Educational Technology Reflection

In looking back at my teaching career and its evolution, I have made many changes. My teaching philosophy has been refined, and modified. The outlook of expectations that I have for my students has been altered. The ways that technology is included into my lessons has improved. Because of what I have learned in this course, I am more thoughtful in the types of technology that I use, and how it is used, and how I can differentiate for my different learners. Many ideas and resources were shared that I am able to use right away in my classroom. Another accomplishment that I have attained while working on this course is an interview for an instructional technology teacher position within my district. Before my Walden courses, I never thought I could be an ITT (Instructional Technology Teacher) and here I wait for the results of my interview.

    I have always felt that students learn best in a collaborative environment. Working on projects and learning through problem solving has led many of my units. Through this course, I have found more ways to differentiate instruction and create authentic learning opportunities for students. I have developed methods that provide adequate scaffolding to support all my learners. By using rubrics, as well as identifying learner types with surveys I will be more prepared with the types of projects, as well as appropriate groups that can work together.

After learning about the brain research and universal design for learning as described by Dr. David Rose in “Brain Research and Universal Design for Learning”, I was able to apply the UDL practices in my classroom. The connections with UDL and education were clearly identified, and I have modified methods in my class that will better support all students.

In the readings from Carol Ann Tomlinson, I have a better understanding of how assessments can guide instruction. By using rubrics, pre-tests, and post assessments I will identify specific skills that need to be developed, as well as interests on a topic. I have been able to provide more student reflection on assignments to help students learn and grow. By assessing their own learning in activities, students are better prepared to apply their learning.

Some ways that I have recently adjusted my instructional practices are to use google docs for assessments. Students are able to log in and take tests online on a test that I created from what we have learned. I have also created more projects that provide for more differentiation. We just completed a poetry unit and students will create VoiceThreads that will allow students to read and reflect on different pieces of poetry. I have begun using more things that align with UDL concepts such as changing my document camera to reverse the black and white when projecting. This has allowed for students that have visual problems to better see what is being projected. There are still many things that I will be modifying and changing as I learn what works best for me and the unique group of young people that are in my classroom.

Universal Designs for Learning and Differentiated Instruction together with Technology

The following link is a voicethread I created that discusses UDL and DI and how they support each other.  Included are some ideas of how technology can support UDL and DI.

http://voicethread.com/share/1896030/

Enjoy!

UDL At A Glance

The following movie is an excellent presentation that clearly explains Universal Design for Learning (UDL). As I further study how to create more equitable access to learning, and providing students with opportunities to explore different learning opportunities, I find myself changing my teaching philosophy. Allowing for more project based learning, and cooperative group work my classroom can become more learner centered.

UDL

Here is a presentation I created that describes the components of UDL and tools to help in the classroom.


UDL prezi

Enjoy!

Week 8 Reflections and Ruminations

Throughout this course, I learned more about being a student. Many of the things that I require from my students I was faced with during the past eight weeks. With my tumultuous personal life interfering with my learning process. I wish that I had been able to explore each of the things we learned more in depth. Creating a unit plan with a problem-based learning lesson, a collaborative lesson, as well as a digital story was incredibly insightful. Each lesson grew and developed as my understanding of each was finally realized. It was not until I was creating my digital storytelling lesson plan that I could visualize exactly how this unit would flow, and how each part builds upon the previous lesson.

In regards to my GAME plan, I was not as successful. I had set high expectations for my students and myself. During this course, my class had access to the computers six times. During those periods, we discussed digital etiquette and how to respond respectfully online. We accessed Kerpoof.com to create, share, and discuss different items. It was just an introduction to a much bigger lesson. We spent the majority of the time with the laptops working on our keyboarding skills; I realized after speaking with other teachers that because of the requirements later in school my students were not as prepared as possible. I had to spend time having students learn and have a basic understanding of keyboarding skills. They are becoming much more comfortable with a keyboard and where to find each letter, it may not be perfect, but they are still learning proper techniques.

