Reflection

This course has taught me many things about differentiating instruction and using the universal design for learning in my classroom. Also, I have learned that technology is an important aspect of implementing these two strategies in any classroom. This course has helped me make adjustments to my instructional practice through the use of technology to customize instruction for each of my students.
One way I plan to customize instruction through the use of technology is to have multiple intelligence activities using technology to cater to each of my students. Having multiple intelligence activities engages students and makes the learning process interesting and fun for the students (Smith & Throne 2007). I will do this by presenting the information using various forms of media. I will use pictures, videos, and interactive software to appeal to the learning styles of my students so that they are more likely to retain the information that they need to meet the standards of the lessons and units.
Another way I will use technology to customize my instruction is by having different forms of assessment for students to choose from when demonstrating their knowledge of the material. I will have four or five options that students can choose from that all use different forms of technology that appeal to different learning styles. This way my students can decide which activity they are more comfortable with and will be more able to demonstrate the knowledge of the standards. This should make my students more comfortable with the learning process and eliminate test anxiety.
Customizing my instruction using technology has been greatly enhanced by this course. Many examples and strategies have been presented in this course have given me confidence and that these strategies work and that it will not be such a daunting task as I had once feared. If I take advantage that has been presented to me I should have not problems reaching all of my students and successfully customizing my instruction using technology to meet the needs of all of my students and their various learning styles.

Jonathan Garrett


Resources
Smith, G., & Throne, S. (2007). Differentiating instruction with technology in K-5 classrooms. Belmont, CA: International Society for Technology in Education.
Retrieved from Education Research Complete database

Reflection

The GAME plan I followed throught the course was to improve my knowloedge of new technologies through professional development opportunites and to begin to teach other teachers at my school how to use this technology and in implement it in their classrooms. I have found some professional development opportunities but not as many as I had wanted to. For this part I will keep working to find more whenever I can. I have been implementing technologies that I am already familiar with in my classroom that I have learned from this class. The part of the GAME plan where I help teachers implement new technologies in their classrooms is going well. I had the opportunity in early October to conduct a workshop during a teacher planning day where I showed teachers how to use wikis in their classroo. I was very pleased with the reaction I recieved.

The new learning I that resulted in following my GAME plan was that I learned some new technologies that I can use in my classroom with my students and myself. This will greatly affect my lessons in the future and should engage my students and make them active learners. Also, I learned that most teachers do not use these new technologies in their classrooms because they are unfimilar with the technology. Once teachers know how to use the new technology they have no issues with implenenting them in the classroom. I also learned that most teachers do want to learn about these new technologies. It seemed that when they learned them in a familiar environment they were more at ease.

Now that I have finished this course I will continue to integrate new technologies in my classroom. This course has given me so many new ideas to use that I now have more lessons that are engaging and benificial to my students. Making my technology unit plan really helped me see how much better my classroom can be and that there is an engaging lesson using technology for every subject and unit.

Jonathan Garrett

GAME Plan with my Students

Using the GAME plan with my students can be very effective. I plan on implementing the GAME plan in my classroom to meet the NETS for my students. I will start by always having a goal that I expect my students to reach. If I set goals for my students they will know exactly where they should be when the lesson is finished. This gives them something to reach for. I will help them determine a plan of action when learning the material and using technology to do this. The GAME plan will also allow my students to realize what methods are more helpful for them in the learning process by monitoring their progress toward the goals using technology to keep track of their progress. Lastly I will provide ways of evaluation that require the use of technology. This will help my students realize what they have accomplished while at the same time utilize technology skills that meet the NETS for students.

Jonathan Garrett

GAME Plan III

My GAME Plan is progressing but is moving slower than I would like. So far I have learned some new technologies that I can use in my classroom and I am becoming more proficient in technologies that I already use. At the moment I do not think I need to set new learning goals for myself. I will extend what I have learned so far by finding new ways to apply it in my classroom and garnering support form other teachers who are interested in using what I have learned in their classrooms. To improve my learning I will use the same tactics that I have use because it seems to be working well for me. So far I am pleased with my GAME Plan and hope all continues to go well.

Jonathan Garrett

GAME Plan Progress II

The actions I have taken have helped me along on reaching my GAME plan goals. I have talked to our server adminstrator to get certain websites unblocked. This has not happened yet but I am hopegul that it will happen soon. Also, we have a professional learning day at our school on Friday and I have a professional learning session where teachers can come and inquire about what I have learned in this class and other new technologies I will learn in the future. I find out how many teachers have signed up for this session on Thursday. I hope it is at least 10.

I have gotten a little information about new technologies that I can use in my classroom. Most of them have come from this class but I am set to attend a conference about new technologies in the early spring. I am still trying to find ways to reach my fellow teachers to turn them on the new technologies.

