How to Making Learning Fun, Relevant, and Technology Infused...

As a conclusion to my final class at Walden University, I completed a course project that consisted of a learning activity that incorporated a multi-user learning environment and a digital game, among many other things. In addition, I had to write a report defending the use of the emerging technology I chose for the learning activity and a grant proposal to obtain funding to implement the technology.
My learning activity for kindergarten consisted of utilizing online and interactive books, a virtual fieldtrip on Second Life, web organizers on Kidspiration, Tag by Leap Frog, and VoiceThreads. The learning activity concluded with having students apply what they learned in the classroom to their community. Students celebrated Earth day and what they learned by problem solving to make their school a better place.

By completing this assignment I have shown that most of what educators do in the classroom should involve exciting and motivating the students we are teaching enough that they want and yearn to learn about this world we are living in. The democratization of knowledge requires that schools include digital content, filtered appropriately, within the school curriculum. The excellent online resources that now make information accessible to anyone that integrating this content into the curriculum is limited only by the teacher’s imagination (Lemke & Coughlin, The Change Agents, 2009). I must say that when I was first beginning my new teaching position in Kindergarten, I wondered how much I could really integrate technology into the classroom, let alone new emerging technologies with such young students. Once I began utilizing what I learned, I found that my students were very open and ready for any technology I threw at them. I found that my students loved using VoiceThread and I was able to influence the teacher across the hall to use it as well, since she happened to walk in while we were using it. I sent out an email to teachers about our Earth day project using VoiceThread and students and teachers from other grades plan on commenting on our class’s VoiceThread and we are entering the project into the technology fair for our district. We are the only Kindergarten class from our school entering a class project into the county’s technology fair. Schools are still using materials developed to teach the students of decades ago, but today’s students are actually very different in the way they think and work. Teaching Kindergarten this online communication offers a way for students to communicate what they are learning through texting or recording their voices. It offers students an opportunity to create for specific audiences and get feedback on their work. Online communication tools would motivate and excite students while preparing them for their lives in the 21st century.

I learned that to properly integrate new technology, it really just requires my teaching the students the proper use of the technology and then modeling and using it consistently. In addition, I learned from this course how to research and then influence others within the school to utilize new technology as well. Yet again, this requires a persistent mode of continually modeling and justifying the need for the technology. For instance, by becoming familiar with MUVEs such as second life, teachers may be able to integrate the use of virtual worlds in the classroom. Second Life is similar to a virtual fieldtrip through the use of an interactive avatar. Students can experience worlds that they may never see otherwise. More and more educators are becoming well-versed in virtual worlds because of their educational implications (Dembo, 2008). Another advantage or reason why gaming should be considered as a possibility in the learning environment should be the ever growing popularity of gaming in our society today. Even the intuitive assumption that a lot of people today play video games doesn’t begin to measure how widespread game playing really is. Half the population of the United States plays video games (DeKanter, 2005). If this is what our students may be enjoying in their free time, why not give them an opportunity to do what they enjoy in school as well and make what they are learning fun?

Many of the issues and problems we face as educators can be reduced with new and emerging technologies. By keeping current with online journals such as The Horizon Report, teachers can find technology that may benefit the students. A smart object can be tied to related information in a variety of media, placing itself within a rich context that is made plain simply by following the connection (Johnson, 2009). As an option for a center during our reading blocks here at our school we are able to use books on tape or CDs as a listening station. At this type of center students wear headphones and listen to a reading of a book and they are supposed to read along with a physical book from the tape to promote their literacy. The problem with this type of center is that it does not help or encourage the child to track the print of the book as it is read and is not very interactive. How could we solve this problem with technology? In the New Horizons 2009 Report I found a new, emerging technology called The Tag by LeapFrog, aimed at very young children. The Tag is a pen-shaped device that allows kids to interact with specially printed books and other materials. Children listen to the story, hear words pronounced, and play games by tapping the pen on the pages (Johnson, 2009). By utilizing this device we are encouraging the students to track the print while it is read as the pen offers the option of reading aloud only if the student places the pen on each word. In addition, this technology uses games to excite the learner about reading. What more could we ask for? Technology is how we will engage and excite learners in the 21st century. Schools like ours need to recognize this, adapt to current student needs and identify new learning models that are engaging to younger generations (Johnson, 2009).

