Using the GAME plan for students to learn NETS-S standards

Throughout my building, I am one of the teachers who is labeled an “Outside thinker.” As I attended a workshop yesterday, I was told that I am the epitome of the phrase “think outside the box.” And rightly so, throughout this school year, I have been trying a variety of new tools and tricks and have had amazing success with them. I think it would be a good idea to have students build a portfolio throughout their course and have them tie in the NETS-S standards as part of their portfolio. My strategies this year have been focused primarily on project based learning through differentiated lessons and activities, which has made each student’s learning experience quite unique. As the semester is winding down, I am starting to think of final assessment methods to coincide with the learning methods we have used throughout the term. As I was doing so, I realized that it would be quite beneficial for students to plan out and build their portfolio throughout the year.

One of the Virginia SOL’s options students can use is demonstrate their mastery of the standards is to create a binder that demonstrates their understanding of the materials in the course. As I read more about differentiation and hear several views on the matter, I realize this style of learning is quite beneficial for students, so that they can demonstrate their abilities in other methods than standard based assessments. Using a portfolio would be quite interesting to cover all standards, not just the science content standards, but also the NETS-S as well. In order to do this, I would have a list of the standards and have the students fill in a way they want to be assessed to cover each standards, and a reason as to why. This way students could plan out their learning, as well as suggest various forms of technology we could use as a class to complete various projects as well.

I am still toying with the idea, but I think it could have a great deal of potential in the future if I can organize my thoughts more effectively.

NETS-T and building on my plan.

As I work towards my GAME plan, I realized that I have some things that I have done that would be beneficial for my students. One of the first things that I have done was adapt a voicethread to include an instructional video that the students can watch to cover the content on DNA. Making videos such as these would be beneficial tools for students that are struggling with content, or that have missed a day. My goal is to make one of these each for the major points of the standards that I cover in each unit.

One of the areas that I would love to try to establish in my classroom is to set up a virtual learning environment, where students collaborate with other students, not just in our school, but in other schools as well, throughout various times in the day. I learned this week about how teachers collaborate with other schools and it is quite beneficial for all students (Laureate Education Inc, 2009). I want to try to create a learning environment for all of my students. My biggest concern is the giant mountain I have to overcome to get started with this. Our school is not to supportive of social networking in regards to learning because of some previous situations, so I need to convince them that these endeavors would be beneficial to our students. One of the points that Vicki Davis made was how using online collaborative tools really helps to differentiate lessons, which is one of the biggest areas my district is trying to promote this year (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). Hopefully that approach will work out best for me.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Program nine. Spotlight on Technology: Social Networking and Online Collaboration. Part 1. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Building podcasts

The hardest part of my tasks this week was to find out how to create a podcast in the most effective way I can. I started by learning how to use GarageBand on my computer, and tried to learn the basic setup. So far, I have not had too many problems, and have made a nice short audio track that has some added sounds for effects. From here, I think it is necessary to learn how to combine the audio track with a video (probably using iMovie) and post that to a website.

What I would like to do in the future is learn how to create a flash video for a website since they are smaller and take up less server space. I have started to record some of the notes I present in class in short segments using my SmartBoard, and will need to learn to combine the video with audio so I can create the video podcasts. Overall I am quite confident in what I have done so far, and think that I should be able to construct a variety of podcasts starting with my unit on DNA which started Monday. I want to create one by the end of the week focusing on how mutations are made, and what they can do to a protein’s function.

Overall, I am interested in learning more and want to find the simplest and easiest wa to do what I can to make high quality podcasts that the students can use to help them learn the concepts we are discussing in class.

Improving GAME plan

After last weeks GAME plan update, I realized that I should have held off on a few of my key points I made. First of all, I updated my plan to include the use of podcasts and other ways to help students learn material outside of school. This, at the time, I did not realize was part of this week’s post (If you have any questions, please see last week’s post). However, one of the things that I am struggling with that idea is trying to find a good way to make vodcasts so that my students can see what I do on my computer screen and hear me narrate each step. I am currently trying to look into it, but have not found anything worth trying.

In regards to constructing a calendar and blog, I have started to update the calendar for the month of November, trying to backtrack and see what I have already covered. I plan to have this completed over the four-day weekend. The blog has been created, and I have made the first post, but I still need to inform all of the parents of the site, so that they know to check it periodically throughout the semester.

When it comes down to it, I feel as if I’m progressing well through my GAME plan, but still need to find an effective way to create the podcasts and video podcasts that would be a good place to put them online for students to access, and also what would be a great tool to use. My new inquiries focus on finding resources to help me with the podcasts, so that I can create them within the next week or two.

Happy T-Day!

Working towards my GAME plan

Last week, when discussing my GAME plan, I set up several goals for myself, focusing on integrating technology into my instruction in order to communicate more effectively with my students and their families. To improve on my communication skills, I set goals that focused on setting up a blog and a calendar on my school webpage. I have made progress in these areas, and have set up the blog this week using the school’s webpage software from SchoolCenter. I have set up my calendar for my class, however, I have not updated it yet this week, but plan to tomorrow.

Since reading this week’s course text, I have added a new goal to my GAME plan. One of the things that I always see is that students struggle with certain areas of science, or forget what happens in class when they are doing their homework. As a result, I have decided to add the following goal to my plan: create podcasts to further aid my instruction. One of the things that my students could benefit from is mini-lessons through podcasts that may help them. For example, right now we are studying genetics, and learning how to determine possible genotypes and phenotypes using Punnett Squares. Often students do not understand what to do with them. Using a podcast to reteach the lesson using various examples, students would be able to get extra help outside of the classroom. My only concern with this is finding the right resources to create a video podcast to demonstrate to the students how to do various Punnett squares and provide some one-on-one instruction that can move at a pace they prefer. As I begin to work towards completing this new goal, I will first start to search for new software to use to create podcasts. Being somewhat new to making podcasts, I will take any suggestion.

Improving Teaching Skills Using the NETS-T Standards

As the world is quickly plunged into the digital age, it is vital that teachers integrate technology into their classrooms. Using the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) set forth by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), a outline is provided for teachers to incorporate technology into their classrooms. “Rapid advances in technology are putting new demands on educators and students…The refreshed ISTE NETS will provide a framework for educators to use as they transition schools from Industrial Age to Digital Age places of learning,” (ISTE 2009a). It is important for teachers to not only be knowledgeable about the technology around them, but also have the ability and resources to integrate it into their instruction.

Areas to Improve

In my classroom, I try to incorporate technology as much as I can throughout the year, however, I know there are areas that I need to improve on. As I studied the NETS-T, I realized that I should work on several areas to improve my teaching. The first area I would like to improve on is how I communicate with parents and students outside of class. Standard 3 of the NETS-T standards asks that, “Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society,” (ISTE 2009b). The two aspects of this standard that I would like to improve on deal with collaborating with the classroom community (parents, students and peers) to support student success, and also communicating important information to them using a variety of digital tools.

Another way I would like to improve on is having students take more of a self-inquisitive approach to learning. Standard 2 focuses on designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Section b of this standards states that teachers should “develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress,” (ISTE 2009b). This is an area that I would like to improve on because provide a great deal of opportunities for students to be inquisitive through hands-on learning, however, I struggle to incorporate technology into the projects as much as would like.

Making a GAME plan

In order to improve in these areas, I have created a GAME plan, which is designed to improve in the above-mentioned areas. The first goal that I have set for myself is to begin to communicate effectively with my students and their parents. In order to do this, I will use a variety of applications to communicate more effectively and efficiently with the classroom community. The first thing that I will do is create a calendar on my website for students to check and see what we have covered if they have missed class, or forgot what our homework assignments have been. This is also a good tool for parents to use in order to see what has been covered and to use to help their students complete their homework and stay updated on the class’s progress. In addition to this, I will have a blog posted on my page to provide parents and students with key information about upcoming events, activities and important information they may need when they are completing various projects and tasks.

My goal for this objective is to have the calendar and blog started within the next week, and also be able to update the calendar on a daily basis, and the blog on a weekly basis for the remainder of the year.

My goal for improving on my second area of concern is to have my students create blogs that can be used as an educational tool in various ways. The primary use of the blog would be to have students create their own personal blog to give them a chance to discuss the classroom activities, question their own views and beliefs on various scientific concepts and ideas. They would also be able to use this blog as a place to reflect on their own understanding of the subject and help others who may have questions about what we are learning in the class. My main goal for completing this objective is to have the blogs set up and have proper guidelines and objectives set up for the students within the next month of school. The reason I would like to achieve this goal is to allow students to be more reflective and collaborative within their own learning process.

In order to assess my progress in these areas, I will not only meet the deadlines set forth above, but I will also continue to find new ways to communicate with students, their parents and my peers, but also make periodic reflections in my own blog focusing on how to improve on my methodology and communication skills.

References

ISTE | NETS for Teachers. (n.d.)a. International Society for Technology in Education | Home. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/NETS_for_Teachers.htm.

ISTE | NETS for Teachers 2008. (n.d.)b. International Society for Technology in Education | Home. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm.

Reflective Essay

As I created my unit plan for teaching new literacy skills to my students, I learned a great deal about how to effectively teach students how to evaluate websites. Growing up, my teachers demonstrated correct formatting to evaluate and cite resources such as books, encyclopedias and newspapers. However, as the Internet became more developed, my teachers did not teach me how to cite and evaluate websites. I, instead, taught myself, and realized how important it is to determine the validity of the information being presented. This is one of the most important things I could have learned about citing new references, and I will be sure to pass it on to my students.

The biggest way this new knowledge will affect my teaching is that I will teach my students the correct way to cite their resources, and give credit where it was due. One of the things that sticks in my head about respecting work, and I have already started to have my students do this, is to have them copyright their work. During one of the videos presented in the course, one of the speakers brought up how effective it is for students to copyright their work because it not only gives them ownership, but it also makes them realize that all other work that they find online is the product of someone else’s hard work. From there, they should show respect to the creator by citing them as a reference to their work.

To take this one step further, not only will I work on having them copyright and respect their work and their peers, but I will also show them the correct way to document resources before they use them. Part of the unit plan that I created focuses on gathering information and learning how to cite them. The unit that I created is on a topic that I usually focus on early in the school year. It will be a great time to lead them into proper citing and respect towards other sources. As a result from my planning, I have one main goal that I will work on in the upcoming year.

My professional development goal based on my new knowledge is to properly educate my students on how to evaluate sites and cite them correctly. This is something that I know I have not done effectively in the past. I realize that it is important, and that it is the proper way to do so, but I have often felt that it is not my duty, and that other teachers should teach them proper procedures. Instead, the next time I teach the unit, I will demonstrate and expect nothing less than the proper citation procedures because I realize the importance of students respecting other creators, and properly giving credit where it is due. As an individual, I will always properly cite references for my students as a way to model the method for my students.