Monitoring the GAME Plan

After this week’s experiences in the classroom and reviewing the goals I established last week, I have to conclude that the goals I set are on hold for a little while. But only until next semester! Before I can implement goals with Voicethread or Photostory, I must first learn as much as I can about speech recognition programs so that one student does not get left behind. So, in order to reach the original goals in my game plan, I have to set another goal and it has to take precedence.

Voice recognition is a possibility. I will start with the voice recognition program that is installed in the OS system of our school computers. This may not be sufficient, but we will try. The student I am working with does have speech issues. If the installed program on MS Word does not work around her speech issues, we may have to move to an outside program. I have asked her current Special Education teacher to begin her training on a computer in that room. We have yet to ask her speech therapist to help us. That will be the next step.

I need to research the speech recognition programs available on the open market. I am having trouble finding outside source reviews of different programs. Every thing so far has been commercial reviews stating how good each program is… Can anyone out there help me find an independent site? Does any one out there have personal experience with more than one voice recognition program that they would be willing to share?

Other options for this student are dictation to someone who will read her story for her, or use the text to voice program available through MSWord and the OS. The problem with text to voice is that she would have to dictate to someone as grammar and spelling issues would interfere with translation from text to voice, in much the same way that voice recognition training may not help her feel successful. I am trying to avoid the dictation process because I think the challenge of creating by herself will be more fulfilling than someone doing it for her. She does like to feel as independent as possible. 

Resources:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards?NETS_T_Standards_Final

GAME Plan

Dr. Peggy Etmer states that for teachers to integrate technology effectively we must have knowledge of basic technology skills, be confident when using technology, have solid beliefs that learning goes beyond knowing the facts, and be surrounded by people supporting us as we try new technologies in the classroom (Laureate, 2009). I kept that in mind as I looked at the NETS to discover my weaknesses.

After reviewing NETS for teachers, I have determined that my technology skills have improved over the last fifteen months. However, there is still room for much more improvement! Careful examination of NETS and evaluating my own weaknesses has led me to determine that my foundation in technology still has holes. The NETS that I have chosen to work on first is standard two: Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments. I love to design effective lessons... Of the four objectives in this standard, I am weakest with b and c. Both objectives deal with creating technology enriched environments and individualized learning (NETS). Improving these two areas will help create self-directed learners who think creatively, are more involved in the content, and increase their awareness of how technology will become an integral part of their futures (Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P., 2010).

As a teacher, I have to do some intricate planning to help me reach my full potential, even before I can help my students reach theirs. Our text offers a plan to follow to help me. The GAME plan (Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P., 2010). So, with creating technology enriched environments in mind and expanding my differentiated instruction to provide students with more learning opportunities, I need to begin by setting goals for myself.

Goals:
I want to be able to use more podcasts and voicethreads in my class.

To prepare myself for the use of podcasts and voicethreads, I need more practice. I need to choose a lesson and create a podcast and a voicethread to make myself more comfortable with the technology. I also need to appeal to our technology department and convince them that these two skills are necessary for the futures of our students so that they will let me access the software online and download it. This could be identified as my biggest obstacle.

I will know that I have been successful when I feel comfortable bringing this technology into the classroom. I will know I have been successful when I can upload my own documents to the World Wide Web without any glitches. I will know I have been successful when the IT people install the software on my class computers.

Action:
I need information and videos on how to create a podcast and a voicethread. It would be best if this information was interactive.

The voicethread site already has a self-explanatory tutorial on how to create a voicethread. It can be found at: http://voicethread.com?#home. In addition, several tutorials for podcasting can be found on www.youtube.com.

Any additional resources needed can be researched and evaluated online. Computer labs will have to be reserved when I am ready to implement in the classroom.

For me to learn this information, I will have to take a hands on approach, along with reading and highlighting key points. In addition, if I get stuck with a piece of information I cannot figure out on my own, I have personal resources in the form of IT people and classmates on which I can rely.

Monitor:
Monitoring my progress will happen on http://delicious.com. as I bookmark the sites that prove to be most helpful. The drawback to this monitoring system is that it cannot be accessed at work.

Evaluate and extend:
This will occur at a later date.


Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

http://www.iste.org/Content?NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards?NETS_T_Standards_Final

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program three. Enriching content area learning experiences wit technology, part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.

