Online Learning in k-12 Schools

https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AQqRGJvwxBhaZGQy2m5ram1fMGRxc2ZiM2Zi&hl=en&authkey=CM69-JsB

Reflection

In reflecting upon this course, "Integrating Technology Across the Content Area", I am very satisfied with all that I have learned. First, I feel like I have grown in my knowledge of technology tools that I can use in my classroom. For example, in using a Wiki throughout the class I feel more proficient and comfortable in using a Wiki with my students. I think this will be a very strong tool that students will really be excited about using.

Secondly, in reaching my NETS goals I feel that I have grown professionally a great deal. I have organized websites that I can use as tools in the coming year by standard. This is something that I have almost been putting off until I needed to do it, but I am glad that I finally completed the task so that my students can benefit from all of the tools I have learned about. I will continue to meet my goals as the year begins and I will become more comfortable in the technology tools I have learned about. I also plan to add more to my list of technology tools I have learned about. I feel like there is an endless amount of tools teachers can learn about and it is there job to find the most useful ones for their students so that they have the best education they could have.

Some of the adjustments that I will make in my classroom would be first, using the tools that I have learned about in this class. Secondly, I will expose my students to new technology tools that I plan to learn more about as I complete the rest of my Master's at Walden University.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

I am very exciting to start sharing what I have learned during this class with my students. I think they will be very interested in the new technologies I will have available for them. I also think that my students will help me in reaching all of my goals because as I use these new tools I will gain more knowledge about them and be able to use them in more and more ways. One of my goals that I had set in the beginning was in reguards to inspiring students to become creative learners using technology. This goal cannot be met until I actually use my tools with my students throughout next year and hopefully then they will become creative and learn from the technology tools I have given them. I feel like I have done my part in creating and organizing tools for my students to use and that is the only goal I can reach so far without the students. Once the school year starts and I have students I can meet the rest of my goals and be truely successful.

GAME Plan Progress Part 3/Week 6

Most of what I have learned so far in trying to reach my goals is the importance of organization. I have also been learning about the importance of online collaboration tools and how to integrate technology into any lesson I teach. With this has come many more opportunities for learning about more websites to use in my classroom. I have recently found several more web quests and websites that I could use in my classroom for various New York State Standards.

The new goals that I have set for myself are to continue organizing my new technology tools and to find more online collaboration tools that I would be able to use at an elementary school level. I also want to continue to meet my goals by finishing the rest of the work for Walden University to the best of my ability.

GAME Plan progress

Within the past week I have realized that something that is very important to me is organization of technology tools. This is something that I think I need to add to my list for reaching my goals. Since there are so many technology tools out there to see, the main goal that I can reach now (since there is no school) is to organize the technology tools that I find in order have the best way to utilize them. Currently, I am looking for some sort of organization tool such as delicious or some other website that will organize the tools I find. I feel that the next step I need to take is finding how what to organize them by, whether it be unit or standard. I am looking for suggestions to how I should organize and separate the information I find.

GAME Plan

This week I will review what resources I need to carry out my GAME Plan as discussed last week, tell what additional information I will need and tell you what steps I have already taken.

First of all, before I start my blog about the GAME Plan, does anyone know why it seems impossible to copy and paste from another document like Microsoft Word onto the blog?

Moving forward, there are many resources that I will need to complete my GAME Plan. There is also a lot that I have to learn about what I will need, since I do not (yet) have a full time teaching job. Because of this I think I feel like I really have a lot to learn about materials and resources I will need and also where I get them from. One of my best resources so far has been asking colleagues and classmates about information I need. So far, Walden has begun to prepare me for what technologies I will need, however, I still feel I have a long way to go.

One of the resources I know that I will need is workshops to go to, to learn more information about the technology I will be using, and also what kinds of technologies are available. I will also need to learn how to be proficient in using the technology. The second goal I had was to be creative in the ways that I show and use technology in my future classroom. I could also use workshops to learn how to be creative with the technology that I am using.

As I said, there is a lot of additional information I will need to learn how to meet my goals for my GAME Plan. Some of the information I will need I will find in other blogs that I read or in my classes at Walden. Other information could be found online or through colleagues at my school. Another piece of information I would need to find out would be what technology is available to me through my district, and what technologies are not allowed to be used or there are restrictions. Also, I feel that there is always more information teachers could learn about so there will always be additional information.

So far, the step that I have taken to complete my GAME Plan is to continue working hard at my education at Walden University. There will be many additional steps I will need to take to complete my GAME Plan for my future classroom.

GAME Plan

For this blog I needed to choose standards from the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and performance indicators for teachers. These standards will make up a plan for myself for integrating technology in my future classroom.

The first aspect of my plan that I want to implement is learning more about different kinds of technology that are available to me in my classroom. I want to learn the uses of these technologies and the best ways to implement them. I also think it would be useful to learn about specific lessons that I could use in my grade level.

This goal co insides with standard number three, which states that teachers should be able to model digital-age work and learning. This would include being fluent in different kinds of technologies and being able to implement them by sharing what you know with students, peers and other members of the community. Being able to model different technologies would show myself and others that I am proficient in integrating technology in the classroom.

