New and Emerging Technologies

I have learned so many valuable lessons throughout this course that I will be able to carry with me throughout the remainder of my career. While I feel that I have been a mostly effective teacher for the last ten years, I do feel that I have not always given my students as many authentic learning experiences as I should have. While I have always been open to new technologies, I have not always felt the confidence to teach them to my students. Now I know that I have not been giving them all of the tools that they need to become successful students of technology. One emerging technology that I have implemented in my classroom is blogging. My students had grown tired of pen and paper journaling so I taught them how to blog as an alternative. They enjoy the feedback they receive from their peers about their posts.
Another technology that I plan to implement for the upcoming school year is the use of social networking sites. I have begun construction on a Facebook page that will be used excusively by my students. I have receive the full support of my administration. It is my goal that my students will find this page a positive tool to share ideas with their peers in a manner that they find comfortable.
The most important fact that I have learned from this course is that there will always be new and emerging techologies and I is my job as an educator to continue to learn as much as I possibly can. By learning new tools to teach my students they will be prepared for a technological society. I plan to discuss with administration ways in which they can teach us new tools. We must keep open minds when it comes to technology so that we are not left behind.

Benefits of Moodle

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A Final Reflection on my GAME Plan

This course has been very helpful to me as an educator. Before this course, I had never thought to set goals based on the NETS standards. Of course, I had mentally told myself how I wanted to use technology in my classroom but had never been so specific in terms of goal setting. Now that I have set goals for myself (teaching my students new technologies and attending more professional development) I am finding that I am much more focused in achieving my goals.
My students are benefiting from the technology that they are learning and will be able to take these skills with them post high school. I am going to be teaching some in services to my peers about how to use technology in the classroom. I will teach them how use blogging as a way for students to reflect on their learning next week. I will also teach them how to use voice threading. My peers are very excited to learn new technology so that their students can benefit as well. I am very excited to continue my growth in the area of technology.

Sharing the GAME Plan Process with my Students

Having gone through the process of creating a GAME plan and actually going through with it, I know that my students will benefit from creating their own GAME plan as well. As I have been sharing my knowledge of new technologies with my students, they have come to see how important of a role technology plays in their lives. They have learned how to create voice threads, podcasts, digital storytelling, and so much more. These are all technologies that they can use once they leave high school and enter into a post secondary educational facility. At the beginning of each school year, I have my students create goals for themselves. In the future I will have them set goals to meet the NETS standards as well. I believe that by doing this I will help them to prepare for their futures.

GAME Plan Still On...

I have found that reaching the goals of my GAME plan is a never ending process. Much like learning should never end, I should never stop trying to reach my goals of increasing professional development and introducing my students to new technology. In the past few weeks I have worked with some of my peers to plan a professional development opportunity to teach other teachers how to create a classroom website. The enthusiasm has been overwhelming and we will be teaching this course next month. Our goal is for each teacher to have their own classroom website up and running at the beginning of the 2010-2011 school year.
I have not introduced anymore new technologies to my students, but plan to teach them how to create a podcast for a project that we have coming up this spring.

Continuing my GAME Plan....

My GAME plan is progressing at an even pace. I have met with my administrators to go over possible ideas for professional growth. I created a survey for the faculty to complete to get an idea of what kinds of professional growth ideas they would be interested in. Technology is an area that most people feel they need assistance with. I have offered to teach my peers about blogging and will be setting that up in the next couple of weeks.
As for my students, I have begun teaching them how to create personal websites so that they can post their work. While I have a lot left to do in terms of reaching my goals, I feel like I have made adequate progress.

GAME Plan Progress

I am feeling confident as I carry out my GAME plan. This week I attended a professional growth seminar that taught me how to post homework and grades on the school website. By learning how to do this, I am setting a great example for my students by showing them that I am committed to integrating technology into my classroom. I have also met with the technology coordinator to discuss possible seminars for the future. I want my peers to learn various forms of technology as well. Another step forward that I have made is to teach my students how to use voice threads. This is something that I was very intimidated by when I first had to make one for this program. I had student pick a social issue and they added a voice thread to their PowerPoint presentations. The majority of my students were very excited to learn this new technology!

Carrying Out My Game Plan

My two goals for my GAME plan are to teach my students how to use technology in a useful manner and to take advantage of more professional development opportunities that my district offers. In order teach my students how to use technology in a more useful manner, I will need to make time in the curriculum in order to teach them how to use different types of technology. In order to do this, I must offer them intense lessons. I plan to use Mondays (in which the classes are shortened) as a time to do this. I plan to work with our technology coordinator in order to get the proper equipment and the use of the computer labs. By taking the time to teach my students technology, I will be offering them skills that they will use for the rest of their lives.
In order to take advantage of professional development opportunities, I must take time out of my schedule to do so. I can also work with administrators in order to make the time spent more effectively and on subjects that I can truly use in my classroom. If I become involved in the process of creating professional development ideas, I will be more likely to participate.

GAME Plan

Standard one of NETS states that “teachers demonstrate a sound understanding of technology operations and concepts”. Performance indicator “A” states that the teacher will “demonstrate introductory knowledge, skills, and understanding of concepts related to technology.” On a scale of one to four with four being the most knowledgeable, I must give myself a three. I have a “solid understanding” but “need to explore how to use these standards and better facilitate development of these in my students.” I enjoy teaching with PowerPoint and utilizing technology within my lessons. However, a goal that I have set for myself is to teach my students how to use these programs themselves so that they can complete projects that show how much they have learned by using technology. Not only will this enhance their projects, but it will also give them a life skill to carry with them once they graduate.
Performance indicator “B” states that the teacher will “demonstrate continual growth in technology knowledge and skills to stay abreast of current and emerging technologies.” I must grade myself with a two on this performance indicator. I love trying new things in technology but rarely take advantage of the multiple opportunities my district offers for professional development. It is not because I do not wish to learn what they are teaching. The primary reason is because I cannot stand to be in a classroom when I am not the one teaching. I prefer to learn things on my own and actually learn much better that way. A goal that I have set for myself is to attend at least two professional developments per semester.
The NET standards serve as a guideline that should be followed at all times in the classroom. Technology is such an important aspect of teaching and can serve as a creative tool. It is important for students to learn multiple aspects of technology as well because it will serve as a tool that they can carry with them into the workforce.