Reflection

When beginning the process of creating a GAME plan, I was confused and uncertain of where to begin, or what area of content to introduce material. As the class proceeded, and I was able to research material, I was able to get a better idea of what resources would work best for the "Electronics" lessons I was planning to present. In the past few weeks, I learned a variety of new technological resources and online sources for technology integrated lessons. Using problem-based learning, social networking and online collaboration, and digital storytelling has helped to redevelop multiple lesson plans within my class and improve the use of computers and technology within my class.

Depending on the outcomes of these lessons, I plan to evaluate student success, and re-evaluate for student achievement. I feel that the lessons I've created are very meaningful and will improve student content knowledge. However, there is always room for success and certainly always areas of improvement. I will analyze student success rates and determine the positives and negatives of student work to improve both the presentation and delivery of lessons.

One area that I struggle with is my time management strategies. Although I feel as though my lessons are well prepared and well developed, I still struggle with ensuring each section of my lesson to take a certain amount of time. When presenting this information, I will monitor time necessary, and adjust time frames necessary to complete each and every task. I have learned to use a "chunking" method to help break down the lesson and to develop more accurate timed lessons.

This course has helped to open my eyes to new areas or resources of online technology that I have yet to encounter as a teacher. I plan to use these resources much more often throughout the school year to enhance student learning and help to better prepare them for the future of the 21st century.

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

Over the last week, I have been working very closely with my fellow technology teachers to prepare for my GAME Plane. I have been developing lesson plans with strict district guide lines, speaking with colleagues, and spending much time learning the tools and resources necessary to develop a video lesson.

I am beginning my process by making "mock videos" of mini-lessons I've used in the past. I have worked with the program and trying to align text and commentary directly with it, while managing the allotted time frames necessary. I have always believed that practice makes perfect, so the more I use the program, the more comfortable I will be with the entire process. If I can practice with these mini-lessons, present them to classes and be successful, I am on my way to developing a powerful resource that I can utilize for many years to come.

With the development of this lesson, I am on my way to increase my ability to develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. The assessment being used will be the completion of the Personal Circuit Board and a functioning "Night Light".

Although I have not completed everything I would have liked to at this point, I am on track and where I need to be. My next steps are to finalized lesson designs, develop the videos to be used throughout the unit, and incorporate additional forms of technology that will work positively toward our goal of student success!

Carrying out my GAME Plan

With my GAME plan, I will need a number of different resources to help meet my goals. All resources are relatively new to me, and will take some time to truly master. I am working very closely with a technology colleague of mine to incorporate some of the resources he experimented with last year. Seeing the success of the lessons he developed with the integration of technology truly excites the teacher in me!

One of the new resources I plan to use is a video editing program to develop lessons with the absence of students, possibly in my own home. Using this program, I will be able to tape the steps of creating a printed circuit board, for example, and edit it with voice commentary, and text for the students to follow along closely with. Watching a video of a lesson seems to have a much stronger and lasting impact on students. When developing my video lesson, I will be able to present essential questions and create the different goals of a lesson with ease. Along with the video lesson, I plan to use interactive software for students to respond to different scenarios and situations when soldering that will help to develop essential life skills before they even begin the activity.

Now, one of my main goals with my GAME plan was to increase my ability to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments, as well as, promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility. I have spoken with multiple colleagues, as well as some of the Information Technology specialists within my district. Learning and understanding the "COdes of Conduct" put forth by the district, and learning how other teachers are able to present the information in an interesting and exciting manner has helped to give me that extra needed confidence to present valuable information prior to computer and internet use.

The lesson I have designed certainly helps to develop digital-age learning experiences, while giving me instant feedback with student achievement. I feel that this lesson will increase student productivity and success. Change is sometimes a fearful thing, but in the constantly growing technological world, we don't have much of a choice. If we want our students to be successful in the future, we need to make the changes now that will affect them later.

Developing A Personal GAME Plan

After reviewing the ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Teachers (NETS-S), I was able to gain a better understanding of some of my strengths and weakness' within the integration of technology effectively in the classroom. As a technology teacher, I feel as though I am very confident in my ability to model digital-age work with my students. I have a great deal of knowledge in research and inquiry, as well as with the use of many different Animation, CAD, and Photo-manipulation programs that help to increase my ability to teach the content to my students. On top of this, I also feel as though one of my greatest strengths is to facilitate and inspire students learning through creativity. Many of the assignments or projects I present to my students require students to think "outside of the box" and forces them to use parts of their brains they may not use on a daily basis. This develops an incredible amount of creativity due to the nature of the projects and the student-directed learning assignments given.

