Goal #1:
1c Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity by promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes (ISTE NETS-T, 2008).
Goal #2:
5a Engage in professional growth and leadership by participating in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology and improve student learning (ISTE NETS-T, 2008).
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I have not made as much of progress as I had planned to on my personal/professional GAME plan this week, however, I have had some technology-enriched lessons go well this week, and have shared some fruitful exchanges of ideas with a new student teacher in my classroom.
With respect to resources and information, I got some valuable leads from colleagues’ blogs this week, which I am excited about, and which are moving me closer to my goal of setting up class blogs. The only hold-up, and it is understandable, is that I have not been able to meet with our technology staff yet. I am waiting for a response to a meeting I’ve requested concerning setting up a blog on the school server, or which public blog sites are acceptable, and the practicality and possibility of setting up an electronic drop box for assignments to be submitted to me. Yet, the helpfulness of these ITC blogs, as well as our Walden discussion threads, really apply to both my goals of getting digital discussions started with and between my students, and participating in local and global learning communities.
I do, however, think I need to modify my action plan, somewhat. In the same manner as I must wait until our tech experts have the time to meet with me, I need to accept the fact that participating in a new learning community will have to wait for the moment. I have just begun working with a student teacher and am working hard on my electronic portfolio. I truly don’t have the time to locate or participate in a new online community. Yet, I am thoroughly enjoying working with this student teacher, and I believe he is benefiting from the technology I have already integrated into my classroom. Today we had a grand time bouncing ideas off of each other, helping students complete a web quest / timeline of ancient Greece, digitally, and do some minor research as to Greek inventions while citing sources in the newest MLA format. Our combined enthusiasm was palpable, and I am confident that his comfort using technology with students will continue to increase as we work together. During his time teaching my classes, I have two more computer lab reservations, and we began this first day brainstorming how he/we might use them. So, in a sense, this is our own small, local learning community - one in which we are both acting as teachers and learners.
Upon reflection, this week has taught me to be less rigid in my interpretation of how to achieve the NETS for Teachers. I may be moving toward my first goal more slowly, and my second goal in another way than what I’d imagined, but I am making progress and my goals are crystallizing. I suppose the reflection for this blog entry has helped me realize that, like ever-changing technology itself, one’s journey to become more proficient in its use can be unpredictable evolution as well. In order to “increase my participation in local and global learning communities,” I need not only locate and join new communities for my own learning, but I need to contribute to communities of learning as well.
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Hi Eva,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and see that we have similar ideas for creating technology projects. I also see that you have a student teacher. I know that this can be exciting and a lot of work at the same time. It is great however, that you are able to bounce ideas off each other and when it comes down to it, you are able to help mold a person into being a great teacher. I bet she has a lot of fresh and new ideas!
I too worry about reaching my GAME plan goals, and after reading your post, have too come to the realization that I need to relax a little bit.
I also saw that in your post, you had mentioned that you had some technology enriched lessons go good this week. What types of lessons were you working on with your students? I would love to hear about them!
Good luck to you!
Elizabeth Brindley
Eva to Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response! I had a computer lab reservation come up this past week at a time in my curriculum that turned out to be earlier than I'd planned back in August. We have just begun our study of ancient Greece and students were not yet ready to undertake the research I'd planned. Instead, I decided to have students complete a timeline of ancient Greece that I'd printed from a Birmingham Museum site on ancient civilizations. I had them search either "Greek timelines or specific dates," and left it at that. It was a neat opportunity for students to practice the skill of reading timelines in different formats and encounter the fact that some are presented vertically, horizontally, in one column or two, in one dimension or interactively, etc. They also learned that some display only political information, and some only cultural. They had to gather information from more than one source, as the timeline I gave them required diverse information. Also, they needed to evaluate sources and recognize that timelines of ancient information aren’t going to be exactly similar with respect to dates. The timeline from the Birmingham Museum was great because it is in a graphic format and includes small pictures that help alert students as to whether or not they are on the right track.
This mini-web quest just worked out well with respect to their skill level and the time allotted, as well as the standard of interpreting timelines. We were able to come together in class the following day and have Internet Workshops to discuss the outcome and add a few new points in history to our timelines. And, following the workshops, we made inferences, as a whole class, about what we might expect to learn about ancient Greek people and culture based on the points of interest from our timelines. In addition, my two honors classes were able to search for 15 inventions or innovations of the ancient Greeks and cite their sources in the newest MLA format, a change from when we finished our research papers in ancient Egypt. The lists they compiled of their “Gifts from the Greeks” added to the predictions and inferences garnered from Socratic class discussions.
Not only were the lesson and debriefing successful, but they afforded my new student teacher the opportunity to jump right in and become involved in both the computer lab and classroom discussion portions of the lesson without having much background knowledge yet. And, finally, it got him excited about technology by taking an active part in a relatively simply application in which students were engaged and successful.
Hey Eva, I think it's great to hear your comfort with an outcome that wasn't "planned". I think as teachers, we often get caught up in the "plan" and lose sight of what is happening. There is a beauty in the spontaneity of learning and I feel that this unplanned learning time, spawned from curiosity and exploration sparks a motivation that cannot be planned.
ReplyDeleteI applaud you taking the opportunity to embrace this unexpected enrichment and your willingness to be part of it.