The advent of low-cost global communications has led to mass collaboration in the social, economic, and political sectors (Lemke & Coughlin, The Change Agents, 2009). To increase collaboration among students beyond the walls of the classroom, students need the tools to communicate their thoughts and ideas. From this course I learned how to justify the need for specific technologies and find the funding to purchase them as well. I plan to pursue funding for the technologies in the learning activity through the The Grants Program sponsored by EPA's Environmental Education Division (EED), Office of Children's Health Protection and Environmental Education. Their grants support environmental education projects that enhance the public's awareness, knowledge, and skills to help people make informed decisions that affect environmental quality. EPA awards grants each year based on funding appropriated by Congress. Annual funding for the program ranges between $2 and $3 million. Most grants will be in the $15,000 to $25,000 range.

By obtaining funding through grants to utilize online access to virtual worlds such as Second Life, Tag by LeapFrog, flipcams, digital cams, and microphones we are providing the tools our students will need to survive in a digital age that involves communicating our thoughts and views. By encouraging and utilizing literacy and oral, as well as, digital communication of thought, students will read, role play, learn, create and take action to communicate, promote, and problem solve how we may better protect and enhance our environment. The value of online communication tools goes well beyond social interaction. Access to these tools gives students an opportunity to experience learning in multiple ways, to develop a public voice, to make connections with others around the world, and to compare their own ideas with those of their peers (Johnson, 2009).

Works Cited
DeKanter, N. (2005). Gaming redefines interactivity for learning. TechTrends , 26-32.

Dembo, S. (2008). Virtual Worlds for Educators. District Administration , 48-52.

Johnson, L. L. (2009). The 2009 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. The New Media Consortium. Austin, Texas.

Lemke, C., & Coughlin, E. (2009). The Change Agents. Educational Leadership , 54-59.

Online Learning In Elementary School

Take a peak at this VoiceThread on Online Learning in Elementary School. Please post your thoughts...

Combining Universal Design for Learning and Differentiated Instruction Through Technology Integration

The fundamental nature of the recognition, strategic, and affective networks form a framework we can use to analyze our students' individual strengths and weaknesses and understand their individual differences (Meyer, Rose, & Meyer, 2002). Although I cannot peer into the inner workings of every student’s brain, I can use what educators have gained from brain research to adjust how I am teaching to be sure I am appealing to all three groups of the brain network by making sure multiple demonstrations, expression, and engagement opportunities for students are provided. By avoiding categorizing students into what type of learner they are and instead varying how we teach by adjusting lessons that appeal to the three groups of the brain network, teachers are reaping the benefits of understanding the learning brain (Laureate Education, 2009).

As teachers, understanding the pattern of strengths and weaknesses within a learner's recognition networks can help us individualize the kind of challenge and support we provide, thus maximizing every student's opportunity to learn (Meyer, Rose, & Meyer, 2002). By recognizing the individual differences of students, teachers can appeal to each student’s individual differences.
To determine students’ interests, learning styles, intelligence preferences, and learning profiles, I plan to use a variety of resources I obtained from colleagues, the internet, and resources from this course. These resources include interest inventories, multiple intelligences sites, and my own brief survey. I plan to use these resources towards the beginning of the year to give me an idea of how my students may prefer to learn best. This will help me gear lessons towards student interests, preferences, and needs to motivate learning while addressing student diversity.

Making use of the multiple intelligences in the classroom enhances students’ opportunities for learning and gives them(students) more options for how they learn (Smith & Throne, 2007). Multimedia, MI (Multiple Intelligences) Way is a site designed for both students and teachers. I plan to use this site to facilitate students with selection of a product idea that will serve as a communication tool for processing and sharing any information they have gathered or are currently studying. It helps them analyze what type of learning strengths they possess, yet also provides the teacher with a printable graph to record the intelligences in the class. I plan to use the interactive whiteboard and explain all of the intelligences to the students using this site. I would have students decide what type of learner/martian they feel they are most like. I would explain to the students the ideas mentioned on this site as possible ways they may show their understanding of our unit story. We would complete a product as a class that appeals to certain intelligences and also integrates the use of technology to serve as a model. Technology easily complements activities based on multiple intelligences and allows teachers to support students with distinct learning profiles (Smith & Throne, 2007). Finally, I would guide and encourage students through a scaffolding approach to integrate the use of technology and complete their own products for other content we learn throughout the year using their preferred style of learning.

