A Final Look at My GAME Plan

Throughout this course I have learned how to develop an action (GAME) plan that includes step-by-step activities describing how I will accomplish the goal. In addition, I have learned the value of monitoring my learning and evaluating my performance. Determining a goal is the easiest part since there are always new things to learn as an educator. Thinking through step-by-step how to accomplish a goal allowed me to have more of an active role in my learning. When I’ve done independent learning previously I’ve always had a goal in mind, but never really thought through how I might go about accomplishing it. Creating a general sequence that I wanted to follow helped me stay on track and know exactly what I wanted to do next.

Although I needed to revise my GAME plan during the eight weeks, I was still able to accomplish my goal of having my students use a blog to share thoughts, questions and ideas. My students are now ready to begin blogging on a more regular basis without as much guidance from me. We still have areas to tweak, however, I feel confident that my students can handle the task at hand. An area we will continue to work on is learning how to ask thought provoking questions of others as well as improving our own responses to our readings.

The most important idea I’ve learned from the course is the need to continually set new goals and work toward them. I don’t need to wait until I take another graduate class to set a plan into action. Actually, the best professional development is this type of activity, especially using the blog. Using the blog helped me keep a record of what I accomplished during the course. As things went wrong, I shared my thoughts and feelings. When things worked, that was recorded as well.

My goal is to now have my students learn the steps for implementing a GAME plan. Not only will this activity help them to be reflective thinkers, it will also document their learning it will also allow them to collaborate with others and receive feedback from a real audience, not just “the teacher.” Our goal as educators should be to guide students to be life-long learners and creating a GAME plan is one way to help students achieve that goal.

Using a GAME Plan with my Students

My experience creating a GAME plan has helped me understand the need for my students to develop action plans as well. Not only did I begin experimenting with blogging for our district, my students began using it as well. My goal now is to introduce the NETS-S standards to my students and take some time to learn about each one and what they mean. A good way for me to do this with my fourth graders is to first put them in “kid friendly” terms. Since my class enjoys using online thesauruses, I may give different groups an individual goal to rewrite using words they know and understand. Each group would then be responsible for “teaching” their classmates about that particular standard.

Once the students were familiar with the standards, I would introduce them to the concept of a GAME plan by working through it step-by-step. One day I would introduce the G: goal and show them what my original goal was. Students would then select a goal from the NETS-S that they would like to improve. The next step will be for them to determine how they will go about achieving this goal. To do that, I would have them work in small groups based on their particular goals. Students could then collaborate different strategies how to meet their individual goals. Recording the steps involved in the process would be done using Word so it could be uploaded to our class website or our class blog.

The next step involves having students monitor their progress. It was very helpful for me to have a timeline in which to accomplish my plan and believe it would be beneficial for my students as well. Therefore, every Friday during their center time, students will need to post on their blog what steps they’ve taken towards meeting their NETS-S goal. After six to eight weeks, the students will submit an evaluation of what they accomplished and what they have gained from using the GAME plan. Ideally, it would be nice for the students to develop a GAME plan for the first, second and third trimesters like they do for their other subjects. Their final work would be great to show parents during spring parent/teacher conferences.

GAME Plan: Goal Evaluation

So far I have learned to always have a backup plan in case something goes wrong. I was fortunate that my Director of Technology was already working on having someone "experiment" with a blog and wiki using our district Moodle site. Had he not been "playing with the idea," I would have needed to start a new GAME plan from scratch.

I'm still working on learning how to best use my blog and wiki. My students and I tried it out last week during guided reading. Some of them are eager to dive in, while I'm more hesitant since I feel like I don't know if what I'm doing is "right." For example, when the students use the blog, they can't respond to any one particular person; their post just appears next in line after whatever was last posted. So, if student X wanted to comment on student Y's response which happened to be the first post, they won't link together and the students will need to reread all the posts. I could have them try something like we do with our discussions where we post our name first and who we are replying to. At least then they could look for their name and eliminate the need to read all the other posts repeatedly.

