My Reflection on Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas

Throughout this course, I have learned a lot about myself as an educator. I have had the opportunity to reflect on the ways that I am introducing technology to my students, and set goals to enhance my students’ learning through the integration of problem-based learning, collaboration and communication, and digital storytelling. Each week I blogged about my personal GAME plan, to enhance my use of the NETS-T standards, by setting two goals. I wanted to inspire student growth and creativity, and engage in professional growth and leadership. Through the actions I took, and monitoring and evaluating of my goals, I feel that I was successful in making progress towards these two goals. Through the technology-based lessons that I created in this course, my students are able to express their creativity and grow in their knowledge of the standards and technology tools. As a professional, I have been taking a leadership role to share new web 2.0 tools with my co-workers and help them find useful ways to integrate technology into more of their lessons. I have also had a discussion with my principal about starting a Technology Club next year for interested and inspiring fourth and fifth graders. I hope that the students will take interest in this and there will be a growing number of students interested in learning through technology.


Through the GAME plan process, I have learned the importance of setting goals and how to appropriately carry them out. Now that I have a deeper understanding of how to apply the GAME plan to my learning, I feel confident in my ability to use it for helping my students set learning goals for themselves. Since I am still teaching Pre-K, I will still find ways to integrate technology into my lessons that does not require reading. I have been looking into online picture stories and creating them through my SMARTboard software. I also plan to continue to create lessons and units for upper grade levels, in hopes that I can share them with other teachers and improve technology integration throughout my school.

Implementing GAME Plans with Students

Since I have now had the opportunity to develop my own GAME plan and carry it out, I feel confident that I will be able to lead my students to create their own GAME plan. Basing their goals on the NETS-S standards will help them develop proficiency in the technology standards and indicators. Before the students start to develop GAME plans, they must have a basic understanding of what the standards are expecting them to be able to do. I would first go through each of the standards and indicators with the students to clarify and questions or misconceptions that the students might have about technology and the NETS-S standards. I want the students to understand how the new standards can help them develop new knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of their content standards.


After my students have an understanding of the standards they are working to meet, I will ask them to decide on one standard that they feel that they need to improve on. Because I teach elementary school and this will be my students’ first time creating a GAME plan, I think starting with one goal would be best for them to actually be able to carry out the plan. I would ask them to closely look at the standard they have chosen as their goal, and explain why that is an area they would like to improve on. Using the vocabulary in the standard to plan their goal will help to ensure that they are continuously reminded of the purpose of their goal as they put their plan into action and monitor their progress. Blogging is also a web 2.0 tool that I have been introducing my students. I feel that blogging about my Walden GAME plan experience has helped me to keep track of my progress and continue to effectively carry out my plan. Therefore, I would probably use blogs to help my students carry out their personal GAME plans. As my students carry out their GAME plans, I will continue to create, teach, and guide lessons using technology. This will allow them to put their technology GAME plan into action and see how they can apply the NETS-S standards to their learning to meet the content standards as well.

Revising My GAME Plan

As I progress through my GAME plan, I have evaluated how it has been going, and there are a few changes that will be helpful in meeting my goals. The goals I had set for my GAME plan were to facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity, as well as engaging in professional growth and development. Throughout my Walden course, I have learned many new tools and strategies to integrate technology into my classroom. I have created lessons to use problem-based learning with my students, which will allow them to express their creativity. I have also read several articles to learn more about the future of technology in classrooms, and taken a serious look into continuing on to receive my Specialist’s degree. After reviewing the expectations and content that I would be learning through this degree, I have realized that this is definitely the direction that I want to go in with my career, and I will be able to grow as a professional through this goal. Since I still have two courses left to take for my Master’s degree, and as I will always be striving to develop as a professional, I consider this goal to be life-long.

After reviewing the NETS-T performance standards, I have set a new goal to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. All of the new strategies that I have been learning through my course have given me the confidence to create learning experiences for my students that will really be meaningful and educational for them. This goal will also help to support my current goal to inspire student learning and creativity. As my students learn through problem-based projects and experiences, they will be able to use technologies to creatively share what they have learned in a format that is comfortable to them.