Although I feel very confident in some of the standards I've reviewed on NETS-T, there are still a few in which I struggle with. I still find myself struggling on a daily basis designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Most of the technology my students recieve in my class is through the content subject itself. Although my lessons are intriguing and certainly push students to work and be creative, I have yet to "conquer" teaching in a digital age to these 21st century learners. Along with this, promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility is an area that I know little about. I teach my students "rights from wrongs" as far as the internet and research is concerned, but I feel as though this is not the same thing. My students are aware of the websites they belong on and those they don't, however, I don't believe this is enough to say that I am promoting or modeling digital citizenship.

I would truly like to learn new ways to present information, whether it be new strategies, websites, or software that will help to enhance student achievement. It is important that my students are recieving the best education and taking as much away from my class as possible. With this being said, I feel as though I am putting them at a disadvantage when I still rely on "old" techniques and presentations of lessons. I would also like to know more about how to become a model digital citizen, and how to go about presenting this information.

My game plan is simple. I plan to increase my knowledge in both of these areas that I lack both confidence and proficiency in. I plan to research, collaborate with colleagues, and continue my growth in the field of integration of technology. My ultimate goal would be to eventually realign all of my different units/lessons with the integration of different technological resources that students will benefit greatly from. I feel that

Reflection

When I reflect back on this course and how it has effected my teaching strategies in the classroom, it's easy to see how much incorporating technology along with using different personal theories of learning can make an impact on our students. Using different online, technological resources can be the difference of students full success or lack there of. Students in the 21st century learn much different then those of years past and with such advances in technology, our students need to be instructed using these forms of technology that they are so comfortable with.

During the first week on instruction in this class, I declared that I commonly use a student-centered learning theory with a constructivist approach. Through out this class, I don't feel that this has changed. But what has changed is my approach of incorporating technology and the different resources I am trying to introduce to my students. A few of these resources are Web Spiration and VoiceThread. These two resources help me to "chunk" information for my students to help them obtain much more information while in class. They also help to develop strong relationships between students using collaborative strategies to team build.

Two goals that I am dedicating myself to for the remainder of this year are continuing to search for new technological resources for student success, and varying instructional practice to help develop a higher level learning for each individual student. If I can accomplish this with the next 8 months, I know that my students will be much more successful than they would've been without.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Using social networking is one of the best practices a teacher can utilize in ones classroom. We all know that each and every student learns a bit differently, but one thing is for sure...We learn and obtain knowledge in much greater masses when we are able to teach the material to others. Collaboration in a Student-centered, or even better, a Peer-centered classroom allows students to work with one another for a common goal. Utilizing strategies such as the "Jig-saw Strategy", where students are each a member of a collaborative team and responsible for learning and teaching information to teammates, can enhance the learning of all students in the class. This makes students accountable for their own education and allows them to learn at a much higher level, and obtain much more information.

In a socail learning theory, students are active participants in constructive activities working in collaboration with eachother. To promote this learning theory in a classroom can be as easy as beginning class with a Warm-up that encourages socialization between students. It helps students to validate answers, bounce ideas off one another, use encouragement, and builds confidence. This takes the teaching out of the instructors hands and places the responsibility in the hands of the students. Teachers then become more of a facilitator in the classroom and allows them to constantly check for understanding.

Social networking, in my eyes, is one of the greatest strategies for learning in the classroom. It helps to build teamwork skills, socail skills, and can also helps students to build their confidence. And with constantly growing and changing technology, students are now able to collaborate with one another outside of class to build strong friendships and long-lasting relationships with one another. These are all skills and attributes we all need to be successful and productive members of society. Teaching our students these skills at an early age is one of the most beneficial gifts we can grant our students with and should be utilized in each and everyday of class we teach.

My Dilemma: http://voicethread.com/#u1335485.b1374030.i7286344

Constructivism in Practice

In my class, there are many different projects that students are given that put them into a place they are not all that comfortable with. This place is known as "Problem-Solving". Students are given a task, and with this task, are asked to solve the problem at hand. It could be as simple as "How can we determine all parts of a drawing with the lack of dimensions", or more complicated as "Can you develop a bridge of 25 grams or less that can hold a minimum of 50 lbs?". It's projects/problems like this that can develop a thought process that can not be obtained through direct instruction or lecturing. With Problem solving activities, it is important to give students some, but not enough to give them the answer they are so desperately searching for. We must give a problem, and then have students be able to explain their solution to the problem and their hypotheses and conclusions. Doing this, takes the teaching out of the instructors hands, and puts the learning directly into the students hands.

Using Generating and Testing Hypotheses can greatly increase the level of understanding of our students because they are able to experience a problem first-hand and use prior knowledge and experiments to determine a possible and probable outcome/solution to the task given. This instructional strategy relates directly to the constructivist/constructionsist learning theories due to the nature of the work. In this strategy, the teacher is acting as a facilitator, rather than an instructor/lecturer. Having students work independently on a project allows a much higher level of learning and can help to develop life-long skills that these students must obtain for futures in college and beyond.


Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). “Cognitive learning theories” [Educational video].

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K.(2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD