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.
First off, I feel that your goals are very important to a successful classroom. Authentic instruction seems to be easily pushed to the side due to the overwhelming amount of content we have to teach. However, using this method of instruction to solve real world problems all while covering that needed content will be more beneficial for you and your students in the end. I too plan to incorporate more real-world bases problems that students can relate to. As a math teacher, I constantly get asked when will we EVER use this again? Using lessons based on real-world, real-life problems the lesson will answer the question for me.
ReplyDeleteWebQuests would be a wonderful tool to use with students. It seems that most students enjoy anything that allows them to use technology. Plagiarism seems to be an issue no matter what school you are in. Some school may have their policy included as part of their school’s website. By clearly teaching students what it means to plagiarism is and instilling a policy with consequences is crucial to the overall effectiveness.
Jacqueline,
ReplyDeleteI like the goals you have set for yourself. I also need to focus more on real world application and something that I plan on doing is try to find professionals working in the field to give presentations for the class. There are also videos available for free that you can download that show to the students how they can apply the knowledge they are gaining in the real world. Last year I had one of my friends who is a meteorologist come in to speak to my class and afterwards it seemed like suddenly the water cycle became very cool. It is difficult to find professionals who will take the time to do this, but it is worth the time and effort creating the contacts for your students.
Sarah
Jacqueline,
ReplyDeletePlagiarism is a tough subject. I recently (after school was out) received email from a parent questioning my use of the word on a report card. I was able to give 100% evidence of the plagiarism and show how it was a copy and paste of a website, without changing one word, so I was safe. It is tough, though and I am glad I did my end of the research before calling it out. My principal even requested I call her at home regarding the "mess".