Since I only began blogging with two groups of students one day last week, I don't feel I'm ready to set new NETS-T learning goals just yet. I still need to introduce the blog/wiki to two more guided reading groups and teach them how to write though provoking questions and responses. Right now all they are writing is a basic sentence that doesn't allow for others to provide feedback or ask questions. Once I introduce the tool to my other groups, they need a few weeks to practice this new tool before we branch out into other areas.

As I was teaching science today, I thought using the blog would be a good way for the kids to blog outside of school. Since we are currently learning about rocks and the rock cycle, students could take pictures of different rocks they see in and around our town and then post them to the blog with a description. I think it would motivate the students to do some work outside of school that gets them engaged in the content.

I've learned that our Moodle blog/wiki site allows individuals to post video, audio, photos as well as text and links. I can't wait to try out these features as my students become more adept with this Web 2.0 tool!

Evaluating my GAME plan progress

• How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?
  
• What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
  
• What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?
  
• How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?

I did receive an email from the woman at ePals answering my question about the SchoolBlog account I created last year. As I feared, the site has been changed, and although I could have continued to use the site for the remainder of the school year, my Director of Technology, thought the email was "junk mail" and never notified me; I therefore missed the deadline for opting in to the freebie year. With that being said, I was able to explain my dilemma to my tech director who kindly suggested I "experiment" with a blog and wiki site available through our Moodle site. I'll be the "guinea pig."

I've learned a lot about perseverance through this project. When something doesn't go as planned, the best thing to do is reach out to others and ask for advice. Evaluate the advice you received and take a detour. Who knows, maybe using this suggestion will be easier for my fourth graders since it's all on our own network. They already have login names and passwords so we won't have to worry about creating unique usernames and passwords for other public sites.

Since I've taken a detour from my original plan, I have scheduled a meeting with my Director of Technology as well as our Technology Coach for tomorrow morning. Together we will work through this new tool available for classrooms. I am hopeful that my efforts will meet the district expectations so others are able to benefit from using blogs and wikis as well.

New questions: Will the public be able to comment on our blog and wiki posts or only others within the district? If it isn't a public site, am I able to at least invite parents or other administrators who can write back and forth with my students? Is there a way to get students from the high school involved? For example, if we are blogging about rocks and minerals, receiving feedback from a high school student would be very inspiring to a fourth grader.

Since my meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, I'm not certain how I may need to modify/adjust my current plan. I'm hoping that some of the questions I've posted will be answered and that someone will agree to join me in this adventure!

Now What?

As I began working on my GAME plan this week, I encountered a problem that hasn't yet been resolved. When I tried to log on to my SchoolBlog account to download the instruction manual, I was greeted with a message that said, "The page you are trying to access is not available." The page provided an email address of someone to contact to whom I immediately sent a message. Unfortunately, I have not heard back from lsblog@epals.com.

So, I am left with the decision of how to proceed from here. Do I wait to hear back from someone at ePals or do I totally revamp my action plan? I was really looking forward to blogging with my students and knew this was a safe way to go about exposing my fourth graders to this Web 2.0 tool. When I searched the site, I didn't find anything related to SchoolBlog. I'm not sure if my site expired from infrequent use, if the program no longer exists or if I'm trying to get into it the wrong way.

What have I learned? Well, waiting until the last minute isn't the best idea when it comes to technology. Had I tried to download the pdf file earlier in the week (say Sunday night), I may have heard back from a representative from ePals by now and know how to proceed. I've also learned that I can't depend on a program such as this to always be there when I want it. New websites pop up every day and old websites/programs are taken down each day as well, possibly from lack of use, lack of funding or a million other possibilities. Maybe the ePals server is down (although I find it highly unlikely since the rest of the site worked without issues).

