Sunday, October 23, 2011

Final Reflection

My personal theory of learning consisted of my students learning through repletion. I still believe this but I would modify that theory buy saying that my students need to be taught the proper way to do things. Practice doesn’t make perfect but it does make permanent. I plan on using technology that gives my students feedback. They need this to be successful.


An immediate change that I will make when it comes to technology integration is to make sure that I model the aspects I want my students to grasp. To many times I have assumed that my students knew what to do. I now realize that this was a source of my major frustration with major projects. Not all students are technology proficient. Students need to see teachers modeling so that they can learn. My long term goals include continuing my education in this program and going to any technology professional development sessions my district may offer. I am already signed up to work on learning iPad technology and other Apple applications.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Social networking

Collaboration and social networking go together. Dr. Orey suggested jigsawing. In my classroom I Have used wikis. I had my students work in pairs to research and create a wiki based on the Holocaust. My students were given a rubric and they also did peer editing on each others wikis. It was a great experience for everyone. It required a lot of work and time but in the end it was well worth the skills that my students acquired.




Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program eight: Social learning theories [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Constructivist/Constructionist Learning Theories

Dr. Orey mentioned that something as simple as PowerPoint would correlate with the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning. When a student creates a PowerPoint they are building something. They do not realize that a lot of work must go into a PowerPoint to make it successful. Good Power Points include visuals, audio and maybe a video clip. This is an activity that gets the students actively engaged in their work. They have to research the information and find different methods to present the information. I do not tell my students how to design and present the information on their Power Point. It is simply their own creation. I act as a facilitator and answer questions here and there and maybe give my suggestions when I see students moving in the wrong direction but they are the ones who are holding the reigns.




Resource

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program five: Cognitive learning theory [webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Saturday, September 24, 2011

Cognitive Learning in the Classroom

The strategies that I explored this week correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory because they create learning situations that have an impact on the students information processing.  When it comes to cognitive learning it talks about how students retain information in the classroom.  I have used virtual field trips and concept maps to create episodic experiences with my students.  I have found that my students retain more information when they can recall an image to associate with a concept.  I like to incorporate a lot of audio and visual components into my lessons.  I have found that these are the lessons that my students remember the most.  When my students have to read a story and I do not have a visual connection to show them they do not do as well as they would have if I had showed them something to make a connection with the text.  Personally I find it easier to retain information myself when I have something to make a visual connection with. 

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Behaviorism Part II

In our textbook Using Technology with Classroom Insturction That Works we looked at "Reinfrocing Effort" and "Homework PRactice".  Both of these concepts relate to behaviorism in the classroom.  One very important concept of reinforcment is that there are consequesces that should immediately occur after a certain behavior is performed.  Positive and negative reinforcement are used to encourage or discourage specific behavior inside of the classroom.  It is important that students know which behaviors will be rewarded and which behaviors will recieve punishment. 

Homework is a great way for students to get practice and shape their learning.  "Multimeida allows students to shape experiences to their own learning style and provides immediate feedback and scaffolding" (Pitler, 2007).   I have used several internet resources and software programs that allow my students to get the interactive practice that they need.  Incorporating multimedia and internet into homework allows students more opprotunities for students to challenge themselves and get the practice that they need. 

References:

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

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Behaviorism in Practice

The instructional strategies described in this weeks resources correlate with the principles of behaviorist learning theory because it is a theory that involves students learning a behavior. “Among the methods derived from behaviorist theory for practical classroom application are contracts, consequences, reinforcement, extinction, and behavior modification.” There are web resources that can be used as an incentive to help encourage students to continue practicing their skills. Positive reinforcement can be used to encourage students to perform their work and compete their assignments.


Teacher modeling is also a principle from this weeks resources that correlates with behaviorist learning. Teachers should model the behavior and skills that they want their students to exhibit. Homework must include feedback to fit in this learning theory. Without feedback homework is worthless.



Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program four: Behaviorist learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Standridge, M.. (2002). Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved , from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

To my classmates I am testing out my blog.  I have tried blogging on some of your blogs but my account keeps telling me I can't.  I do not know what to do to fix this problem.

Sadie

Saturday, April 23, 2011

GAME Plan Reflection

In my Game Plan reflection I would like to begin with a quote that I used in my first blog. The GAME plan enables you to customize your approach to learning tasks, to develop relevant skills that are important to you and prepares you for lifelong learning (Cennamo, 2009). The two National Education Standards for Teachers that I decided to work with were:


1. facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity

. 2.be to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility

Throughout this course I learned how to develop new lessons that would inspire my students to go beyond what was expected of them. I developed new lessons that would give my students an opportunity to explore who they are and use their personal creativity. In my English class my students enjoyed doing the web quest and getting out of the classroom to work in the computer lab. When it comes to digital citizenship my students still have a ways to go but they are trying to give credit where it is due and that is an improvement.

From this course I learned so many things. My favorite new concept is digital storytelling. I have not had a chance to use the new digital storytelling lesson that I developed but I look forward to the chance to put it to use. I plan on trying it out myself but I can imagine how much fun my students will have creating this project.

The immediate modifications to my instructional process is to include more time for technology in my classroom. I know that I will have to schedule more computer lab time in to my planning. I will also have to make it my goal to make sure that my students have the basic computer knowledge. It is really shocking to see how little my students know about technology. I will also have to make sure that my students know that technology can be very useful in an English classroom. When I took my students to the computer lab for a couple of days before spring break I often heard my students complaining that they were in the lab again because this was an English class and not a computer class. They need to be made aware that technology can benefit them in every class and my GAME plan will help me teach them this.



