During this course, I developed a personal GAME plan, and
created a rather intensive Unit Plan including problem-based learning, social
(or rather, educational) networking, and digital storytelling in first grade
mathematics lessons. At this beginning
of this course, I would have said it was impossible to engage first grade
students in such activities. However,
now, I believe that with clear expectations, modeling, and scaffolding as
needed, students are able to rise to and even exceed our expectations.
Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) state, “As in any
self-directed learning activity, you need to set goals for your own
professional growth, take action, then monitor and evaluate your progress
toward obtaining your goals” (p. 11).
While I have never had a problem having goals, I struggle on the follow
through. I have a ton of ideas—so many
that I frequently jump back and forth between ideas and never truly complete
one to it’s full potential. However, by creating my GAME plan, I was
forced to create a plan of action, and was actually able to stick to it. I have
now learned to prioritize and break larger goals down into more manageable
steps. I keep reminding myself that it
is better to do one thing really well than three things mediocre. As a result, I have actually completely re-vamped
my teacher web-site and am excited to introduce it to parents and students this
school year. It even has a new URL—you can
view it here: https://sites.google.com/a/parklandsd.net/geigerls/home. It is still a work in progress as I plan to
add resources as they become applicable throughout the year, but I think it
will be a great way for me to communicate with parents and stress the
importance of these new literacy skills.
(I’m still waiting on the finishing updates in my classroom before I
update the video—that should be done by next Wednesday!)
I am excited for the upcoming school year as I feel like the
information I have gleaned from this course (and the other technology course I
have been taking, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the
Classroom) have provided me with wonderful resources, and an attainable way to improve
my teaching practice, one step at a time.
Most importantly, I think I have learned new ways of looking at
technology, past all of the “fun stuff” and “pretty stuff” and truly into the
21st century literacies students truly need to master in order to
become productive members of society.
There are many lesson that I do throughout the year that I am excited to
strengthen and scaffold with technology—most frequently in the area of writing,
but in other areas as well. In the end,
Ertmer (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010) states that integrating technology
effectively requires knowledge of technology, knowledge of pedagogy,
confidence, beliefs about good teaching, and a supportive culture. I have always had a supportive culture and
beliefs about good teaching, but this course has given me the tools and
training I needed to become knowledgeable about integrating the technology in
with the standards, and the confidence to know it will succeed (and if not, to
always have a back-up plan just in case!).
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. Video: Promoting creative thinking with technology
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Enriching content area learning experiences
with technology, part one [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset
.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3397615_1%26url%3D
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