Evaluating my GAME Plan Progress

• How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?

My first goal was changing at least two lessons and I have been very effective at taking time to modify my existing lessons. I have focused only on the classes I am currently teaching and I am changing as I go. I have been planning ahead and attempting to be more organized!

My second goal was helping colleagues implement technology into their lessons. One of my classmates made a very important point about the time of year being insane. He was very right. I have sent out emails and have received many responses and most were that there just was not enough time right now to implement a professional development activity. Alas, I was not thwarted; I have begun compiling a resource book for the staff that I would like to complete by the end of the summer to have ready for teachers in the fall.

• What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

I have learned that the more I can vary my assessments from the traditional closed-end format the better I can truly assess understanding. I have also learned that assessment doesn’t necessarily mean paper and pencil, for example, a project can be an assessment.

I have also learned that the more organized I can get the easier it will be to simply tweak a small portion of a lesson. I already knew but was reminded that students typically love technology but it is not for every student. If the technology does not add to the lesson or make the learning more meaningful then the students do not benefit.

• What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

I still need to learn about digital storytelling. I have never used it in my Business Education classes. Envisioning how I can use it and make it meaningful for students is no coming together very well in my mind. I am sure once I get into the resources and links I will be better able to understand how to apply the technology. I also need to learn how to navigate, create, and use a wiki. I have limited experience with wikis but I think I could implement them with ease and that students would like to use them. If only I could find the time!

• How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?

I plan to focus the majority of my attention on my first goal of altering lessons. As I read through other’s postings or I find a good resource in a text I just jot down the site so that this summer I can come back to it, and take the time to evaluate it properly.

Monitoring my GAME plan.....

Are you finding the information and resources you need?

Much of the information and resources were I need to accomplish my goals are strategies, software, programs and concepts I have already learned in my courses. The issue I am having is with implementation and time. By creating my journal and organizing a calendar to make time each week I am feeling like the task is much more manageable. In one class I have already been able to implement and change two lessons which felt really rewarding!

Do you need to modify your action plan?

I do think I need to be realistic and only focus on the classes I am teaching this semester for altering lessons and adding new technology. I was able to modify two lessons in one of my classes but I have two other classes to tackle before the end of the semester. At our next PLC meeting I plan to survey my team members to see if there is interest in a certain technology. If there is interest within my group I will then use a survey technology (many are available online) to send out a short quiz to the entire staff to see if there is enough interest in a professional development session or if staff would rather have a page of resources for each subject area.

What have you learned so far?

I have learned that I often make unrealistic goals for myself. Tackling one of these issues while working on a Master’s program, teaching full time, coaching and raising a fourteen year old and a two year old is realistic. Doing both at the same time is just too much on my plate right now. I think this class falling in the middle of state testing and AP testing is just too much for me right now. I learned that I need to slow down and tackle one issue at a time.

What new questions have arisen?

One question that has arisen is how can I get my staff excited and not scared about implementing technology into their classes? The teachers in my building are already overworked and stressed to the breaking point, so how can I convince them to buy into what I have to share? Until next time……

Review of GAME plan

• What resources will you need to carry out your plan (video, reading, experts or colleagues, etc)?

One resource I will need is time. Since my goal is to change at least two lessons in each class over a semester I will need to set aside time to accomplish this task. The resource that I already have is the new knowledge I am constantly gaining through my Master’s courses. I have plenty of ideas that I want to use in my classes I just need the foresight and planning to know when things will fit well and add to the lesson components.

My other goal is to work collaboratively with others. To achieve this goal I wanted to either teach a professional development workshop in my classroom on a new technology I have learned about that would be helpful to a large part of the staff or to compile a mini-textbook that has good links, resources, etc. for each content area. There have been so many good resources, videos, and websites in this course that I think could help the staff at my school easily integrate technology into their existing lessons.

• What additional information do you need?

For the first goal I need to create a journal to document what I have done and how it improved student achievement/learning. I also need to set up my Outlook calendar on my district laptop and schedule in the time slots to work on lessons.

For the second goal I need to put out a staff email to see if there is more interest for a professional development opportunity in my classroom or for a mini-textbook with links, resources, and websites.

• What steps have you been able to take so far?

