My GAME plan will be implemented at the beginning of the next school year. I have already begun researching different teacher blog sites to familiarize myself with the idea. Digital media is an asset to teachers who need flexibility with learning abilities. I think blogging can be altered based on the students’ learning abilities. Universal design for learning suggests teachers can remove barriers to learning by providing flexibility in terms of options for assignments (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). Their blogs can be developed recognizing their individual strengths. Some students may write all their information in paragraphs while others want to include pictures and make charts. Their assignments will leave room for them to choose the path that they want to take.
As the textbook mentions, when setting goals I will use the students’ data from previous performances. After final state testing, I will discuss the results with the third grade teachers as well as getting information about learning styles and abilities of each student. Student performance data should influence the goals we set for students and the activities we plan to meet these goals (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). After talking to the other teachers, I will know more about how to structure the learning goals and how to take action.
I have contacted technical support about opening websites to allow blogging. I am researching other teacher blogs and finding out information from their sites. I plan to spend quality time during the summer setting learning goals for my students. As I monitor their progress in the Fall, I can alter the activities to see what needs to change or stay place.
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.
Valerie,
ReplyDeleteIt is exciting to start the GAME as we begin to monitor our progress, and you must be pleased with your actions thus far. I am curious to follow your blog for a while, and find out how your blogging actually goes. While conducting my own research on teacher blogs, I stumbled across "Teach Paperless" a blog about teachers blogging! You can find it here: http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/2009/09/why-teachers-should-blog.html.
Good luck on your steps as you plan through the summer!
Ryan Snelgrove
Valerie:
ReplyDeleteI began using a website with my seventh graders this year and the experience has been great! You can check out my site if you would like, for ideas or just more samples!
www.delhischools.org/webpages/jcook
It has provided me flexibility and more access to my students. I have several students who e-mail me to check assignments, ask questions, or submit work. As more and more of our students are online at home, it is beneficial for them to have access to classroom materials. This Friday (5/20) I went to a conference called Podcasting for Teachers. We learned how to create podcasts and how to teach our students to create them too. At the beginning of the conference we were asked, “What’s your BIG idea?” Many of the teachers said they would like to put their lectures on podcasts and provide them for their students to access from anywhere. I thought this would be a great addition to my website too! How many times is a student absent and you just do not have the time to go over everything you taught and the activities you implemented? It would be time-saving and very advantageous for you to tell your student, “It is on my website…”
As Davis pointed out to us, technology can also be used to customize lessons for students with special needs (Laureate Education, 2011). I have a handful of IEP students in my classes and they often need to hear things several times before they register and process it. If students could access this material on your website, either through a file or a podcast, you would be accommodating these students in a much less stressful way for all involved.
Good luck with your website design and feel free to use anything on mine that you find would be great for yours!
~Jessica Cook
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Using Technology to Customize Lessons. [Webcast]. In Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas: Baltimore Author.
I have a website on Teacher Web for my students to check their assignments, grades, annoucements, etc., but it would be great to add podcasts to the website. If a student misses school, they could hear important informaion from class on that day. I would like to learn more about podcasts. Thanks for the idea. I will follow your website to see your progress with the podcasts.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blogging website. After reading the website, I do see more reasons to start blogging. Teachers can blog and respond to others to learn more about their colleagues ideas as well as their own. As through the discussion boards, I learn more about my own practices while discussing ideas with others.
ReplyDeleteYou might like to read this article from our week 3 resources, if you haven't already. Since you probably have some students who could use some extra support, and to limit frustration, the speech to text and web page readers may be very helpful.
ReplyDeleteWahl, L., & Duffield, J. (2005). Using flexible technology to meet the needs of diverse learners: What teachers can do. Retrieved from the WestEd website: http://www.wested.org/online_pubs/kn-05-01.pdf
You may want to limit the number of pictures students can use, as they will spend all their time with pics instead of writing.
Ask the I/T dept to host or set up the blogs so that they are private inside the school sites and not open to the public, but maybe password or something so that parents can get to see them from home.
And since some enthusiastic student will certainly want to post music or video, check with the I/T people on that. I know that we cannot let students stream video or music as we simply don't have the bandwidth.
Have fun! Please keep us posted on your progress and discoveries.