So, where do I go from here? Do I search for another “safe” blog site that my district will allow me to use, or do I set up a site on our school Moodle account and learn to use that? Although Moodle is available, I don’t find it to be “kid-friendly” for fourth graders (or inexperienced teachers) and would prefer to use something geared toward younger students. Therefore, my next step is to wait to hear from someone at ePals until Friday (11/26/10). If no one returns my email or SchoolBlog is no longer operational, I will need to change gears and learn how to use Moodle with my class instead. The only problem with Moodle is I’m not excited in the least bit about using it; therefore, I know it will be an issue for me to motivate myself to find the time to “learn” this technology tool. Does anyone know of any other “kid-safe/kidfriendly” blogs? Suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Implementing My GAME Plan

Now that I've identified a goal for myself, what's next? Last year I bugged our district technology director to allow us to use blogs in the classroom. Finally, after providing him with a few documents about ePals, I got the go ahead. So why has it taken me so long to dive in? I guess I've been a little reluctant to try it for fear that I won't know what I'm doing. Here's where my GAME plan comes into play!

The resources I'll need to carry out the plan include:

• The SchoolBlog User Guide at found at http://schoolblog.epals.com/sites/schoolblog.epals.com/themes/epals_schoolblog/ePALS_SchoolBlog_Guide.pdf
• A colleague to blog with me
• A username and password that were created by my Director of Technology
• The blog support team available at SchoolBlog

Additional information I'll need may include articles or web resources on how to best incorporate blogs in an elementary classroom. The Walden library may be of assistance for the articles. I can also do a Google search on elementary classroom blogs to see examples of how other teachers are using them in their schools. If anyone in our Walden class has had success with this technology, their experience would be be beneficial as well.

To be honest, I haven't started anything toward my GAME plan. The first step I will take this week is to download the pdf userguide and read at least one section on how to get started setting up accounts for my students.

My GAME Plan

After spending some time really reading the NETS-T standards, I've chosen to focus on two standards where I believe I need to enhance my knowledge and skills: (1) Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes and (2) Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership: evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.

I selected the first standard because I feel like so much of my day is teacher-directed and I want my students to take more ownership of their learning to engage their creativity. The second standard was selected to help keep me up-to-date with new technology that could help inspire student learning and creativity. Almost daily you can find a new development in technology and I need to continue to learn what I can even after this course and Master's program are completed.

GOAL: I want to be able to share our classroom learning with others in the world using the SchoolBlog program through ePals. This will allow my students to reflect on their learning by communicating with others about topics we are discussing in class. Students will begin to see that life outside of our four walls is eager to learn from them and discuss their work. My hope is that it will also be a way for parents to see more first-hand what we do during the day. Getting positive feedback or constructive criticism from others will go a long with in building self-esteem and assisting students in evaluating their work.

ACTIONS: To meet my goal, I will need to log on to the SchoolBlog website and either read information found in the help menu or watch a tutorial. I will then need to practice using the blog myself to learn how to post text, video, images and links. To accomplish this, I will elicit the help of a colleague who also has an interest in utilizing technology in the classroom. Once I become comfortable with the program, I will introduce it to my class as a whole group. We will then work together for several classes recording reflections of our learning in different subjects each week (almost like a weekly newspaper). I will send a letter home to parents explaining the activity and ask that they help us by responding to our posts. After students are comfortable using the blog as a whole class, small groups of students will be responsible for blogging about a particular subject each week, switching topics so everyone gets to write about each content area. Finally after several weeks, the students will begin blogging on their own and responding to other classmates and eventually other 4th grade classrooms across the district and maybe even around the world!

MONITOR: How will I know my action plan is meeting my goals? I will keep a journal for recording my thoughts and feelings about each week of blogging. I plan to include lists of things that went well and/or not so well. When things don't go as planned, I will ask a colleague or Walden classmate for advice and revise my action plan for the next time. I'll also provide students with a questionnaire or on-line survey to find out what things they believe are going well and areas where they need more assistance.

EVALUATE AND EXTEND: As I reflect on my journal at the end of the year, I will need to ask myself if I met my goal of incorporating the SchoolBlog program into my classroom. If I haven't, will I try a different program to use for blogging? Did the benefits outweigh the drawbacks? If my students and I determine the program was successful, how will I expand on it the following year? If it was indeed successful, sharing the information with my administration would be one place to begin. My district asks for teachers to present information for professional development during the summer. Maybe I would host a professional development day on Using SchoolBlog in the Classroom for other teachers. This would also incorporate my second goal of Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership. It would be nice to eventually educate all 4th grade teachers in the district about this program so students can communicate and get to know each other before going to Middle School in 6th grade.

