Reflection

Developing a GAME plan has been beneficial to me. In the past, I have always said I would like to xyz for my students or in my classroom but then would become overwhelmed with the scope of the project or simply just let other requirements and stressors take priority over the goal. Having a GAME plan has allowed me to take a larger objective and break it down into smaller, manageable tasks which have moved me closer to actually incorporating new techniques and in the case of my website goal, turn it into a useful tool for my students and parents.

Through my research on technologies to assist my special education students one tool that I have learned about is virtual field trips. NASA offers great programs, where a NASA educator will interact live with the class. Unfortunately through my research I learned that we need a $50,000 piece of equipment, which obviously the district is not in a position to purchase. I have not given up on this project and hope to find grants to apply for to bring this new technology into the school. This would help not only my students, but all students, by giving them a real life, meaningful experience, which will help them learn materials more easily.

As a result of my GAME plan I will not be making any immediate changes to my instructional practices. I will continue to utilize blogs and wikis and possibly increase the use of them throughout the school year. I would like to incorporate a digital storytelling project by the end of the school year as well. As I previously wrote I will be focusing on finding grants for the virtual field trip goal.

Using the GAME plan process with students

One strategy that fits well with the GAME plan process that my co-teacher and I have incorporated into our Reading block is called the Literacy CAFE. Students meet with teachers one-one-one and first discuss what they think they do well as a reader. After that the teacher will listen to them read for a few moments. The teacher and student conference afterwards and pick a goal from the CAFE (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding vocabulary).

Once a goal is chosen the teacher will help the student decide on a strategy or action(that have been previously taught) from a menu to help them work towards that goal. One example may be if the student chose accuracy has a goal, a strategy from the menu may be cross checking. The cafe menu is displayed on a class bulletin board and all students have a post it with their name placed in the appropriate section based on the chosen goal.

Then these goals are monitored staff and students through additional conferences and anecdotal notes. Depending on success new goals and actions may be chosen. The final evaluation would be the district DRA assessments to test whether the students reading level has increased.

While this strategy may not directly involve technology it can still help students meet NETS standards because it provides a strong foundation in the GAME process which will be invaluable when integrating technology. That said there are ways to incorporate technology into this process. One idea is to have students blog about their goals and actions as a way of monitoring their own progress. We are also going to incorporate a wiki for students to share interesting vocabulary they find while working on the expanding vocabulary goal.


More information on this strategy is available in "The Cafe Book" by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. We use this to complement the Daily 5 system which is by the same authors.

Sample menu: http://www.thedailycafe.com/CAFE_Menu_New.pdf

Revising My GAME plan

I have been actively trying to make my website a valuable resource for my students and their families. Through this course wikis have been discussed many time as a useful tool to use with our students. I have recently been thinking about why couldn't a wiki be just as useful with the parents and families. I think it would take a lot of effort to make it work but I would like to set up a wiki where parents can share resources and strategies that they find helpful. During parent teacher conferences I was amazed at how many of my parents spend a lot of time researching their child's learning disabilities and things they can do to support their education. Parents are the experts on their children and why shouldn't they have somewhere where they can learn from each other.


I am still working towards achieving my first goal of finding technology proven to be successful for the diverse needs of my special education students and I will continue to work towards this goal as opposed to creating new ones. Something I would like to look into is finding grants that may be able to bring in some of the new technologies I find into our district. School districts everywhere are facing budget cuts and mine is no exception, there will be no money for new technology that doesn't already exist in the schools.

Evaluating My GAME plan progress

This past week I worked on my second goal primarily of turning my website into a strong resource for the students and parents. I have begun to create a survey and used information that I obtained during parent teaching conferences. A main theme during conferences parents inquired multiple times how they could help build their child's comprehension. (This is the component of the DRA assessment that keeps many students from meeting grade level expectations.) To respond to this request I placed some links to articles and other helpful information. I have already see this to be an effective action because students have come to tell me that they were on my website with their parents.

One thing I learned though is that many parents did not even realize what my website had on it, despite the fact that I gave the address out at Back to School Night and telling/showing the students frequently. One thing I am considering doing in my instructional practices to help alleviate this is to occassionally incorporate my website into homework assignments. One way I can do this would be along the lines of "Use the US Census Data to answer the following questions. The link to the information is on the my website." This way the parents and students would be visiting the site regulary and seeing the additions and changes I make.

I have not really had any new questions in regards to my website development at this point. I also do not see the need to alter my GAME plan until I get the surveys out and gather the feedback from the students and their families.


Here is the address of my school website if you are curious. Suggestions and comments welcome! http://www.nplainfield.org/14912092201835780/site/default.asp?