The second goal that I would like to meet is goal number one which is inspiring students to become creative learners using technologies. I think that this would be the big overall goal that I would have because if my students can be successful using technology that I have implemented in my lessons, that is the ultimate goal. Students will be able to bring what they have learned in my classroom into the real world using technologies I have shown them. Students will also be excited to learn because they will be interested and engaged in the technology they are using.

The action that I will take in order to meet these goals is to successfully complete my Master's degree at Walden University in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. I feel that if I can complete all of my courses to the best of my ability I will learn more than enough to reach my goals. I can monitor my progress through my grades, being monitored in my classroom by colleagues and see how well my students are responding to my technology integration. Although there will be a time when I will graduate from Walden University I will always continue to better myself through education in various ways.

Reflection

I have learned a great deal of information throughout this course. My personal theory of learning that I developed during week one of this course has mainly stayed the same; however, I feel that I can now add so much more to how children learn.
My teaching will go through certain adjustments as a result of this course. The first aspect that will change is that I plan on using more technology that I have learned about in this course in my classroom. I learned in this course that even though my school might not have all of the technological capabilities that I want, there are still many different technologies that I can take use of without costing the district any money. For example, I plan on using Voice Thread in my classroom for different projects I may introduce. Since I know that this is easily available and now have the skills to use Voice thread, I plan on introducing this to my students soon. I can see how students would love being able to state a problem they are having through Voice Thread, and then being able to get feedback from fellow classmates about how to solve their problems. I feel that using this technology will add to the social learning theory that we learned about during this course. Students will be more involved using this technology and it will be very beneficial.
The other piece of technology that I plan on using more often is PowerPoint. This can be used in a variety of ways, including using it as a teaching resource to display information that I am teaching, as well as having the students use the program to show me what they have learned. PowerPoint is a program that I am now very familiar with and plan on introducing the many ways that we can use it in the classroom to my fellow teachers.
One of the goals that I now have leaving this course is to continue to learn about more technology tools I can use in the classroom. In this course we learned about just a few of the many different tools that are available that can help our students learn. One specific technology that I have heard about and hope to learn more about is using programs that deal with Webcams and how it can help students learn. I can do this through continuing to be successful in this course and also taking workshops at my school that outline how to use this technology in my classroom. The other personal goal that I have is to continue to learn more about the best ways to teach students in my classroom. I want to learn more about the best strategies to having students retain the information they are learning about and the technology that will assist in making them successful students.

Voice Thread

This is my voice thread; I hope it works I was having problems!

http://voicethread.com/share/896437/

Social Learning Theory

Michael Orey describes many different social learning theory strategies throughout his video in our resources this week. He describes the benefits of using the social learning theory in any classroom and the best way to deliver this theory. I agree with many of the aspects of his argument in that it is important for students to be social when they are learning in a classroom. I do, however, believe that teachers should be teaching through many different ways in order to accommodate all of the learners in their classroom. The social learning theory is one good way of teaching a lesson, although not the only good way.

One of the strategies Michael Orey describes is called the "Jigsaw Strategy". I liked the way he described this because sometimes in a classroom when students are working together in a group, only a few do all of the work and then the slackers get the same grade. During the Jigsaw Strategy, each student is assigned a specific thing they need to research. Once they have done their research they get with the other people in the room that have researched the same thing. Once in the group the students need to work together to make sure every student knows how to teach their group about their subject. After that, students get back with their original group and teach each other what they needed to specifically research. This seems like a much more fair way of having students be in groups and insures that everyone is participating equally.

This seems like a good way of implementing the social learning theory in a classroom. There are many different strategies teachers can use while trying to use this theory. When students are social while they learn, they feel a sense of accomplishment and engaged in what they are doing.

Constructivism

The constructionist learning theories described in this weeks learning materials state that students learn the best when they learn through an external artifact that they create. I believe that students will achieve a higher level of learning if they gather information and then transform it to make it make sense to them using certain tools. There are many different tools that technology has given us that students can take advantage of and learn through. It is extremely important to have these tools available in the classroom as much as possible to engage students and have them make more connections to what they are learning.

An example of a piece of technology that students can use to learn information by creating an artifact is making a website or PowerPoint. These tools can insure that students take information they are learning about and put it into their own words and ideas by creating something new. Students can also show their understanding by making these artifacts. A teacher would be able to see if a student is on track by viewing their website or PowerPoint. Another idea is making connections to students' lives. This is always important because if students can relate what they are learning to what they already know they will retain the information more clearly. A way to do this is by creating a KWL chart in which students create a list of things they already Know about the subject, what they Want to learn, and what they Learned. This helps students to make connections.

Behavorist Learning Theory

For this weeks resources we learned about reinforcing effort and homework and practice through our book, "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works". These two strategies correlate with the principles of the behaviorist learning theory in many ways.

The reinforcing effort states that if you give effort you will achieve whatever goals you have set out for yourself. Addressing students effort is very important because if a student gives more effort into what they are doing, they will achieve more success. This correlates with the behaviorist theory because the behaviorist theory states that teachers should reinforce desirable behavior. If teachers can reinforce giving effort in the classroom, they will get the desirable behavior of achieving success because they believed in themselves and therefore gave effort.

The homework and practice strategy states that students should constantly be going over what they have previously learned. Students can continue to gain more knowledge and clear up any misunderstandings as they complete their homework. This supports the behaviorist learning theory because the students are reinforcing what they learned when they complete their homework, and the behaviorist theory states that students should go through reinforcement.