Differentiated Instruction (DI) theory is founded on the premise that instructors not only recognize the importance of adjusting tactics to better suit ever-changing classroom dynamics, but they also follow through with those modifications (Smith & Throne, 2007). I plan to use tiered lesson plans that offer at least 3 different levels for the students.

The Tiered Curriculum Project is a site created by the Indiana Department of Education and offers sample lessons that integrate differentiated lessons by readiness, interest, and learning styles for grades kindergarten through twelfth grade in math, science, and language arts. I will use the site examples as my guide to designing tiered lessons that will address the achievement gaps I am seeing in phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, and fluency. In addition, I plan to utilize sites that will reinforce student’s varying levels of abilities. In differentiated classrooms, teachers begin where students are, not the front of a curriculum guide. They accept and build upon the premise that learners differ in important ways. Thus, they also accept and act on the premise that teachers must be ready to engage students in instruction through different learning modalities, by appealing to differing interests, and by using varied rates of instruction along with varied degrees of complexity. In differentiated classrooms, teachers ensure that a student competes against himself as he grows and develops more than he competes against other students (Tomlinson, Differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners, 1999).

The resources I obtained from cohorts in the Differentiation Station social network for my most recent Walden University course were invaluable. A group of my cohorts and I developed a social network using Ning. I plan to evaluate, use, and share fellow students’ projects on how to use technology and Universal Design for Learning from Week Four’s application. I thought the way other teachers in the course presented the information was creative and useful and I would like to modify my own project to include the ideas that they expressed and possibly use their projects to educate fellow teachers within my district. Another component we shared on the Ning network that I have already used in the classroom included web resources for Week Five’s application. For Week Five we conducted research and located resources for using technology to differentiate instruction by readiness, interest, and learning profile. After we conducted the research, we shared the sites we found on our social network. By sharing these sites I was able to add more resources to my bag of tricks to implementing both DI and technology integration. My group came up with different resources that I may have never found on my own.

Works Cited
Laureate Education. (2009). Brain Research and UDL.

Meyer, Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2002). Chapter 2: What Brain Research Tells Us About Learner Differences. Retrieved January 25, 2010, from CAST Teaching Every
Student: http://www.cast.org/teachingeverystudent/ideas/tes

Smith, G., & Throne, S. (2007). Differentiating instruction with technology in K-5 classrooms. Belmont: International Society for Technology in Education.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Alexandria: Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development.

Reflection

As I reflect on the GAME plan I developed throughout my course at Walden University, I actually find that I am grateful that I was introduced to such a goal oriented strategy. I feel I am constantly trying to better myself as an educator. Creating goals for myself is never easy for me. I have no problem identifying what areas I may need improvement with, but when it comes to how I will develop a plan towards attaining my goals, I get a bit overwhelmed. I appreciate how the GAME plan organizes the process of learning into 4 main categories of setting goals, taking actions, monitoring, and evaluating/extending.

Effective teachers model and apply the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) as they design, implement, and assess learning experiences (ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008). When I developed my two goals using the GAME plan, I made sure the goals I set integrated technology. To do this, I evaluated the NETS•S standards and identified standards that I felt were attainable and relevant to my career as a kindergarten teacher and the students I taught. Here are my two game plan goals I set…

THE GAME PLAN #1

3b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation (ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008).

Set Goals- Learn more about how other Kindergarten teachers and classroom are using weblogs or blogs to communicate with others.

Take Action- Analyze and explore various blogs to decide what format will work best and prove most beneficial for the students, parents, and community I teach in.

Monitor- Make a list of the characteristics that would help to make the blog beneficial. Critically analyze other teacher’s blogs by listing and identifying negative and positive details of select blogs. Review how other teachers are using the technology by attending conferences, reading journal and magazine articles, or searching the web (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

Evaluate and Extend- Collaborate with cohorts and peers to decide which type of blog would be most useful. Identify what purposes it will serve. How will the blog be used in the classroom, community, and school, as well as, with students and parents?

THE GAME PLAN #2

5b. exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others (ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008).

Set Goals- Participate in and join committees that reinforce technology integration and 21st century learning while helping peers to integrate technology on a regular basis.

Take Action- Develop and share lesson plans that integrate technology through the use of specific software, internet, and devices that are most beneficial for students and teachers at the elementary level. Model and encourage technology infused lessons.

