Thursday, January 27, 2011

Week 4--GAME Plan

OK, well., last week I made much progress on my first goal of creating 1 summative (major) assessment primarily consisting of technology use for each 9 weeks. Right now, I have as my major assessment for the 3rd 9 weeks, an online inquiry project ending with a mind map or outline created on the program OpenMind. For this project, I will take time teaching the students how to develop a research question, locate and evaluate sources, etc. For the 4th 9 weeks, the students will use the information from their mind maps to create a multi-genre project using technology. I need to research and learn  more about glogster to see how I may use it. I have decided that if I have ideas for 1st and 2nd quarters for next year, that will be sufficient. The reason is that it is hard to create an assignment without knowing the needs of students that I don't teach yet!

This week I have been making strides on my second goal of using my LexConnect page more effectively to communicate with students and parents. This was jump started by the fact that much of what I need to do, I need to finish by February 15, in order to pass my Level II technology competency. So, I will make passing the competency my major method of evaluation. I think I will also move parent survey to how I will monitor how I am doing because I want results from the survey before I turn in the links to be evaluated. In addition to the added evaluation (that I had forgotten all about), I have also learned that the students can turn in assignments via a dropbox on the LexConnect site. I mentioned to the students that we may begin moving toward this when major papers are due. They reaction was positive. The students have a book review due on February 4, so I am going to get volunteers from the interested students to do a dry run so we can get all the kinks out. On February 11, the students have an editorial due, and hopefully, all will be able to turn their papers in via the dropbox for that assignment. I am going to play that one more by ear, and maybe make it optional that time, as well. I want to see how the book review turn-in goes first.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

GAME Plan Progress, or Lack Thereof

Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Goal--create a summative assessment each 9 weeks that incorporates the major genre focused on for the 9 weeks
Actions--research examples of summative assessment; use my Techonology Integration Specialist and/or Liteacy Coach to help design the assessment; gather ideas from colleagues, classmates, members of English Companion Ning

I have made a bit of headway working on this goal. The students will begin working on a multi-genre project this 9 weeks. The project, however, will be completed during the 4th 9 weeks. We will begin on the students multi-genre project by using the inquiry plan that I created in the Information Literacy/Online Inquiry Class. We will spend 3 weeks learning the proper way to perform online inquiries. The product to come from this portion of the assignment will be a concept map organizing the information the students collected during their "hunt." The map must include links, and embed an audio or video clip.

I sat down with the literacy coach and mapped out this 9 week's plans, ideas for mini-lessons, etc. We discussed ways to incorporate technology, but not so much for the final product, more as aids for struggling students. My next step is to sit down with my TIS to gather more ideas, to help firm up some plans, and to schedule some team teaching days.

For the 4th 9 weeks, the students will complete the project by writing anywhere from 7-9 genre to present their information. This will definitely include technology, and may even be fully presented technologically. I have not decided on the assessments for 1st or 2nd quarter yet, and I will be working toward that once I've completed the plans for 3rd and 4th 9 weeks.

Throughout my coursework with Walden, I have been introduced to many programs that I would like to introduce to my students. I just need to sit down and reaccquaint myself with some of them. I shared some of the different sites with the students so they can begin playing with them and familiarize themselves with them, including: http://www.xtranormal.com/ , http://www.wordle.net/ , and http://www.tagxedo.com/ .


Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
Goal--turn my LexConnect page from just one of information to one of learning, reteaching, enrichment, and parent resources to help students
Action--look at other teacher's LexConnect page, ask parents what would be helpful items for them to see, ask the students what type of content would be most beneficial for them to see, consult with my TIS to use LexConnect to its fullest capabilities

Sadly, with all of the progress I made on the first goal, I have not made much on this goal at all. Honestly, I didn't even update my LexConnect page this week. What I need to do is gather some information from the parents about information that they would find helpful on LexConnect (my teacher web page). I plan to send out a survey created on http://www.surveymonkey.com/ . Again, I will use my TIS as a major resource. I will ask her (and through her, the TIS learning community) to show me exemplary teacher web pages, so I can gather ideas. I also need to learn more about the capabilities of "Angel," which is the name of the network that houses our webpages. I think it is a lot like Blackboard or eChalk, or maybe be the most recent incarnation of one of them. This is the first year our district is using it, and it has only been up and running since mid-October. So, I will take any advice, hints, tips, etc.!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

GAME Plan for improving my teaching and my students' learning with the NETS-T teaching standards

The International Soiciety for Technology in Education (ISTE) has created technology standards not only for students, but also for teachers and administrators. After looking at the standards for teachers (NETS-T), I have identified 2 standards that I need to work toward improving. By working on both of these standards, not only will my students' learning be enhanced, but my overall teaching, classroom community, and class program will be pushed to another level.

  1. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
    • Goal--create a summative assessment each 9 weeks that incorporates the major genre focused on for the 9 weeks
    • Actions--research examples of summative assessment; use my Techonology Integration Specialist and/or Liteacy Coach to help design the assessment; gather ideas from colleagues, classmates, members of English Companion Ning
    • Monitor--keep myself of the same schedule as the rest of the department as far as completing assessment plan, remain on the same schedule as we collaboratively plan, post updates on blog for any interested party
    • Evaluate--ask for opinions from colleagues regarding rubric to see if the assessment is truly assessing the stated standards at a proficient or advanced level; compare student proficiency on assessment as opposed to pre-assessment; conduct student surveys
  2. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning
    • Goal--turn my LexConnect page from just one of information to one of learning, reteaching, enrichment, and parent resources to help students
    • Action--look at other teacher's LexConnect page, ask parents what would be helpful items for them to see, ask the students what type of content would be most beneficial for them to see, consult with my TIS to use LexConnect to its fullest capabilities
    • Monitor--work with Literacy Coach to help hold me accountable, have data managers in each class that help manage the data and content on each class' page
    • Evaluate--conduct student and parent surveys, ask for feedback from colleagues, classmates, and administrators
I really think that the first of my goals will the hardest. I have block when it comes to English. To me, everything seems like it is doing the same thing in new ways. There are so many neat simulations and applications to use for other content areas. I would love to use more problem based learning, but wonder if there is too much "other" content for the students to deal with before getting to the actual English content. So, if anyone has any ideas, I am open!
References

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.


International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). NETS for teachers 2008. Web. 12 Jan. 2011