6715 Course Application 4

View my presentation below to learn about how online learning in K-12 schools can fill instructional gaps and support authentic student learning.

Online Learning in K-12 Schools

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6714 Course Reflection

The course, Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology, has reinforced the notion that students are diverse in their in their interests, learning styles, intelligence, and learning profiles. Because of student variances, this course has also reinforced the implementation of Differentiated Instruction (DI), Universal Learning by Design (UDL), and technology tools to reach and engage all students. I have learned many new technologies to Differentiation Instruction and learned how to adapt instruction using UDL to meet the needs of diverse learners. Dr. Carol Tomlinson discussed that the goal of UDL is to reduce barriers for all learners; whereas, the goal of DI is to open the classroom to provide more avenues for students (Laureate, Inc., 2009). The technology tools that I have gained from interacting with my colleagues through the Differentiation Station assignments will help me provide many new avenues for students to learn content so that I can meet their diverse needs. I am excited to implement new tools such as Prezi and Microsoft Photoshop that was shared through the Differentiation Station. These tools will give my students another avenue when creating digital stories other than using the traditional Microsoft PowerPoint program. My students will be motivated and engaged when learning these new technology tools and I will be able to activate their recognition, strategic and affective brain networks as they use these tools to complete summative assessments at the end of a lesson.

An immediate adjustment that I will make in my classroom as a result of this course will be to implement my Learning Profile that I created through Survey Monkey located at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5TSTH9Q. Students will complete the survey at the beginning of each semester so that I can gather and evaluate data to understand my students’ interests, learning styles, intelligence, and learning profiles. Lauria noted, “Identifying students’ individual learning styles and showing students how to capitalize on their strengths can empower learners…” (2010). To increase my students’ successes it is important that I gather and analyze data to help me plan how to differentiate content, process, and product according to student’s readiness, interests, and learning profiles (Hall, Strangman, and Myer, 2003).

On a final note, I am grateful for all of the resources shared by my colleagues through the Differentiation Station located on our wiki at
http://reachingalllearnersthroughtechnologygroup3.wikispaces.com/. I will continue to visit this valuable resource as needed to help me further differentiate instruction for my students.

References

Hall, T., Strangman, N., & Meyer, A. (2003). Differentiated instruction and implications for UDL implementation. Retrieved from http://www.cast.org/publications/ncac/ncac_diffinstructudl.html.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program 11. Learner Differences. [Motion Picture]. Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. Baltimore: Dr. Carol Tomlinson.

Lauria, J. (2010). Differentiation through learning-style responsive strategies. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 47(1), 24-29. Retrieved November 12, 2010, from ProQuest Central.

6713 Course Reflection

GAME Plan Reflection
As I reflect on my GAME Plan that I implemented at the beginning of this course, I realize that setting goals, taking action, monitoring progress and evaluating my progress has taught me to remain dedicated and focused on the goals that I want to implement with my classes. In addition, introducing the GAME Plan to students will help students meet the goals of problem and project based learning activities.

New Learning and Impact on Instructional Practice
Although I have put my goal of creating a blog on hold temporarily, I feel confident that I will have success with this endeavor in the spring semester. Furthermore, I believe that implementing a blog into my classes will motivate students to improve their writing skills. My goal of researching copyright laws has given me new information about copyrights, and I have several ideas of how I can teach this new information to my students. In addition to learning how to use the GAME Plan with students, I have also learned how I can implement digital storytelling when assigning projects as another means of assessing student learning. Having students create a digital story about the importance of observing copyright laws maybe an alternative assessment that I may use in the future.

Immediate Adjustment to Instructional Practice
The immediate adjustments that I will make in my instructional practice will be to include blogging as another avenue to improve student writing and to teach the GAME Plan to my students when they are involved in problem based and project based learning activities.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

In my content area, Business/Computer Technology, I am already addressing the National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S). Many of the NETS-S are incorporated into the Tennessee course content standards that I teach my classes. Because I teach students how to use different software programs, my students are required to complete several problem/project based learning projects. Ninety percent of the works my students complete are problem/project based learning activities. Teaching students the GAME Plan process is easy for me to implement. Using the acronym for GAME and then teaching students what each letter stands for will make it easier for students to remember the step-by-step process for any project/problem they complete. For example, if I want students to conduct research on a country that my students would like to visit, they would go through the process of setting goals, taking action, monitoring their progress, and then evaluating their learning. Part the assignment would require them to create an artifact such as a newsletter or brochure and finally share their information to the class through a digital story. This example demonstrates how I can meet all of the NETS-S which are: (1) Creativity and Innovation, (2) Communication and Collaboration, (3) Research and Information Fluency, (4) Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making, (5) Digital Citizenship, and (6) Technology Operations and Concepts. As a technology teacher, attending professional development seminars, and completing coursework through Walden, I am able to stay current on the latest technology and instructional strategies. The National Educational Teacher Standards (NETS-T) is my guide in directing my instruction and is used daily in my computer classroom. These standards help me think about the different types of learning experiences that I can implement for my students to meet the NETS-S.

