GAME for Increasing Student Use of Technology in the Classroom

Dr. Peggy Etrmer 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. I continue to keep that in mind as I evaluate how to best help my students improve their technology skills.

Where to start? I know people are tired of hearing me say that my students don’t have any background in technology and that I am the digital native in the classroom. In this day and age, that is difficult for people to believe when they look at how long I have already been in the classroom and the junior high students that I teach. How can this be true? It is true because of the poverty level of the county in which I teach. It is true because the remedial nature of my classes tends to put my students at a severe disadvantage on the poverty scale. All I can do is expose them to as much technology as I can throughout the semester they are with me. At least that is what I used to think. Exposure isn’t enough. The exposure to technology must become more purposeful, more deliberate, more planned. Here it comes! The GAME plan for my students (Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P., 2010)! The next decision must be am I going to set their goals, knowing this may not be the best choice or am I going to let the students set their own goals through discussion of NETS-S (http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf )? Probably both. I will set student goals based on what I intend to make sure they master but I will also let students develop their own GAME plans, knowing in advance they will choose goals based on what will be “fun.” The hidden benefit here is that more standards will be covered!

Goals
My students are not goal setters; setting goals will be difficult for them. I am not sure that I should jump in right away with the technology. Maybe the first goal should be to complete the assignments and turn them in. Once they have been successful doing that, I can move them to the technology goals. I see my first goal for my students being strand two: Communication and Collaboration. Then I would choose strand five: Digital Citizenship because it is so closely related to writing and documenting resources. They will get this strand in so many different ways that it should be an easy goal for them to achieve. What I predict my students will set as their goals is strand one: creativity and Innovation.

Action
How am I going to do this? Start small and take baby steps. I will start with setting an easily attainable goal for them and have them track their progress toward it. By gradually increasing their involvement, I hope to have them setting their own goals within a month. That will leave time during the rest of the semester for us to work together on the technology goals.

Monitor
By starting small, monitoring will be easy. It will be a simple yes/no; did I get all my work turned in? Then I will add a reflection piece by asking students to indicate how they felt about accomplishing the goal. As we set new goals, this checklist will expand. By the time we reach the technology goals, students will be familiar with the GAME process and actively participating in planning their next goal.

Evaluate and Extend
This part of GAME will be the hardest part, for me and my students. We will do a lot of discussing what we want next. I will use this time to remind them of their successes as we look forward to tackling a larger goal.


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/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Program three. Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

Assistive Technology and Problem-solving

Assistive technology, specifically, voice recognition programs have become the goal I set my heart on. There has been no progress toward my goal this week. My doctor has me confined to my home; he said that I am not to go to work until Monday. I cannot even explore how the program works on my own computer because I have no voice! So now what? I will explore problem-based learning and how social collaboration fits into it.

The next lesson in my unit will tie into wikis. I want to create a wiki for my students to use. Since they have never been exposed to this type of learning, I will create pages based on different types of energy. From there, the students will create the content to put on those pages. That’s all I have for this week…

New Plan!

My original game plan for podcasts and Voicethread has definitely been scrapped for a new plan revolving around assistive technology. Specifically, voice recognition software. I have identified another student already enrolled in my class that would benefit from this technology. When I look at his writing and apply the AIMS (Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards) rubrics to score his work, he always does well in Ideas and Organization. Even Voice and Word Choice, when he chooses the right topic, is strong. His weakest traits are Sentence Fluency and Conventions. Especially Conventions! I have been reading student writing for sixteen years and I still have trouble deciphering his writing. Telling his story orally would enhance Sentence Fluency and definitely Conventions. I have spoken to his aide about this technology and she is supportive. Now, we just have to get it into his IEP. Our Special Education Department may not take to this, since spelling sight words correctly is one of his goals. I prefer that his creativity not be stifled by his spelling issues. After all, as he grows as a writer, his AIMS scores will improve enough that his Conventions shouldn’t hold him back. His voice recognition will begin as soon as the current project is finished. His aide will help me. We will use the software built into MS Operating systems since it will be available on every computer. Then, we will be able to determine if students have to train one computer or if, once trained, the program is applicable to whatever computer they log into since our system is networked…

Progress for next semester’s student remains slow. Rather than try the voice recognition program that is already on our computers, the Special Education department is looking at commercial software. I don’t understand why, but they do work with the student more than I do. Maybe there are issues with the text being too difficult on MS Operating systems… Maybe the commercial software allows reading levels to be set to student levels… The software they are looking at can be found on this website: http://www.wordq.com/. I can see advantages to wordq for many of my students, but if the Special Education department purchases it, I won’t be able to use it for every student. Right now, I am waiting to see what Special Education does for this student in particular. I am going to speak to the district administrator of Special Education tomorrow morning on our drive to work and offer my viewpoint about these technologies and why the district should begin exploring assistive technology as a way to support student learning. We’re moving forward again, just not at the pace I would like to see it done. Isn’t that typical for most teachers? We can’t get what we want fast enough!

Advancing the GAME plan

Looking at my GAME plan, I have to admit that there has been no advancement toward the integration of my student into next semester. She continues to come to me during CAP time, choosing my room over a longer lunch period. However, since there are other students that I am working one on one with, I am unable to get her on a computer to begin speech recognition training. I have discovered another problem to implementing speech recognition with her. Training usually involves a brief period of reading a script that allows necessary corrections to be made, much the same as setting a volume level on a microphone for a recording session. She cannot read. The Special Education teacher has been busy this week with IEP’s on her high school case load. She also has not been able to begin training a computer for this student to work with. Everything is on hold with the short week due to Thanksgiving break. Hopefully, next will prove more productive. I have begun the process of preparing my ELL students for the addition of this student into the classroom. They seem receptive enough. This has been a frustrating week; I am sure next week will be better.

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...