I have a lot left to learn about my goals. But the only questions that I have are ones that I have at the beginning. Where can I find new technologies and what is the best way to reach out to my collegues?

I do not believe that I need to adjust my paln at this point. I just need to keep working to find resources and trying to persuade my collegues to use new technologies in their classrooms.

Jonathan Garrett

GAME Plan Progress

My progress thus far with my GAME Plan is going well. I have begun to find technology experts to learn technology and how I can implement it in my classroom. Additionally, once I learn the technology, I have garnered interest from a few other teachers who would also like to implement new technologies in their classrooms.

Currently, I am finding difficulty because many websites are blocked or banned at school. When at home, I'm finding some but want to find more but am seeking better results. As of now, my plan seems solid and attainable. For the moment, no changes are necessary. I seem to be getting good feedback from other teachers and hopefully I will be able to deliver in the near future. I have learned that finding new educational technologies can be challenging and some teachers are extremely non-receptive to learning new technologies to implement in their classroom. Hopefully, I will be able to overcome these barriers and totally implement my GAME Plan. A new question that has arisen is what is the most efficient way to find new avenues of technological support and what is the best way to approach teachers who are weary of new technology and implementing it in their classroom.

Jonathan Garrett

Resources I Need to Carry Out my GAME Plan

Some resources I will need to carry out my GAME plan are access to new technologies, experts, and collegues. The access to new technologies will allow me to work with emerging technologies on a daily basis so that I feel comfortable with them and teaching them. Access to experts will give me the knowledge of how to work the emerging technologies so that I may learn how to use them much quicker and become more proficient. Access to my collegues will allow me to instruct them how to implement them in their classrooms so I can pass on my newly gained knowledge. The learning strategy I will use to carry out my GAME plan is using multiple media, providing multiple examples, and including activities with varied levels of difficulty. These strategies will help me learn how to use these technologies quicker and more comepelety and allow the teachers I work with to quickly improve their use of these technologies.

So far I have been able to research new technologies that are used in the classroom. Next I am hoping to find places to learn to use this new technology completely. Hopefully I will be able to quickly implement my GAME plan and get my school using the new technologies in all of our classes and improve our student learning.

Jonathan Garrett

NETS for Teachers and my GAME plan

The two NETS standards that I feel less confident about are “model digital age work and learning”, and “engage in professional growth and leadership.” To become more confident in these two standards I have developed a GAME plan. First I set goals to become more familiar with new technologies and to become more involved in sharing information about new technologies with other teachers. The second part of my GAME is to attend professional learning conferences and events that inform teachers on new technologies and how to implement them in the classroom. I also will set up opportunities at my school to inform other teachers about this new technology and show them how to use it in class. I will monitor my progress by making sure that I am proficient in new technologies and using them in my classroom on a daily basis. Also, I must have many different times when I can teach about the new technologies I have learned. I will evaluate and extend my learning by talking with other teachers who use these technologies and are responsible for teaching others about them. This should prove helpful in me meeting my goals with the NETS for teachers.

Jonathan Garrett

Personal Theory of Learning

This course has helped greatly shape and change my personal learning theory for my students. The implementation of constructionism should greatly help my students learn concepts and retain the important information that they need to be successful. When students have a working knowledge of a topic they retain the information much better. Having students work together and communicate and interact they also better understand the information they have received.

Some adjustments I must make to effectively impact my studesnts are the use of non-linguistic representations and informational organizers. The use of summarizing strategies using non-linguistic approaches and organizers will be beneficial for students and greatly help them. To implement these strategies with technology I will use tool likes Microsoft Word to complete these instructional strategies. Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski show us that students saw great success using both the principle pattern summarizer and cause-effect pattern organizer(Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. 2007). The assignment I want to incorporate with the first technological instructional strategy is the passing of a bill into a law. I will teach the process prior to the assignment and then place the students into groups. This will add to the social learning aspect that students need to help them learn through interactions. We know that students are better able to create principle organizers to effectively describe their understanding because of they are more familiar with the topic (2007). The students will be able to graphically describe the concept using an organizational chart in Microsoft Word. The second idea I want to incorporate in the classroom to implement the instructional strategies is a cause and effect technological assignment. Here I want to use Microsoft’s Cause-Effect pattern organizers and small groups to complete this instructional strategy. The students will get into groups to create step-by-step organizers of a the election of the President from the primaries to the actual election. These strategies will allow students to see what they are thinking and can both be completed with non-linguistic symbols.

Two long-term goals I would like to achieve regarding technology integration in my classroom are to let student to build knowledge through the use of technological graphic organizers and to present more student-created activities in my classroom. Students can construct knowledge much more effectively when they are able to create an artifact using technology. I also would like to allow my students to research information for themselves instead of me giving them all of the information that they need. This will allow my students to retain more information and help other students understand the information better. I firmly believe that these strategies will improve my teaching and allow my students to master all of the skills that they need.

