Week 8 Reflection Emerging Technologies

During week 6 and week 7, I have learned a whole lot about myself as well as emerging technologies. I never thought to use MUVEs in the math classroom, but I got to take a look at some other people’s sites and see how it works. It is extremely important to stay in the loop when it comes to technology. With math, there is a constant need to keep things interesting and keep the students on their toes because otherwise they seem to get bored. I also learned a lot about writing grants. I actually had to participate in a grant writing this year with my supervisor in order to get a SmartBoard put into my room, so I had some idea about it, but it was even more eye-opening to read some of the articles on good grant-writing skills. I plan on now working harder to keep up with the emerging technologies to help support my students as 21st century learners. The more excited that I am about using this technology, the more excited that the students will be to learn this new material. I also want to show my colleagues more of the technologies so that they can incorporate this into their classrooms. It is important that we prepare our students for the real-world because they will not forever be students. We are getting them ready for their lives once they are done with high school, so it is very crucial that we teach them whatever we can while we have them.

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Week 8 Reflection

•Summarize how you will use the resources in the Differentiation Station social network to help you implement the principles of Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction.

I plan on using the resources in the Differentiation Station network to help implement the principles of UDL and differentiated instruction in order to become a more resourceful teacher. My group came up with a lot of great ideas for how to implement both of these in the classroom. We all posted resources, links, and tools that will help each of us not only in our own content areas, but in everyone's content areas. Something great that I found while in the resources was something called a choice board. I plan on using the choice boards in my classroom because it will allow my students to learn in a way that is comfortable for them. I want to know more about my students as well so I will be using learning profiles and theories of multiple intelligences to determine the best ways for my students to learn the materials. The immidiate adjustments that I will be making for instructional practice will be the use of the choice board. I want to give everyone the chance to learn the material in ways that suit them best. If the students prefer to use technology to learn and read from, then I want them to be able to go on the computer and research a topic for themselves.

Reflection of GAME PLAN - Week 8

-Reflect on the GAME plan you developed and followed throughout the course. Summarize any new learning that resulted from your following your GAME plan and explain what impact your new learning will have on your instructional practice.


I feel as though my GAME plan has been very successful. I have been working very hard trying to get as much knowledge as I can out of the workshops and any other resources that have been available to me. I am also infusing more technology into my lessons everyday at school and the students really seem to be more motivated to learn because of it. I believe that my GAME plan will help me and my students to become more technologically literate as well as encourage other people in my department to use more of the technology integration in the class. I plan on teaching a few Smart Board classes to my department during our in-service days next year.
-Describe any immediate adjustments you will make to your instructional practice regarding technology integration in your content area(s) as a result of your learning from this course.
 
One immediate change that I am making to my technology integration is implementing the use of more real-world problem applications along with the technology. I would also like to incorporate more problem-based learning into my curriculum to promote more self-directed learning. I want my students to take responsibility for what they are learning and teach themselves that they can do something if they put their minds to it.

Week 7 GAME plan progress

Post your thoughts and ideas about how you will use the GAME plan process with your students to help them develop proficiency in the technology standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S. Reach out to your colleagues in this learning community for assistance if needed.

I plan on using my GAME plan process with my students by taking what I have learned about the Smart Board and new technologies and putting that into some real-world problem solving with my students. I want my students to feel comfortable using this technology in the math classroom with math information. It is important for my students to be able to solve real-world problems and become more "technologically literate". A lot of my GAME plan was more to help my fellow colleagues. THe other problem with this is that my students do not need to become familiar with the SmartBoard because it is something that they may never use again in their lives. The more that I think about my GAME plan, the more that I am realizing that I should change it to be more student-oriented.

Week 6 Blog Entry GAME Plan

So far I have learned a lot about the Smart Board and how to work more effectively with colleagues and students. I have been working with all of the SmartBoards in my department by making a common “gallery” in which I have put all of the pertinent information to my department so that things are easily accessible to everyone. This is especially important because we do not always teach in the same rooms. I am working more on implementing more technology into my everyday lessons. Based on the NETS-T, I would like to bring in more types of technology into my classroom. I have recently begun working with the TI-Nspire which is a new piece of technology in which I got a class set of. I want my students to feel comfortable with using new technology, but it is hard for me to work with something that I am not comfortable with. I plan on trying to get to some conferences about the TI-NSpire to hopefully make myself more comfortable. The learning approach that I will try next time to improve my learning is to set reasonable goals and make sure that I am setting goals that are attainable in the amount of time. I also want to restrict my goals into something that is more precise than my original goals.

GAME PLAN Progress Week 5

How effective were your actions in helping you to meet your goals?
I have been quite effective with helping to meet my goals this week. I recently attended a seminar on SmartBoards which has helped the quality of not only my lessons, but also the other staff members in my departments' lessons. I have been working very hard to get more of my colleagues "up to snuff" with Smart Board and becoming more comfortable with using it in the classroom.

What have you learned so far that you can apply into your instructional practice?
All of the information that I have learned about the Smart Board has been helping with my instructional practice. I have been using all different kinds of assessments through the Smart Board in order to help my students gain a better understanding of the material.

What do you still have to learn?
There will always be more to learn. I do not feel as though I will ever have all of the questions that people are going to ask.

How will you adjust your current plan?
I do not plan on adjusting my current plan because I have set goals for myself with my GAME plan that allows extra time for me. I might have to adjust the plan because our funding in school just got cut and a lot of professional development will not be paid for anymore because of it.

Monitoring GAME Plan Progress

I am finding all of the information for my game plan that I need. I have been working with my supervisor to coordinate more trainings for Smart Board and professional development. There is not much that needs to be modified. I am currently set on the fact that I will accomplish my goals that I have set for myself. So far, I have learned more about training others. I had an in-service day and I watched a terrible person for training. They did not have any compassion for the staff who struggled with technology. This person moved too fast and was not organized. This is something that I have to consider if I want to be training other people in the SmartBoard. No new questions have arisen.

Carrying Out the Game Plan

• What resources will you need to carry out your plan (video, reading, experts or colleagues, etc)?


In order to carry out my GAME plan, I will need to have the support of my colleagues. I also need to stay up-to-date on any types of professional development having to do with technology. I also want to look to see if there are any classes possibly through a Regional Training Center or something to help learn more about any topics in technology.



• What additional information do you need?

The only additional information that I need so far is to find someone or something where I can get more information on professional development and classes that I could take to further my development. I also would like to see if there are any specific math conferences in which deal with integrating projects into the math curricula.



• What steps have you been able to take so far?

I have so far talked with my supervisor about where and when I can go for more professional development on the Smart Board. I plan on attending the NCTM conference in the fall next year so that I can get more ideas on project based learning in math classes as well.

NETS-T Indicators and Goals Set

NETS-T Indicator: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.




Goal:

 To inspire student creativity in virtual environments.

 To incorporate more project-based learning including technology into the curriculum.



Actions: In order to achieve my goals for this indicator, I plan on attending more professional development in the areas of project-based learning with mathematics education. I want to know how other people use technology in their classes, so I have also been working on connecting with others that I went to college with who currently teach mathematics at other high schools to get some ideas. It is always important to share your ideas with others to see how they can be modified or made better.



Monitor Progress: To monitor my progress, I plan on making a checklist of where I want to be throughout the year and trying to incorporate at least one technology lesson/project per chapter. If I can achieve this after the first year, then I will work to do more upon the next.



Evaluate and Extending Learning: I plan on using and modifying my lessons each year. I want others in my department to give me feedback on what they like and did not like about the projects. Peer feedback is very important because they may see something or think of something that I have not thought of about this. I also want to have an evaluation filled out by my students at the end of the year to see how to improve things.



NETS-T Indicator: Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.



Goal:

 To become more Smart Board “literate”

 To help more people in my department with their new literacy skills.



Actions: In order to achieve my goals for this indicator, I plan on working with the Smart Board and the “experts” with the Smart Board in my school. I want to be able to be the “go-to” person in my department for anything with technology. I currently help at in-service days with any technology questions or workshops. I also would like to attend more professional development in the field of the Smart Board to get to know the ins and outs of it.



Monitor Progress: I plan on staying up to date with any Smart Board training that comes available to my school. I am also working on this Master’s Degree with integrating technology into the classroom.



Evaluate and Extend Learning: After each training, I want to have my own training with my department to share what I have learned so that I can continue to be the “go-to” person. I will keep a log of what I learn at each session so that if there are any questions that I may not be able to answer off of the top of my head, I can refer to what has been taught.