Monitor GAME Plan Progress

So far I have been able to locate a good amount of data on my students abilities. I have been reading their IEPs and the evaluations that were done during the classification process, Learnia test results, NJASK scores and classroom tests. It is a tedious and time consuming process to analyze the data so that all the information creates a meaningful picture. Overall I have learned that my students are stronger in the concrete skills and single step skills and need assistance with higher level thinking, multi step problems. Writing in any shape or form is a major struggle for my students. I do not see a need at this time to modify my action plan. My next step is to perform research to locate technology that can help students with these deeper thinking skills.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

The first thing I would need to carry out my GAME plan for 2c is multiple sources of data on my classified students. I would need to analyze to see where their strengths lie and where the deficinies are. While doing this I will need to research by obtaining articles, talking with the computer facilitator, case managers and other "experts" to figure what is available for me to use to address those strengths and weakness that I find. If trainings are available that would be an additional resource to utilize. So far I have gather multiple sources of data on my students and began to form a picture of them. I have also reached out to my case manager about speech to text software that may be useful for one of my students who has severe gaps in her reading and writing.

For my 3b goal there are little resources that I physically need to acquire. The most important resource would be self-generated, the parent survey. The only other information I would use for this is websites of my colleagues and other teachers out of district. I have visited a few colleague's websites, but honestly, I have done little else towards this goal at this time. It is an overwhelming time of year here in NJ... we have conferences, report cards and special ed reports all occuring simultaneously and I have not had time to create a survey.

GAME Plan

After browsing through the NETS-S and have picked the following two strands to focus on:

2c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.

3b. collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.


Below is my GAME plan to help strengthen my confidence in these areas.

2c:
G (goal) - My goal would be to use technology to help classified students access the mainstream curriculum and close the gap between themselves and their on grade level peers despite their learning and other disabilities.

A (action)- First I would have to evaluate my classified students strengths and weaknesses. Once those are I can research different technological tools to help meet their deficiencies. I would not choose to focus on more than one or two new programs at a time because I would want to become an “expert” on the new tool before moving onto the next. After deciding what tool I want to focus on I would reach out to colleagues, administrators, education blogs and message boards to get feedback from peers. Finally I would slowly begin to introduce the technology into my instruction.

M (monitor)- To monitor my progress I would have to constantly be reflecting on my lessons and if students, and myself, are using the designated technology to the fullest extent. If I find that some parts are not working smoothly, I would return to the research part of my action component by bringing the issues to other educators. Another way I can monitor my progress is to invite fellow educators or supervisors into my classroom to observe a lesson. An outside view could possibly help identify what is working and what may be adjusting better than what I see.

E (evaluate/extend)- To evaluate if my goals have been met I would have to compare student achievement prior to introducing the technology and after the use of it. If my goals were met I would extend my learning by in essence restarting at the beginning and choose a new software programs or pieces of hardware to that would address students’ deficiencies or learning needs in the classroom.



3b:
G - One area I would like to focus on in this area is my teacher website. My goal would be to make this a true resource for my students and their families to help further learning. Many websites are unvisited and if I am required to have a website I want it to be a place where parents and students would want to visit.

A - I would begin by creating a survey for my students and then another one for the parents asking them for their thoughts on what they would like to see on the website. While gathering responses I would also visit websites of coworkers and possibly even educators in different districts to get ideas of how to effectively use mine. I would be looking to add report card expectations, class notes and vocabulary, links to educational sites so on and so forth.

M - An easy way to monitor my goal would be to watch the counter and see if the traffic to my site increased.

E - To evaluate the successfulness of my website I would probably send a post survey out and get feedback from the students and parents to determine if the website is viewed as a useful tool. If my goal was met than I would look to a new technology to involve the students and their families into learning such as blogs or wikis.

Reflection

My personal learning theory centered around not having a set theory and this has not changed through this course. I believe in flexibility and pulling from as many resources as you can because students are unique in their needs. I have used and pulled from all four learning theories depending on the situation at hand.
I do not foresee any significant immediate changes in my classroom instruction as a result of this course since I already incorporate as much technology as possible. I do plan to integrate Kidspiration and concept mapping more into my guided reading lessons. I tried it a few weeks ago and the students had success using it as a summarizing tool. I also plan to use more of the tools Microsoft Word has built in to help students improve their writing independently.
A long term goal I have is to begin collaborating with classrooms across town and maybe eventually across the nation. I need to develop a lesson utilizing Wikis, blogs and or/Skype to give the students a goal to work together towards. I would reach out to another teacher in my school or district to begin with. Eventually I would look to find a classroom from another state to colloborate with using contacts made through websites or even possibily Walden University.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

The focus this week has been on cooperative learning, which has "students interact with each other in small groups in ways that enhance their learning," which parallels the primary concept of social learning theories. There are many ways technology can enhance cooperative learning. Email, blogs, skype, webquests and wikis are just a few of the many tools available to educators that can be used in cooperative groups. Technology today allows for students to be in different classrooms, different schools, different states or even different countries and yet still work together and learn from each other.

