project-based assessments that students can complete to show understanding of the subjects that we cover, while also giving students a chance to complete their project using technology and creativity. We are hoping to create some projects for math and are in the beginning stages of the planning. I have not gotten enough time to do many searches yet, but I also plan to do some more searching on inspiring creativity in the classroom and will hopefully be able to share some websites soon.
Modeling digital age learning and work was the second focus of my plan. In order to be able to teach my students about the technology programs that I would like to incorporate into my classroom, I need to learn more about them first. I have started with blogs and I have become an expert in them by completing the blog for our master’s courses and by creating a classroom blog for parents to see. My next step is to begin teaching my students about the blog and having them add weekly posts for parents to see about our weeks of school. One question that I do have is what are some important things that I need to make sure to share with my students about blogs? Is there anyone who has started to incorporate blogs with their students and realized something important that you had not mentioned to your students? I realize that even when I try to learn something new, things can still happen and I would appreciate any tips that anyone may have about using blogs with their students.
I feel that my progress on my GAME plan has gone well so far. I will continue to reflect on the steps I have taken to make sure that I am meeting my goals.
For my goal of facilitating and inspiring learning and creativity, I have realized this week that technology can be used for assessing, while still giving students a chance to use creativity and continue to be motivated in the classroom. I have been talking with my co-workers to try to create some project-based assessments that students can complete to show understanding of the subjects that we cover, while also giving students a chance to complete their project using technology and creativity. We are hoping to create some projects for math and are in the beginning stages of the planning. I have not gotten enough time to do many searches yet, but I also plan to do some more searching on inspiring creativity in the classroom and will hopefully be able to share some websites soon.
Modeling digital age learning and work was the second focus of my plan. In order to be able to teach my students about the technology programs that I would like to incorporate into my classroom, I need to learn more about them first. I have started with blogs and I have become an expert in them by completing the blog for our master’s courses and by creating a classroom blog for parents to see. My next step is to begin teaching my students about the blog and having them add weekly posts for parents to see about our weeks of school. One question that I do have is what are some important things that I need to make sure to share with my students about blogs? Is there anyone who has started to incorporate blogs with their students and realized something important that you had not mentioned to your students? I realize that even when I try to learn something new, things can still happen and I would appreciate any tips that anyone may have about using blogs with their students.
I feel that my progress on my GAME plan has gone well so far. I will continue to reflect on the steps I have taken to make sure that I am meeting my goals.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Carrying Out My Game PLAN
Last week and came up with a GAME plan to help myself integrate technology to better meet the needs of my students. I have been looking into each part of my plan and I am trying to find ways to best implement and achieve the goals in my plan.
In order for me to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity, I need to use my learning from these masters courses. By learning about more technology tools that I can integrate into my classroom, my students will be more motivated and enthusiastic about learning. I have also been doing a lot of searching on the Internet to help me find more lessons that can foster creativity in my students. I believe that staying up to date with my learning and using the resources I have around me will help me to create creative lessons that help to encourage creativity in my students. So far, to meet my goal, I have taken these masters classes which have helped me to learn about new technology tools and I have begun to integrate some new pieces of technology.
Modeling digital age learning and work is the second part of my GAME plan. In order to carry out this part of my plan, I need to again learn more about different technology tools for my classroom. The master’s courses that I am taking are helping me with this part of my plan. Also, I need to give myself time to practice using the programs and asking for assistance from the technology coordinator at my school when needed. To begin implementing this part of my plan, I have picked blogs and VoiceThreads. I have practiced using them and have started to implement them in my classroom. My next step will be to continue to implement these tools, but also to learn more about other pieces of technology.
In order for me to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity, I need to use my learning from these masters courses. By learning about more technology tools that I can integrate into my classroom, my students will be more motivated and enthusiastic about learning. I have also been doing a lot of searching on the Internet to help me find more lessons that can foster creativity in my students. I believe that staying up to date with my learning and using the resources I have around me will help me to create creative lessons that help to encourage creativity in my students. So far, to meet my goal, I have taken these masters classes which have helped me to learn about new technology tools and I have begun to integrate some new pieces of technology.
