This
week I visited the International Society for Technology in Education
website. On this website, I used the National Education Standards for
Teachers (NETS-T) to evaluate my teaching strategies to determine if
I am successfully teaching 21st Century Skills. I
discovered that, for the most part, I am following the standards they
have listed, but there are a few areas that I need to improve on. I
have selected two standards and will discuss my GAME plan for
strengthening my confidence below.
The
first standard that I plan on strengthening my confidence in is
promoting student reflection using
collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual
understanding and thinking, planning, and
creative
processes (ISTE, 2008).
My goal is to use blogging with students to help build a reflective
classroom. I will ask students to reflect on their learning at the
end of each unit. In their reflections I will ask them to make goals
and then go back and evaluate their goals at a later date.
The
second standard that I plan on strengthening my confidence in is
evaluating and reflecting on current research and professional
practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and
emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning
(ISTE, 2008). I feel
that the process of reflection can be very important to improving
your teaching strategies. My focus for reflection will be on the
impact incorporating technology had on the lesson or where I can add
new technology to make the lesson even more effective. When I see
areas of improvement in my reflection I will immediately take action
and incorporate my findings and then reflect on if the change
improved the lesson. Through reflection I will constantly be
evaluating and making changes. I feel this will help keep me on top
of my game and allow me to do what is best for my students.
I
am excited to get to work on my goals. I hope that these goals will
make me a better teacher and allow me to improve my students
learning. Hopefully, when students leave my room they will be better
prepared to be members of the 21st century community and
have a passion for being a life long learner.
References:
Cennamo,
K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for
meaningful classroom use: A s tandards-based approach. (Laureate
Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage
Learning
International
Society for Technology in Education. (ISTE). (2008). National
education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers
Hi Eric,
ReplyDeleteI thought it was a great idea that your two goals parallel the focus on reflection, and it will likely prove very valuable to practice the art of reflecting at the same time as your students. I would even mention to your students that you are also writing reflections, which will let them know you are “sharing the effort”. In physical education or swimming, practicing skills I ask my students to perform puts me on the same level as my students and reminds me how difficult some exercises can be. I think the same can be applied to the skill of reflection, which is not at all an easy task, requiring a lot of modeling.
What I found helps students to reflect is giving them prompts, or thought “starters”, not to mention lots of examples, so they understand what type of reflection you are looking for. You mention that your students are reflecting at the end of the unit, which is very powerful learning. I would suggest considering having your students also reflect at each step of the unit task, which is often when they can capture that “ahh” moment in words while it is fresh in their minds. Would you have time to do this? I sure wish I could get permission to blog at my school. Have fun with that!
Alexi
Eric,
ReplyDeleteI will reiterate what Alexi already mentioned and that is the idea of reflection. I feel that during my undergrad program they really didn't prepare me about the importance of reflection and the vital role this plays when establishing effective learning strategies. I feel that this program at Walden, reflection is one of the biggest factors instilled with any implementation of an assignment.
I believe from your post that you have observed the importance of reflection too. I like that you mentioned the idea of always searching for new technology to supplement your content in your lessons and classroom. I feel that it is through this ideology of being a life long learner that creates a great teacher. It sounds like you do an excellent job in modeling this approach and is probably a key factor in your students' successes. The only issue that I personally have with reflection is trying to find the time of day to complete it. As teachers we get pulled in many directions and sometimes do not complete the quick and easy takes that make us better educators, like reflection.
Todd
Hello Eric,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your post. Reflection is certainly a key part of the process. I encounter alot of students with either special needs or who are English Language Learners. What type of accomodations would you make for these types of students given that the activity is primariily blogging ? I am also curious is their are a variety of ways for students to complete the activity and for assessment. If you have students that do not have internet access at home, will accomdations be made ? Thank you.
Eric,
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned in your initial post that Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer define current students as self-directed learners. I am not sure what your observations are with the students in your school, but I have observed (in my school/grade) that my students are not yet self-directed learners. In my opinion, in order to be a self-directed learner, the students must not only get direction from their teachers and gain true learning experiencing with goal setting, research, self-monitoring, and evaluation. They must also be self-motivated, confident, and creative. I know you will make sure you instill these qualities in your students, but even so, you will still have those students who will be resistant. I am curious. How will you reach those learners through your newly planned lessons?
You also mentioned in your initial blog that you will have your students take part in their own blogging experiences. How will you ensure their blogs are up to your standards and expectations during their written conversations? If I could make a suggestion, please? Perhaps you could create a rubric clearly defining "great" "good" and "poor" responses, or a checklist of topics you would like the students to focus on and mention within their blog. Giving you the opportunity to integrate technology once more, students could access these tools online in order to utilize them for their blog responses.
Using past lessons to integrate technology and therefore, improve your current or future lessons provides you will the perfect basis for success. May I suggest, you could also attend professional development seminars and workshops to discover new and effective ways to integrate technology to enrich your lessons, in addition to what you mentioned above.
Thank you for enlightening post and good luck with your GAME plan.
Jackie Caliente