Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Progress of my GAME Plan

I am excited that I have the materials and resources that I will need to carry out my game plan. Being able to use the SMART response clickers is a great luxury that I am blessed to have. They are a great asset to my class. The tests that I have given the students on the clickers have been very successful. The clickers are awesome to use. The other goal that I have in my game plan is to be able to use the internet. The problem that I think will come up is the ability to use the computer lab at my school. It was hard in the first couple months to get into the computer lab because there was a team in there every day for two months. I think that the clickers will help with all the data that I have to collect and help with the students getting instant feedback. It breaks up the same old same old of the pencil and paper method of teaching. I think that my game plan is starting to come together with the clickers, SMART board, and internet access.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Carrying Out My "GAME" plan

Looking at my GAME plan and the goals that I have set for myself there are a couple of resources that I will need in order to carry out my plan. I will need a SMART board, a set of SMART responses, and access to the internet to get others ideas. I will need to collaborate with other teachers in my department to see what they are doing so that I can get some ideas from others.

Additional information that will be required for me to carry out this part of my plan is to acquire the knowledge that is necessary for me to convey the important topics to my students. I would also have to see how familiar the students are with the up and coming technology. If students are not that aware of the technology I would have to teach them how to use the technology.

The one step that I have been able to take at this point is being able to use the SMART response clickers in my classroom. I love being able to have the technology right at my finger tips. It is a little work getting all the assessments ready for the students to take, but it is well worth it once it is time to get the results. The students love the instant feedback that they receive when they take the assessment in the class and the students have told me that they feel that they do so much better when they are using the clickers. It is the same material that I would give them with paper and pencil. They are just able to use the technology instead of the old time paper and pencil.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

GAME PLAN!!!!

When I first looked at this week’s blog post I thought about how I am the assistant varsity girls basketball coach in the district that I teach and we are just getting started with basketball. I was thinking to myself what would my game plan be before I coach a game? I was trying to think about how I would approach that type of situation and then how I would apply it to this class.

MY GAME PLAN:
G: The two areas of the NETS-T that I would like to strengthen are “model digital-age work and learning” and “engage in professional growth and leadership”. The district that I am in has moved to looking at all the data that can be collected to drive our instruction. The one performance indicator for this topic is to “model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning”. I am starting to implement this in my class with the SMART Response clickers that I just got to use in my classroom. This is a great way to collect, analyze, and evaluate my teaching and what the students are learning. The other area that I would like to strengthen is engaging in professional growth and development. The performance indicator that I would like to address in this is “evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice”.

A: The first action that I am taking now is trying to get all the teachers at the building that I teach in to be able to get a set of the SMART Response clickers for data research. I think that the information and data that they are able to collect are essential for driving instruction. I would also like to be able to get the teachers the proper training so that the use of the new technology would be like second nature for the teachers to be able to use. The clickers allow for the students to get instant feedback on what they are doing well or not and I can also get instant feedback with which students understand a concept and those that are struggling without the students being put on the spot.

M: The ways that I am planning on monitoring this is by collecting all the data that is available for information and then share the results with the other teachers in the building. This would be something that would be easy to monitor because the software for the SMART Response clickers is there and I can show the students a spreadsheet that will allow them to see their own personal progress. The goal that I think will be hard to follow is going to be communicating in global communities. I am not sure where to other school that I would be able to collaborate with. I hope that I will be able to find another school that I would be able to communicate with and get other ideas.

E: The way that I would evaluate my learning would be to look at all the things that I have implemented and see if what I am doing is working and are the students grasping the concept? The other way that I will evaluate my goal is by checking to see if I have accomplished what I have wanted to with my goals. If I have then I would be really happy. If not then I would have to look to see if there was anything that I would have to reevaluate with my goals.


National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

EDUC 6712: Reflection

I have had a couple of revelations while teaching new literacy skills to my students. The one that is most striking is that I need to change the way that I am teaching my students the new literacy skills to help prepare them for the future. Technology is changing so fast that every year I feel that I need to teach my students how to obtain valid information from all the different resources that are out there. The other revelation that I had was there are a vast amount of skills necessary for our students to be competitive in a world-wide work force. Up until this point in our society students were only responsible for reading, writing, and remembering. In today’s society the students must be able to solve advanced problems and must have technical and self motivational skills.

The knowledge that I have gained over these past eight weeks has made me realize that I need to become more fluent in the new literacy skills. The new literacy skills were something that I had never heard of before this class so I need to become well versed in them so that I can convey those skills onto my students. The more versed that I am in the skills the more likely I will be able to convey them to my students so that they can become more technologically advanced.

Some professional goals that I have are to learn more about different technology skills and model different ways to connect with other people. The way that I plan on learning about different literacy skills is through reading up on the internet on the new technology that is out there. The way that I would like to connect with other people is by having mu students share information on a class blog. I would like to be able to find a class that is studying the same things that I am in another school that my classes would be able to communicate with. I think that the students would be able to learn more from students that are doing the same things.