Modeling digital age learning and work is the second part of my GAME plan. In order to carry out this part of my plan, I need to again learn more about different technology tools for my classroom. The master’s courses that I am taking are helping me with this part of my plan. Also, I need to give myself time to practice using the programs and asking for assistance from the technology coordinator at my school when needed. To begin implementing this part of my plan, I have picked blogs and VoiceThreads. I have practiced using them and have started to implement them in my classroom. My next step will be to continue to implement these tools, but also to learn more about other pieces of technology.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
My GAME Plan
I had the opportunity to take a look at the International Society for Technology in Education standards and performance indicators. As I read through them, I noticed that I am more comfortable with some of the standards compared to others. I have made two goals for myself relating to two of the standards.
The first standard that I feel I could use more work with would be Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. My goal for this standard is to create lessons that inspire creativity, problem solving, and collaboration. I want to create lessons that will motivate my students and I will incorporate different technology tools to help me achieve this goal. I will first need to look at my lessons that I teach right now. I will need to ask myself how I can best incorporate technology into my lessons to increase student learning and creativity. Then, once I have planned out my lessons, I will use them in my classroom. For the monitor section of my GAME plan, I will need to observe my students. I will check for their understanding of the topic and will need to observe to see whether or not there was higher student motivation and creativity during each lesson. My observations will help me to plan for future lessons. Finally, to evaluate my teaching and student learning, I will need to think about my lessons and what went well. I also need to think about whether my goal was achieved and if not, think about ways that I could change for the next year. To extend my learning, I will continue to learn about new technology and continue to read professionally in order to find strategies and tools that will benefit my students.
A second indicator that I feel I can strengthen my confidence in is Model Digital Age Work and Learning. Before starting my masters in technology, I did not use much technology in my classroom. This is why I picked this as a goal. I hope to learn, practice using, become an expert in, and use new pieces of technology each year. In order to achieve this goal, I am going to take the learning from these classes and incorporate my learning into my lessons. Before having my students use them, I will make sure to practice using them and become an expert so that I am ready for my students to use them. To monitor my progress, I will reflect on my teaching throughout the year. I will think about which pieces of technology I used and how they worked. I will also think about how I can incorporate technology through the rest of the year. If I notice difficulty from the students, I will think about how I can change and improve my modeling and teaching of the technology tools. Finally, to evaluate at the end of the year, I will think about what pieces of technology I used and which ones I would like to incorporate for the next year. I will also need to reflect on my teaching and think about how I could improve the modeling and facilitation of these tools in my classroom. To extend my learning, I will also stay up to date on new technology and try to use the resources and coworkers around me to keep learning.
By thinking about these standards for teachers, my students will only benefit. My students will be motivated, will have a chance to be more creative in their learning and will in turn show more understanding of the topics covered.
The first standard that I feel I could use more work with would be Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. My goal for this standard is to create lessons that inspire creativity, problem solving, and collaboration. I want to create lessons that will motivate my students and I will incorporate different technology tools to help me achieve this goal. I will first need to look at my lessons that I teach right now. I will need to ask myself how I can best incorporate technology into my lessons to increase student learning and creativity. Then, once I have planned out my lessons, I will use them in my classroom. For the monitor section of my GAME plan, I will need to observe my students. I will check for their understanding of the topic and will need to observe to see whether or not there was higher student motivation and creativity during each lesson. My observations will help me to plan for future lessons. Finally, to evaluate my teaching and student learning, I will need to think about my lessons and what went well. I also need to think about whether my goal was achieved and if not, think about ways that I could change for the next year. To extend my learning, I will continue to learn about new technology and continue to read professionally in order to find strategies and tools that will benefit my students.