I also like the tools available that allow for organizing group members. I can not see third graders using them, but once into middle school, high school and even college the tools could be invaluable. Examples would be shared calendars and bookmarking.

Voice Thread

http://voicethread.com/share/1191381/

I took the name of the program literally and used Audacity to record myself describing my problem and then posted it to the VoiceThread project.

Constructivism in Practice

Constructivism's main principle is that students need to create an end product or artifact to learn and retain new skills and concepts. I whole heartedly agree with this theory and implement this concept as much as possible into my own instruction.

Just thinking back on my own time in schools the things I remember most cleary are things that were concrete and created by myself and my peers. For example in fourth grade we were studying decomposition in science. Instead of just telling us which materials break down the quickest we actually made mini garbage dumps in empty soda bottles. Soil and various types of garbage went in it, banana peels, paper, soda cans, styrofoam etc. We watered the "dump" and kept it in the sunlight for a few weeks. I still can clearly picture the inside of it and how the banana peel was rotting, how the newspaper all but disappeared, while the soda can and styrofoam looked untouched. I can still recall the horrible smell that came from our classroom.

Prior to this activity we had to make hypothesises and this was our project to test it. The course text seemed to be geared for older students but this project is a way to start these processes with younger students. I think a way technology could be used for a project like this would be to collect data using digital cameras and online album to track the changes in the garbage. Even Microsoft word, Publisher or a concept mapping software could be used to make a picture timeline. In the end students could present their conclusions in a paper, slideshow or other means to show evidence of learning.

Cognitivism in Practice

James Hartley summarized the cognitive psychology's principles by saying, "Learning results from inferences, expectations and making connections. Instead of acquiring habits, learners acquire plans and strategies, and prior knowledge is important."

Many of the instructional strategies studied this week strongly correlate with this idea. For example, our course text discusses multimedia tools and how they help activate prior knowledge and assist with the understanding of new material. One way I have seen these resources used with an above grade level reading group in my in class support setting. They were reading the Diary of Anne Frank and used streaming videos and powerpoints to learn about children of the Holocaust. Students were able to gain a better feel for the difficulties and realities of the time using the media tools. The students obviously could not relate personally to the horrors, but these tools help them make connections and understand more.



Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The cognitive orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-cognitive, Last update: September 03, 2009.

Behaviorism in Practice

The behaviorist theory in very basic terms the repeating of an identified behavior until it is learned or mastered. Every strategy we utilize, every homework assignment we give, every tool we introduce all have a basis in behaviorism because it is meant to reinforce the end goal.

One resource that I read about this week that I was particulary impressed with was Microsoft Word. I was amazed to learn about these capabilities I have had at my fingertips and was never aware of. I am always struggling to find ways to make my special education students independent writers. In addition, to their spell and grammar check Microsoft Word has an application that gives a grade level rating to their work and an Autosummarize tool that will help the student decide if their objective of the paper has been met. Based on the results they recieve they may be able to do a revision before involving me or another teacher. More often than not these students are unaware that their work is missing the mark. It is just another tool we can give them to reinforce the skill of using diverse and descriptive vocabulary and formatting their writing appropriately.

In Reflection...

Taking this class has made me for the first time in my 7 year career want to be a classroom teacher as opposed to an special education teacher. This year I am lucky to be paired with a teacher that I click with and have a similar style with. She also likes to integrate technology into the class. We make a great team, the best I have had the pleasure of being a part of to date.

However, as an in-class support teacher I get bounced around a lot and every year is usually with a different teacher. Not all of the teachers in our school are tech savvy and some have no interest in learning. I am really hoping I get placed in a class that at least has a Promethean board next year. I love using it and will be bored with just a plain old white board from here on out. Anyway the point is that if I am placed with a classroom teacher that is not interested in integrating technology it will be difficult for me to fully take advantage of all I have learned this year. I can't make someone run their classroom or use strategies the way I want them too. If I was the classroom teacher, I would have that control.

So therefore I guess my main goal is to win over whatever teacher I work with each school year and show them the benefits, and ease, of integrating technology into our classroom.

The main way this class has helped me develop my technology skills is to inspire me. I knew that blogs and wikis and podcasts existed, I knew how to make them and use them but I just never saw they could fit into the classroom. Now I have many ideas that I can not implement fast enough.

One of the best things about technology is that it is always changing, improving and opening more doors for our students. I will continue to read blogs, have discussions with colleagues and research new tools to expand my knowledge of technology on an ongoing basis.