This week I was able to implement Webspiration in my Business Law classes. Students did not seem to make very good connections between their learning and the last assessment. I started this Chapter with students skimming the chapter for important information and then transferring their ideas into a Concept Map using Webspiration. Most students created a map using one of the templates. I modeled how I would break the content up and how it would best make sense for me. I also told the students how I pictured they would use their Concept Map in the future to study for their test, to see which connections were still fuzzy and needed a clearer understanding, and to help visualize while taking the assessment if there was a question they did not understand.

As for my second goal I have not taken any steps so far other than to speak with colleagues I know to see if they had interest in either of the scenarios.

GAME Plan

To become more confident with the standards and indicators for NETS-T, I plan to follow the GAME plan which stands for, (1) Set Goals, (2) Take Action to meet those goals, (3) Monitor Progress toward achieving goals and (4) Evaluate whether the goals were achieved and evaluate your learning (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 3).

One NETS-T indicator I would like to improve upon is “demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations” (ISTE). I tend to continue using the same assignments year after year. I think I do this because I teach so many different subject areas. Sometimes I have 5+ classes to prepare for. The thought of changing my lesson plans is daunting. The goal I would like to make is that I change and implement technology into at least two lessons in each class each semester. To achieve this goal I will make a timeline when I can alter lessons. We have early release Wednesdays. I will choose one Wednesday a month to spend altering a lesson and implementing technology. I will monitor my progress by keeping a journal of the work I have completed and the reaction of my students to the change in the lessons. I will evaluate whether the implementation added to the lesson or if I need to do more work to get the desired result for my students.

Another NETS-T indicator I think I can become more confident in is “collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation” (ISTE). I teach in an affluent community where we have many technologies available to students. Over the past year through my Master’s course I have begun asking questions of students to see what their experience level is with the new technologies and tools I have learned about. I was surprised at how much students are not using these new technologies that I believe will increase student achievement and engagement. I want to teach my peers about digital tools they can use in the classroom. I want to show my peers that it does not take much work to learn to use these tools and they enrich the learning experience for students. To achieve this goal I want to begin going through my textbooks and documents from my classes to begin compiling a list of resources for each content area. I also want to begin talking to my administrators about doing a professional development class. First I would send out a staff email asking what the main interest would be, for example, learning how to create wikis, blogs, VoiceThread, podcasting, etc. Once I compile the responses I would like to complete a training in my classroom on a Wednesday early release. I will monitor my progress by creating a timeline of when I want to achieve each step of this process. After the training I will ask my peers to evaluate my teaching and their learning of the new technology. A few months after the training I will ask my colleagues if they were able to implement the new technology in the classroom and if so, did it improve student learning.

References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008) NETS for Teachers 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2011 from: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx

EDUC 6712 Reflection

I think the most striking revelation for me was the fact that many students believe they are good at searching the Internet but in reality their skills are lacking. I took half a class period to show my students how to critically evaluate a resource on the Web as I had done for an activity in this class and at least half my students were sufficiently lacking in their ability to properly evaluate a website. I had thought up to that point that my students would do well at this task. I found out that the majority of the time they search with Google, no matter what information they are looking for, and that they take the first or second site on the results list and do not delve any further into finding good information. Through conversations with my students I was also able to conclude that they find Wikipedia to be an excellent source of all types of information. It is often the first place they go when given a topic and they generally trust the information on the site.
Going forward I realized that I need to monitor my students better when they begin the research portion of inquiry based projects and that I need to model or teach mini lessons on how to research and find good information. When I did a mini lesson with students using the website given in class for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus almost every student was intrigued with this creature they had never heard of before. Many wanted to know where you go to see one of these creatures. Only after I went through the REAL process (November, 2008) did they begin to see that the website was a hoax. My students seem to have difficulty evaluating whether a website is a good source of information. I know this is a skill I will need to continue to teach to my students. In the future I will have to be sure to break my inquiry based projects down into smaller pieces and that I will have to teach the new literacy skills to my students instead of assuming they are already competent at this task.
One professional development skill I would like to continue working on is updating and changing at least two of my research projects into inquiry based projects. In many of my classes I have research projects. While I find them to be valuable I think changing them into projects that use the QUEST approach (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007) would help me teach students the literacy skills that will be important for them to become fluent at when they reach college and eventually the workplace. As a Career and Technical educator it is important that I teach my students how to be successful in the workplace. I need to prepare my students for the ever changing workplace. Being able to create good questions, research well, and synthesize information into a presentation will become increasingly important skills to master. To accomplish the goal of adapting my lessons I will take the two breaks I have coming and work on a lesson during each break. Over the summer I will attempt to do at least two more projects. I believe I can best accomplish this by using the Inquiry Based Plan template given in this class. It allowed me to think, reflect, and change many of the activities and assessments I was doing and change them for the better. In the end, the time spent will be worth it when I know I am better preparing my students with 21st century literacy skills.

