EDUC 6714 Reflection

Until I have secured a permanent teaching job, I will be simply bookmarking the resources that have been posted on our social network because I have little material to manipulate using the resources. Once I have a permanent teaching position, I will be using the resources to evaluate the various learning styles that my students have and also to create lessons and activities that accommodate all students no matter what their learning style or interest survey indicates about their learning.

I have decided to work on integrating technology into various lessons that I do have. Until I have a more specific curriculum to look at and to integrate, this task seems quite difficult. I cannot really do much more with the resources that I now have except to make sure that I file them in a place where I can access them easily in the future.

GAME Plan Reflection

As I look back and think about the progress I made on my GAME plan throughout this class, I am amazed at how easy (yet time consuming) the process is. I developed a plan where I set goals to incorporate a bigger variety of activities into my lessons to incorporate students' learning styles and also to network with other teachers to share ideas that incorporate technology in the classroom. Although my progress seemed to be stalled at first because I was not sure what direction to move in (due to the lack of a full time teaching job) I finally decided to modify my plan and find general resources for students of all ages. I also was able to begin communication with teachers in my area who were interested in sharing ideas that they had for technology within a community of teachers.

One thing that I learned in this process is that other teachers are the key to finding good resources. Also, knowing how to search for reliable and worthwhile resources is also very important because otherwise a lot of time will be wasted looking for resources. I also learned that the GAME plan process can be very beneficial to use in the classroom and not just for teachers, but for the students as well. It gives the students a pathway for setting and completing goals that is easy to follow. I will definitely be using this process with future students!

I am going to continue working on my goals until I have a classroom where I can apply what I have learned and what I have found through this process.

Using the GAME Plan with Students

After working with the GAME plan process over the past few weeks I think that it would be very beneficial for students to use this process in the classroom. The steps are clearly outlined and should be quite easy for the students to follow. The first couple of times that I use the GAME plan with students I think that we should set goals and complete them as a class so that they students can get used to the process. I believe that after we complete a couple goals together, the students will be able set up and use the GAME plan process individually with little guidance.

GAME Plan Revision

Sorry for the delay in this post. The past week has been very stressful as I was attending family functions and calling hours/funeral for my grandma. Anyway, hopefully I will be getting back on track now.

I have learned that there are a lot of resources on the Internet that are both very helpful and a waste of time. It has been quite time consuming weeding through the various resources that could be used in the classroom. I have also learned that teachers in my area are more than willing to collaborate and share what resources they have. I am still working on organizing the resources that I have collected.

I am not going to be setting any new goals for myself at this time, although once I have been placed in a classroom full time I am sure that I will take a new look at the NETS-T standards and decide the best route I should take. I am going to continue collecting resources and organize the resources that I do have.

Evaluating my GAME Plan

• How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?

I have successfully connected with a few teachers in my area that are interested in sharing resources and information about integrating technology. We have been in communication through email over the past few days and are looking forward to expanding our circle. I have also begun looking for resources that could be used in my classroom. I currently have these resources saved under my Favorites list until I can decide how exactly I want to share and organize them.

• What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

Through communicating with other teachers, I have learned that there are teachers close by that are interested in not only sharing resources, but also in networking our classes (my future class). This is an idea that I have never really thought about too much, but would be interesting to follow up on. Given the opportunity, I believe that it would be beneficial to all involved to network classes and work together on a project or activity.

• What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

I still need to decide what the best way to organize/share my technology resources is. I am not sure if I should post them in a blog, on a wiki, or some other website. Any ideas?

• How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?

I adjusted my plan last week to fit my current need of simply searching for resources and not actually apply them yet. I don't think that it needs to be adjusted at this time.

GAME Plan Progress

I have decided to slightly adjust my GAME plan. Instead of looking for ways to adjust my teaching to fit my students' various learning styles, I will look for resources and begin a collection of websites, articles, and lesson plans that I could use with my students when I have my own classroom. Because I am able to teach any age, I will look at sites that are not age specific, but I will also look at a variety of resources that are age specific. I would like to create a location where I can keep all of the resources in one place (this blog would even work for that, but I haven't figured that part out yet) and organized so that they are easy to access for myself and anyone who is interested.

I am still interested in communicating with other teachers about technology related issues. I am working on contacting teachers in my area that would be interested in this. Some have asked if this networking would be for teachers and their students to join myself and my class on projects, but at this point I am simply interested in sharing ideas and resources with other teachers. In the future I do believe that it would be beneficial to network with classes, but not at this time.

Beginning the GAME Plan

Until I have a full time position, it is difficult to work towards my goal of incorporating more activities that teach to the students' learning styles. However, I am collecting resources to use when I am able to work on this goal. I have started collecting websites and information that will be helpful to me when looking at my lessons and how to adapt them to my students.

I have begun working towards my other goal of networking with other teachers in my area. I have started to locate teachers who I have worked with to see if any of them would be interested in joining a network that would be centered around technology.

I have received a few sources already for different ways to look at my students' learning styles, but I am always interested in other sources as well. As for networking, I am trying to figure out the best way to complete this goal and what would be the most efficient way to communicate with other teachers.

GAME Plan

After reviewing the NETS-T Standards, I realized that there are many areas that I need to work on, but a couple specifically are 2.c: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments: customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources and 5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. The first standard is one that I try to do, but I find myself not following through or not finding the time to fit technology and various strategies in my lessons and I would really like to improve on that. Standard 5 is an area that I am really weak in and part of that, I think, is because I do not have a full time teaching job yet, so I do not have a network of teachers to go to (except at Walden).

