New and Emerging Technologies: Reflection

I have learned a great deal from this course. I not only gained a wealth of information regarding the value of implementing new and emerging technologies in my classroom and school, but also how to carry out the successful implementation.

I feel that the assignment that we completed in weeks 6 and 7 of this course, our game plan for implementing new technologies, was very valuable. I was able to reflect on what I have learned and form a plan on the steps I will carry out. New and emerging technologies are effective tools for fostering 21st century learning. Democratization of knowledge, participatory learning, and authentic learning are the necessary change agents that must be present, for students to achieve the type of learning necessary for them to be successful in the world today. Students learn best through activating their prior knowledge, working and interacting with others, as well as being able to apply their learning to real-world situations. Teachers should utilize these 21st Century change agents to plan and guide their instruction. It is evident that this type of instruction engages students by fostering interest ad therefore motivating them to take an active role in their learning. The interactions that are made possible help students to build meaning through problem-based and inquiry learning. Students are also able to construct knowledge through experience and therefore better retain what they learn. Tapping into a students prior knowledge is also a highly effective strategy.

I enjoyed the opportunity to design my personal game-plan for implementing new and emerging technologies. I felt the assignment required us to think through the steps of actually and successfully implementing these changes from start to finish. Immediate steps that I will be taking are to first educate my administrators and colleagues in the benefits and endless possibilities that are available to us as teachers and our students through the use of several new and emerging technologies. My next step will be to seek and request funding through an educational grant to ensure that students are given the opportunities to learn with these valuable tools. I also plan to continue to remain current in the area of technology education and to be a continuous learner so I may provide my students and the students in my school with the knowledge and opportunities to be successful in learning, and in life.

Sarah Horner

Online Learning Modules: Powerpoint Slideshow

Educ 6714: Week 8 Reflection

I have learned a great deal from this course. I have gained a variety of strategies and resources that will help me to reach and engage all learners, specifically through the use of technology. Aside from the course assignments and weekly resources, my groups page, Group 3, has provided valuable resources to use in my instructional practice. I have spent a considerable amount of time exploring the links we have compiled and I plan to continue to use them to help improve my instructional practices.
I am focused on how I will use these resources in rspect to the upcoming school year. I am working to integrate technology inot my classroom more completely this next school year. From the knowledge that I have gained through this course, I am striving to truly implement the Universal Design for Learning and a true level of differentiated instruction. The first steps that I will take will be to design my own inventory and/or use one from our resources, for parents to complete about the readiness levels, interests, and learning styles of their children. I will use this information to begin adapting my content, and instructional methods to reach and engage each individual learner in my classrom. One I have identified and explored the specific abilities and characteristics in my classroom I will continue to use the resources identified in our Differentiation Station to design instruction that provides Multiple Means of Representation, Expression, and Engagement! I am so excited to see what this change to my instruction will yield in my students' learning.
I am also focused on using the resources to integrate a higher, more developed level of technology within my classroom. I want to implement tools for both myself and my students that will foster differentiation. Again I plan to utilize Group 3's resources to assist me in this process. I want to continue to explore and familiarize myself with the tools and strategies that were presented and included in this course. I would also like to make strides to educate my administration and colleagues on these tools and their benefits in hopes to make more of it available to us teachers.
Overall I have learned a great deal from this course. My ultimate goal is move forward with the implementing of UDL and DI in my classroom. I am making changes to my instructional practices and the learning environment that I create for my students. I am anxious to truly and completely adapt my teaching to better meet the needs of all of my learners!
Sarah Horner

Week 8 Reflection

My GAME Plan was a very effective tool for me to use. It has made me grow as a professional who is better able to effectively implement technology into my classroom. It has also encouraged me to provide better and more meaningful opportunities to collaborate with others using technology. I have developed several new strategies for teaching with technology and allowing it to be a tool that enhances my teaching.
My main two goals in my GAME Plan were to better integrate technology into my classroom and to better use technology to collaborate. The things that I have learned from experienceing this process first hand will have a very positive effect on my instruction. Not ony do I have more ideas for ways to accomplish these two goals, but my confidence has grown tremendously. I am not afraid to take risks or try new things, in fact I welcome the opportunity to learn and grow!
Technology in my classroom has gone from once a year to once a week. It is evident in my daily practices and my students' learning. My ability to successfully integrate technology into my classroom has improved greatly from this course!

