Game Plan Part Two

I will need to address my plan in different steps for each part.

In order to implement some changes in using social media in my classroom, I will have to seek out examples of classrooms in which social media has been used and worked and find research that supports its inclusion in the classroom.  Not only will this help me determine if this is a worthwhile endeavor, it will also prevent me from wasting my time if social media is something that has yet to make a significant impact in the classroom.

To become more active in the professional development arena, I will have to seek out opportunities to share my new skills.  Much of what I have learned has been here in my coursework or on my own, so it would be ideal to find some further professional development opportunities on my own.  I already have plans to present a blogging workshop during our professional development days prior to the school year, so I've made one step to achieving that goal.  I am anxious to see how it goes and if any of my colleagues will offer any criticism or begin to use blogs in their classrooms.  I know there are a few like-minded teachers in my building, so it would be good to have a core of teachers interested in technology to bounce ideas off of and get more technology into my lessons.

Implementing social media seems to take a bit more time.  There are already some ideas I have about using it in the classroom (further use of blogs, Google Wave) but it's difficult to get a feel for what the next step is until I have had a chance to try out these ideas with some students.

NETS

On the whole, I feel that I am pretty strong in meeting these standards.  Since I started my coursework at Walden, I have been familiar with the NETS-T standards and have strived to include them with my state benchmarks.

There are two, though, that I think I can improve upon.  The first is "Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments".  I try to give students a lot of exposure to different tools they can use for their projects.  One of the sub-standards is what catches my eye: "a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity."  Social media is becoming the biggest revolution in world since the Industrial Revolution, yet many schools simply block these sites and pretend they don't exist.  I envision my students working in a world where digital networking is one of the cornerstones of their careers.  If we are turning a blind eye to it in schools, where are they ever going to learn it?  It is easy enough to say that they will be able to learn it on their own, but that, in my opinion, is asking an awful lot of teenagers who rarely think of the rules in school let alone when they are online.  I think that it is my responsibility as an educator to find ways to work social media into my curriculum.  This will probably require meeting with the principal and some other higher-ups to get access, but I think it can be done if, of course, the goals are educational.  Evaluating success could be difficult because social media is sort of uncharted water in the classroom, so my goal would be to get some social media into the curriculum and have it stick.

The other NETS-T standard I would like to improve on is "Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership."  My curriculum at Walden and my interest in technology has put me ahead of many of my colleagues.  I would love to continue learning about new tools and try to keep up with all of the changes.  I feel that I need to take on a leadership role in my school/department to promote the use of technology in the classroom.  I would like to offer some professional development courses in my school to give people the basics on how they can integrate technology into their courses and become an available resource for anyone who wants to learn more.  In addition to keeping up with new technology tools, I can also explore other content areas to determine how technology could be used.

Reflection

The most striking revelation I had during this course came when I was working on Application 4.  As I looked through the website “Britain For Americans”, I quickly noticed something was off.  I thought it was humorous, but in terms of being good for research on the culture of Great Britain, it terribly wrong.  The big revelation came when I typed in the website to Google and it was the first result that came up.

This was such a big revelation because I could see myself very easily falling victim to it.  My tendency has become, thanks to the internet, to finding information as quickly as possible.  “Nearly good” is better than “best” provided that it is found quickly.  I know that my students search the same way.  The big lesson for me in this course was that I need to rethink both how I search and how I teach students to find information.

There is great value in modeling good research techniques.  On top of taking it slowly, a lot can be gained by taking time to explore sources in depth rather than skimming the first few websites that are found. 

Next fall, the first unit in my AP Language class is a literary criticism research paper.  I plan on spending as much time on the process with students as I will on their finished product.  This summer, I would like to explore some websites they could use to search for information on literary criticism so I will be able to point them in the right direction this fall.

Reflection

I wouldn't say that my overall personal theory of learning has changed.  If anything, it has only been reinforced in my mind that technology needs to have a stronger presence in my classroom.

A past professor I had at Walden suggested to us that we not use technology simply because it is there but rather because it makes learning easier or better.  I try to keep this in mind as I consider what different technology tools I could bring into the classroom.  This leaves me with two goals as I move forward with changing my teaching practices to include more technology:

1) Become a paperless classroom


As the world becomes more and more based on a paperless model, I think it is important that my classroom begins to reflect this.  My desire to go paperless is not linked to any pro-environment ideas but rather the fact that in my experience, students get more out of technology based assignments and are required to do more independent thinking with them as well.  The best ways I have seen so far to get students to produce original, creative work is to give them projects that have a strong basis in technology.  As I go forward, I would like to increase this.

2) Explore assessment options with technology


I feel that the standard multiple choice exam is slowly turning into a relic of a past era.  It will require a lot of brainstorming on my part, but I would like to see projects become better assessments of student learning in my classroom.  This is definitely a long-term goal and I am still in the beginning stages of just developing this idea.  I would like to collaborate with like-minded teachers to hear what has worked for them.

I plan on continuing to use web-based programs like Animoto, bubbl.us, GoAnimate.com, and Voice Thread to implement these goals.  One program I would like to utilize with my students is Google Wave.  Once this gets out of beta, I plan on piloting it with one of my classes on collaborative projects and essays.  Hopefully the feedback from the students will give me more ideas on how to use it.

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Voice Thread: Making the Switch to Electronic Textbooks

Here's my VoiceThread for this week's application.

It's not so much a problem as it is a goal: when do we make the switch to electronic textbooks?