In the future, I will try attending workshops and professional development classes to learn new ways to integrate web 2.0 technologies. There are so many tools available through the internet that students can use to express their creativity and learning, and I want to learn more about them so that I can also integrate them in my classroom. I have enjoyed my courses at Walden, and I hope to be able to continue learning new teaching strategies as I further my own education in the future.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Process

Reflecting back on the progress I have made in my personal GAME plan, I feel that I have gained much more knowledge about how I can integrate technology into all content areas of my classroom. I have read articles to learn about new technologies that have been effective in other classrooms.


Since my students are currently only four years old and cannot read, they obviously cannot do project-based learning independently. Yet, I have started making large group problem-based learning activities for us to solve as a class using our SMARTboard. I am sure that introducing higher grade level students to technology will be a learning experience in its own. My future steps are to set up a timeline to progressively introduce technology skills to the students. When I am able to put this plan into action with a group of students, I will be able to adjust how much I can teach them based on how quickly they learn and understand how to use the technology effectively. I have also been looking into setting up a class blog and using ePals or another social network for my students to be able to communicate what they are learning with students around the world.

I still have two and a half courses left to finish my Master’s program at Walden University. That means nineteen more weeks of learning how I can integrate technology into my classroom. By the end of May, I will be able to make a final decision about continuing my education to get a Specialist’s degree. In the mean time, I am working on developing professionally by working one-on-one with my colleagues to suggest ideas for technology use in their classrooms. I am also still learning new strategies that I can share with them. I have received a lot of positive feedback about the new strategies that I have suggested to teachers. Overall, I feel that the actions I took to carry out my GAME plan were effective in gaining personal knowledge and helping to develop the knowledge and learning capabilities of my students.

Monitoring My GAME Plan

After setting my goals to improve student learning through technology and growing professionally, I collected information and worked on developing ideas to accomplish these goals. Through this Walden course, I have continued to learn new ways that I can integrate technology in my classroom. I am currently focusing on how I can also use technology to assess students. I must first become confident in my abilities to integrate technology in all areas before introducing it to my students. I have continued to read articles in the Walden library and find helpful resources on the internet. The professional development training that I have been taking at my school has taught me how to use new tools, such as SMARTboard clickers, to assess my students using technology and use the quick results to direct my instruction.


I feel confident that the action plan I have in place will help me to meet my goals. The strategies that I am using are helping me to learn new ways to increase student motivation and creativity, as well as feeling more confident in my abilities to grow professionally and work with other teachers to encourage technology integration in their classrooms.

Thus far, I have learned what motivates students in 21st century learning and what skills are necessary for them to be able to learn 21st century skills. I have gained knowledge of the tools that students can use in the classroom to communicate their knowledge and how I can assess them based on this work. To personally grow professionally, I have been looking into pursuing a higher degree after my Master’s. I have gathered information about how long it will take to complete a Specialist’s or Doctorate, and started to get a better idea of what I would like to get a higher degree in. Walden offers an Education Specialist degree in Educational Technology. This seems to be the direction that I want to go in to develop professionally and continue to learn ways to integrate technology into the classroom. With this new knowledge, I will become more prepared to work towards my goal to become a Technology Integration Consultant.

Now that I have taken action towards my goals, I am still working on planning out how I will introduce new technologies to my students. Because many of my students have not had access to the technologies that I am introducing them to, I am questioning what they do know and how long it will take to introduce new technology concepts to them. I am also still collecting information about the higher degree that I am looking to pursue. I am questioning the time that it will take to complete this degree and how this will conflict with my life outside of school. I feel confident in my development towards meeting my goals, and I know that I am on the right path after evaluating my actions towards them.

Carrying Out my GAME Plan

In my personal GAME plan, I explained my desire to inspire student growth and creativity, as well as personally engaging in professional growth and leadership. In order to meet these goals, I will need resources and information to learn how I can help my students. By learning more about the interests of my students and the types of technology that can be integrated into my classroom, I hope that my students will have more of a desire to learn and I will be able to make a professional impact in my school and community through the integration of technology.


To carry out my goal of inspiring my students, I must continue to become knowledgeable of the different Web 2.0 technologies that are available and safe for students to use. In order for educators to teach 21st century skills, we must master the skills first. I will need to explore the internet to find new tools to help my students communicate their thoughts and ideas. I will also ask collect information from my students to find out what types of technology they enjoy using and help them learn the most. To incorporate virtual environments and online learning communities, I can explore blog sites and virtual field trips related to the content I am teaching. Thus far, I have discovered many resources for using technology and inspiring creativity in students. I have been slowly integrating different types of technology into my lessons and observing my students to see what interests them most.