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

I am still learning the process of using a GAME Plan. I have seen how much it has helped me to grow as a teacher and am more than willing to use the process with my students. I feel that I have increased my level of knowledge and effectiveness at implementing technology because of my GAME Plan.
As I viewed and reflected on all of the standards included in NETS-S, I feel that they are all important. They are closely related to NET-T. I chose to focus specifically on a few that would be appropriate for kindergarten students. For instance research, other than guided by me, has been a struggle for them. I can absolutely see me developing a GAME Plan for each! My students are not able to develop one for themselves, but I would involve them in the process. Together we would develop a goal, which is important, it is the same as them being aware of any learning objective. Students should always know what they are learning, how they will learn it, and why they are learning it! I would develop the action section of the process, the actual instructional delivery. Next I think we would work together using data collected and students personal thoughts to modify what we are doing! Last we would collaborate to evaluate the process. Did we meet our objective?
When you really think about it, GAME Plans are just like good teaching! We have a purpose, those learning it and those teaching it are aware of it. There is action and I believe it should be taken by both students and teachers! We all know the effects of teacher directed learning. In order to modify we must consider what changes should occur. We also know that assessment/evaluation drives instruction and therefore must occur after any concept is taught in order to see the next step!

I not only plan to use the GAME Plan process with my students, I cannot wait to get started! Any ideas or suggestions from my colleagues woulde be greatly appreciated!

Week 6: Revising Your GAME Plan

I do believe that I am still strengthening my confidence for implementing technology into my classroom. I personally believe having good instructional practices in place is only half the battle. These strategies must be modified, adapted, and practiced in order to be higly effective. Therefore, I would say I am halfway there!

When I consider then, revising my GAME plan a few thoughts come to mind. One thing that I have learned is a challenge with using technology in the classroom, is more often than not it looks better on paper. Meaning unfortunately, with the use of many of the forms of technology available to me, comes unexpected issues. I have really learned to always be prepared and always have a back up plan! As I said before although I have implemented technology, I don't feel that I am "strong" with using it yet. Therefore, at this point I do not want to change my goals but rather keep them in place and continue to strengthen my abilities in those two areas. I will say that I have begun trying some different methods for collaboration with technology. My goals to extend are in the works. One way that I am continuing to work on collaborating is that I am currently building a list of appropriate and kid-friendly educational websites that I can send home to parents to help review and extend content skills. I would also like to continue to explore technology integration using some of the other learning approaches we have learned in this course!

Week 5: Evaluating Your GAME Plan Progress

Well, I don't know about anyone else, but honestly not much has changed since evaluating my progress last week. My students are enjoying exploring different ways that we can "clean-up our home", which is "kindergarten" for recycling and finding other solutions for pollution! In our school we have made and posted posters with some of the ideas that we have found using search engines. They enjoyed using the computers to locate resources for recycling and how we can encourage and motivate people to do so! On the posters we were sure to give credit to the websites we used because we also printed off some pictures from different sites. We are also helping our custodians once a day to collect recycling from the other classes in our school. We are therefore collaborating with others in our school, however I haven't found a way for them to do so digitally. Therefore as I said, not much has changed considering the collaboration piece is still my goal!
So far the actions that I have taken have been useful in meeting my goal. My students have gained an understanding of real-world issues and their potential part in it. They were able to use technology as a learning tool and have exhibited more than an adequate amount of knowledge gained. I have learned to loosen the reigns quite a bit once I have guided them into good learning practices and have allowed them to work together and collaborate with out me directing them. I still need to learn how to best incorporate the collaboration piece in a digital form and that is my next goal!


Sarah Horner

Week 4: Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

I am trying to determine how I feel about my progress so far in my GAME Plan. I'm really not sure how I feel. Part of me feels that I have taken great strides to improve my ability to better engage my students in the use of technology as well as have created opportunities for collaboration. I am finding information and resources that I need, however, if time is a resource then maybe not! First I want to say that "assignment" wise it is getting done and will get done. I am definitely using technology in my class and my students are loving it and learning from it! What more could I ask for? However in light of the quarter ending and assessments that need to be done the 2nd goal I chose, the collaboration piece hasn't progresses as much. My initial thought was to work with my students to create a class webpage, however it is harder than I thought. I do believe that I may need to modify my action plan and am really seeking a way to do that now. I really want students to have the opportunity to collaborate not just with other students, but I would like to connect home and school and peers and other classrooms! If anyone has any suggestions, I would really appreciate them!

I have absolutely learned that some things are easier said than done. No matter what I learn or want to implement in my classroom, I have to think about what is realistic and creating a class web page with kindergartners being actively involved is not possible! Therefore although I have made progress, I still have a lot of work to do, and a lot to think about!