References:

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

EDUC 6712: Reflection

The most striking revelation I had about the teaching of new literacy skills in this course was the need to teach students not only how to read text for information, but also how to sort through everything else that the Web demands of them: opening pages and maneuvering between multiple sites, determining authenticity and credibility, monitoring their reading, and synthesizing information into learning. Thinking back to previous courses, I assume that my students are all digital natives, having lived their entire lives with the Internet. Although they have all grown up with this wonderful technology, they need modeling, guided practice and independent practice to successfully incorporate this knowledge into their everyday schema. Just as parents, caregivers and teachers instructed the children to learn to read and write their ABC’s, I too must educate them on using the Internet safely, efficiently and effectively so they will have a notable benefit over students who have not been educated in the same skills (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007).

Next, the knowledge and experience gained in this course will provide an additional tool to help motivate, engage and inspire tomorrow’s leaders. Using the gradual release of responsibility method, or a scaffolded approach to teaching students, provides them with an opportunity to see the teacher model a skill before ever using it. As students become more adept with the skill or concept, the teacher pulls back allowing for guided practice, helping those students who need more assistance until they are ready to work independently.

Finally, a professional development goal I have is to be an advocate in my district for a strong technology plan that teaches 21^st Century skills to all students throughout their K-12 education. We cannot continue to teach strictly with textbooks, pencils and paper if we expect to engage our students and want them to continue being lifelong learners. To accomplish this goal, I plan to meet with our Building Technology Coordinators to discuss my concerns in hopes that we can work together with the technology committee and Director of Technology to develop a manageable plan where all students in our buildings are exposed to, utilizing and building upon their 21^st century literacy skills year after year. I am committed to providing after school training for other teachers so everyone feels confident and comfortable instructing our children for their futures.

References

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Bridging Learning Theory and Technology Reflection

Seven weeks ago I developed and wrote my “Personal Learning Theory.” As I reflect upon that writing, I still believe my learning theory to be quite eclectic, drawing on aspects of the Behaviorist, Cognitivist, Constructivist, as well as Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences perspectives. Integrating all of these theories is the best way for me to meet the diverse needs of learners and differentiate instruction for my students. Using technology assists in accomplishing this goal by keeping my students actively engaged in their education.

Some changes I plan to make include recognizing that there is a time and place for on-line drill and practice activities. Since behaviorists believe that students learn by responding to rewards, consequences or a lack of response, this is a way for those children who need immediate feedback to receive it. Websites such as www.studyisland.com and www.arcademicskillbuilders.com are two powerful on-line tools that can accommodate this need.

Another important adjustment I plan to make in my instructional practice includes the use of online concept mapping tools such as www.webspiration.com. Using this learning tool will allow my students to make more connections to access information quickly and easily at a later date.

Two technology tools I would like to use with my students next year include webquests and more interactive video conferences. Webquests support student-centered learning by allowing the children to solve a problem with the teacher acting as a facilitator rather than a disseminator of information. Students are more actively engaged while working cooperatively with their peers to complete this type of activity. When the webquest is complete, the small groups can also then produce an artifact such as a VoiceThread, PowerPoint presentation, blog post, or wiki to demonstrate their learning.

Video conferences are another learning tool I hope to integrate more frequently in my teaching. Having searched the Polycom video conference website, I have found several interactive conferences that encourage active engagement in a student-centered environment. Students become responsible not only for their own learning, but also for the learning of their classmates by using reciprocal teaching strategies such as the jigsaw approach.