Revising My GAME Plan

Last week proved to be successful in locating more copyright resources. I asked my school’s librarian for help and she located and shared the following resources:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hills Library- Introduction to Copyright and Fair Use Tutorial

American Library Association

Crash Course in Copyrights

Medical University of South Carolina Music Department of Library and Informatics

Application to Instruction Practice
I have not seen much improvement to my instructional practice because of limited time to review resources and set up a class blog. I do foresee my students benefiting from these new activities when I implement them in the spring. My focus now is to catch up on teaching content standards.

Goals Still in Progress
My goals to promote student reflection through a class blog and to locate copyright resources so that I can teach students about safe and ethical use of using digital information will be in progress throughout this semester. It is my hope that during the Christmas holidays that I will be able to set aside time to work on these goals more and be ready to implement them in the spring semester with my students.

New Learning Goals
Due to limited time this semester, I am not ready to implement any new learning goals. I have been thinking about how I can teach copyright information to students. I am considering locating or creating a webquest. In the future I would like to implement more digital technologies that my students' are not familiar with such as creating a delicious account to bookmark sites and/or creating a digital story using other software programs other than PowerPoint.

Learning Approaches to Improve Learning
To improve my learning, I need more time. Instead of putting myself under more stress, I am modifying my plan to set aside time during the Christmas holiday for my Game Plan goals. I am looking forward to becoming more confident and prepared to implement my goals in the spring semester.

Evaluating My Game Plan

Game Plan Effectiveness
During the weekend I was able to take some time to look at copyright resources to use with my Desktop Publishing class in the spring. As far as my class blog, I have not set one up yet. I am behind in my course standards and do not see any way that I can implement a blog this semester. Up until the weekend, I did not feel as if I was making any progress toward my Game Plan. However, during the weekend I saw a small light at the end of the tunnel. Although my Game Plan has not progressed as I initially thought it would, I am making progress slowly.

Application to Instructional Practice
So far I have learned from another colleague that I can use Twitter to illicit resources and ideas from other professionals. I plan to set up an account soon. I also learned from my school’s librarian that there is a video on copyrights that I can check out and show my classes that is a newer version than the video I have been showing to students.

More to Learn
I still have to find more information about copyrights before I feel comfortable teaching a more in-depth lesson to students than what I have briefly touched upon in the past. Hopefully, I can connect with other professionals that will share their copyright lesson plans with me along with their best instructional practices. As far as setting up a blog, I feel fairly confident. Although I know that I can create and access a blog at school, I need to check with school administration and make sure it is okay for students to participate in a blog. I may need to have signed documentation from parents stating that their child can participate in a blog.

Arising Questions
What type of instructional strategy and/or technology tool should I use to implement my goal of teaching copyrights to students? How and what type of activity should I use to teach students about blogging on line and the appropriate language to use? How do I want my students to request permission to use copyrighted materials?

Adjusting My Game Plan
My Game Plan is a work in progress. I will continue to locate copyright resources through the Internet and through my network of colleagues. I plan to teach my Desktop Publishing students all about copyrights in the spring. In addition, I plan to implement my class blog in the spring. Further adjustment to my Game Plan will include evaluating my lesson plans and seeing where I can fit in instructional time to teach students about blogging.

Monitoring My Game Plan Progress

My goals to promote student reflection through a class blog and to locate copyright resources so that I can teach students about safe and ethical use of using digital information is currently on hold. I have briefly reviewed the resources that I posted in my blog last week, but have not spent the time that I need to become comfortable and familiar with them as I would like. I have the information and resources that I need, but I need more time to put my Game Plan in motion. I am already behind in what I should be covering in my course standards with students. Football homecoming activities this week and reviewing for mid-term exams that are scheduled for next week are preventing me from implementing a blog at this time and doing in-depth reading about copyright laws. Furthermore, I think I need to take a classmate’s suggestion and plan time to teach students the appropriate things to say in a blogging environment. My question is, “How am I going to fit in teaching students how to write appropriately in a blogging environment when I am having trouble covering my course standards because of the additional duty of ACT prep testing?” Because my Desktop Publishing class is taught in the spring, I have until then to research copyright laws and to put this part of my Game Plan in action. As far as putting my blogging idea into action, I think I may need to put it on hold until after Christmas as well.