RCampus Presentation

I feel that my school could benefit from considering using a Course Management (eLearning) System. I especially like the features of the resource www. RCampus.com. My PowerPoint presentation about its features and why it should be implemented in our school.

GAME Plan: Final Reflection

My initial GAME plan that I developed in week one was to strengthen my confidence in the following areas: my ability to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments; and to engage in professional growth and leadership. These goals are based on the NETS-S standards. My plan was to create lessons at least once each month that included technology for either interactive learning or assessment and to to set aside time each week (one hour) to research new technology tools for the middle school mathematics classroom. Over the duration of the course, I realized that my first goal of incorporating technology was not terribly difficult, so I found it possible to develop digital lessons more often than once a month. The second part of my goal needed to be adjusted to fit realistically into my lifestyle. With a family at home and limited planning/free time at school, I found that one hour each week was difficult to dedicate. I chose to change it to researching digital tools for at least one hour during the first week of each month. I marked this time on my calendar so I was sure not to neglect it when the first week arrived.

During my research times, I learned that there are a lot of tools at my fingertips. I found a lot of research helpful, especially something as simple as the blogs of other educators, but one of the most useful and free tools I have found is PrometheanPlanet.com. My school uses Promethean software for our activboards, and there are mountains of free resources to incorporate technology and new teaching strategies on the site.

I found that an almost immediate change that occurred in my teaching is my willingness to search the Internet with my class. A lot of random but intriguing questions come up in class about where mathematical concepts originated. Now, I make time during the week to search with my class and learn about whatever topics peaked our curiosity during lessons.

GAME Plan: Week 7

Consider how the NETS-S and the NETS-T are inter-related. Based on your experience with the GAME plan process and the NETS-T, how might you use the GAME plan process with your students to help them develop proficiency in the NETS-S?

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has standards for teachers and students to help guide technology-related education. These standards are inter-related, which may be obvious, because the teachers must develop a particular level of technology skills in order to teach students to develop some of the same skills for the 21st century workplace they will be entering.

The NETS for students are creativity and innovation, communication and collaboration, research and information fluency, critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts. The NETS for teachers are facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity; design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments; model digital-age work and learning; promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility; and engage in professional growth and leadership (http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx, 2010).

The major connection between all of the standards is that the teacher is modeling and promoting the lifelong skills, so that students can see them on a regular basis and apply them to their learning and technology-use. I think a great way to encourage students to grow in the standards outlined by ISTE is for them to be aware of what they standards are and allow them to set their own goals for growth. There are six categories, which can even be divided into smaller subcategories of skills, that students can explore and use to set goals for accomplishment. At the beginning of each quarter, students can develop their own GAME plans, based on their strongest and weakest standard. Each student can have a small journal to record their plan: goals, actions, ways to monitor, and evaluations/extension. At the end of each quarter, students can evaluate if they have strengthened their area of weakness and extended in their strong area.

Reference:

International Society for Technology in Education. (2010). NETS. http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx.

GAME Plan: Week 6

So far, I think that I have learned a simple lesson during the course of my GAME plan. I have realized that to incorporate technology in my instructional practice does not have to be an overwhelming and time consuming task. There are so many tools right at my fingertips, such as tools that come with my school software, fellow educators' blogs I can follow in Google Reader, and a growing list of resources saved on my Delicious page.

I do not feel that I am at a point yet where I am ready to add new learning goals, since I am still making progress in achieving my previously set ones. I plan to continue to grow in my independent professional development by adding more blogs and websites that contain educational technology information for mathematics classrooms to my Reader. I also plan to attend at least one workshop before the end of the school year, as long as my school is able to pay for my attendance.

In order to improve my learning in future research in educational technology, I plan to set realistic goals and take my time making sure I get the most out of the learning process. I will try to do this instead of rushing to complete the task.

GAME Plan: Week 5

I feel like my actions are finally becoming effective for meeting my goals of incorporating more technology in my classroom and managing my time to investigate education technology. Today was the first day of the first week in December, and I spent about thirty-five minutes (one of my planning periods) looking into some different tools I can use in my classroom. My main focus today was on using Activote software with my board, so students can each have their own remote to select answers for questions or quizzes that I post on the activboard. I think it will take me a couple more sessions to perfect it, as there is a lot of preparation necessary, but I am moving in the right direction, finally!

After reading the course text (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009) about some technology tools I can use in my mathematics classroom, I returned to familiar concerns about calculator use in my classroom. My students are permitted to use calculators on assignments and most assessments because I feel they allow students to focus their attention on the more complicated aspects of new concepts. However, my current eighth graders do not seem to have a strong foundation of manual calculations, which I know is partially due to a teacher-related issue that inhibited their learning during sixth grade. A new aspect I want to make sure to research when I am investigating classroom technology is how I can allow students to use assistive technology, like calculators, but also have extra skill-builders on the side to ensure that they have the appropriate paper-pencil capabilities when they enter high school.

Reference:

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

GAME Plan Progress: Week 4

So far in my GAME plan, I am learning that certain aspects are more challenging than I expected.  I am still doing fine with the incorporation of technology for students to use in at least one lesson per month.  So, perhaps I need to do more with my lessons, like use digital tools three times per month, and one of those lessons should involve students using the computer lab to do some sort of mathematical research.  I have realized that there is so much technology available to use in my classes that simply setting a goal of incorporating it once each month is too simple for what is available to me.

The second portion of my plan is where I am struggling: to improve my professional development in the area of mathematics related educational technology.  It is not necessarily that I am not able to find materials to research on the Internet.  My greatest challenge is occurring in the area of self-discipline to manage time for conducting research.  With my current stage of life, pregnant wife and mother, I have a personal goal to be home by 4:30 everyday to be with my family, and I typically leave my schoolwork at school.  If I am not able to complete by the time I leave, I tackle it the next day.  My original plan was to write a 40-minute time slot for researching in my daily lesson planner, so that I would have a physical reminder to do it.  However, most of the times I have attempted to dig into the Internet to research, a colleague needs helps, or a parent calls for me, or a student needs extra help with math.  I cannot realistically seem to be able to take time while at school to look into anything effectively.  This has brought me to the conclusion that I need to do the research at home, when all distractions are left behind and in bed for the night.  I think my initial plan is to conduct one hour of research during the first week of each month.  Next week is the first week of December, so that is my first opportunity to apply my revised plan!  

I know that addressing my issue will still be a struggle for me because I prefer to spend time with my family when I am home.  But, that being said, I am also in a career field that requires growth and comprehension of tools available to use in my classroom.  My students are entering a workforce that requires digital knowledge and problem-solving capabilities.  If I am to teach them in the best way possible, I need to continue my own education.

GAME Plan Progress

My initial GAME plan was to incorporate more technology in my lessons by fulfilling a goal of at least one lesson per month that requires students to use digital tools. My second goal was to develop more professionally by researching more informational pieces about how to use technology effectively in the classroom.

So far, I have already had a lesson that allowed my students to utilize the technology available to them to help build their math skills. They had an entire class period in the computer lab to find age-appropriate and useful websites that can help them this year in their Algebra 1 course. I was monitoring students during the session, and the school filter was set so I did not have to worry about mature content popping up.

I have addressed my second goal by looking up blogs and informational websites related to mathematics and technology for grades four to nine. I already had several saved in my Google Reader account, but have been neglecting them for many months now. One piece of information I would love is a list of websites from a credible source that provide news and research findings about different types of technology used in the classroom, particularly middle school mathematics classrooms. I have the hardest time sifting through all the sites for classroom technology and mathematics to find ones that contain everything I want. Maybe my standards are too high!