To work towards my goal of engaging in professional growth and development, I will need to use a wide variety of resources to research the best practices for technology integration. Throughout my Walden course work, I have been reading about the best classroom practices, and I will continue to do so through my course text, videos, and library articles. I am still in the process of gaining information about workshops in my area focused on technology integration. I will rely on the feedback of my colleagues to see what areas I can help them with.

Through my continuous research to gain more information about technologies and consistent communication with my colleagues, I will be able to find the resources and information that I need to meet my goals. Feedback and research will prove to be my most informative form of resources and information.

My Professional GAME plan

When reviewing the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) created by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), there were two standards that I identified which I would like to improve upon. To strengthen my confidence and effectiveness as an educator, I would like to focus on facilitating and inspiring student growth and creativity, and engaging in professional growth and leadership. In order to do so, I will follow the GAME plan outlined by Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer(2009) by setting goals for myself and my students, putting a plan into action to meet my goals, and monitoring and evaluating the process of my development in the integration of technology.


To set goals for my students, I will promote more self-directed learning. Through the use of collaboration in the classroom and virtual environments using technology, students will be inspired by each other. Their creativity will be influenced by the world of resources available to them, which will create meaningful experiences to improve their growth of knowledge. To professionally grow as an educator and leader, my goal is to continue on to receive a higher education after completing my Master’s degree at Walden University. I would like to either work as a professor to educate new teachers in the use of technology in classrooms, or work as a technology specialist to teach teachers all of the Web 2.0 tools available to them and their students.

To put my plan into action, I will include technology integration as a part of my daily lesson plans. I will need to make sure that my students are knowledgeable about using Web 2.0 technologies and use these tools to assess the students. I will also begin using virtual environments to expand the creativity of my students. We will take online field trips and explore webcasts and other online communities. For professional growth, I will stay current on new developments for technologies in the classroom. I will research through library articles and attend workshops and seminars to learn more about how I can inspire my students’ learning. The ISTE standard for professional growth and leadership expects teachers to, “exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others” (2008). To meet this goal, I will share my professional development findings and what I learn with my colleagues. I will also begin looking into Specialist and Doctorate programs.

To monitor my students’ learning and creativity, I will assess them frequently to see if their learning is growing and they are creating meaningful experiences. From these assessments, I will be able to modify my lessons based on the students’ achievements. When we receive our benchmark results, I will evaluate the impact that the technology integration has had on my students. I would like to gather their opinions and find out what they liked using and what helped them learn. To monitor my professional growth and leadership, I will communicate with my colleagues often to offer assistance or ask about their progress in integrating technology into their classrooms. I will evaluate my own professional growth at the end of my Master’s program and make the decision of which direction I would like to go in my career and education. With my students’ progress results and my constant individual professional development in integrating technology, I will be able to modify my instruction and inspire more creative student learning.

References

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.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). NETS for Teachers 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers/nets-for-teachers-2008.aspx

A Reflection on EDUC6712: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom

     The biggest revelation that I had in this course about teaching new literacy skills was when I discovered some of the many search engines and websites available for students. I have often struggled in the past with finding places that my students can use for research, because they were above their knowledge of new literacy skills. When I personally explored websites and reviewed the information on them, I realized how easily students get caught up in false or inaccurate information, as well as how they can look too deep into a search and lose focus of the topic.


     Although there is a huge shift going towards the integration of technology in classrooms, many teachers are not prepared to teach them to students, therefore they shy away from using it. In order for educators to be able to be exemplary teachers, they must have a personal understanding of what they teach before instructing students. After completing this course, I feel more prepared to be able to introduce new literacy skills to my students. Developing my own unit plan helped me to learn how I can plan the integration of technology and address any student needs. I have a better understanding of what problems students will face in learning new literacy skills and how I can teach students to avoid them or find answers to their problems. Rather than only introducing common literacy skills such as reading and writing, I can now teach them how to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts that they are learning by developing essential questions, locating and evaluating internet resources, and synthesizing those resources to communicate them effectively. Once my students have a basic understanding of the new literacy skills, we will be able to use these strategies to learn more about all of the standards that the students are required to know about.

