Reflection on the G-A-M-E Plan

I must say that throughout this course I have gained a wealth of knowledge regarding the implementation of technology in various content areas. I have enjoyed reading about what my colleagues who teach other subjects and grade levels have done to implement technology in their classrooms. I also feel that I have grown professionally through the development and implementation of my personal G-A-M-E Plan.

To recap, the goals I have identified for my G-A-M-E plan are as follows:

1. To increase my collaboration time with a colleague outside of my PLC. 2. To engage in collaborative conversations with students (both seniors and fifth graders) and other teachers to facilitate increase proficiency in my students' writing skills. As a side note, I will strive to ensure that the comments I leave for students are constructive in nature. I will avoid statements such as "Nice job" or "Good Work". My feedback should be specific (Goemaat, 2015).

I have learned that when collaborating with a colleague who is outside of your building, communication is very important. There were many times in the past 6 weeks that things had come up that prevented the senior writing teacher and I to collaborate face to face. Whether it was changes in her schedule, sickness, field trips, etc. It just seemed that it was hard to find a time to talk. We had to get creative with our time and found that using email and even an occasional phone call over lunch was enough just to touch base with each other. Even though this class is ending, this collaborative partnership will not. We are planning to continue just as we are now through at least this school year. We will reevaluate in the spring to see if there is benefit for all stakeholders to continue collaborative writing partnerships. 

My second goal was to engage in collaborative conversations with both my fifth graders and their senior partners. I must say, this is probably an area that I have not done as well in. I have not been nearly as consistent as I had hoped and planned for. Many time, I would meet with my own students while they were writing and gave them verbal feedback, when I did that, I failed to go back online and give feedback within the document itself. I think that is important, because I could also collaborate with the senior as well. This is something that I will have to address. I may not have to adjust my plan, but I do need to adjust my practice. A possible way to do that could be to have a no talking writing period. So, if they need help on their writing, they should send me a message asking me to get on their doc. This might help me to increase my online presence and also allow students to experience more of this type of feedback. 

I had hoped to find some support from other educators by posting about collaborative writing partnerships on a discussion board, but found that those who responded had never done anything like it before and were asking me questions. I was happy to oblige and we, of course, still had thought provoking conversations. I was also disappointed in the book that I had found and ordered for giving productive feedback. It really wasn't what I thought it was going to be, and found it did not give me the tools and/or resources I had hoped for. Again, I don't believe I need to adjust my plan or goals because of this roadblock, I just need to keep searching and eliciting suggestions and guidance from other colleagues. 

Because my plan is based around social networking, I believe that I have a good grasp on how to implement that into my teaching. Problem Based Learning and Digital Storytelling are also two things that I am looking to incorporate more as the year goes on. I would really like to look at using them specifically in Science and Social Studies. They could both make for great final projects in an independent study that students work on over an extended period of time. As I have stated before, I work with some amazing educators in my PLC and I plan to bring some of these ideas to the table to see how they can best be utilized and monitored to create the richest, most engaging environment for our students.

References

Goemaat, A. (2015, September 9). Mrs. G's G-A-M-E Plan. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://frivolousreflect.blogspot.com

G-A-M-E Plan In Progress

Recap of my goals:
1. To increase my collaboration time with a colleague outside of my PLC. 2. To engage in collaborative conversations with students (both seniors and fifth graders) and other teachers to facilitate increase proficiency in my students' writing skills. As a side note, I will strive to ensure that the comments I leave for students are constructive in nature. I will avoid statements such as "Nice job" or "Good Work". My feedback should be specific (Goemaat, 2015).

I have met with my colleague already this week to discuss our students' progress. We have had some great conversation and she shared that her students are really loving helping out my fifth graders! I have yet to begin my collaborative conversations with the students but I plan on beginning that in the next few days. I am just fearful that if I begin commenting on the student's work before their seniors do, the seniors might get too relaxed in their responsibilities. So, I'm trying to figure that part out.

