Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Carrying out my GAME plan.

Last week I wrote a GAME plan to help improve my teaching.  My goals are to inspire student learning and creativity using web 2.0 tools and personalize activities for my students base on their learning styles and abilities.

To meet these goals, I will need resources.  I plan to include web 2.0 tools in my reading, science, and Bible classes.  My students need access to computers.  The school ministry team has been discussing adding a computer to the classroom for student use.  Currently, students are not allowed to use teacher laptops.  Until I am able to get computers in my classroom.  I will use the computer lab during my students' computer time or free lab time.  This will require me to collaborate with the computer and library teachers.  I will need websites to use with my students that do not require students to use an e-mail address.

I will also need information.  I need to know what my students' learning styles and abilities are.  Some of this information is found in their records.  I can learn the rest of it through surveys and conversations with students.  I only have 12 students at a time, so I will be able to have discussions with them.  I also need articles to support differentiated instruction wit web 2.0 tools.  My hope is to change the current technology policy so students can use an e-mail address to log-in as needed.

So far, I have been able to discuss this plan with the computer teacher.  Because of the hurricane that came through, she is struggling to complete work with my students and is unable to give me time during her class.  I will need to use the lab during her planning period until December when we can co-teach twice a week.

Resources

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. D., & Ertmer, P. A. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: a standards-based approach. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth.

6 comments:

  1. I teach math, so unfortunately I don't have very many resources on your topics. However, I have used Wikis with my fifth graders and they were not required to have an email. I used these in the spring and simply created groups and entered usernames and passwords for my students. This allowed me to monitor everything that was happening on the wikis, and it allowed them to be creative and to learn 21st Century Skills in a private environment.

    We are currently using Prezi to make a collaborative presentation but for some of my students it required them to have an email account. For some, I just used my email account to set it up initially (it didn't connect their info with my account) but after entering approximately 4, it said I met my limits. I have a number of email accounts, but not enough to cover 95 students!

    I suggest looking at Pinterest. I recently have found a number of resources on learning styles/preferences. Some of these are printable, others are online based. Here is a video Laura Candler uses for multiple intelligences for upper elementary students: http://pinterest.com/pin/536280268097629933/
    There are numerous resources like this on Pinterest.

    Do your students have access to computers outside of school?
    I currently use Edmodo and LOVE it. It is set up similar to FaceBook but is private.

    Here is how I described Edmodo on Pru's site: I really love my school Edmodo site. It was the one thing I was able to convince my parents to trust without much hassle.
    Some of the perks:
    You can have your school name in your domain. This allows teachers to have administrative rights, determining who may join a specific group or class, and deleting or editing comments if needed. Teachers can moderate comments, meaning view them before they are posted, or simply get a copy of the comment and who sent it directly to your email. (This was interesting, I just had a kid post a comment in Edmodo and all of a sudden, my email notification popped up on the SmartBoard and the kids knew whatever they posted went directly to the teacher.)
    There are parent codes so they can monitor their child's Edmodo account as well.
    Not only does this have a safe classroom environment, you can also create quizes and assignments and kids can submit through Edmodo. Quizes can be graded by the computer and then the students see their grade in their Edmodo grade book (I just transfer the grades into my official PowerSchool gradebook later) and they also see a graph to help them visualize what their scores mean.

    I have found that my students, LOVE to use Edmodo. They will gladly answer the same math problem they would HATE to do in their workbook, as long as they can do it in Edmodo. It is amazing how motivated they are! They also are limited as to what type of information they can post in my math class, but know they can only say helpful or positive things. They have been going out of their way to find something nice to say about their classmates just so they can post! :P I have kids logging on all hours of the night, asking homework questions, playing games that I've linked, sharing links to games or resources for projects, etc. Other classes like to use this to share stories and then have others proof or critique the assignments. Parents even can have a code so this can let the kids know their parents can see everything they are posting, and this sometimes motivates them to work harder. It also is a great way to keep parents up to date with what is going on in the classroom and allows them to also offer constructive feedback.

    I wish you the best of luck in your journey and especially with changing your currently technology policy.

    Mindy Hart

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    1. Mindy,

      Edmodo sounds interesting. Is it something that your school pays for? I work for a small private school. I wonder if there is anything similar that is free.

      A lot of materials for my classroom come from Pinterest. I have found some great information. There are some engaging videos. Thanks for the great ideas!

      Kate

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  2. Like Mindy described, Edmodo is a great educational social networking website that does not require students to have an email address in order to join and use. Members can create polls, quizzes, and assignments. This could be a great way to integrate the web 2.0 tools into your curriculum.

    Another site I found is Kidblog (http://kidblog.org/home/). This is a blogging website that also does not require an email address for students to join. You simply create a secret code for your class and students can access the class by providing the secret code. Kidblog even brags on its homepage about the ability to integrate web 2.0 tools using this blogging site.

    Hopefully you find some success with these sites. Also, good luck getting another computer, I know how difficult it can be to get additional materials into your classroom.

    Patrick Hall

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    1. Patrick,

      Thanks for the idea about kidblog. That is also something that they could work on at home. I recently found out my students have access to discovery education at home.

      Kate

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  3. ^^
    As Mindy stated the Edmodo is cool! I have a school website through Google. Our shool has Google Apps. Here is my website, it also has my school name in the URL. https://sites.google.com/a/shelby.k12.mt.us/mrslybeck/

    I was also suggested Kidblog. I think I am going to use it. It sounds awesome and after looking at it, very friendly.
    My school currently does not allow students on any kind of social networking/collobration site. :(

    I still think I am going to use it! :) or rather :-O (shock face)

    Students are not allowed on our teacher laptops either, but I have no other option to take AR. My students need to take AR and well, my computer is the only one my classroom.

    Good luck with your plan! It sounds like you have some ideas and ways to make it happen.

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    1. Pru,

      Only having my computer is an issue in the classroom. The students use mine at times, too. I am hoping the new Head of Schools is able to find some funding for computers in the classroom.

      My school does not have an official position on social networking. I assume because the students do not have e-mail that it is not encouraged. However, I think if it was explained to the parents, it might be allowed in some instances. Working for a private school is much different than when I was with a large school system.

      Kate

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