Monitor- List what software, internet sites, and devices are already available within the district and school. Identify how members of the committees I am on, my team, and teachers in my school are already integrating technology. Review and compile ways that technology is being used well and ways that it is not. List specific technologies that are not currently being used, but would probably serve as useful with enhancing learning.

Evaluate and Extend- Share lists with cohorts and peers of what technology is available to teachers and students and how often it is used. Collaborate to determine what lesson plans and policies should be put into place to encourage the development of leadership and technology skills.

The first goal I developed, GAME plan #1 became a difficult goal to meet. I was able to find plenty of blogs to serve as models for my own class blog but was told by technology leaders that I could not conduct a class blog. However, I decided that it would still be useful for to evaluate the blogs out there and find which type of blog would be best to create and use what I have learned regarding blogs in education as evidence to the “powers that be”. I decided from my research that the blog I created would be a combination of a personal journal of my teachings, as well as, a formal group discussion between parents, students, and myself regarding what we are learning. The blog would include photos, videos, and text that communicate and reinforce educational goals to parents and students. As indicated by colleagues, the blog would serve as a way for parents to feel more involved with their child’s school, classroom, teacher, and learning. It would make the parents feel as if they were physically there for some of the lessons. It would also lessen the gap of communication between myself as the teacher and the parents of the students I am teaching. In regards to GAME plan #1, I feel my evaluation of blogs and how a blog would be used by myself have been well established. I would like to alter my goal to include proving to technology leaders that this format of blogging would be beneficial in our schools and gain approval to use my own blog as such.

The second goal I developed using the GAME plan strategy involved participation with technology integration and 21st century learning committees that reinforce technology integration and technology use in education among peers. I have attained the goal of sharing what I already know about technology among peers by becoming part of the technology committees, as well as, sharing lesson ideas that integrate technology within my grade level team. I would like to make this more of a school-wide effort by extending my GAME plan to include encouraging the staff as a whole to share their lesson ideas that integrate technology. It would be beneficial to conduct sharing or study groups where teachers can meet and share knowledge and/or gain insight on the most innovative ways of integrating technology in the classroom. I would like to propose this idea to the committee I am currently serving on.

As a result of my learning from this course, I have gained even further proof as to why teachers must stay up to date and knowledgeable of the most innovative ways to teach. Educators must stay aware of the strategies that will be most applicable to properly preparing our students for future endeavors beyond the classroom. Over the last few decades, as technology has become more prevalent in our everyday lives, both educators and business and industry leaders have increasingly stressed the importance of developing students’ creative and critical thinking skills (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Therefore, it is essential that teachers understand these concepts as it will properly prepare and benefit our students with their future endeavors. As teachers, we really must work hard to create lessons that are more interesting and engaging for students. Technology can be used to spark that initial interest of the students and assist them with becoming more connected with content, as well. I plan to adjust how I plan lessons by including National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS•S) within the standards I address in daily lesson plans, even though it isn’t required by the school district I teach in at this point. Stating the NETS•S that lessons address will serve as a reminder to myself as an educator of the importance and value technology has on student learning. It will remind me to enhance lesson to excite the students. In addition, I plan to utilize the GAME plan strategy in my life to establish more organized goals for myself as a teacher and grow as a professional. By doing so, I will, in turn, positively influence the students I teach and the fellow educators I interact with.

Works Cited:

Education, L. (Director). (2009). Enriching Content Area Learning Part One [Motion Picture].

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. Retrieved November 2, 2009, from International Society for Technology in Education: http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

For my students to realize the relevance and importance of utilizing the GAME plan process and the NETS-S standards, I feel it would be beneficial for students to have the process explained to them continually. To do this, I will make sure that every lesson I utilize with the students involving technology integration will include specific components. I will offer a preview of the lesson we will learn by breaking it down into the Goals, Actions, Monitor, and Evaluation components. To explain the Goals portion of the plan I will explain the ISTE NETS-S standards and instructional objectives the lesson will address. Next, I will share what exactly we will be doing for the Action step of the plan. To address the Monitor portion of the plan I will explain how I will conduct ongoing assessments during the Action portion of the GAME plan. Finally, I will explain how we will conduct the Evaluation form of the lesson. As students are continually exposed to the GAME plan process before lessons, they will understand how the GAME plan process ties into learning and technology. If students experience this process enough it may become internalized to the point that they utilize this format of planning with learning independently. Utilizing the GAME plan will help students organize their thoughts when they are learning something new. It places importance on establishing goals and taking an active role in learning, especially when it involves technology.