I have been introduced to many different professional learning communities online. I have begun following different educators on Twitter, following different blogs, and accessing websites that will help me to grow and learn as a professional educator. This has been the most valuable for me. I enjoy observing other educators with their successes and failures in our profession to find things that may work or things to avoid in my classroom.

I look forward to continuing to develop my GAME plan and identify more realistic goals for a short-term project, as well as identify a long term GAME plan for the rest of this school year and to prepare for next year. For the time being, I have many new technology tools to use within my classroom. One thing that I am very excited to begin using with the new quarter is www.kidblogs.com. I am looking forward to having students write blogs as a means to respond to their reading, as well as to discuss their own learning processes. Thank you for following along as I try to make sense of an overwhelming amount of information and resources!

Monitoring my GAME plan

Within my GAME plan, I have made baby steps. Some days it feels like I may be moving backwards in my progress to create a classroom that is rich with technology, and embracing a more comprehensive approach to learning. I have been working on having students learning how to communicate online and being respectful, and appropriate. Today, we had an opportunity to discuss a chat board and ways to communicate within a closed setting. Many of my third grade students understood the concept and that they should always be appropriate. We compared the things they do online as their professional self, and what they do at home as their personal self. Anything they were going to do online needed to be treated as their professional self, because anyone can see or look back on what is out there. In the middle of the discussion, I realized that they just wanted to get to the chatting. Was this the point I should turn it over to them? I couldn’t help myself when I gave the ultimatum “If you do anything inappropriate, disrespectful, or otherwise determined to be out of line…. I will shut down the chatting for good!” Oh no! I had become the chat police!  How would my students learn how to appropriately chat and communicate online knowing that I was watching and waiting for them to slip up? That session seemed to go just fine and they were so excited to just say hi to others publicly. It was like watching a bad first date, no one knew what to say to each other. One thing I will modify is to give students a topic to discuss, or a problem to solve. I have revisited the permission forms that students and their families signed at the beginning of the year and realized that most of the technology tools we use are covered in the form. However, when we start creating projects and posting them online, I will need permissions that are more specific and be clearer in my expectations of the students and their work.

Another thing we have been working on is student’s keyboarding skills. They are so excited and engaged in the basic keyboarding activities that come with our computers. Students actually look forward to typing the same letter a million times correctly just to see their words per minute score improve and allow them to progress to the next step. Are my students racing to the finish line? Are they truly understanding how to type, or just going through the motions and faking it to be the first? My third graders are incredibly competitive and I worry that they are not motivated to learn keyboarding, only the motivation to be done with it.

Carrying out my GAME plan

http://macalchemist.com/wp-content/uploads/Game-Plan-300x199.jpg

As I further my exploration into applying technology into my classroom content, I developed a GAME plan that will focus my teaching. This week I am looking at the progress of my GAME plan. 

 

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

Teachers: promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.

Teachers:

Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.

 

In carrying out my GAME plan, I will need to use my colleagues at my school, as well as within my personal network. Students will also need to learn how to appropriately respond to content online. By teaching lessons that include an online comment portion, students may safely practice and apply what we are learning in school. The use of blogs, wikis, and other collaboration tools will need to be at done at school, as there is a limited amount of technology available at students’ homes. This will require that students will need access to the laptop cart that is shared with the other 600 students at our school.

Before beginning this process, I need to clarify any permission forms that need to be signed by parents. Our district has a form that students need to sign before using the computer, but it is not clear about what and how students’ material is used online. Many of the struggles I am currently facing is the inevitable time. With so many mandates that already fill my time, I am struggling with fitting my GAME plan within my schedule. One of the things I need to do is to look at how I can use collaborative tools within my electricity unit, as well as giving them problem-based learning activities to challenge students to work together to solve a real-life problem. It is a challenge for third grade students to communicate in type, yet another goal of mine is to work on their keyboarding skills, or at least a beginning understanding of the keyboard layout.

So far, in my class we have talked about being appropriate online, and how to comment respectfully. Students have explored the creative side of www.kerpoof.com and I have plans to allow for the chat portion in the near future. We have a long way to go!