As far as resources, I have not heard anything on my post in the ProTeacher Community. I am fearful that I may have done something incorrectly when I submitted it, so I may have to check on that. I am still trying to track down the book I had mentioned. I am curious to know if anyone knows of any good blogs out there about collaborative partnerships between grade levels? I would also like to find some more information about giving good, quality feedback to students. If anyone has any resources they'd like to share, please let me know!!

So far, I think my plan is going well and I am really excited to continue. I don't foresee myself having to make any changes, but there maybe some that arise at a later date. 

References

Goemaat, A. (2015, September 9). Mrs. G's G-A-M-E Plan. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://frivolousreflect.blogspot.com

Baby Steps in the G-A-M-E...

To recap, the goals I have identified for my G-A-M-E plan are as follows:

1. To increase my collaboration time with a colleague outside of my PLC. 2. To engage in collaborative conversations with students (both seniors and fifth graders) and other teachers to facilitate increase proficiency in my students' writing skills. As a side note, I will strive to ensure that the comments I leave for students are constructive in nature. I will avoid statements such as "Nice job" or "Good Work". My feedback should be specific (Goemaat, 2015).

I have begun the process of engaging in collaboration time with the Senior English teacher. We have met one time and have set up a time to meet on a bi-weekly basis. We will also correspond through email when necessary.

The students have only begun their collaborative partnerships with the senior writers this week, so not much has been done by myself. I am waiting for the students to begin conversations before I get involved. 

I have become a member of the ProTeacher Community and plan to post a discussion forum regarding collaborative partnerships between high school and elementary students to gather feedback from other educators who have "gone before me". I am eager to read about what others have done and possibly avoid pitfalls that others have struggled with. 

Another resource that I plan on obtaining is the book 100 Trait-specific Comments: A Quick Guide for Giving Constructive Feedback on Student Writing by Ruth Culhum. I hope to use this book as a resources for honing in my skills for giving useful, specific feedback to my students in regards to their writing. 

References

Goemaat, A. (2015, September 9). Mrs. G's G-A-M-E Plan. [Blog Post]. Retrieved from http://frivolousreflect.blogspot.com

Mrs. G's G-A-M-E Plan

Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer have created a tremendous acronym to help guide self-directed learning (2009). The GAME plan is such a great way to break down the steps needed to ensure that learning is taking place. It has really caused me to stop and think about what I am doing and why I'm doing it. I am excited to get this plan started and see where it takes my own learning as well as the learning of my students!

The two ISTE Standards that I would like to focus on for my GAME Plan are Standard 1d, Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments, and Standard 3b, Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation (ISTE, 2008). 
Both of these standards, I hope to strengthen through a project I have started with the high school English teacher. We have set up a collaborative partnership between my fifth graders and her senior writing students. 

Goals

1. To increase my collaboration time with a colleague outside of my PLC. 2. To engage in collaborative conversations with students (both seniors and fifth graders) and other teachers to facilitate increase proficiency in my students' writing skills. As a side note, I will strive to ensure that the comments I leave for students are constructive in nature. I will avoid statements such as "Nice job" or "Good Work". My feedback should be specific.

Actions

In order to achieve these goals, I have set up collaborative time with the senior English teacher to meet on a weekly basis to discuss the projects that are going on between our students. We have set up expectations that our students will respond to each other concerning the weekly project on at least two separate occasions. Because I have 19 students to review, I will respond to each partnership at least once throughout the week.

Monitor

I will keep a weekly log of my collaborative time with the senior English teacher to keep record of what has been discussed and to also keep expectations clear. This will be done on a google doc that will be shared between the both of us so we both have total access. I will also set up a feedback schedule to keep myself on track with collaborating with partnerships. I will make it a point to review 5 partnerships collaborations per day, with one day per week being left open if there was a group that needed to be checked in on again. 

Evaluate & Extend

I will evaluate my progress by reviewing my logs and feedback schedules to determine if I have been consistently working toward the goal. I will also seek out other professionals who have used collaborative partnerships with students, and glean from their experiences. I hope that by researching collaborative partnerships throughout this process, I will be able to bring some ideas to the table that could enrich the experiences for myself, my collaborative partner, and the students.  

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.


ISTE Standards - Teachers. (2008). Retrieved September 9, 2015, from https://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-T_PDF.pdf 

Bridging Theory, Instruction, and Technology - A Reflection

Our first application paper for this class was to write about our theory of learning. How did we feel students learn the best? I expressed my belief that students learn the best by playing an active role in their learning (Goemaat, 2015). Throughout this course I have come to believe this even more so than before.
I had written about how technology could be integrated in to a classroom to support the constructivist learning theory (2015). Now, more than ever, I feel that it is imperative for teachers to find a way for students to use technology as often as possible. Our society is driven by technology. As teacher, we must provide opportunities for students to explore and use technology. I believe we must look at our current curricular resources and change or alter their expectations in order to align with standards for 21st Century learners. For example, if your language arts curriculum guides students to use a dictionary or thesaurus, teach them to use the online versions. The likelihood that they will ever use a physical dictionary is slim. The same is true in a math class. What is the likelihood that they will ever physically create a bar or line graph to report data? It would be more applicable to teach them to use a program to input the data and then customize the graphs.
This brings me to the first of the two goals I am setting for myself. We are looking to upgrade our math curriculum to the next version of Everyday Math. I have not had a chance to explore this resource, but having experience with the current version, I know there are ways that instruction and application can be changed to be more technology-rich. There are many times in which students should be using technology to complete tasks, but instead are using pencil and paper and working in their math journals. Over the summer, I would like to map out the first quarter's lessons and make any changes in instruction or student application to allow students to use technology in ways that will be applicable as they move forward in their education. Depending upon how involved I get in the first quarter, I will continue to move through the curriculum until I have identified as many ways as possible for my students to be using technology in mathematics. A roadblock that I can foresee is that we are not one-to-one. This could present difficulties in getting students through practice and application. However, it will open the door to collaborative learning. I will just need to get creative on how I will assess students.
The second goal I have for myself is something I mentioned in this week's discussion post. I would love to use a tool such as VoiceThread to flip my classroom in small ways. I would like to take our research and inquiry projects for Language Arts and create VoiceThreads to introduce them to my students, rather than taking class time. I would also like to explore the possibility of using VoiceThread to do mini lessons that I could link to my class website for parents and students to use at home. By using VoiceThread, this would also allow students or parents to make comments or ask questions. I am hoping to implement this gradually throughout the year next school year.
In conclusion, I still believe that students learn the best by doing. As our society changes, so must our teaching. We have to look at what will make our students the most successful in society. That means that we must be willing to look at what and how we teach in order to create the best possible active learning opportunities for our students.

Resources

Goemaat, A. (2015). Learning Theory. Unpublished Manuscript, Walden University.