     One goal I have set for myself to develop professionally is to locate internet resources related to each of the standards in my curriculum. I will start to include new literacy skills in the lesson plans that I develop, so that my students will have the opportunity to learn more through inquiry-based projects. Completing such projects will help my students to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts we are learning in class. I will continue to introduce them to different forms of technology that they can use to communicate what they have learned. Fortunately, my school has put a huge emphasis on the integration of technology in our classrooms, so I hope to be able to use what I have learned in this course to teach my fellow educators how technology can be used in their classrooms as well.

Reflecting on the Bridge of Technology and Instruction

     In the beginning of my Walden course, I developed a personal learning theory to explain how my instruction is driven by the ways in which my students’ brains work. I discussed the importance of attending to cognitive and social learning theories. I still believe that it is important for students to be given structured learning experiences through cognitive tools. I also still find it important for students to work cooperatively and learn from each other. After taking this course, there are a few modifications that I would make based on what I have learned. As I originally stated, a teacher’s theory of learning will change from class to class and grade to grade. Since I am transitioning from third grade to Pre-K, I will have to start from the basics when integrating technology, but I will put a stronger emphasis on teaching the students to learn how to effectively work cooperatively. Pre-K students are completely unaware of what is expected in a school setting, so my lessons will have to be very structured, to hold their attention. Thankfully, I have learned about technology tools in this course that I will be able to integrate in my Pre-K classroom as well.


     I have learned about several technology tools that I would like to use to enhance the teaching practices that I currently use. Rather than having students simply stand up and present a piece of work, I would like to teach my students how to use VoiceThreads to display and explain what they have done. VoiceThreads will allow the students to share and be proud of their work, as well as allowing the students to learn from each other’s work and develop ideas that are more creative. I will also be using more virtual field trips and Webquests to teach my students. These technology tools will allow students to expand on their personal experiences through online instruction. Since all schools have taken a big cut financially, virtual field trips will allow the students to have an experience and learn, without leaving the classroom.

     The two long-term changes that I would like to make to my classroom are to teach my students how to properly use technology tools, and allowing students to share more of their work via the internet. Since my students are so young, my technology integration will have to be very guided. To teach my students how to use technology, we will cooperatively complete Webquests as a class so that all of the students are able to contribute their prior knowledge. I will also load the students’ work onto the computer and allow the students to add their voice to their work so that the class can all share through VoiceThreads. When teaching higher grades in the future, I hope to be able to take the time to teach them how to use technology tools so that they can use them to develop their own work. I believe that all technology integration first requires guidance of the teacher, and eventually our students will be prepared for their futures in using technology in their education and careers.

The Battle of Homework VoiceThread

I apologize for posting this late in the week, but I just returned from my cruise!

I created a VoiceThread about my struggle to get students to complete homework. Here is the link:

http://voicethread.com/share/1197602/

Enjoy and I look forward to hearing your feedback!

Tiffany

Learning Cooperatively: The Social Learning Theory

     The meaning of the social learning theory is based upon students learning cooperatively. It is our job as educators to make sure that our students are prepared for the future. Pitler, Hubbel, & Kuhn best stated that, “To be prepared for the fast-paced, virtual workplaces that they will inherit, today’s students need to be able to learn and produce cooperatively” (2007). To support students learning cooperatively, teachers should create assignments that reinforce positive reinforcement, face-to-face, promotive interaction, individual and group accountability, interdependent and small-group skills, and group processing.


     Dr. Michael Orey gave a great example of multimedia in a social learning approach using the jigsaw strategy (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). Students can work in small groups to create a PowerPoint presentation about a topic such as famous authors. Students will split into groups of five, each student studying a different author. The students would split up into different small groups based up on the authors they are studying, to work collaboratively to research the author using technology tools. The students would then collaborate by returning to their original groups to share their information and create a PowerPoint presentation about the authors. This strategy teaches students to problem solve together learn from what each group member has to contribute. They must trust each other’s research and work together to make decisions for the PowerPoint.

     With the amount of technology that is available to students today, they can collaborate using the internet, with other students in their school, expects of specific content knowledge, and people all over the world. A WebQuest is a great social learning tool that students can learn from on the internet. They are inquiry-oriented activities where students from different places can cooperate to create a project or solve a problem. Providing links to supplemental resources allows the students to learn from multiple sources and learn in many different ways.