My first podcast attempt

Here it is...

http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/3774

Enjoy!

Thoughts on Partnership for 21st Century Skills

To be completely honest I am still confused on what this organization does exactly. I have visited the site a few times in the past two days and while I think I understand the purpose and goals of the group, I am unsure what they are doing to achieve them. At first I was even confused about what the 21st century skills actually were, but after downloading the complete the full definitions document I understood better. The skills are basically the characteristics of what a productive successful adult looks like.

I almost feel like the language used on the site is partly to blame. As a person who doesn't learn well from reading, I felt my eyes glaze over when I started reading some of the pages. I like things that are direct, I do not need the fancy language. Tell me straight out what your goal is and what you are doing to achieve it on the home page and go in to more details with the various page. I feel like there is no one concise page to get that information and I had to do a lot of clicking reading and rereading to get the gist of this organization.

Or maybe I am just slow on the uptake? Did anyone else experience any of this confusion?

I think the most important thing this organization does is having business, education and politics comes together as one and work towards setting and achieving standards that are important for our students to become successful adults. All aspects of our society need to be on the same page. I was surprised, and impressed, by the list of organizations and corporations that are involved with the partnership. I think the variety of participants is a key in developing meaningful expectations.

I know our assignment asked if we disagreed with any information on the site, however, I keep going back to a concept I strongly agree with,and since I didn't find anything that I disagree with passionately I will discuss the positive idea. I The idea that assessments have to be readjusted as well as instruction. The site states, "Standardized tests alone can measure only a few of the important skills and knowledge students should learn. A balance of assessments, including high-quality standardized testing along with effective classroom assessments, offers students a powerful way to master the content and skills central to success." Our country relies to heavily on standardized tests as a measure of success, which is unfair to our students. Some bright students are just poor test takers. Or in my situation, I have students who come in reading at a kindergarten level and by the end of the year they are at a 1st grade level. Despite all the progress they make, the 3rd grade NJASK test is still out of many of their reach. Why do we deem them unsuccessful? The progress they made is significant and in my opinion a success for them. We need a variety of assessments that can give a more accurate picture of success.

As an educator facing these expectations of productive adults in society I think we all have to step it up a notch. I think as early as Preschool many of these skills can be addressed and built upon each following school year. All areas of the framework have aspects that can be addressed as early as age 4. Global awareness, creativity, appropriate socials skills and more are as important at age 4 as they are as adult. I think as an educator we have to up our expectations of our students. The idea of "good enough," has to disappear and replaced with an idea to always challenge them to look further into their work, into themselves.

Blogging for the Elementary Student

I think blogs could be an effective and fun way to engage students over the summer prior to them entering your class, although past students would always be welcome to interact as well.

The link can be given to students in the end of the year letter from their new teacher. The blog can begin as an ice breaker activity. This could be especially useful for students new to the district. In my school if a student enrolls over the summer they are given the teacher's supply list where the link could be included. Instead of walking in the first day not knowing anyone, the student may be able to connect names based on conversations they had on the blog. I would have students answer questions such as: What do you want to do during your summer vacation? What is your favorite/least favorite subject? What do you hope to learn in 3rd grade? Introduce yourself to me and tell me one interesting fact about you. In turn I could share some activities that 3rd graders get to participate in to build their excitement for the following year.

As the summer moves on the teacher can start discussions based on their own book recommendations or summer reading requirements. Students can even make their own recommendations of stories they have enjoyed reading. The blog posts can be an informal way for the teacher to begin to get a feel for students' abilities. In our class text, Dr. Richardson discusses the ability of blogs to allow students to collaborate with each other. In third grade we provide many opportunties for group work, through the use of blogs students can begin learning skills needed to be a successful group member. Blogs can help students learn to "listen" to others ideas and respect them and respond thoughtfully.

In our DVD Dr. Thornburg states that technology fosters communication with a wide variety of people through use of different devices. As a special education teacher, I find by third grade many students have begun to realize that they struggle more than their peers and therefore are hesistant to participate in class from the fear of being the "stupid kid." I believe blogs could give them a safe way to participate in class discussions. Spell check can help with spelling and grammer. They can have parents, adults or older siblings, read over their responses before posting to reassure them. Posting on a blog could be a less threatening way for students to be active participants in their own learning.

I would even try to incorporate math skills into the blog but currently unsure of how to do that. Any suggestions?

Nerves

Welcome to my first blog. I am nervous about the experience. It is not the technology aspect that makes me nervous, I tend to be a quick learner. I am afraid I just will not have enough interesting ideas to keep my blog moving. How is everyone else feeling about starting this blog? Is it your first or are you an experienced blogger?