Carrying out my GAME Plan

I am continuing to spend a significant amount of time determining ways to strengthen my confidence in the area of technology integration! In my daily teaching, I am constantly reflecting upon lessons in the different content areas and how I could implement technology. As I review my GAME Plan, I a considering the different resources and additional information that I will need to carry out my plan:
- information on current issues affecting our community
- chart paper and markers
- Internet access
- computers
- class web page and domain
- blogger account
- some continued professional development in the area of technology integration
So, far I have taken some steps for my GAME Plan. For instance I have secured the materials such as computers with Internet access, a blogger account (my own), materials, and I am continuing to learn in this area throughout this current course! I am also exploring some of the different issues affecting our community, and I am having a tough time deciding! I really plan to meet my goals and have my students gain a thorough understanding of real-life problems as well as solutions while experiencing technology as a learning tool and meeting many of our ILA content standards! Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Developing Your Personal GAME PLAN

I spent a considerable amount of time exploring the ISTE website. I also explored the individual standards for teachers. As I navigated through the site, I found that I was more comfortable with some of the standards than others. One of the indicators that I felt I would like to strengthen my confidence in was indicator 1b. I would like to be better able to engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. Not only to I want to be better able to do this, but i truly believ that it is so important. Children build meaning through experience and they value education more when they feel that it has purpose. Another indicator that I would like to strengthen my confidence in is indicator 3b. I would like to have my students collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation. This is another area that I find is very important for fostering student learning, and an area that I would like to increase my skill level in. In order to better my abilities in these areas, I have begun to develop my personal GAME plan!



The first part of my GAME plan consists of the (G) or goals area and the (A) action area. I would like to begin by setting the goal for myself to strengthen my abilities in the areas of the two indicators described above, by taking the action of creating and teaching authentic lessons.

-In order to engage students in exploring real-world issues and authentic problems using digital tools and resources, I would like to design a lesson that allows students to explore and research different problems in our own community. For instance, littering, poverty, and student achievement would be appropriate issues for students to research. The action I would take when teaching the lesson would be to have students use the web to create and maintain a blog about the issue and to use the web to explore different websites that focus on the real-world problem as well as offer solutions that students can explore as well.

- In order to collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation, I would again like to design a lesson closely related to the one above. Both lessons will help to strengthen my abilities in these areas. The actions that I would like to take would again be to teach these lessons. I would like students to take the information learned through their experiences and above and have them collaborate with classmates and myself to create a classroom webpage that will contain the information on a real-world problem as well as provide an opportunity for collaborating and communicating with others.

As I connect these two indicators that I feel I need to be better able to perform in, I now consider the (M) monitoring and (E) evaluating areas of my GAME plan! To be sure that I am monitoring my progress with engaging students in real-world issues and authentic problems, I will be sure to consistently implement this instructional strategy. I will focus on their level of participation and success and therefore reflect upon my instructional strategies and make any necessary changes! For the evaluating area I will extend student learning by having them continue to maintain the blog and work through multiple real-world issues. I will use my own observation of students as well as evaluating finished products to evaluate and modify my teaching. For increasing student collaboration with others using digital tools and resources, I would monitor my own progress by providing students with multiple opportunities to collaborate with not only other students but community members, myself, etc. I believe this will occur with the successful creation and maintenance of a classroom webpage that reflect our learning! Again, I will evaluate learning by extending these lessons into more than just a one-lesson, but a "way of life" in our classroom.

I still have a lot to consider with my GAME plan for learning and I hope that my own peers will assist me with any ideas and suggestions to foster better learning in my classroom!

Sarah Horner

Transitioning from Knowledge to Synthesis -EDUC 6712 Reflection

I have learned a great deal of information throughout my current course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. The information that I learned on New Literacies was the most interesting and important to me. I find that it is imperative that we as teachers begin to design our instruction around today's world. We must recognize the skills that our students need to be successful. The world is ever-changing and teachers need to be as well.

I think it is crucial to teach students new literacy skills. We must rethink how we define literacy in education and instead respect its true definition. Literacy no longer applies to simply reading and writing and doing math. The most striking revelation that I had about the teaching of New Literacy Skills was how much it made sense, and how scary it is that I had yet to hear anything about this new theory in my own teaching, prior to this course. Why don't teachers know about New Literacies and why are they not receiving help to understand and teach them? I feel as though I have been given the opportunity to learn so much in this course that will help to influence my own teaching. I now have a deep understanding and appreciation of new literacies. I am already beginning to implement them in my classroom. My students are being given more authentic and meaningful learning experiences, especially when using computers!

After this course and all I have learned, I have two professional goals! The first goal that I have is to take the knowledge that I now possess and share it with my fellow staff members and colleagues. I find it so important that they too are educated in the teaching of new literacies and that they are given instructional training. I have already taken steps to plan a professional development training with my school in May! My other goal is to continue to learn and be better able to consistently implement effective teaching of information literacy skills. I hope to do so by continuing to explore different resources that focus on the teaching of new literacies.

I am very anxious to apply all that I have learned in my classroom. Although my students are only in kindergarten, I want to ensure that they are literate by all definitions and well prepared to be success ful in today's world. I plan to strive to educate my students on the skills necessary for them to acquire this success. We may only be starting with evaluating a website, but we are on our way to learning much more!