     In order for students to learn based on the social learning theory, they must learn cooperatively. The students must understand that they can help each other learn and motivate each other. Keeping open communication and working together will create meaningful experiences to provide a deeper understanding for students.

References

Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program 8. Social learning theory [Motion Picture]. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology Baltimore: Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Constructivism in Practice

This week, I read about generating and testing hypothesis in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. The constructivist/ constructionist learning theories help students to gain a deeper understanding of concepts through project-based, problem-based, and inquiry-based approaches. The instructional strategies discussed in this chapter can help students to clearly explain their hypotheses and conclusions. Integrating technology as part of these strategies will allow students to, “…spend more time interpreting the data rather than gathering the data” (Lever-Duffey & McDonald, 2008).


Students can use spreadsheet software to make informed predictions, collect and analyze data, and revise their original hypothesis. Programs such as Microsoft Excel and Google Spreadsheets allow students to use technology to create a hypothesis and organize their data in a meaningful way to them. Having access to computers will allow the students to make changes to their data without having to use paper or write and erase numerous times. This technology uses the constructivist/ constructionist learning theories by having students complete projects which can be revised to development an idea. “Using data collection tools enables students to see the bigger picture and recognize patterns,” (Lever-Duffey & McDonald, 2008). When students can use digital data collection tools, they can spend more time analyzing and synthesizing the data, rather than writing it out. Tools such as digital microscopes will allow students to see the bigger picture of what they are looking at, making it easier to evaluate their hypothesis. Web resources such as interactive computer games allow students to, “…use background knowledge, make decisions, and see the outcome of their hypothesis” (Lever-Duffey & McDonald, 2008). Simulation software provides students with a more engaging learning experience, which will increase their motivation to learn and help them to retain the information. Through projects, problem-solving, and inquiry, I plan to use these tools to help my students learn through the constructivist theory and actively construct their own knowledge.

References

Lever-Duffy, J. & McDonald, J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations (Laureate Education, Inc., custom ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

Cognitive Tools in the Classroom

     In learning more about the cognitive learning theory, I realized the importance of using cognitive tools in lessons and activities to help students, “interact with information in order to acquire, synthesize, create, and share new knowledge” (Orey, 2001). This week I read about “Cues, Questions, and Advance Organizers” and “Summarizing and Note Taking” in my course text, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works by Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski. There are many direct correlations between these instructional strategies and the theories behind cognitive learning. There are many forms of technology that teachers can use as cognitive tools in the classroom to support cognitive learning.


     Advance organizers, such as concept maps, are, “structures that teachers provide to students before a learning activity to help them classify and make sense of the content they’ll encounter, particularly new content that is not well organized in its original format” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Word processing applications, such as Microsoft Word, can be used by teachers to create advanced organizers such as tables and charts. Spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel is helpful for teachers to make rubrics. These support the cognitive learning theory because they students are being prepared for what is expected and acceptable. Organizing and brainstorming software programs, such as Kidspiration, help give cues and questions. It tells students what they will be learning about and states the essential question for the lesson. Cueing students will help them connect the new content that they are learning. Organizing information for students also helps them to see make connections with their prior knowledge.

     When students are seeking knowledge, they need to be able to retrieve and identify the most important information. Web resources such as Google Docs and Think Tank work as search engines and databases to help students find appropriate information that pertains to the topics that they are researching. Summarizing and note taking enhances, “students’ ability to synthesize information and distill it into a concise new form” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Microsoft Word is a word processing application that can be used by students to organize their knowledge. This cognitive tool will allow the students to make relationships among the new concepts that they have learned, by structuring and manipulating information. Multimedia tools like Microsoft Power Point support the cognitive learning theory by helping students present information. Power Point allows students to display their new knowledge in an organized and meaningful way.

     I look forward to introducing some of these new instructional strategies in my classroom. To meet the needs of my cognitive learners, these strategies will allow students to seek information, present information, organize their new knowledge, and integrate their new knowledge by communicating with other students. New forms of technology have allowed teachers to bring the outside world into the classroom. Hopefully I will be able to create more meaningful experiences through these new strategies, resulting in more effective learning.