A second indicator that I feel I can strengthen my confidence in is Model Digital Age Work and Learning. Before starting my masters in technology, I did not use much technology in my classroom. This is why I picked this as a goal. I hope to learn, practice using, become an expert in, and use new pieces of technology each year. In order to achieve this goal, I am going to take the learning from these classes and incorporate my learning into my lessons. Before having my students use them, I will make sure to practice using them and become an expert so that I am ready for my students to use them. To monitor my progress, I will reflect on my teaching throughout the year. I will think about which pieces of technology I used and how they worked. I will also think about how I can incorporate technology through the rest of the year. If I notice difficulty from the students, I will think about how I can change and improve my modeling and teaching of the technology tools. Finally, to evaluate at the end of the year, I will think about what pieces of technology I used and which ones I would like to incorporate for the next year. I will also need to reflect on my teaching and think about how I could improve the modeling and facilitation of these tools in my classroom. To extend my learning, I will also stay up to date on new technology and try to use the resources and coworkers around me to keep learning.
By thinking about these standards for teachers, my students will only benefit. My students will be motivated, will have a chance to be more creative in their learning and will in turn show more understanding of the topics covered.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Research Scenarios
Scenario 1: Ten students are available for in-depth interviews. Participants will be selected based on their involvement with the peer mediation program. They will be observed over three weeks. Analysis will attempt to determine issues concerning peer mediation.
I believe that a qualitative research approach to this scenario would be best. This is because this scenario uses observation to collect data. When observing, the data that is collected contains less numbers and more narrative thought and response. I believe the case study qualitative approach should be used. This approach examines “a case, over time in detail” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 26) which is what this scenario would be doing. The students will be observed over three weeks of time.
Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.
For this scenario I think that the quantitative approach would work best. A quantitative approach answers questions using numbers. With this scenario, the data will be the number of office referrals of the students. This would be data involving numbers. I also believe that the true experimental design would work for this scenario. McMillan & Schumacher (2008) state “the unique characteristic of a true experimental design is that there is random assignment of subjects to different groups” (p. 24). This approach would work with this scenario because the students that are selected will randomly be placed into either a group that receives peer mediation or a group that does not receive mediation.
Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.
I believe that for this scenario, a mixed method exploratory approach would work best. McMillan & Schumacher (2008) state that in this exploratory mixed method approach “the qualitative data are gathered first and a quantitative phase follows” (p.28). I believe that this approach would work best because first, the school counselor will use qualitative methods to find out more about student attitudes and thoughts, and second, the number of office referrals would be looked at which is more quantitative methods.
Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.
I believe that a mixed research approach would work best for this scenario. I think that an explanatory design would work best. In an explanatory design, “quantitative data are collected first and, depending on the results, qualitative data are gathered” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 28). I feel that this design fits with the scenario because a survey will be given first as pre and post tests, which would be the quantitative data and then interviews would be conducted, which would be the qualitative data.
References:
McMillan, J., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson
I believe that a qualitative research approach to this scenario would be best. This is because this scenario uses observation to collect data. When observing, the data that is collected contains less numbers and more narrative thought and response. I believe the case study qualitative approach should be used. This approach examines “a case, over time in detail” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 26) which is what this scenario would be doing. The students will be observed over three weeks of time.
Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.
For this scenario I think that the quantitative approach would work best. A quantitative approach answers questions using numbers. With this scenario, the data will be the number of office referrals of the students. This would be data involving numbers. I also believe that the true experimental design would work for this scenario. McMillan & Schumacher (2008) state “the unique characteristic of a true experimental design is that there is random assignment of subjects to different groups” (p. 24). This approach would work with this scenario because the students that are selected will randomly be placed into either a group that receives peer mediation or a group that does not receive mediation.
Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.