Cooperative Learning, Technology, and the Classroom

Johnson, Johnson, & Holubec (1986) defined cooperative learning as "students working together to attain group goals that cannot be obtained by working alone or competitively" (Johnson, et al, 1986 as cited in Orey, 2001). Cooperative learning is an instructional strategy that can be very beneficial when used in conjunction with the ideas presented by Vygotsky's ZPD (Zone of Proximal Development) and MKO (More Knowledgeable Other) (Laureate Edu, Inc., n.d.).
Dr. Orey describes a child's zone of proximal development as that space where learning happens. It falls just below what is beyond their comprehension/abilities, and just above what they already know and can do. This is where the social piece comes into play. The MKO or more knowledgeable other is the person or tool that allows the student to make meaning and build knowledge with new information (Laureate Edu., Inc., n.d.).
There are two collaborative tools that I'd like to explore this week. One is something that I am familiar with, as are my students. The other is one that I have used, but may consider using in a different way.
The first tool that is one I use almost daily in my classroom is KidBlogs. Students love this tool and it is a great choice for collaborative or cooperative writing. The difference between collaborative and cooperative is that collaborative activities engage students in producing a product or solving a problem. Cooperative is when students engage in work together in the same way, but they are also held accountable for individual aspects as well (Orey, 2001). Students use this as more of a cooperative tool that collaborative. They write their own entries, but then students can go in and comment on their peers blog. They use the acronym NOW as a reminder of how to leave feedback. N stands for "I noticed...". Students may comment on use of colorful words, figurative language, or any number of aspects of their peer's writing. O is "offer positive feedback". This is where they say something that they liked about the writing. W is "I wonder...". Students give constructive feedback such as, "I wonder if you could help me visualize your setting by adding more sensory details?" I have found that by giving this format, it allows students the direction they need to help assist each other in becoming better writers.
The second tool that my class uses regularly, but I'd like to explore some ways to use it differently to expand our social connections, is Google Docs. I think it would be really fun to collaborate with a classroom in another state or country to create a report or presentation on the same topic. I'm not entirely sure how I could make this work, but it would be fun to try!
We live in a collaborative society, so it is important that we allow students to collaborate together and learn from and with each other.

Resources

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Social learning theories [Video file]. Retrieved from  https://class.waldenu.edu

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

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

My VoiceThread: http://voicethread.com/share/6686718/

Image Sources:

www.amazon.com

http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/environment

http://www.leadershipinstitutekc.com/?page_id=137

http://www.cwu.edu/~woodmanb/resourcepage.html

http://healthyhempoil.com/cannabidiol-research/

www.poweryoupractice.com

www.rodneyellis.com

Constructionism, Technology, and the Classroom

This week we took a look at the constructionist learning theory which suggests that the best learning happens when learners are engaged in the construction of a physical artifact that can be shared with others (Orey, 2001). This artifact can be anything from a written or typed paper to model of the solar system.

In looking at the instructional strategy of "generating and testing hypotheses" as presented in chapter nine of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, it is evident that constructionism is a tremendously valid theory to support this strategy (Pitler, Hubbell, & Kuhn, 2012). The first thing that came to my mind when I read this chapter, was the strategy that we use for science. SWH or Science Writing Heuristic approach engages students to act and think more like scientists. The SWH approach was actually developed in 1998 at the University of Iowa, a mere hour and twenty minutes from my front door. Here is a quick video introduction to the SWH approach.

I do not teach science, but I could in the future. I am working with the other fifth grade teacher who has had this training to learn more about how to conduct the claims and evidence. Students make their claims about a certain topic, and then find evidence to support their claims. What may happen is the assimilation and accomodation that Dr. Orey discussed in the media segment about the mechanisms for learning in the constructionist theory. Students may find that the schema that they posses is supported by their research, or they may find that their schema must be altered based upon what they have discovered.
Currently, our science teacher has students do their claims and evidence using large poster paper and their science notebooks. It would be very easy to use organizing and brainstorming software that was discussed in the text (Pitler, et al., 2012). For example, the organizers they mentioned, kidspiration or inspiration could be a great tool to organize their research. They could also use spiderscribe.net, which is the tool I used last week for my concept map, and I loved it.
In summary, there are so many great ways to allow students to really take charge of their own learning. By using the constructionist theory as well as an approach like generating and testing hypothesis, students really get a chance to pull in and make connections like never before. Technology offers those tools that will allow students to grow in their knowledge, understanding, and creativity like never before.

Resources

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Constructionist and constructivist learning theories [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom instruction that works (2^nd ed.). Alexandria, VA: ASCD. 

University of Iowa College of Education. (2014, May 6). The Science Writing Heuristic Approach [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vaA-Nt_Ahc.

* For more information on SWH visit http://www.education.uiowa.edu/projects/science-writing-heuristic