References

Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Behaviorism in Practice

When reading about technology that will improve my classroom instruction, I developed many ideas to incorporate new technology and reinforce skills by applying the behaviorist learning theory. “Technology makes it easier for students and teachers to track the effects of effort and facilitates more immediate feedback” (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). The best way to incorporate these tools is to reinforce practice and provide effective homework and practice. By tracking the effort of students using spreadsheet software, instruction can be modified to provide appropriate instruction. Surveying students and graphing their efforts will show them the achievements they have made and the expectations they need to meet. There are also many forms of technology that can be used by students at home and school to practice new skills and concepts.


I can create a rubric using Rubistar or Rubric Machine to clearly show students what I expect. Spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel will show students the correlation between their effort and their grades. Since I teach at the elementary level, I can enforce positive reinforcement in the behaviorist theory by creating a chart where students can put up a sticker when they make acceptable grades. Data collection tools, such as graphs, will show my students the importance of their efforts. I would also like to teach my students how to graph their data, so that they can record their own grades and keep track of their progress. On my teacher webpage, I can display this data and have students write success stories that will be posted to the website to encourage other students to increase their efforts.

To encourage practice and completion of homework, technology can be used through spreadsheet software, multimedia, and web resources. When completing homework, I can have my students track their answers in a spreadsheet. If students do not have access to a computer at home, I can print a hard copy for them to take home. This will teach the students how to track their progress and help me to quickly grade their work and provide immediate feedback. “Practicing with multimedia allows students to shape their experience to their individual learning style and increase their level of understanding to mastery” (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). I currently use educational technology programs such as Study Island and Compass Learning Odyssey to help students choose their learning objectives, stay engaged, and receive immediate feedback from the program. I can also have my students create multimedia games to display what they have learned and provide practice of skills. I have created Who Wants to be a Millionaire and Jeopardy games based on the concepts that I teach in class. Web resources such as online educational games are appealing to students and give feedback for teachers to monitor a student’s progress towards mastery. These tools meet the criteria of the behaviorist learning theory because the students are able to instantaneously see what step they are struggling with, to target specific skills to work on. When students have successfully completed a game or mastered a skill, I will set up the games to print out certificates to give students immediate positive reinforcement. Promoting positive behaviors such as these in the classroom will give students a sense of accomplishment and drive them to set higher goals for their effort and achievement.

References

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Reflecting on my Walden University course...

Throughout my current course at Walden University, Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, I have developed a better understanding of the types of technology and skills that should be incorporated into 21st century classrooms. Although I consider myself a digital native, I have learned many new technology skills that can be used for teaching. The frameworks outlined by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills have become a starting point for the creation of my lesson plans. I have learned the importance of incorporating new skills to the content I am already teaching in the core subject areas. “To be effective in the 21st century, citizens and workers must be able to exhibit a range of functional and critical thinking skills related to information, media and technology” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004). Before I can include technology into my classroom, I must learn how to use it effectively. I have learned how blogs, wikis, and podcasts can be used by students to share their work and their knowledge of the content they are learning.


I would like to continue learning ways that I can integrate technology into my classroom to increase my students’ achievement. I would like to get in touch with my state's board of education to get more information of how we could become recipients of 21st Century Skills Incentive Funds, to incorporate and encourage the use of “creativity, innovation, critical thinking and financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy,”(Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2004) in students. I would also like to attend more workshops that will expose me to new types of technology and skills that will help my incorporate technology into my lessons.

With the wide range of technology tools that are available to our students on a daily basis, they are finding teachers' lectures and worksheets to be useless and boring. To make my classroom a more exciting learning experience for my students, I would like to set two long-term goals to increase my students' achievement. My first goal is to use websites, such as ePals, to encourage my students to learn from their peers from other cultures. The classes could communicate about the content they are learning and share information that they have researched. Exposing my students to different types of technology learning tools will allow students to learn in different forms and at different levels. My second goal is to spend the next two years teaching my students to become proficient in using different types of technology. Dr. Thornburg stated that educators need to, “start thinking about how these tools could be used in education so that when they became commonplace, they’d be ready for it,” (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). Although my students are exposed to many types of technology in their daily lives, most students have not had the chance to use tools such as blogs and wikis. Once I am able to establish what is expected of my students when using technology, I can use these teaching and learning tools to meet my instructional goals and increase my students’ achievement.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program 4. Technology and Society [Motion picture]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2004). Information, media, and technology skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://21stcenturyskills.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=120

