Web-Based Course Management System Presentation

Here is a presentation on the benefits of using a CMS (click on the the title or http://voicethread.com/share/1540559/).

Final Reflection on Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology

As this course draws to a close, I have learned many new things that I can immediately begin implementing. Through the use of our learning community group, I have learned about many new links for resources and ideas for differentiating in my classroom. I have saved all of these links in a folder in my favorites so that I can go back to them. Many of the links have some great ideas which I have already started using. I have began implementing some of the ideas that I found within the links relating to using technology. I have a laptop for every student in my classroom, which allows me to plan using them on a regular basis. We work on many projects and collaborate within the classroom. The links provided me with new ideas of projects and how to better incorporate differentiation. The next project that we are going to begin is going to be differentiated by process and product. For example, the students are going to have an assigned part in the project, therefore they are going to be working on different assignments, then they will come together to create a "whole" project with all of their parts.

Final GAME Plan Post

The GAME Plan proved to be very beneficial to me as I began preparing for the school year. I focused my GAME Plan on finding websites that had WebQuests or another form of lesson supplement. I also focused on coming up with a plagiarism policy for my 5th graders. The game plan has really helped improve my planning for the beginning of the school year. I feel that the WebQuests I found are going to be great as we begin our curriculum. The plagiarism policy I have developed is going to help my students learn how to correctly use sources in their writing and work.

The GAME Plan has also shown me how to implement a positive goal setting plan for my students. It has shown me the steps I should take to help prepare my students for setting and achieving their goals.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

The GAME Plan could be used to help students self-monitor their own learning. Students could set goals for things they want to accomplish throughout the school year. We could set both short term and long term goals. Then, the students could write an action plan to describe how they are going to achieve their goals. Students would then begin implementing their action plan, and when the time arises, I could model for the students how to revise their GAME Plan as needed. I think that the GAME Plan would be very beneficial in the classroom.

Revising My GAME Plan

As I have been working on my GAME Plan, I have come rather far in finding the information that I need for plagiarism and lessons that will be beneficial for my students. I am not yet ready to be revising my GAME Plan because I have not been able to actively use my findings. I want time to be able to use the lessons that I found for my students, and I want time to begin implementing my new plagiarism policy. Once I begin implementing these ideas, I will know what steps need to be taken to revise my plan so that it will work better.

Evaluation of GAME Plan

The actions I have taken in my GAME plan have been very beneficial. The research I have done and questions I have asked of colleagues has helped me to begin writing my plagiarism policy. I feel that what I have found is going to be beneficial to both my students and myself in the upcoming school year. I have also found many WebQuests and other lessons that will correlate with our curriculum and help the students to further their understanding.

One of the things that I have learned is that it is important to teach my 5th graders about plagiarism from the very beginning of the school year. Over the past couple of years, I have waited until about half-way through the school year to teach plagiarism, but I have found that it will be more beneficial to teach it at the very beginning of the year. It will help the students then throughout the year.

I am still trying to balance the lessons I find. There are so many great lessons and WebQuests that correlate with our curriculum, but I need to balance them and spread them out among each of the content areas so their is a mix of learning going on.

So far, my plan is still fitting my current needs, so I not need to adjust anything yet.

Monitoring my GAME Plan

I have been able to find valuable information in order to help my carry out my GAME plan. The Internet has helped provide me with information about plagiarism, and I have found websites that have helped me with finding WebQuests and other projects for the students. I have found many great things for science/health and have now found some for social studies. I am currently working on finding projects for math and communication arts. As of now, I do not need to modify my GAME plan, as I have not run into any issues or concerns yet. I have not had any new questions arise, other than just wanting ideas about how to teach plagiarism. I am still finding this to be my hardest part.

Carrying out my GAME Plan

In order to carry out my action plan, I am going to need a few resources. First, I am going to need a computer with internet access. I will need to be able to research online different ideas that other people have created. I am also going to be talking to my colleagues to find ideas that they have developed. Using both the internet and my colleagues, I should be able to find enough information to develop real-world activities and develop a plagiarism policy.

I have already found a few WebQuests that use real-world ideas and problem solving. The WebQuests I have found so far all relate to science/health. I still need to research some ideas for math, social studies, and communication arts. I have also started researching how to teach plagiarism to elementary students, specifically fifth graders. This will help me to get started on my plagiarism policy.

Personal GAME Plan

On the International Society for Technology in Education (www.iste.org), I researched the NET standards for teaching technology. As I researched the standards, I found a couple of indicators that I feel I could use more work on. The two indicators are:

*Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity: engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.

*Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility: advocate, model and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright.

I am going to set goals in order to strengthen my understanding and ability in these indicators. My first goal is to create more authentic learning activities that allow for real-world application and problem solving. My second goal is to create a plagiarism policy to help better teach students about plagiarism.

In order to achieve these goals, I am going to research different WebQuests and lesson plans that allow for real-world application and problem solving. I will then plan these lessons in order to correlate with the content areas that I teach. I also plan to research plagiarism policies and ask colleagues about their plagiarism policies. I will then create and implement a plagiarism policy for my students.

