GAME plan

I want to begin this post by apologizing to my classmates for it being late. I have been sick this week and blogging was the last thing on my mind.

In order to implement my GAME plan I will need to research using blogs in the classroom. I will need to find a website that is accessible from my classroom and that is first grader friendly. Also, I will need to help my parents understand what a blog is, how I will make it safe for their child, and how we will be using it. I have begun researching blog sites that our technology department will allow us access to.

The second part of my GAME plan was to begin a group at my school to encourage technology use. In order for this idea to come to life I will have get permission from my administration, post any meetings for professional development credit, wait for that to be approved, and find resources to share during our first meeting. In order for this to be successful long term I will need to find experts willing to come and share with our school and video lessons we will be able to watch. So far I have discussed the idea with my principal. We will be mentioning the idea at our December faculty meeting.

GAME plan

After viewing the NETS-T’s I have developed a GAME plan for better reaching those standards in my classroom. I developed the GAME plan specifically for the standards I feel are my weakest.

NETS-T 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.
c. promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes
Goal: Encourage students to share their thoughts on the learning process.
Action: Make use of blogs and wikis during projects and model for students how to express their thoughts on learning.
Monitor: Regular review of the blogs and wikis being used. Revisiting the modeling several times.
Evaluate: Determine if students are responding to the blogs and posting on a frequent basis about the process throughout projects.

NETS-T 5 Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.
b. exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others.

Goal: To form a group of teachers to train and focus on integrating technology into the curriculum of our school.
Action: Invite teachers to join me for weekly meetings. During meetings have teachers share methods of using technology in the classroom and lesson ideas. Also integrate these ideas into our county curriculum map.
Monitor: Regularly update the rest of the school on our progress with a weekly email and information during faculty meetings
Evaluate: At the end of a term I will look back to see how many uses of technology we have added to the curriculum map and how many new tools we have trained teachers on in our school.

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

Reflection

At the beginning of my most recent masters class I was aware that students needed to learn certain aspects of technology. I was not aware the depth of that knowledge they would need or even the impact technology was having on literacy. We read differently today. I sit down in the mornings with my coffee (or current decaf beverage) to my laptop, when I was a child my parents sat down with the newspaper. I am still reading the news just in a completely different manner. How did I learn to do that? How have I learned to distinguish fact from fiction when there is so much information out there? I honestly have no idea how I learned that ability, other than being somewhat self-taught, but I do know that it is my job as an educator to teach children of today how to read technology. The basics are the same, read the information, process it, understand it, summarize it, and you have new information in your knowledge bank. However, students must know how to check the validity of a website and they must be able to focus their searches so that they get only wanted information. I think I was most surprised while completing my unit for my class how easy it was to begin teaching these literacy skills even in first grade. They may not be able to do as much research on their own as older students, but guided in the right way students as young as kindergarten, with help, can conduct research and check for basic aspects of a website for validity. If we teach this basic foundation in kindergarten, first and second grades, then when the students get to the upper grades that have some prior knowledge and the teachers have more to work with. My goal for my career as an educator is to implement lessons in my classroom that will teach students the literacy skills they need to survive in our new, evolving world. I, also, would like to work with and encourage the teachers in upper grades at my school to continue my work. This will provide our middle school and high school with tech savvy students that are capable of conducting research properly.

Research Methods

Educational research is being conducted everyday. It is important for educators to understand this research, what it is and how to read it, in order for them to use the research to improve the learning environment for their students. Below are four scenarios and my perspective on the methods used for each one:

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.

This study is qualitative due to the fact that the researcher will conduct in-depth interviews with the subjects. Interviews are a “face-to-face” method of collecting data, which is a characteristic of qualitative studies. ((McMillan & Schumacher, 2008).

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.

This study is a quantitative study due to the fact that the researcher will be focusing on data from numbers instead of interaction with the subjects.

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.

This study is a mix of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The counselor will be observing the students and collecting data from that, which is qualitative. Also, data will be collected from the number of students coming into the office, which is a quantitative method.

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.

This is also a mixed method study using both the numbers from the Survey and “face-to-face” interviews making it both qualitative and quantitative.

McMillian, J. H., & Schumacher, S. (2006). Research in Education: Evidence-based inquiry (6th Ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc.

