In the implementation of my “GAME plan” (Cennamo, Ertmer and Ross, 2009), I have had a great deal of success so far. Some of this success may be attributed directly to actions I have taken, such as seeking approval and permission to load necessary software onto student computers for use in facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity (NETS-T, 2009) through the use of collaborative tools for reflection. Specifically, we are using the screencasting software, Jing!, to share and comment on ideas in our class. In my other goal, networking with colleagues, I have found success in the use of this blog. Since we are all posting on a weekly basis in this course, I have been more focused on its use as a tool rather than thinking of it simply as another application assignment.
So far, I have learned that in effecting the changes needed to succeed, I will need to shift my role from teacher to facilitator. I plan to accomplish this through more problem-based learning projects, as my classes are starting to do now. The main issue of problem I have with this is that students need to have more freedom to express creativity than I have chosen to afford them in the past. Ertmer (2009) suggests that we start these types of projects with less weight on them at first and gradually shift the focus to longer and more in-depth issues which are relevant to the students and to the class.
Adjusting and monitoring are two qualities which make good teachers great. As part of my own adjustment, I plan to start using this (or another) blog to communicate with staff in my district and the surrounding areas. In this way, I can also assist my students’ creativity by soliciting ideas from other teachers and students. This, hopefully, will heighten the students’ awareness of our subject matter and inspire them to place this information higher in their “quality world” (Glasser, 1998).
-Stephen St. Georges
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program eight. Spotlight on technology: Problem-based learning, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ertmer, P.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 18, 2009.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Monitoring GAME Plan Progress
The idea of have a GAME plan, described by Cennamo, Ertmer and Ross (2009) involves the steps of setting goals and taking the appropriate action to implement and achieve those goals, including monitoring and adjusting or evaluating their success as needed. While all of these elements happen on a continual basis, resources are needed to start the process of any plan’s implementation. For my personal GAME plan, I have selected two areas of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) on which to focus, the first of which is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity (NETS-T, 2009) particularly through the use of collaborative tools for reflection. By using the VoiceThread and screencasting applications available to me to accomplish this goal, I am in need of technology resources such as computers with internet access, microphones and brief training on the software used. Most of this training can be found using online tutorials, so I will show those to my classes and help where needed. Ross (2009a) tells us that we should not be afraid to allow learners to have options and choice in the classroom, as the choices are built to reinforce primary instruction, not replace it. By using these technologies in addition to classroom discussion, I hope to bring those choices to my students. Choice is a direct way to affect accountability and increase empowerment and ownership in the classroom, as well as outside it (Glasser, 1998).
So far, there has not been any issue in accessing information or resources. All the sites I have used were open to my research and my students’ research. The only area with which I have had difficulty has been in downloading necessary software, such as Jing, for use in the classroom. While I have administrative rights over my computer, my students do not. This was resolved by asking our school’s network administrator to install the necessary components on the computers we use.
The other area I wish to improve my skills in is to "engage in professional growth and leadership" (NETS-T, 2009). By using a blog type of interaction with my colleagues, I can increase my own awareness and understanding of technology available to me and to my students and offer more variety in the project-based learning assignments and assessments to them (Ross, 2009b). Information and materials needed are also computers, internet access and permission to use the software in my school with my students. Most of these are already available to me, so it would not be too difficult to start implementing these strategies soon. The steps I have already taken to allowing my goals to be met in these areas are to create and use a blog regularly, show students screencasting software and have them start interacting with it, and I plan to start using VoiceThread on a regular basis next semester, although we have had some limited interaction with it already. By implementing the GAME plan designed, I hope to make more learning opportunities available to my students and to myself.
So far, I have learned that to truly use new technologies in the classroom, we must focus on one item at a time to allow ourselves and our students to master each area before moving on (Ross, 2009c). This way, we can more effectively use that which is helpful to improving student achievement. In this discovery and realization, I will modify my GAME plan to focus only on the use of one technology at a time so it will be used and not rushed through, as so many other educational initiatives are in today’s world.
-Stephen St. Georges
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program five. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program six. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009c). Program sseven. Assessing student learning with technology [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 24, 2009.
So far, there has not been any issue in accessing information or resources. All the sites I have used were open to my research and my students’ research. The only area with which I have had difficulty has been in downloading necessary software, such as Jing, for use in the classroom. While I have administrative rights over my computer, my students do not. This was resolved by asking our school’s network administrator to install the necessary components on the computers we use.
The other area I wish to improve my skills in is to "engage in professional growth and leadership" (NETS-T, 2009). By using a blog type of interaction with my colleagues, I can increase my own awareness and understanding of technology available to me and to my students and offer more variety in the project-based learning assignments and assessments to them (Ross, 2009b). Information and materials needed are also computers, internet access and permission to use the software in my school with my students. Most of these are already available to me, so it would not be too difficult to start implementing these strategies soon. The steps I have already taken to allowing my goals to be met in these areas are to create and use a blog regularly, show students screencasting software and have them start interacting with it, and I plan to start using VoiceThread on a regular basis next semester, although we have had some limited interaction with it already. By implementing the GAME plan designed, I hope to make more learning opportunities available to my students and to myself.
So far, I have learned that to truly use new technologies in the classroom, we must focus on one item at a time to allow ourselves and our students to master each area before moving on (Ross, 2009c). This way, we can more effectively use that which is helpful to improving student achievement. In this discovery and realization, I will modify my GAME plan to focus only on the use of one technology at a time so it will be used and not rushed through, as so many other educational initiatives are in today’s world.
