Moodle

Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology Reflection

I really enjoyed this class, it forced me to look at my current practices not as being wrong but how can I better them. Most classes feel as if they want you to change everything, this class just asked you to adapt a few points along the way. It was nice to actually look at my style and try to add a little something to the class instead of being told that we as teachers need to change styles altogether.
The adjustments I want to make to my instructional practices have already been taking place. I am really concentrating on a diverse style of delivery and unique assessments that allow each student to use their strengths in demonstrating the competencies outlined by the assignment. This is a class that all instructors should take.

Game Plan Reflection

When looking back on the course, Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas, I found myself pushed to try new things. The GAME PLAN template for lesson plans forced me to do something I never had tried before and I really enjoyed it. Trying to turn my classroom into one of student led instruction is very hard for a controlling person but the work we have done in this course helped me tremendously. I look forward to walking through theses steps again.

The biggest change I plan to make in direct reflection of this class is to stop waiting on trying new things. I have always put off trying something new because i might not be great at it yet. This class showed me that in a student led class I do not have to be great just good enough to peek the interest of my students and they will carry the torch from there. This class brought a breath of fresh air to my instructional methods.

NETS-S

When looking at how I want to teach my students about the NETS-S a great idea came to my head. My wife has done this for years in her kindergarten class and for some reason I never applied it to myself until now. Why not just show them the NETS-S. She has posted the state standards on her website for years now and talks about them to the students and to the parents but when we get to high school for some reason we try and act like they are a secret. I want to try and expose my kids to not only the NETS-S but the other standards and goals I am trying to get them to reach. We can then work together in this venture instead of me trying to drag them along.
I also should then have them assist me in writing down our GAME plan. If we are truly going to make my classes student led and not teacher led then let’s get the students in on the ground level of planning how we are going to accomplish these goals together. This seems way to simple but I am excited to try.

Revisiting my goals

My main goal during this class has been to promote Digital citizenship. I beleive that I have struck a chord with my class this last week. I became very blatant in my goal and told the students what I was trying to do. Wow, did this help. I forget that I do not have to be sneeky to get students to learn. I walked right out in front of th class and asked them to list the different groups they are memebers of online. They loved this idea and listed over a bundle. We broke them down and talked about what purposes they serve. Informative, educational, social, professional, etc. Turns out that kids these days do enjoy learning, they just want it to be fun, fast and convienent.

I too feel this same way and I beleive most people feel this way. That is why I am taking my masters online. I am not ready to change goals yet or even move on to the second goal I set. I feel I am just getting my feet wet and i am beginning to get excited about this one.

Update 2

This week was a slow week trying to reach my GAME plan. I felt behind in my class all week. Behind in grading really distracts me as a teacher. I did not spend enough time on this GAME plan to make any significant progress. I did however encounter a problem. Due to the limited availability of the flip cameras it has really challenged me to open up my class and allow for some self discovery. It seems as if I have 10 different assignments going on around me at once and I believe it has added to my distractions in my normal grading habits. I do not want to become a teacher that ends up doing one great assignment and 5 bad ones around it while I catch back up.

GAME plan update

Information/Equipment needed: I have found a lot of information on new technologies and have access to a flip camera. Our school librarian ordered 3 flip cameras for students to check out. I am now in the phase of finding out what to expect from students using this flip camera. I had students check it out and they are preparing a video on how to use one. This will be an aid should I decide to make it and assignment. I guess that is actually taking action at this point. I am hoping that this video lesson will fill the "Information Gap"(Cennamo 2009)and will allow for the students "to interact with one another in varied and flexible ways."

I would never of thought that teaching was me learning to have students teach each other.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.