Finally, two long term goals for integrating technology into my classroom are using technology as a learning tool rather than as an instructional tool, and having my students create a blog to showcase their work throughout the year. To accomplish the goal of using learning tools, I plan to use on-line concept mapping tools when showing video clips so students need to “do something” with the information they are watching. Achieving the goal of student created blogs will begin in September when the class will work together to build a classroom blog. During the first few months of school, students will practice posting information to the blog so they can then begin creating their own blog using ePals, SchoolBlog, when they return from winter break in January.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Cooperative learning is just that, cooperative. When someone cooperates with others, they work together. This theory relates to social learning theories by actively involving students in the learning process, allowing them to engage in activities with other learners to construct meaning/knowledge. The main motivator of students is their peers, so what better way to increase their willingness/desire to gain knowledge than by using cooperative learning? Working with other students, children learn how to cooperate with others and solve problems through their interactions accomplishing a task (Palmer,G., Peters,R., & Streetman,R., 2003).

Blogging and wikis are examples of tools that correlate to the instructional strategy and social learning theories enabling students to interact with each other on projects both within and outside the classroom. As students learn different information, the knowledge can be posted on a blog so others can respond to the information. If erroneous material is posted, other group members can submit a reply stating the discrepancy. The two students (and others) can debate the issue, thus building cooperation and communication skills, without ever leaving home. Learning no longer needs to take place within the confines of the school day or community library hours.

The jigsaw activity mentioned by Dr. Orey (2009) and Palmer, Peters and Streetman (2003) allow individuals to learn about "parts" of a larger concept. When the groups get together, either in person or via a collaborative tool such as Facebook, they share their information, feedback is provided, revisions are made, and the group as a whole builds knowledge. If all of the "parts" are needed to put the "whole" together in the form of an artifact, students must not only teach their classmates well enough, but they themselves are placed in the position of learner as well.

References:

Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program 8. Social learning theory [Motion Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology Baltimore: Author.

Palmer, G., Peters, R., & Streetman, R. (2003). Cooperative learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved May 30, 2010, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt

Constructionist/Constructivist Theories and Education Technology

The instructional strategies I explored this week that correlate with the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning theories include the use of web resources as well as spreadsheets. WebQuests are the first tools that come to mind. This form of technology requires students to explore a topic in a small group, examine data, respond to an issue and finally make a decision (Glazer, 2001). WebQuests correlate with the principles of constructivist/constructionist learning theory by the teacher giving up control of the students‘ learning and instead permitting the students to actively construct their own learning (Han & Bhattacharya, 2001). In this type of activity the teacher becomes a facilitator/collaborator guiding the learners in their quest for information. Students are free to investigate the topic, create meaningful learning for themselves, and solve problems.

Another strategy I have used that is similar to a WebQuest is an e-Mission. My students participated in a problem-based situation where a major snowstorm was forecasted for New York City on New Year’s Eve. The students worked in small groups to track the temperature, barometric pressure, clouds and other weather topics. The culminating project was a video conference with NASA to share their findings. Based on each of the four groups’ information, the students needed to determine whether or not the New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square should go on as planned, or be cancelled. Student learning was based on solving a problem and working cooperatively with all the other groups. If students used only the information their group researched, a well-thought-out decision could not be made.

The e-Mission was a hands-on, student-centered, problem-based based activity that related to real world events. Students had choices to make and felt safe to do so. Clear expectations were provided by my colleague and I and the remainder of the time was spent guiding student learning. The students left this activity with more knowledge about weather forecasting than previous students who only completed a few hands-on activities and required textbook reading.

References:

Glazer, E. (2001). Problem based instruction. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt

Han, S., and Bhattacharya, K. (2001). Constructionism, learning by design, and project based learning. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt

Cognitive Learning Theory and Instructional Practices

For this week’s assignment, I explored several different concept mapping links, an Excel spreadsheet, multimedia links, web resources (Google Docs) and communication software (wikis and blogs). The concept mapping tools as well as the others mentioned above help the learners create mental images and/or “templates” (Novak and Cañas, 2008), increasing the number of connections one has when trying to recall the information. All of these tools correlate with the principles of cognitive learning theory since each requires integrating multiple senses, increasing the likelihood of retrieval at a later time (Laureate Education, 2007).

Since short term memory can only process about seven pieces of information at one time, it is important to make as many connections as possible to access the information more quickly and easily. Dual coding, elaboration and networking concepts assist the brain in making more of those connections. Paivoli’s dual coding allows the brain make a connection between a word, such as cat with the visual image of the animal. Therefore, anytime teachers can incorporate “informational images” during instruction, memory will be enhanced (Laureate Education, 2007).

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Behaviorist learning theory [Motion picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.

Novak, J. D. & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them, Technical Report IHMC CmapTools 2006-01 Rev 01-2008. Retrieved from the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Web site: http://cmap.ihmc.us/Publications/ResearchPapers/TheoryUnderlyingConceptMaps.pdf

How Reinforcing Effort and Homework Practice Relate to Behaviorist Learning

Behaviorist learning theory suggests that children learn by responding to rewards, punishments, or withheld responses (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008). Reinforcing effort using educational technology helps accomplish this goal by providing specific feedback. One way to reinforce effort is through online "drill and practice" type games. For example, during math class my students will occasionally use the website www.arcademicskillbuilders.com to practice basic math concepts such as multiplication, division or adding/subtracting integers. My students race each other using these basic skills. If they are strong in the skill, they have a good chance of winning the race, positive reinforcement). On the other hand, if they continually race and lose, they receive negative feedback encouraging more practice of the particular skill. This is an engaging site that the students don't mind using at home. They will often tell me that they raced friends from class over the weekend.

According to Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski "reinforcing effort enhances students' understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning" (2007). My students can easily see how they compare to others when using this website. Another way my students make the connection between effort and achievement is through the use of rubrics in writing. The Rubistar website has allowed me to create rubrics so the children can see what is expected of them to achieve a certain grade.

Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski also suggested "a way to convince students that effort is tied to achievement is by showing them data" (2007). I keep all my grades on a program called PowerTeacher Gradebook. The students could easily keep track of how much time they spent studying for a particular assignment and then input the data into a spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel. Although my district doesn't allow us to grade homework at the elementary level, data could be collected for effort studying for quizzes and tests.

Homework practice is also an example of behaviorist theory. When students complete homework and hand it in for corrections, the teacher is able to determine if more instruction is needed both individually or for the whole group (positive/negative reinforcement). Educational technology allows students to practice basic skills at home in an engaging, collaborative way. No longer are students limited to paper/pencil types of activities. 21st century students have the ability to practice skills and apply the content they've learned by using blogs, wikis and other programs. One tool that I thought would be particularly helpful is the spelling and grammar tool in Word. Students can use this software to find the grade-level of their writing. By determining the grade-level of one's writing, he/she can decide if words need revising to make the text more descriptive or if sentences need to be combined to make them more complex. Word even has an AutoSummarize tool! Autosummarize provides a brief summary of what was written so a student can compare it to his/her original purpose.

In conclusion, reinforcing effort and homework practice fit the criteria of behaviorist learning theory.

Reference:

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

Reflection of My Learning

Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, has helped me develop 21^st Century technology skills in the areas of blogging, using wikis, creating podcasts and keeping up-to-date with technology issues through the use of RSS feeds. Not only are these tools more interactive and up-to-date, they are also environmentally friendly. In today’s economic times, districts are desperately searching for ways to conserve money. Will all families have Internet access? No, but even if only 50% of families find their information from school electronically, that puts a huge amount of money back into the needs of the students and not spent on paper.

This course has also restored the “fun” that has been missing in teaching lately with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. For several years my teaching has focused on “meeting the standards” and preparing my students for the PSSA, the Pennsylvania System of School Achievement. I have learned through this course that I can still meet the standards set by my state, just in a new, more creative way. Instead of the traditional role of teacher delivering information to students to regurgitate for a test and then forget, I’ve learned that inquiry based learning will have longer lasting effects since the students internalize their learning, making it meaningful for themselves (Laureate Education, 2008).

I plan to continue expanding my knowledge of technology by subscribing to technology blogs and websites through their RSS feeds. This was I can stay up-to-date with current technology and collaborate with other educators for ideas and support. I am fortunate that my grade level team is also interested in integrating more technology into our classroom, so I have a built-in support system when I go to work everyday.