Goals

1. When trying to include more learning activities that reach students' various learning styles, I would like to try giving learning style surveys to my students to decide exactly what strategies and techniques would be most beneficial. When I have my own classroom I also think that being able to plan these strategies and choosing the technology would be easier because of the more consistent job and students.
   
2. My goal for Standard 5 is to join a network of teachers to discuss various topics and current events in education.

Actions

1. There is not much I can do about incorporating more strategies for diverse learning until I have a teaching position.
2. I am going to look into different teacher networks in my area. I already have quite a few teachers who I connect with from various long term positions, but it would be nice to create a community online where we can all connect.

Monitoring

1. I will review my progress for incorporating strategies by self-evaluating my lessons on a weekly basis.
2. I will also try to maintain an online community where I will try to check and update at least once a month.

Evaluate

I will evaluate my learning during by self-evaluating my lessons and by being held accountable by my network of teachers on the online community.

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

6712 Reflection

I realized at the conclusion of this course that teaching new literacies is just as important and just as time consuming as teaching reading and writing. New literacies, which can include searching the Internet, citing resources, reading and interpreting information on the Internet, are essential for students to learn about due to the amount of technology in the world today. Students cannot be expected to simply know how to search the Internet correctly. Teachers need to take the time to really teach students how to properly search, evaluate, and cite resources. Students can waste a lot of time searching incorrectly, not to mention find resources that may not be valid or contain useful information.

From now on, I will not assume that students know how to use the different pieces of new literacy. I will now be able to teach my students different tricks to make sure that they are properly using the Internet and other resources. I will also be sure to figure this into my plans as I plan for lessons that include technology.

One goal that I would like to work towards is to create some type of handout for my fellow teachers on how to teach new literacy skills. This would not only reinforce what I learned, but also be quite helpful to other teachers who are unsure of how to do this or who never realized that new literacy skills need to be taught to students.

Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology Reflection

After completing this course, I realize that much of what I try to do in the classroom already addresses the theories and strategies that were discussed during this class. PowerPoint, constructionism, WebQuests, and social learning are all things that I have used occasionally or use on a regular basis. I now know that each of these and other strategies work together to create the ultimate learning atmosphere for students. I already knew that it was essential to use a variety of learning and teaching strategies so this course helped to confirm that as well as give me more ideas on how to implement multiple strategies and theories.

Two long term goals that I have for myself are to incorporate more technology into my classroom. I always want to try to use more, but I find myself running out of time to try new things. In order to meet this goal I think that I need to be more organized in my planning so that I can look ahead and figure in the new ideas that I want to try. Another goal is to maintain a blog better with my attempts at my previous goal. I would like to create a place where other teachers can go to see strategies that may be useful to them and see what worked for me and what could have been improved on.

Social Learning in the Classroom

It is essential that some form of social learning occurs in the classroom. I do not believe that it is the primary theory that should be used in the classroom, but it should be used as a part of the learning process. The instructional strategies that are described in chapter 7 directly correspond to the idea of social learning. One example is the use of WebQuests that were designed by students. I think that this is a fantastic way to use social learning. Students would be more willing to do an activity that was designed by a peer than a teacher (although I am sure that students would also enjoy teacher designed WebQuests as well). Students that collaborate on an interactive learning activity is an excellent way for students to learn from each other as well as tie in the constructivist theory of creating something and learning from doing so. There are so many different ways to use social learning (in good ways and in ways that should be avoided).

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


VoiceThread:

http://voicethread.com/share/892621

Constructivism/Constructionism at Work

The strategies that were discussed in Chapter 11 of the text directly correspond to both the constructivist theory and the constructionist theory. These theories essentially require students to create something to aide in their learning. Chapter 11 discusses the idea of the students creating spreadsheets to watch how formulas grow and expand. This is an excellent example of the students creating something in order to learn how it works. Students who can work hands-on with material like this are bound to learn the material better. Not only do students learn the material this way, they also get a deeper understanding of it because they see it at work and can visually see what happens. No matter what kind of learner you are I always think that it is best to do something in order to learn best.


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

Cognitivism

Congnitivism is clearly at work in the strategies discussed in chapters 4 and 6. Cognigtivism is based on the idea that students are making connections. Connections between prior knowledge and new knowledge as well as across subjects. The strategies that were discussed include teachers making cues during a lesson, questioning strategies, and graphic organizers. Each of these strategies help students to make connections while learning. Cues and questioning help students to tie new information to information that they already knew. Graphic organizers help students to organize their thoughts and visually make connections with the material.

Concept mapping is also a part of cognitivism. This strategy helps teachers to make connections with the material that is to be taught and what has already been taught. Similar to graphic organizers for students, concept mapping helps teachers to make connections visually.

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

Behaviorist Learning in the Classroom

I feel that many of the instructional strategies used in classrooms today are based on the behaviorist theory of learning, especially the strategies that incorporate technology. The use of technology allows students to have immediate and frequent feedback when practicing and learning. Dr. Orey discusses in his video segment that students today are using online tutorials that help them to reinforce what is being taught and practice their skills. These tutorials and other online programs that allow students to practice what they are learning seem to have been created from the behaviorist theory. If students get a problem correct, there is often praise and encouragement.

Another strategy that corresponds to the behaviorist learning theory is having students map their progress and see the correlation between effort and results. Instead of constantly telling students that by doing their homework and classwork they will get better grades does not work well for most students. However, if the students chart their effort and progress they may see that by putting more effort into their work, their grades will be higher. This is a much more effective reinforcer than a teacher standing in front of the class and lecturing to the students why studying and doing homework is important.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program four. Behaviorist 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.