My GAME Plan Update

I think my actions so far have helped me to move further towards completing my first goal of The GAME PLAN #1- 3b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation (ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008). However, I feel I am at a standstill due to district regulations. I am hoping I will get approval to run a class blog soon and am remaining optimistic. I have learned that before conducting specific lessons involving the internet, teachers should take care with making sure they are adhering to their school’s policies and rules. I still need to figure out how I can best present my intentions to the supervisor of technology. I would like to create an example, but am worried it would be too presumptuous of me.

My other portion of the plan The GAME Plan #2- 5b. exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others (ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008). By becoming a part of the technology committee, encouraging professional development for technology education, and sharing lessons that integrate technology with my peers, I feel I am well on my way to accomplishing this goal. So far, I have no plans of adjusting this goal until I feel it has been met, which I don’t think will ever happen. I believe this will be an ongoing goal for me as I am always evolving and learning when it comes to exhibiting leadership and demonstrating a vision of technology infusion.

On My Way...

THE GAME PLAN #1

3b. Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation(ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008).

Even though utilizing edline and beginning to create my own webpage on there does somewhat get me closer to meeting my first game plan goal of using technology to collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members, I feel that this method does not allow for creativity. The goal of our district adopting this method of online communication is for the factor of the pages appearing more uniform. I really feel this is not a good reason to buy a website building program. In addition, I believe that education does not consist of constant uniformity such as theses webpages. There should be more creativity involved with webpage development, especially since we are dealing with the business of education. It needs to be exciting and appealing or the students, parents, and community members won’t use it.

I researched the possibility of utilizing a blog in my district and found many roadblocks. First of all, the technology director of our county is pushing the edline website method within all the schools so hard that we must get permission if we want a blog. She wants what we do to be uniform where I want to add more creativity and interactivity with parents and students using a blog. In addition, the speed of our internet, she feels is not fast enough to support students accessing the blog. However, I want to purpose that we access it as a class until the faster lines are installed in few months. The next problem I faced involved finding a blog provider that allows no one outside your class can view or participate without your permission and that is free. I know the point of blogging is that we share with the world. Yet, I would like to begin the process on a smaller more secure level at first.

I have learned that classpress offers secure blogs at a price of 29.95 per year, which isn’t half bad when you see the blog’s relevance. However, my goal was to go with a blog that was free, but secure. This is really a trial run that I prefer not to pay for. I think that when you add the privacy factor of the blog to protect students, you are looking at the blogging service that is no longer free. I searched and searched for the possibility of a trial blog through this company but my search proved unsuccessful. Maybe Santa will give the gift of a free and secure site for me this holiday season. One can hope!
I have also looked through the current blog provider I am using and found that I can adjust some privacy settings. I will embed a video below this post that seemed to enlighten me on bloggers privacy settings. Yet, I am still unsure of exactly which setting adjustments I should make. Should I make parents authors by adding their email addresses or should I set it to where I must approve each person that views it? I want this blog to be resourceful and easily accessible for students and parents, yet still remain secure and safe for my students allowing only the people I permit to view the blog. I would appreciate possible suggestions that any of you may offer me with this.



THE GAME PLAN #2
5b. exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others (ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education), 2008).

We just met for our second technology committee leadership meeting this week. There are a great deal of Promethean Boards getting installed within our school which is very exciting. I suggested that we offer Promethean Board training sessions for teacher assistants based on the fact that both of my morning and afternoon assistant showed interest in learning more about using the Promethean Boards so they can be utilized during their times in the classroom.

My plans to encourage the rest of the team with conducting more weekly computer lab time that integrates reading by coordinating lessons with the lab assistant and continuing to add lessons to the student share drive so students may access the programs is coming along well. The lab assistant and I have already met and worked together with finding time slots in the lab for our 5 kindergarten classes. Turns out, after 1:30 almost every day is available, although this is not the reading time in our day, administration approves us taking this additional time to integrate technology into reading. We have been warned that if the teachers and students do not begin to utilize the lab we may lose it so I find it very necessary that we try to make a lab like Sarah Anderson’s school labs where it is difficult to use it because so many are utilizing the resource. We have already met and everyone is on board.