-Stephen St. Georges
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program five. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program six. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009c). Program sseven. Assessing student learning with technology [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 24, 2009.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Carrying Out the GAME Plan
The GAME plan as described by Cennamo, Ertmer and Ross (2009) involves the steps of setting goals and taking the appropriate action to implement and achieve those goals, including monitoring and adjusting or evaluating their success as needed. While all of these elements happen on a continual basis, resources are needed to start the process of any plan’s implementation. For my personal GAME plan, I have selected two areas of the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) on which to focus, the first of which is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity (NETS-T, 2009) particularly through the use of collaborative tools for reflection. By using the VoiceThread and screencasting applications available to me to accomplish this goal, I am in need of technology resources such as computers with internet access, microphones and brief training on the software used. Most of this training can be found using online tutorials, so I will show those to my classes and help where needed. Ross (2009a) tells us that we should not be afraid to allow learners to have options and choice in the classroom, as the choices are built to reinforce primary instruction, not replace it. By using these technologies in addition to classroom discussion, I hope to bring those choices to my students. Choice is a direct way to affect accountability and increase empowerment and ownership in the classroom, as well as outside it (Glasser, 1998).
The other area I wish to improve my skills in is to "engage in professional growth and leadership" (NETS-T, 2009). By using a blog type of interaction with my colleagues, I can increase my own awareness and understanding of technology available to me and to my students and offer more variety in the project-based learning assignments and assessments to them (Ross, 2009b). Information and materials needed are also computers, internet access and permission to use the software in my school with my students. Most of these are already available to me, so it would not be too difficult to start implementing these strategies soon. The steps I have already taken to allowing my goals to be met in these areas are to create and use a blog regularly, show students screencasting software and have them start interacting with it, and I plan to start using VoiceThread on a regular basis next semester, although we have had some limited interaction with it already. By implementing the GAME plan designed, I hope to make more learning opportunities available to my students and to myself.
-Stephen St. Georges
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program five. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program six. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 18, 2009.
The other area I wish to improve my skills in is to "engage in professional growth and leadership" (NETS-T, 2009). By using a blog type of interaction with my colleagues, I can increase my own awareness and understanding of technology available to me and to my students and offer more variety in the project-based learning assignments and assessments to them (Ross, 2009b). Information and materials needed are also computers, internet access and permission to use the software in my school with my students. Most of these are already available to me, so it would not be too difficult to start implementing these strategies soon. The steps I have already taken to allowing my goals to be met in these areas are to create and use a blog regularly, show students screencasting software and have them start interacting with it, and I plan to start using VoiceThread on a regular basis next semester, although we have had some limited interaction with it already. By implementing the GAME plan designed, I hope to make more learning opportunities available to my students and to myself.
-Stephen St. Georges
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program five. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program six. Meeting students' needs with technology, part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ross, J.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 18, 2009.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Developing a Personal GAME Plan
When viewing the indicators for performance using the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T), I have chosen to focus on two for personal improvement as I complete my tenth year of teaching. The first of which is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity (NETS-T, 2009) particularly through the use of collaborative tools for reflection. To accomplish this, I intend to use the VoiceThread application to comment on screencasts created by both myself and my students. In this way, we can also solicit conversation from others around the globe. At first, we will use the technology within the classroom so I can monitor student use and make suggestions as to how the programs work. Eventually, this type of activity will be carried on both inside and outside school time. The idea behind this use of technology is to provide more access to class discussion and perspective. In this way, "students [will be] challenged to think more deeply about the topic at hand" (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009). To evaluate this progress, I will compare notes with other teachers in this program to see how their uses of this or similar technology are working. No matter I do, it's important to remember that there is always another person ready to network with the same area as well (Davis, 2009b).
A second area I would like to improve my skills in is to "engage in professional growth and leadership" (NETS-T, 2009). I would like to start this process by using networking software such as SchoolRack or Ning, Blogger, etc. to communicate with other teachers and generate ideas for useful technology integration in the classroom. One way I have already started this process is through the completion of this program. Ertmer (2009a) mentions that students need "confidence" when working with technology in the classroom, but teachers need it as well. While many new technologies have been presented to me to use throughout these courses, I will choose to use only a few of these in my teaching so I can present a high level of quality for my students and others to view. In this way, I can choose how to present material and still receive training in new teaching tools and grow in my leadership potential. This, hopefully, will lead to more students placing me and my instruction into their "quality world" (Glasser, 1998) which will, in turn, spur them to improve their knowledge base and create more meaningful projects for themselves and others.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program three. Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ertmer, P.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program four. Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 10, 2009.
A second area I would like to improve my skills in is to "engage in professional growth and leadership" (NETS-T, 2009). I would like to start this process by using networking software such as SchoolRack or Ning, Blogger, etc. to communicate with other teachers and generate ideas for useful technology integration in the classroom. One way I have already started this process is through the completion of this program. Ertmer (2009a) mentions that students need "confidence" when working with technology in the classroom, but teachers need it as well. While many new technologies have been presented to me to use throughout these courses, I will choose to use only a few of these in my teaching so I can present a high level of quality for my students and others to view. In this way, I can choose how to present material and still receive training in new teaching tools and grow in my leadership potential. This, hopefully, will lead to more students placing me and my instruction into their "quality world" (Glasser, 1998) which will, in turn, spur them to improve their knowledge base and create more meaningful projects for themselves and others.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Glasser, W. (1998). Choice theory: A new psychology of personal freedom. New York: Harper and Row.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009a). Program three. Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Ertmer, P.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009b). Program four. Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 2 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on November 10, 2009.
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