Within the last week, I also subscribed to a technology magazine for teachers that is published bi-monthly. It is a free publication with valuable ideas and new products.

I also will continue to be outspoken about the use of technology in all areas of education. We cannot keep teaching with 20^th century products and ideals when we are now living in the 21^st century. Times change, methodologies change and so must the integration of computers and inquiry based learning in our classrooms.

Two long-term goals I want to implement in my classroom within the next two years include creating a blog with my students and also providing more opportunities for inquiry based learning. My first “project” was to find a blog provider that wasn’t blocked by our school server. SchoolBlog on ePals can be moderated and also only open to administration, teachers, parents and my students. The next step setting this up in my classroom was to get approval from our Director of Technology who also had to “run it past” our superintendent. I have already begun preparing a classroom blog for students to interact with each other. My next step is to introduce my students to what a blog is, model its use and expected behaviors, and then begin allowing students to post their thoughts and ideas related to things we do in class (i.e. science experiments, literature circle groups, projects, etc.)

The second goal I have is implementing more inquiry-based projects into my classroom. To accomplish this goal I plan to search educational websites for WebQuest projects that I can use with my curriculum. If none are available, I plan to create at least one for my students to use to research/explore a topic. This will require a lot of searching in different areas, putting together open-ended type questions for students to answer and guide their learning toward a final product.

I look forward to continuing my educational journey with integrating technology in the classroom!

Resources:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Bringing the fun into teaching with technology: Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

As part of my Master's degree course work, I browsed through the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. P21 is an advocacy group comprised of educators, businesses and policy makers whose goal is to ensure 21st century skills are being utilized in classrooms across the United States to prepare students for positions in the global workforce.

The website is very easy to navigate with five drop-down menus from which to select narrower topics. The drop-down tabs include overview, tools and resources, state initiatives, events and news, and contact us. I especially liked that the site included the latest news in 21st century learning. It's a great way to keep educators and others up-to-date without having to subscribe or search data bases for new information.

What surprised me most on the website was under the "state initiatives" tab. I expected to find every state listed, but only found fourteen. I would think if P21 is a leading advocacy group, they would acquire and post all state initiatives throughout the country. Does that mean that not all states have initiatives? Do you need to pay/donate money to the group to have your state listed? Why is each state different if the goal is to "infuse 21st century learning into all schools"? Wouldn't it be more productive to have an initiative that is applicable to all state education systems? If this was the case, all students, regardless of the district they attend in the United States, would be challenged to meet the same standards. So, if my state isn't listed, does that mean that the students in Pennsylvania will have more of a challenge ahead of them when looking for a job because they might not have the same technological skills?

The implication I see for my students and myself are an increased awareness placed on states to improve how we are currently teaching our students. More and more pressure will continue to be placed on school districts to accept the fact that students today don't learn like children did even ten years ago. Without meeting these newest and ever-changing demands, we continue to widen the gap between our country's workforce and the rest of the global community.

www.21stcenturyskills.org

Classroom Blogs

I've been trying all year to get my administration to allow me to open a blog for classroom use, but have been unsuccessful (unless I want to use Moodle). However, if I were to have a blog for my fourth grade students, I would begin by having it as a place where students could post responses to writing prompts (Richardson, 2009). This would be a place where my students could post their prompts and receive feedback from their peers and parents. A writing blog would allow interaction between parents and children as well as provide the students with an authentic purpose and audience for writing, which in turn enhances and encourages more writing. Students would be expected to post to a weekly prompt and respond to someone else's prompt during the week by providing a "glow and grow." The "glow" would be pointing out something their classmate did well, and the "grow" would be a recommendation for a change to make the piece better.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

My First Post

Wow! The 21st century is really here and I'm getting my feet wet with Web 2.0 technologies by creating my own blog. I can remember back in 1995 feeling excited and nervous to be using the internet for the first time. Now I'm anxious to use it to enhance my teaching and help my students learn a new way of learning. Looking forward to many thoughtful discussions!