Jonathan Garrett

Resources:

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

VoiceThread

http://voicethread.com/share/1041525/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

I think a majority of students construct meaning through social learning but a smaller number of students prefer different methods. A vast number of students learn more effectively when they are allowed to use collaborative practices because they are able to interact with other students and share ideas (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007, p. 139). I implement this practice about once a week in my classroom and have seen students succeed in collaborative activities where they may have failed in other activities. I have also seen some students who prefer to work by themselves and do quite well. Social learning is of the utmost importance but I believe that everyone is different so not everyone constructs the same meaning through social learning.

Implications of adopting social learning instructional practices and integrating technology tools that support and facilitate social learning are very great. By implementing these practices, educators are allowed to reach more students and allow all of them to learn interactively. Most of our students are very familiar and comfortable with technology so using it in various ways should also help students retain information better and make the learning process more relevant. Some technologies that has helped me facilitate social learning in my classroom are wikispaces, blogs, and podcasts. The students seem to enjoy these activities more and therefore retain more of the content.

Jonathan Garrett

Resources:

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

Constructionism Strategies

Dr. Michael Orey did an excellent job in illustrating effective constructional learning strategies inside the classroom. The construction of a picture or idea in our minds is the basic notion behind constructionist beliefs. Students working with materials and an idea in order to achieve an end goal constitutes basic constructionism practices (Laureate, 2009). Dr. Orey also discussed that the work of Piaget was a predecessor to modern constructivist ideas and that students must be involved in building ideas in order to learn and build from knowledge. Technology plays an important role in this approach because so many programs, such as PowerPoint, require students to work with a topic and slowly build and create a final product. With the physical construction students are mentally constructing ideas and notions about the topic. Seymour Papert purported the more involvement with an idea, the more building of knowledge (Laureate, 2009). Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn and Malenoski added to this point with the description of a high school history teacher’s classroom which used two methods to teach WWII. The first was a straightforward method, recognizable to almost anyone. The latter method was an interactive web approach utilizing a game. The teacher found that the students who had more interests in the game and performed as certain leaders did in history retained more information and performed much better on the assessment (2007). This example greatly supports the theory of constructionism because the students who had a more hands-on lesson and interacted with the game performed better than students who were just lectured to. I had a similar experience when teaching the executive branch of government. Two classes were allowed to create their own ideal presidential candidate. The students picked what race, party, religion, and stance on important issues their candidate would take. These students were more successful with the executive branch because they were allowed to construct their knowledge of the office of the president.

Jonathan Garrett

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 7. Constructionist and Constructivist Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author

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

Cognative Learning Theory in the Classroom

After completing this week’s learning resources a few thoughts come to mind that connect some instructional strategies I use in the classroom to principles of cognitive learning theory. One method I implement and supports cognitive learning theory is the use of multimedia mapping. I recently assigned a project where the students had to find advertisements from special interest groups and annotate it using a myriad of programs. Their annotations had to highlight some of the key aspects of special interest group advertisements and their images had to contain at least 4 examples of these aspects. The students highly enjoyed this assignment and are extremely sharp when it comes to special interest groups. I attribute this to the fact that multimedia learning allows students to “both activate prior knowledge and develop a mental model to help them understand new information.” (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn & Malenoski, 2007) This vivid connection supports the beliefs of Dr. Michael Orey, an expert in cognitive theory, as well. Orey stresses that for learning to be significant multiple senses must be integrated in the activity or presentation and ideas must be connected to other ideas. (Laureate, 2009) This learning activity exemplifies my best efforts to keep content relevant and fresh as long as educators’ best practices. Hopefully the integration of picture and words and the manipulation of both will aid my students now and in the future connect cognitively to the topic.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 5. Cognitive Learning Theories. [Educational video]. Baltimore: Author.

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

Behaviorists Learning Through Educational Technology

Behaviorist learning has a place in today's classroom. Behaviorism concentrates on actions that are measurable and can help keep track of a student's progress (Laureate Education, 2009). This allows students to set goals and actually see that they are making progress in a particular area. This is very relevant today because technology can be used to integrate behaviorist learning in the classroom. Students can complete online tutorials in areas where they need help and they can receive feedback on their answers. Also creating an effort and achievement spreadsheet to help students see areas they need to improve and help them associate their effort to their achievement. Behaviorist learning can be very useful in today's classroom if it is used for just more than just drill and practice and used to help students improve. Behaviorist learning in todays classroom takes advantage of the technology available and keeps students interested because they can physically see where they have made improvement.


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2009. Behaviorist Learning Theory [Motion picture]. Bridging Learning Theory, Instruction, and Technology. Baltimore: Author