Research Questions

I plan to determine the level of achievement on standardized tests in middle school students in 1:1 laptop classrooms and classrooms that have very limited computer access.

Who: middle school students

What: using 1:1 laptops in the classroom and those with limited computer access

Why: the level of achievement on standardized tests

Research Questions:

1. Is there a difference between the test scores of students that have constant access to laptops and students with limited to no access to computers?

2. Does the ability to access laptops throughout each day increase student engagement?

3. Does increased engagement predict increased standardized test scores

I feel that my methods would be a mix of qualitative and quantitative. According to Dr. Canipe qualitative methods focus on the person being studied and “the story” (Laureate Education Inc., 2008). My research questions 2 and 3 would require an observance of the students and their level of engagement. Dr. Canipe also describes qualitative as working with the numbers (Laureate Education Inc., 2008). Research question 1 will focus only on numbers from standardized test scores, and question 3 would be a comparison of the numbers to the observed engagement.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three. Research Questions [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research. Baltimore: Author. 

General Problem Statement

I plan to determine the level of achievement on standardized tests in middle school students in 1:1 laptop classrooms and classrooms that are not 1:1

Who: middle school students

What: using 1:1 laptops in the classroom and those without 1:1 laptops

Why: the level of achievement on standardized tests

Reflective Essay

During the last eight weeks I participated in a graduate course which discussed learning theory and the way technology effects learning. The first week of this class I completed a personal theory of learning. After looking back on my personal theory and thinking of all the knowledge I have gained the last eight weeks, a few things have changed. I have learned that I am influenced by many of the learning theories. I think that three of the learning theories best fit my idea for teaching. The first is the cognitive learning theory. According to Dr. Michael Orey this theory states that people can remember images better than text (Laureate, 2008). The second theory would be constructionist, which states that people learn best when they build an external artifact (Laureate, 2008). The third theory affecting my teaching would be the social learning theory, which states students should actively engage in constructing artifacts and converse with others about what they are constructing.

In order to focus more on these theories I will need to have a few changes in my instructional practices. I plan to include more group work and projects in my classroom. I will have my students more involved in working together to create artifacts that reflected their learning. I will have more hands-on activities that involve creating mental images instead of using text only. I also plan to use technology to enhance my students learning. I plan many activities that involve using technology for learning, and not just as an instructional tool. I want my students to become active learners, and I want to step back and be an assistant for their learning.

My first long-term goal for my teaching would be to incorporate more technology into my classroom. I would like to allow the students to use technology as a means to learn and create. I would like to plan for activities for my days with the laptops that are more than just games on the internet.

My second long-term goal for my teaching would be to have the students work during the year on long-term projects that will clearly show their learning. I would like for the students to have a portfolio of artifacts created at the end of the year that shows what they learned and would help them to retain throughout the next year.

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

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

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

Voice Thread

Here is the link to my voicethread

http://voicethread.com/share/530294/

Social Learning Theory

This week I reviewed the social learning theory and the instructional strategy of cooperative learning. The social learning theory states that students should construct artifacts while conversing with others about the process of constructing the artifact (Laureate, 2008). “The instructional strategy of cooperative learning focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance their learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007). The social learning theory depends on cooperative learning for the students to succeed. Technology makes this easier with things such as wikis, blogs, keypals, webquests, and shared calendars (Pitler, 2007). The students are able to use this items at home, at school, or any other place they are able to connect to the internet and work on projects with other students. It allows them more time to create an artifact and more access to research. All of this allows for more elaborate and creative artifacts and expanded learning for the student.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program one. Understanding the Brain [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.

Constructionism

This week in my class I review the constructionist learning theory and the instructional strategy generating and testing hypotheses. The instructional strategy is a good fit for this learning theory. Dr. Michael Orey describes the constructionist learning theory as stating that people learn best when they build an external artifact, something that they can share with others (Laureate, 2008). In Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works the instructional strategy laid out for generating and testing hypotheses states that students should use a variety of tasks to generate and test hypotheses, and they need to be able to explain both their hypotheses and conclusion (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007). A common practice in constructionist learning theory is project based learning. This is creating a long term project engaging learners in complex activities to create a final project (Orey, 2001). Creating projects is essentially creating a hypothesis, or forming an opinion about something, then testing it, and drawing a conclusion. Project based learning is generating and testing hypotheses.

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

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

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