References:


Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

GAME Plan Future

Next year I feel like for my students to fully benefit from the GAME plan I should use it from the very start.  A whole semester would be needed for my students to learn everything that I could teach them in this manner.  The GAME plan process takes a lot of time and revision.  To help my students develop proficiency in the technology standards I would have to spend a lot of time with them in the computer lab.  I wish my hands were untied but policy keeps me from doing a lot of things that I would like to do.  Maybe next year I can reach out to some of my colleagues and work towards this change.  A partner in crime would help a lot.  I am also thinking about talking to the other English teacher who deals with the kinds of students that I have and maybe working together on a couple of lessons.  Maybe we could make our year more enjoyable and less of a fight for control. 

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Continued Evaluation of my GAME plan progress

When it comes to facilitating and inspiring student creativity I have come to the conclusion that it is a lot of work. This week my students have been working on web quest and creating many different forms of writing. We have spent a lot of work in the computer lab and some of my students still are not finished. I heard complaints about the amount of work from some of my students and others loved the activity we were doing. I will never be able to please everyone. I am still working on my goal of setting up a classroom blog and wiki. I set up the blog but I have not figured out how to get the students to log on. My students do not have school email accounts so would they have to set up a personal account for this assignment? Would I get in trouble for this? Will I have to get permission from someone before all my final details are set into place? Looking back at my goals I realize that I am also working on goal number two which is to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments even though I originally did not set this as one of my goals. Honestly I do not know what I will try differently to extend my learning. I am so overwhelmed right now. The second semester is not the time to be trying all of these new ideas. Between testing, grades and having limited holidays there is a lot on my plate. I need a break.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Revisiting GAME Plan Part 2

Finding information for modeling digital citizenship has not been a problem at all. This week I took my students to the computer lab to complete a web quest. There were multiple task that had to be completed and my students were required to create a citation page to include with their work. This was a very frustrating event for me. My students were putting up road blocks when it came to citing their sources. After the frustrations that I endured when it came to citing sources I will have to find some way to make this meaningful for them. Right now my students do not see a reason for citing sources and giving proper credit. How can digital citizenship be made meaningful for my students? I will have to think hard on this one.


When it comes to the blogging and create a wiki for my classes I feel like this will not be a problem for my students. Two of my classes have created wikis but I don’t believe they see the full potential of collaboration. I am going to have to work hard on this and model what they should be doing with their class wiki.

Sadie

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Monitoring my GAME Plan Progress

When it comes to my GAME plan I have found that there are tons of valuable information out there for me to use. I have been performing internet searches and speaking to my districts technology specialist. One thing that has come to my attention is the lack of technology that my district is providing for it’s high school students. I have had to find free programs on line to create blogs and wikis because my district is not funding this type of technology. I have a lot of questions for my district when it comes to why they are not trying to improve the technology usage on the secondary level. I really do not understand this. I am going to schedule a trial and run error with my media center specialist to begin working on creating a classroom wiki page so that I can finally put some of my knowledge to use. I must do this before I can make any other modifications to my GAME plan. I did have some success this week when I took my students to the computer lab and we begin working on academic integrity. APA format is so foreign to them and I ended having to have them use a citation maker that I found on the internet.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Carrying out my GAME Plan

The first thing I need to do to carry out my GAME plan is to become proficient with the technology that a plan to have my students utilize.  I want to create a classroom blog and utilize podcasting.  I believe that I have the blogging part down but I have a little bit of experience when it comes podcasting.  Cennamo, Ertmer and Ross (2009) talked about setting goals. Goal one is to practice the technology and learn how to utilize the technology that is available to me.  My second goal is to make sure that my students learn the fundamentals of finding and evaluating Internet sources. In a previous course I took at Walden University I was supplied with a textbook that contained classroom applications that I can use with my classes to make sure they learn who to properly evaluate and cite sources.  I will work with my students on this before we begin our Internet resources.  I will look for online tutorials and find different strategies that I can model for my students.  Most importantly I will discuss with my Media Center specialist to see what technology we have available in our district for our students to utilize. 

Sadie

References:


Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

My 2011 GAME plan

The GAME plan enables you to customize your approach to learning tasks, to develop relevant skills that are important to you and prepares you for lifelong learning (Cennamo, 2009). The GAME Plan consists of four major components that are:


1. Set Goals

2. Take Action to meet those goals

3. Monitor progress made towards achieving those goals

4. Evaluating the success and extending one’s learning to include new situations.

My GAME plan for addressing standards set forth by the National Educational Technology Standards for Students will address inspiring and facilitating student creativity and learning and promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.

The first of the two standards I have chosen is to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. I plan to create a classroom blog with a future goal of incorporating podcast where students will engage with the literature and each other. Since this will be my first attempt at this we will work as a class and most of the work and blogging will be done during class time set aside. Hopefully my students will think deeper into the topic at hand and personally engage with their work. I will evaluate their progress according to a rubric that I will develop specifically for this activity.

The second standard I would like to address would be to promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility. I have come to the knowledge that my students (even my seniors) do not know how to properly cite their sources. The goal is to successfully have my students document copyrighted material. The best way to start this is by showing my students how to find and evaluate credible sources of information on the internet. I will discuss and model different strategies for my students. I will monitor my students progress and ensure that they are using the correct process. I will create a rubric for evaluation and hold conference with my students to ensure their success.

References:


Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

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