The first standard I am planning on working with is "Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments." I try to use technology when possible as I am developing my students assessments but the performance indicator that I fall short of is "design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity." My assessments are always relevant to what we are learning in class but I would like to make them more relevant to my students' everyday lives. Another component is allowing my students to persue their "individual curiosities." This is another area that I struggle with when it comes to planning assessments. To meet this standard my GAME plan looks like this:
Goals-
* Develop meaningful and authentic assessments for my students while using technology tools.
Action-
* Research different authentic assessments that other ELA teachers have used in their classroom and evaluate how I can modify the assessments so I can use them in my classroom.
The monitor and research steps are self-explanatory and I will follow the outline given by Cannamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009).
The second standard I would like to work on is to "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." For the most part my technology integration has all been blind. I have had no training on using the technology and it has been all trial and error of how I use it. I feel that if I would get proper training for some of the technology I use, or would like to use, I could not only be more effective for my students but help other teachers in my building as well. My goals and actions for this standard are
Goals-
* Learn how to better implement technology into my classroom
Action-
* Attend a professional developmental training that deals with technology that I use in my classroom.
* Register for an online webinar to learn more about how to effectively implement the technology in my classroom.
I enjoyed reading how you will reach your goals. I think it is important that we try to do everything we can to learn different and creative ways to incorporate technology in our classrooms. I have enjoyed taking many professional development classes on technology. Many of the classes I have taken have taught me the technology skills and then given me time to plan on how I will incorporate it into a lesson. Just remember when taking the professional development that Katherine Cennamo explained the importance on keeping an open attitude when planning lessons and incorporating technology into the classroom (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). The only suggestion I have would be to take small steps. Take the time to really learn investigate the technology skills and do not be scared to just try them in your classroom. A lot of the time you cannot tell if the resources will work with the students unless they are hands on with the technology. It is a learning process for you and the students together. Good luck with everything!
ReplyDeleteCharlotte
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Promoting creative thinking with
technology. Baltimore: Laureate Media.
Stephanie-
ReplyDeleteI understand your pain on needing training for technology implementation. Our school seems to think that means that we need to know how to use something like an iPad. While there are some teachers that are at that level, most are not. Most of us would appreciate the lesson on implementation or time to discuss with each other how we implement and use the current technology we have on hand. One organization I have ran into that does a decent job of those is the Bureau of Educational Research (BER) at http://www.ber.org. Good seminars at fairly inexpensive prices. You are obviously of the self-directed learning (SDL) variety of people that we hope to mold our students eventually into being. As Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) write this is “another hallmark of creative and innovative thinkers” that we desire our students to become (p.30).
Dave McReynolds
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. &Ertmer, P. (2009).Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.