Week 4-Monitoring My GAME Plan

Finding Information:
As I have began working towards my goals I have found that staff members that I work with on a daily basis have a number of great ideas on implementing technology into teaching. One thing I have found is that most staff members I work with seem to use technology to help them stay organized and deliver content. In a PLC meeting last week, I asked two of my colleagues how they use technology in interactive ways with their students. This sparked an excellent conversation and we began brainstorming ways for the students to use items such as the SmartBoard as an interactive tool. One thing that came out in our conversations was the fact that technology is a great way to get all students involved and engaged in learning (Laureate Education Inc., 2009).

In terms of my second goal, I have found that many of my students are using the models I have created and using them as templates for their own work. I was worried at first about students copying my models exactly, but have found that students want to add more to their final artifacts.

Modifications:
At this point and time, I do not see the need for any modifications to my GAME plan. I am sure as time progresses, I will need to revisit different items.

What I have Learned:
I have learned that sharing new technology ideas during PLC time is very effective. I have learned a great deal just in the past two weeks through visiting with my colleagues and seeing what and how they use technology. I have taken some of their ideas and added to them making them very useful tools. One such idea I have picked up on is how my teaching partner is using Microsoft Excel to chart her students growth by having students keep a notebook on their math facts. This is an excellent idea because this digital notebook will follow them into next year providing next years teacher with excellent information about where the student is at in terms of their knowledge of math facts.

New Questions:
I have found that I need to spend some quality time learning about new technologies (Laureate Educational Inc., 2009). For instance, this week in our discussion postings Michael posted something on flip-cams. Flip-Cams are a tool that I have never seen used, but through discussion believe they would be a tool that would be beneficial to me.

The other question I have discovered are what are ways I can better share ideas to my entire staff as well as gain ideas from them?

Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Week 3-Carrying Out My GAME Plan

First I would like to apologize for the late posting of this blog posting. I didn't realize that I had a posting due this week.

Resources Needed to Carry Out My Plan;
The first resource I will need in carrying out my first goal (engage in professional growth and leadership) is time to meet with my PLC (professional learning community) team. This team is made up of myself, my fellow 5th grade teaching partner, and the two sixth grade teachers. We have generally met once a month in the past for 40-40 minutes. I would like to propose the group meeting an additional time to discuss the use of technology in both grades.

The second resource I will need in order to help me achieve my second goal (facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity) is my own personal computer as well as my school computer. by using these two computers I will be able to create models of technology projects for my students to see. Creating sample brochures, review games using power point slides, and using excel to create inter-active graphs that students could use to track academic progress.

Additional Information Needed:
Spending time viewing new technology tools on the Internet and finding magazines that inform me of new technologies is a must. How can I implement new ideas if I am not up to date on what is out there (Laureate Educational Inc., 2009)? Another piece of information needed is schedules of teachers I am working with in my PLC groups. Viewing schedules would allow me to set up additional PLC times that don't interfer with other people's schedules.

Steps Taken So Far:
My PLC team was able to meet last Friday (May 21st) and discussed how we are using collected data to support our instruction. This allowed me to share some of the different charts and graphs I have used from Excel to keep track of my students' progress. Templates for these charts and graphs have been placed on the teacher share drive for my colleagues to use. In addition to sharing this information I have also placed a sample brochure that I created on the student share drive for students to reference during their state project. Many of my students have accessed this model and are using it as a guide with their own brochures.

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Week 2 -Developing Your Personal GAME Plan

This week Dr. Katherine Cennamo discusses with us the importance of having a GAME plan when promoting self-directed learning and creative thinking (Laureate Educational Inc., 2009). The first step in creating a GAME plan is to set a goal. After viewing the different technology standards (http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm)
I have decided on applying two of the standards to my goal:
1. Engage in professional growth and leadership
2. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
Actions to take:
The first step I will take is to set goals for these two standards. To engage in professional growth and leadership my goals is to continue taking classes that are focused on the use of technology. I will also take time each week to visit with fellow teachers about technology tools they are using in their classrooms. For the leadership piece, my goal is to share different ideas about technology I have found and used during staff meetings and PLC (Professional Learning Communities) meetings.

The second step will be setting a goal for facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity. In order to begin working on this goal, it is necessary to model strategies for being an independent learner and creative thinker with my students. Creating technology projects as artifacts to share with students will be the first step of this goal.

Monitoring Progress:
For my first goal, I plan on using a calendar to monitor how many times I have had professional conversations with colleagues about technology. On this calendar I will write down notes on the dates I have these conversations. By using a calendar, I will be able to track how often these conversations are taking place.

For the second goal I will create a folder on the teachers' share drive to place copies of the work I have created to use as models for students. By viewing the folder frequently, I will be able to monitor if I need to add more samples.

Evaluation:
Evaluation of the first goal will come from feedback I receive from staff about the technology information I have shared with them. These conversations may bring up better ideas to implement.

Evaluation of the second goal come from student artifacts. If the quality of student projects and artifacts become better, I will know that the models are helpful.

Reference:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.