Student Technology Questionnaire

I created a podcast describing the results of my third grade students' responses to a questionnaire about the types of technology they are exposed to at home and school. Check out my podcast at: http://tiffanyharrell.podbean.com/

Teaching 21st Century Skills

     This week I reviewed a website directed at teaching students to use critical thinking and advanced communication. I was very impressed with the information that was provided on the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website. It was very organized and easy to navigate through. This national organization’s goal is to prepare students for the competing global economy that they will face in the future. I liked how the outlined frameworks included the expected outcomes for students, along with references that can be used by educators, to teach 21st century skills. It was interesting to see how different states have aligned the new skills with their current core subject curriculum.

     I took the MILE Guide Self-Assessment Survey to evaluate my district’s inclusion of 21st century skills. It was attention-grabbing to see that my district is still in the early stages of implementing these skills. Our educational support systems are transitioning towards a 21st century education, but overall we have a long way to go in improving the ways that we prepare our students to use information and communication technologies. I was also surprised to learn that there is a 21st Century Skill Incentive Fund Act which provides federal funds to support states that are teaching 21st century skills along with the core subjects. The program has shown increasing improvement in student learning in the states where it is used. I would think that these two factors alone would interest other states in adapting 21st century skills into their curriculum. There was not any information on the website that I would disagree with. I think that we need to provide students with the necessary skills to keep up with the changes in technology and the economy.

     Implementing 21st century skills in my classroom will help my students to transition from a standard form of literacy to becoming more literate through information, media, and technology. My students will learn to communicate globally using high-level thinking to get a better understanding of the core subject concepts. Learning 21st century skills will help my students to develop the life and career skills that they must have knowledge of in order to be successful in their future workplace. As a contemporary teacher, the 21st century assessments will allow me to be able to evaluate my students’ understanding of these new skills so that I know how to direct future instruction. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills explains that, “Developing a comprehensive framework for 21st century learning requires more than identifying specific skills, content knowledge, expertise and literacies” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, n.d.). Our district and state must work together to create a support system when including these skills in our curriculum. Our support system must include standards, assessments, curriculum, and staff development. More importantly, we must create a 21st century learning environment that promotes success for our students. I hope to be able to incorporate 21st century skills into my daily instruction in the future.

Resources

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

Blogging in my Classroom

I chose to pursue a degree in Integrating Technology in the Classroom because I want to be able to teach my students using all of the new technologies that are being developed, and I want them to understand the correct ways to use new technology. Since I teach 3rd grade science and social studies, I try to do a lot of writing across the curriculum. Each week my students are given a journal topic relating to our curriculum and their lives, which they write about in their dialogue journal. For example, when we discussed producers and resources, the students wrote in their dialogue journals about what goods they would produce if they were an entrepreneur. They also had to discuss the resources that they would use. At the end of the week, I look through the journals and add comments or suggestions. I would like to integrate the idea of dialogue journals into blogging.  I will post the journal topics on the blog, and the students can use our classroom computers during center time to add their responses. I will review the blog to add my own comments to their responses, just as I did with the dialogue journals. As Kathy Martin demonstrated in Spotlight on Technology: Blogging in the Classroom, I will provide the students with a rubric explaining what is expected from their journal responses (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). Students need to be taught the proper ways to communicate in blogs so that they will post appropriate responses. I would also like the blog to be a place where students can access from home so that they can view their peers' writing and add praise or suggestions as they would like. This would help parents to stay informed of what I am teaching and see their child's work. I hope that blogging will be successful in my classroom!

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program 6. Spotlight on Technology: Blogging in the Classroom [Motion picture]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author.

Making life changing decisions...

I could not be happier to finally be pursuing a higher degree. My husband decided to go back to school online, which made me think about how I could also go back to school to learn new ways of teaching my students. I chose to attend Walden University to earn a Master's degree in Integrating Technology in the Classroom. My goal is to continue on to get a Specialist's degree in Technology. Now in my third course at Walden, I am finally in a class where I can learn how to include technology into my classroom every day. I hope you can learn as much from me through my blog as I hope to learn in this class!

http://www.waldenu.edu/