The standards that I am continuing to gather information on are:
- Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. I focused on the indicator that states that I will "promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
- "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." The chosen indicator that I would participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
I feel as if I am trying to focus many of my lessons on creativity and incorporating technology into more of my lessons so that I am finding my students creating a deeper level of thought. As I continue my search and focus on this indicator, I realize that I would like to set up a blog for my classroom. With this blog, I would like to utilize it mostly for my reading groups. With this done, I will be able to post questions for my students to answer. They would also be able to have discussion with their peers and participate in a book talk. I think that this would allow my students to collaborate successfully with one another while also having them work with technological skills. I am in the process of discussing how this can happen with my technology teacher.
These particular questions come to mind when thinking about this process:
1. Will I need to have each of my students create a blog account?
2. How often will I have them post?
3. What will my rubric look like for these discussions?
4. With having only 4 computers in my classroom, will I have to set aside time in the computer lab for my students to access their blog?
5. How will my groups look like and how often will I change them?
I know that there will be a lot to think about when setting this plan up, but I am really excited about it.
As far as my second indicator with learning more technology skills for my students as their teacher, I have been apart of a lot of collaboration with my peers. I have also been around to other classrooms in my building in hopes that I learn new ideas. I feel that it is important for me to continue my professional growth. I know I can always learn new teaching strategies and ideas. I have also talked with my technology teacher about workshops to attend as well. With it being close to the end of the year and with state assessments approaching, I have found it difficult to find a workshop that I can attend. I know I will have to spend more time in this area and even gather information from workshops that I have attended in the past to help my GAME plan. If I am having a hard time feeling like I am reaching this professional development goal, then I may have to come up with a different way of reaching this plan.
It is important for me to continue learning so that my students can benefit from what they learn.
Elizabeth Brindley
I had a few thoughts in regards to your questions. Your concern about only having four computers in you classroom may not be a bad thing. Depending on how often you would expect your students to respond and how many students you have. I have no experience in teaching fourth grade but if you are having students respond to reading samples what I remember from reading in elementary school is that there are specific times and different groups for reading. I don’t know if it is manageable but if one day a week a different group is assigned to the computers to respond to the blog rather than working in their reading group. This again depends on my assumption that reading groups still exist. I feel that having four computers to use could be another station students visit throughout the day or throughout the week to accomplish their required feedback. Another approach may be to have them write their response on paper so that it is simply transferring information to the blog when they have the opportunity to do so.
ReplyDeleteNicole Piercy
Eva to Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI am having similar difficulty making progress on the goal of participating in local and global learning communities-at least I thought I was. Then, I realized that Walden is a fairly global learning community, and our schools are local ones. It sounds to me that your making an effort to collaborate at school IS participating in a local learning community. Do you not gather and give advice and experiences regarding your use of technology with students both at school and through this blog and Walden discussions? It occured to me as I reflected on the same goal this week that part of the reason we haven't had the time to find online resources or live workshops is because we are putting quality effort into our Walden and local school communities!
I also share a goal of setting up class blogs, and enjoyed your well thought out questions. I hadn't considered using my classroom computer, but I most definitely could. I also like that you got me thinking ahead to grouping strategies and an assessment rubric. I teach middle school, so part of what I like about blogging is that students could dialog with peers from other class periods. My thoughts concerning assessment are that it would be great to come up with a way students could self-assess for a week's worth of posts and, perhaps, keep an electronic record. I have had students chart progress manually with great results. After this week's class discussion, though, I'd like to investigate electronic means of them doing so.
Thank you for your thoughts and ideas. It is great having peers to discuss challenges and triumphs with! Good luck to you both!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth Brindley
Tiffany to Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteYour GAME plan sounds like it is moving along well. You are reflecting on what you have done, what you still want to do, and have modifications in mind in case you can not meet your goals.
I really like you idea of having students blog about their literature. It reminds me of literature circles, but with the technology component. Since you have only 4 computers in your classroom could you assign blogging as a homework assignment? You could also set up a schedule for computer use. I use blogging with my students quite a bit and I assign it as homework. If they do not have internet access at home then they could use the classroom computers.
As for your professional growth, I think that you will learn a lot from your colleagues. With time constraints these days it is very hard to attend extra trainings. Have you looked into any webinar trainings? These seem to be more flexible.
Good luck with your game plan!
Tiffany Hall
Does your school have a computer lab you could reserve? You could also request 2 computers from donorchoose but there are some requirements. I hope these suggestions help. Good luck and stay encouraged.
ReplyDeleteRakeebah
Blogging is a great tool for collaboration, critique and sharing. Before one go about blogging with students it is important to set rules and guidelines as it relate to using slangs, jargons and inappropriate language. Sometimes students can get carried away, seeing that they are in their territory... (computer/technology). A single classroom blog could be good for starter, group students and have them share ideas and respond to fellow students post. I find that a set time for blogging answers to questions or respond to class works well. After students have complete required task in the formal setting, they could also follow up with activity on own time using personal computer. Owing to the fact that blogs can be exciting, sometimes it can be hard to keep students away.... students will be anxious to what has been written and therefore eager to respond. All the best
ReplyDeleteC. lewinson