I believe that for this scenario, a mixed method exploratory approach would work best. McMillan & Schumacher (2008) state that in this exploratory mixed method approach “the qualitative data are gathered first and a quantitative phase follows” (p.28). I believe that this approach would work best because first, the school counselor will use qualitative methods to find out more about student attitudes and thoughts, and second, the number of office referrals would be looked at which is more quantitative methods.
Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.
I believe that a mixed research approach would work best for this scenario. I think that an explanatory design would work best. In an explanatory design, “quantitative data are collected first and, depending on the results, qualitative data are gathered” (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008, p. 28). I feel that this design fits with the scenario because a survey will be given first as pre and post tests, which would be the quantitative data and then interviews would be conducted, which would be the qualitative data.
References:
McMillan, J., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Research Questions
I plan to determine the impact on second graders’ achievement by using individualized technology programs (Renaissance - Math Facts in a Flash, etc.) to learn math facts compared to using paper and pencil.
With the help of discussions with classmates, I have come up with some research questions to help me guide my research. They are:
Does using technology based programs to learn math facts increase student achievement on common timed math fact tests?
Is there a difference between student achievement when using technology programs to learn math facts compared to using paper and pencil?
Which type of approach effects student achievement on common timed math fact tests?
I feel that my overall approach to my research will be the quantitative approach. To be more specific, I believe I will focus on a true experimental approach. To carry out my research, I will sort my population into two groups. I will have half of the second graders using paper and pencil methods to learn math facts and the other half of the second graders will use technology based programs like Renaissance – Math Facts in a Flash to learn their math facts. Since “the unique characteristic of a true experimental design is that there is random assignment of subjects to different groups (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008)” I will need to randomly assign the second graders to each group.
I am interested in beginning some research in order to find some answers to my questions!
References
McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based
inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
With the help of discussions with classmates, I have come up with some research questions to help me guide my research. They are:
Does using technology based programs to learn math facts increase student achievement on common timed math fact tests?
Is there a difference between student achievement when using technology programs to learn math facts compared to using paper and pencil?
Which type of approach effects student achievement on common timed math fact tests?
I feel that my overall approach to my research will be the quantitative approach. To be more specific, I believe I will focus on a true experimental approach. To carry out my research, I will sort my population into two groups. I will have half of the second graders using paper and pencil methods to learn math facts and the other half of the second graders will use technology based programs like Renaissance – Math Facts in a Flash to learn their math facts. Since “the unique characteristic of a true experimental design is that there is random assignment of subjects to different groups (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008)” I will need to randomly assign the second graders to each group.
I am interested in beginning some research in order to find some answers to my questions!
References
McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based
inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Problem Statement
I believe that learning basic math facts is a very important skill that needs to be taught in the elementary classroom. When students know and can quickly solve basic math facts, it will be easier for them to complete more difficult problems accurately and quickly. In my school district, we have many technology tools that we can use in our classroom in order to give students time to practice these math facts. Some teachers in the district feel that these programs have no benefits. I would like to look more into these technology tools to see if they do have a benefit compared to when teachers use regular paper and pencil when teaching math facts.
After thinking about what I would like to focus on for my research, I created a problem statement. It is important to start with a problem statement because “it communicates to others the focus and importance of the problem (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008).” I will use my problem statement to help guide my research.
I plan to determine the impact on student achievement by using technology programs to learn math facts compared to using paper and pencil.
Who: second grade students
What: technology programs to teach math facts compared to paper and pencil
Why: the impact in student learning
References
McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based
inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
After thinking about what I would like to focus on for my research, I created a problem statement. It is important to start with a problem statement because “it communicates to others the focus and importance of the problem (McMillan & Schumacher, 2008).” I will use my problem statement to help guide my research.
I plan to determine the impact on student achievement by using technology programs to learn math facts compared to using paper and pencil.
Who: second grade students
What: technology programs to teach math facts compared to paper and pencil
Why: the impact in student learning
References
McMillan, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2008). Research in education: Evidence-based
inquiry (Laureate custom edition). Boston: Pearson.
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