References
Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.

Reflection

After reading my “Personal Theory of Learning” from Week one of this course I realized I still have the same beliefs with a few additions. Initially I followed the Constructivist model but after learning about Constructionism I think it paints a clearer picture of what I ask my students to do on a regular basis. I also use Behaviorism in my classroom. I feel confident in providing positive reinforcement with my students. I have also implemented the “Effort Rubric” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 157) in my courses. This year many Accounting students were scoring well below average on their assessments. I have not changed anything in my instructional approach. After paying close attention to these students behavior in class and their attention during lectures I realized they were not making the connection between their effort and their performance. It will be interesting to see students make that connection over the course of the semester.

According to Dr. Orey, “The worst instructional approach is lecture approach” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). In my accounting courses I use a teacher oriented approach. I use PowerPoint as an instructional tool instead of using it as a learning tool. I need to change that in the near future. One way I would like to implement that change is to use more images in my PowerPoints and less text. By implementing images along with text I can utilize Palvlo’s dual coding hypothesis ( Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).

The first technology tool I would like to implement is VoiceThread. I believe I could implement this technology tool in my Personal Finance class in place of traditional research projects. The same objectives will be met but I believe using the technology will take the project to the next level. I believe students will be more engaged in active learning that is student centered. I have already implemented the Effort Rubric so that students can take responsibility for their own learning. Another technology tool I can implement is concept mapping. I used concept mapping as a teacher oriented instruction tool but I can also use concept mapping as an instructional tool.

The first long-term goal I have to change my instructional approach is to reduce my lecture lessons by twenty-five percent over the next year. This would equal approximately two lessons a month in my three content areas. My second long-term goal is related to the first. I would like to research Moodle to see if I can implement it in my school district. I can accomplish the first goal easier if I can implement Moodle. Currently, I cannot use wikis or blogs in my classes due to district restrictions. If I can find a way to implement Moodle I can use wikis and blogs on Moodle. By accomplishing this I can use more educational technologies in my classes and reduce the amount of lecture lessons that I give. My goal is to research Moodle and get it implemented in my classroom before the end of the school year.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Cognitive ToolsSection: Experiential Learning. [Motion Picture]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Technology: Instructional Tool vs. Learning Tool. [Motion Picture]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

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

Cooperative Learning

In some of my business education courses I use cooperative learning which “focuses on having students interact with each other in groups in ways that enhance learning” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 139). I often tell my students that they could be the smartest person in the world but if they cannot work cooperatively with others they do not stand a very good chance of being successful in the business world. Almost every job out there requires people to work together. “To be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplace that they will inherit, today’s students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007, p. 139).

I often use informal cooperative learning where I have students, think, pair and share. I will pose a question, students will think of an answer, they will turn to the person next to them and discuss their answers and then I ask a few students to share out with the class as a whole. This often allows students to get different perspectives on the issue.

I have students teach each other mini-lessons in my Business Law class. I use this strategy because students have to work together, be creative, and still cover their assigned content. Students are free to make their presentations any way they choose but I do not allow them to use PowerPoint. Many students just fill the slides with information, read directly off the slides, and they go too fast for any content to be absorbed by the listeners. Some examples students have used instead of PowerPoint are Publisher (to create pamphlets), gameboards, podcasts, and dioramas. In the future I will be excited to show students VoiceThread and all the possibilities it entails.

The one instructional technology tool that I would like to experiment with is Moodle. My district has tight regulations on websites visited by students. Because of these restrictions and rules I cannot create a class wiki or blog. I will be very interested to see if Moodle will allow me to use these other tools and if it is more user-friendly then our district websites we created long ago. Does anyone have experience with Moodle that is willing to share the ups and downs?

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