I will monitor my progress for these goals by setting a timeline. I plan to complete my research for both goals before the first day of school. This will allow me to immediately begin teaching using enriching lessons and allow me to implement a plagiarism policy.

I will evaluate my learning by determining how effect my teaching is and the plagiarism policy that I implement. I will reflect after lessons and ask for student input. I will also continue to research effective lessons and revise my plagiarism policy as needed.

Bridging Learning Theories Reflection

As this course comes to a close, I am reflecting back upon my original personal theory of learning styles. At the beginning of the course, I had an idea of what I wanted my teaching style to be like so that my students could learn in the best way possible. Through the information I have learned in this course, I have been able to keep my personal theory, but have refined it. I have always wanted students to learn in a cooperative manner, and through the knowledge I have gained, I have been able to apply more techniques to help my students learn in this way. Cooperative learning is a way of working together to achieve an end product or artifact. Cooperative learning falls under the constructionist learning theory. I have found that this learning theory best fits my thoughts and views towards teaching.

Two technology tools I would like to begin using with my students are Kidspiration and Excel. Throughout this course, I was able to learn how to use Webspiration, which is similar to a program we have available at school called Kidspriation. I think it will be a great way for students to make concept maps to help them learn. Also, I have always thought Excel was more on the difficult side to use, but as I become more used to working with technology, I have found that it can be kid friendly, especially when making different types of graphs.

Two long term goals I have for my teaching are to continue integrating technology in a meaningful manner and to continue with professional development to learn new ways of integrating technology. In order to achieve these goals, I plan to attend an upcoming conference related to technology. I also plan to continue taking courses through Walden and continue my eMINTS training. Both of these are providing me with great ways to integrate technology into my classroom.

Social Learning

This week, we have been focusing on social learning and how to looks in the classroom. I think that social learning, such as collaboration activities within the classroom, are important to incorporate. Students need to see the importance of working together and communicating in a meaningful way. Within my own classroom, I have created many different activities that have allowed my students to interact in different ways in social ways. Some of these activities have been creating presentations and projects, while other activities have been blogging and creating VoiceThreads. In all of these situations, students are given the opportunity to socially interact, whether it is in person or online. Both ways teach students ways to effectively communicate ideas and thoughts with one another.

My VoiceThread discusses an issue my grade level is having with math computation. Here is the link: http://gis.ed.voicethread.com/#u561497.b889030.i4738224

Constructivism in Practice

Constructivist theories allow for learners to lead their own learning through the use of inquiry-based lessons. Inquiry-based lessons are designed for the learner take their learning in a direction that they choose. It typically has an end result that allows the teacher to show what the student has learned throughout the project. The end result could be a number of things, such as a project in Publisher, an Excel spreadsheet, a Word document, a PowerPoint presentation, a blog, a podcast, a wiki, etc. There are many ways for students to show their learning.

I feel that technology lends itself well to a constructivist approach to teaching. Students have information at their fingertips and are able to take their learning where they wish to. Students are able to use the Internet to research information and concepts that they wish to learn more about.

One example of teaching using the constructivist approach that is introduced in Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, is generating and testing hypotheses. This can be applied easily to the theory, as it allows students to develop a problem and find a solution to their problem. They have to find the information and a way to solve their problem, which is an example of inquiry-based learning.

Cognitivism in Practice

The book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, discusses the idea of using cues, questions, advance organizers, summarizing, and note-taking as ways to assist students in learning. The book gives great examples of how to use different computer software programs to help teach and produce these different ideas. For example, students could make a graphic organizer using Inspiration to help them organize their ideas. These ideas all represent the cognitive learning theories, which suggest that students are stimulated with different senses and given ways to help move information from short-term memory into long-term memory, as Dr. Orey suggests in his video, Cognitive Learning Theories. By giving students these different ideas, we are giving them tools that they can use throughout life to help them learn and retain information in meaningful ways.

Behaviorism in Practice

Behaviorism is said to be a theory that is not widely used in schools today; however, many of the practices found within schools can be contributed to behaviorist theories. In the book, Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, there are a few ideas that are discussed that represent behaviorist theories.

One of the classroom ideas that is represented deals with reinforcing effort (p.155). Behaviorist theories discuss reinforcement of positive behaviors. This idea goes right along with that theory, as it discusses having students keep a spreadsheet of their effort on a regular basis. Many students do not realize the important of putting forth effort, which is why it suggests having them track their own effort. The book suggests making a template in a spreadsheet software. This is a great way for students to visually track their effort, as spreadsheet software programs allow people to easily turn the information into graphs.

Another example of classroom ideas that represent behaviorist theories is homework (p. 187). When many teachers assign homework, they assign it as more of a drill and practice type of assignment. This is a behaviorist view, as well. In order to make homework more meaningful, it is suggested that the teacher incorporate more uses of technology (and if technology is not available, some of it can be done without). For example, when doing drill and practice, students could practice making a spreadsheet showing how many they got correct and how long it took them to complete the assignment (p.188). With technology, students can also complete homework in a manner that allows them to collaborate with one another. Through email, blogs, or wikis, students could collaborate from home to complete a homework assignment or a project.