Tensions in our roles as women

https://ifgathering.com/2013/09/tensions-in-our-roles-as-women/#.U1q2zuZdXrA

Synthesizing UDL and DI

Reflection (EDUC 6713)

Following the GAME plan to gain knowledge and accomplish a particular goal was a meaningful and conscious experience. Setting goals is important in that they establish purpose for doing things. We identify what we need or want to accomplish and should understand why we want to accomplish it so that we are moved to action by our motivation. For everyone relevance propels efforts because we believe that something is important to have or accomplish. I was reminded that I must even evaluate my goals prior to pursuing them to ensure that my motives align with what I believe.

It is then that action will be maintained throughout the duration of the process. Here I was reminded of how important it is to plan for our success.  Not that there can't be any fault in planning but a sense of direction is then acquired to build confidence at every turn because you know where you're going or at least where you plan to go.

A sense of awareness takes root and begins to grow to stay focus - our monitoring of our progress.  That conscious watching over what we are doing and questioning that progress against the criteria we set in our goals.  This is why I believe goal setting should be specific in nature so that we can precisely judge our every step toward our wants or desires.

Lastly, we evaluate the process, determining whether our goals were met.  We also reflect on our learning process.  How well did it work and what didn't work.  We ask ourselves questions that help us to improve on the strategies we used. This is wonderful and takes self discipline and a sense of awareness.  I think it cycles back around to what we believe.  If we believe that evaluating our experiences is important then we will do it - no excuses.

I currently integrate technology into the classroom as a result of the learning I have received here at Walden.  The most enhancement I gained from this particular course is the problem based learning.  Using the inquiry research approach to teach students.  This is where I want to change the learning in my classroom to a more active learning environment.

Upon beginning this in the last 3 months of school in a more structured way, I saw my students become more self-directed, motivated and engaged.  Their learning was enhanced as a result of it.  I became more of a facilitator to their learning oppose to having to lecture all the time.  I realized this was a good thing. They willing collaborated with each other in groups and sometimes groups discussed learning with each other.  They helped each other learn to use the technology.  We blogged book letters and reflected on our learning in a wiki discussion board.  I also posted information there that allowed students to have a reference to go to when they needed to review instructions and other information.  We used digital storytelling primarily in social studies, one activity in science and one in writing.  I plan to use this tool more in other subject areas in the upcoming year.  I also want to expose my students to collaborate and communicate with students abroad using ePals or Skype.

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

My action plan does not need modification at this time.  I do need to begin selecting the standards that I want to focus students’ learning on during their authentic experience of engaging in inquiry research using digital tools that model digital-age work.  Tomorrow I will be reviewing the stories that are presented in our anthology that support informational learning.  I remember during guided reading using a leveled reader that discussed the scientific method while informing us about dolphins.  This story could be one of the read alouds that I use to teach reading strategies and skills, science information, and geography skills while at the same time activating and or establishing background knowledge that leads to an authentic learning experience integrated with supportive technology.  I know that allowing students to explore their own choice in inquiry is critical to motivating and maintaining engagement, however, since there is an extensive amount of standards that students are expected to master during the year, I want to constrain their choices by focusing them on authentic learning experiences that align with state mandated standards.  My goal is to create an authentic learning experience that is comprehensive in nature crossing curriculum lines.

While I have read through informational material on the Edublog website teaching procedures on how to enhance blog sites, I have yet to join the constructing of knowledge by engaging in their professional learning community.  I am already a member of their site and have actually subscribed to their blog.  I have read them and mentally noted information that may be useful in future learning activities.  My reasoning for not posting a question on the site as of yet is because many of the questions I have, have already been addressed through other subscribers’ post.   

I am working on a letter to parents asking for their email addresses as this will be the preferred communication tool to share concerns and pose questions ensuring that students receive timely support for academic success.  This is something I would like to include on the class website and parents may comply with this request during open house using desktop computers in the room.  I will need to seek information on exactly how to embed the fill in the blank and submission form to the blog site.

Carrying out My Game Plan

In effort to continue strengthening my confidence and proficiency using strategies to seamlessly integrate technology into the content area instruction I need to consider the resources needed to carry out the actions listed in my GAME plan.  My goal is to comply with NETS-T 3 modeling digital-age work and learning through knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society (ISTE, 2008).  The 3 plans of action include continuing my graduate course work at Walden University, applying the knowledge learned during this course study – as well as any independent research that I may pursue to further my professional development, and further developing my class blog for the upcoming school year to include a monthly newsletter, calendar with weekly agenda, pictures of students at work, topic of learning, and student learning presented via voicethreads and other digital tools.

Resources I will need to carry out my plan include my laptop, course work and videos, access to the internet to obtain my course work in that it is an online program.  When considering the application of the knowledge learned, the resources vary depending on the digital technology being learned.  Most of these technologies are online based and I have learned depending on the number of students or the type of work they are engaging in there are yearly subscription fees that enable you to gain access to more tools, control, and accessibility that your class may need.

My NETS-T GAME Plan

To develop a GAME plan in order to strengthen my understanding of this’ week resources and to develop a supportive, professional learning community I reviewed the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) to reflect on my strengths and areas in need of improvement.  I determined that I should focus on one standard to work and select two indicators within that standard.  By doing this I rationalized that I can become proficient in those areas more quickly because they are encompassed under the same standard thereby reducing distraction and frustration of attempting to maintain understanding of multiple bits of information all at once. 

My goal is that I want to become more confident and proficient in area 3 of the (National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T):  Model Digital-Age Work and Learning which states that teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society (ISTE, 2008).  The two specific indicators that stood out to me most as areas of need are first, teacher communicates relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats (ISTE, 2008).  Secondly, teacher models and facilitates effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning (ISTE, 2008).

The actions that I plan to take include continuing my graduate course work at Walden University to receive my Masters in Education with a specialization in integrating technology in the classroom.  In this effort I am gaining a wealth of knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society through the reading material and course assignments that allow me to put learned skills to practice.  I will continue to apply as much as possible within the resources available to me in my current teaching position.  Another action step that focuses on indicator c of standard 3 involves further developing my class blog to include a monthly newsletter and an agenda listing important dates and activities, pictures of students at work, topics of learning, and student learning presented via voicethreads and other digital tools.  I will also communicate student successes and challenges via email and encourage parents to use it to communicate questions and concerns to me as well. A third action that I will implement is in the beginning of the year to incorporate a long term inquiry research project that teaches students the steps of inquiry research.  Using materials and resources that I have learned in my graduate course work, a good set of lesson handouts and activities within a workbook that I already had, and a class set of a fun book that I received free with an order through Scholastic to help students relate to young boy’s journey through a research project, I will teach the students how to engage in inquiry research.

I will monitor my progress by staying on track with my courses (I only have 2 left after this course).  Encouraging myself along the way and focusing on how far I have come and the short distance I have left to complete my degree.  I will compare my applications – such as building my blog site by creating static pages with other teachers’ sites and asking them to preview my site asking for tips and strategies to keep this a stress free task.  Engage in an online professional learning community to learn the most proficient ways to communicate class activities to include making the students responsible for updating certain information on the blog.  I will create a lesson plan and digital lessons over the summer to help me to manage the implementation of inquiry research activities that I will complete with the students during the school year.

Finally, I will evaluate and extend my learning by creating an e-portfolio for professional development where I will journal my reflections on how each section of my GAME plan goes.  I will journal this information chronologically as I focus the entries in the GAME plan order.  I would like to include links and widgets that include samples of the work completed by both myself and my students to include the lesson plan, lessons, copies of the handouts used, products constructed, and my thoughts along the way (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer’s, 2009).

References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashxhttp://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Action Research a different kind of research