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
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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!
- 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!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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
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
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