New Literacies in the Classroom

This week's article, "Teaching Two Literacies," by Joanne Rooney would have been just as effective as an introduction to our class as it was a conclusion to our class. It might have been more helpful for me to have this information in the beginning than at t he end; the article provides a sense of focus for teaching students to become literate - no matter what the content is. What I enjoyed most about the article, and this class, is the focus on teaching students literacy skills, rather than using technology to create engaging lessons - just because it is available.
As I look back over the last eight weeks, the most striking revelation that I had involves how much sooner our students are expected to learn higher level literacy skills. I remember not being exposed to the concept of propaganda and biases until high school. We cannot afford to wait that long today! Yet, many of the Language Arts teachers I know only briefly touch on propaganda. If we would strengthen the concepts of propaganda at a much younger age, K-2 even, through exposure to cereal advertisements, then noticing biases, while not necessarily second nature, would be less difficult for my students. Another surprise for me was to discover that I am more technologically literate than my students. For most teachers my age and having never even seen a computer until the late 1980's, I expected it to be the other way around. Many teachers my age are stereotyped into the computer illiterate group; I need to avid stereotyping my students as being computer literate; just because technology is their future doesn't mean they have the financial means or educational inclination to embrace technology and the New Literacies.
What I enjoyed the most about this class was that literacy skills were more important than the technology being used. Every teacher in my district has a SmartBoard in his or her room; so much is possible on one. Yet, in many rooms, it is utilized as a glorified worksheet with one student at the board demonstrating his or her recall skills. "Oh, but I'm using the technology," is what I hear teachers saying... The philosophy of literacy first and technology second is what I intend to take to my classroom. Having two different processes to teach my students, QUEST and REAL, provides an avenue for scaffolding student learning with strong, relevant strategies that will serve them outside of my classroom. I am looking forward to exploring Boolean search strategies with my students; I will not longer assume they know as much, or more, than me just because this is supposed to be their world.
One goal that I need to start looking into is how to ask relevant question. This could be as simple as requesting a mentor from my district, if possible. Often the mentors are assigned to "new" teachers. I feel this is valuable, but if the district wants to develop better staff, then these mentors should not be limited to only the new teachers. Even though I have been teaching for 16 years, I can still recognize the need for improvement. A mentor would be a good choice for helping me develop better questioning skills and passing these skills onto my students. Guess it is time to go talk to my principal ans see what she says...

Personal Theory of Learning Reflection:

When I think back on my personal theory of learning, I realize that it is a blend of all the different theories. I do feel that I need less behaviorism; I need to find a quick way to cover rules and procedures so that I will have more time to move toward the social learning theory. I am weakest on each end of the learning continuum. A blending of theories is still the best way to meet the needs of all my students as they come to me at varying levels and abilities.

The most immediate change that I am going to make is to recreate the effort rubric on page 157 of our text (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007). It will be stored in a central server so that each student will have access. I will ask them to resave it onto their individual servers. As we work with this document, they will save it back to the central server into a folder that I create for each of them. Each week, they will re-evaluate themselves and save it by the date. After the second week, we will start discussing how to transfer this information into a chart or bar graph so they can view their progress (or lack of). I expect to have charts completed and printed in time for parent teacher conferences in October.

The second change I make is for me because if I improve my planning, then the students will improve their learning. I intend to make use of the four planning questions on page 10. While my lessons are long and detailed well enough that anyone can walk into my room and take over (district requirement), I feel that detailing my strategies will create more learning opportunities for my students (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007).

The long-term goal that I am setting for myself is to bring more opportunities for social learning into my classroom using voice thread and virtual tours. After time spent exploring different virtual tours, I would like my ELL students to create a virtual tour of their own. I want them to see what they have to offer to the world through their own culture.

This course has reinforced many of the theories and strategies that I already use in my room. However, it also made me painfully aware of the opportunities to use technology of which I am not taking advantage.

Resources:

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

Voice thread issues

Is anyone having trouble leaving comments on their own voice thread the second time around? I left a voice comment for Travis, but there is no sound when I access the thread. There was plenty of sound when it played back the first time I recorded it. After I hit save and replayed the thread, it was still working. When I accessed it again a couple hours later, my comment to Travis on slide 2 would not play. What am I missing?

Another Voice Thread

This voice thread comes from the tech teacher at the same junior high where I teach. We are going through this Master's Program together. I think it is amazing that she chose the same problem that I did, but took a different approach to it. Her thread is much more creative. Keep in mind, she is the tech teacher, and is able to teach an online class, but still cannot do many of the collaborative things that we should be doing. All because of bandwidth issues...

Won't you be my neighbor?

“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor…” Do you think that Mr. Rogers envisioned just how big the neighborhood would be when he wrote the lyrics to Won’t You be My Neighbor? back in 1967? Yet, his words still ring true.

It begins in the classroom. We strive to create a learning environment that is safe enough for even the most unwilling student to feel welcome and part of a group. It expands as we create lessons that use technology to enable our students to communicate with a classroom across town. It grows as we link our students to different cultures within our country. It explodes as we leap across rivers, mountain ranges, and oceans to meet people from countries we may never physically visit. This is learning; this is being connected and networked to the world. This is our students’ future.

However, their future will start with Behaviorism. After a foundation is laid with Behaviorism, we, as teachers, will expose them to Cognitivism, Constructionism and a new theory, Social Learning. To be successful, our students must learn to work together. To see similarities and differences as a good thing. One way to reach this goal is through the use of cooperative learning. Cooperative learning can lay the foundation for a strong neighborhood in the classroom. Once students are working together in the classroom, teachers can open additional communities for students to explore. As barriers break down, learning increases.

I cannot learn without my neighbors. “Won’t you be my neighbor?”


Resources:

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

Rogers, Fred M. Won’t you be my neighbor? Lyrics. 1967. Retrieved from: http://pbskids.org/rogers/songlist/song1_ra.html 2009.