Rick Glass

¿Qué significa Navidad para ti?

In order to make any changes in my school, I will need to demonstrate the success of my Second Life activity or any other technology activity. By becoming an expert with the new and emerging technology that I would use in my classroom, I could then begin to show my colleagues the benefits of using that technology in their classrooms. The Second Life activity would absolutely push the boundaries of the technology being used in the classrooms at my school. I believe the best way to make a change like this would be to get a few teachers involved in Second Life and show them the benefits of online collaborations. I would help everyone get set-up and then we could meet together in the virtual world to explore and learn about it. We could then discuss the unlimited potential for its use in various classrooms. We would collaborate and create a presentation for our principal, technology coordinator and curriculum director to show what can be done using Second Life. A presentation in this manner, along with the Second Life activity in my classroom, would demonstrate many of the NETS standards for 21^st century learners and show that several teachers are ready for its implementation and have the ability to help other teachers learn how to use it. If it was adopted for use, all persons involved, teachers and administration, would be given sites such as Horizon Report and ISTE to keep up to date on new and emerging technologies and their impact on education. We would also establish a few teachers to meet periodically to discuss how these technologies could be used in our school. This technology would definitely be disruptive to our school, but I believe that the benefits to teaching and learning would be immense. It would bring the teachers into the students’ world, the world of the digital native, and make the students more interested in the teaching and learning that is happening in the classroom. It would truly give a “Second Life”  to the learning in our school.

Please go to the following link to view my presentation.

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stWUNTRk1IR15WSVlcU1lYXlBW

Differentiated Instruction (and UDL) are both geared towards providing every possible learning opportunity for every student to learn. There are so many barriers that can prevent a child from learning– family life, socio-economic, academic learning problems, interest, etc. , that a teacher would be foolish to atleast try to incorporate a few aspects of DI and UDL into their teaching methods. Each is meant to reduce the learning barriers students may encounter.  DI and UDL are about variety. Providing variety, options and multiples of ways of presenting, comprehending and demonstrating learning has been the basis of how I changed my teaching style many years ago. What this course  has shown me is how to focus what I am doing with technology or pretty much the reasons why I am doing what I am doing in class. At first, it was to increase student interest (as well as my own). Now I realize the research supports the changes I made…brain research, different learning styles, learning profiles,grouping,  etc., all have helped justify my teaching style. Learning about DI and UDL did not strictly come from the course material itself, but from the most valuable and realistic resourece teachers have, their peers.  The Differentiation Station was not just a place to put the resources that we found, it was a place where we could see how other teachers use a variety of methods, ideas, etc. to differentiate their classrooms. The Differentiation Station was our Differentiated Classroom. It provides us variety, options and multiple ways of doing things in our classrooms.  My goal for the upcoming school year is to continue to add at least 2 more ways of presenting information to my students and to provide at least 2 more ways for my students to demonstrate  their learning. This may not seem like lofty goals, but I want to make sure that I do it the right way, then continue to add more the next semester.

I think what I got most out of the GAME Plan system was the organization of ideas that it provides. It really gave me a streamlined focus for what I wanted to accomplish in my classroom. Sometimes it is easy to set a goal, but sometimes the “how” to get there can be scattered. The GAME Plan also helped me focus on what NETS standards I need to improve on- whether it was me personally or just the ones I needed to improve in my classroom usage. I have actually passed along the GAME Plan system and NETS to 2 other colleagues and they are revising one of their preps each for next year. They like it for the same reasons- organization and focus and the want to improve their use of technology in their classrooms.  The most immediate change I have in my classroom is going to come by the end of this year. It is an idea from another Walden student. I am going to match all of my assignments with their NETS standard. I just like to see if what I am doing matches the standards and if I can bring in what I have learned about(blogging, skype, wikis, voicethreads, digitalstory telling, etc.) into my teaching methods to improve other assignments.  Another immediate change will be to the use of wiki’s as an online notebook for all cultural assignments in all of my classes. This will help keep my students organized, they can have access to their notes from home, school,phones, etc. and we will cut down on the use of paper! Overall, the GAME Plan helped me improve the use of technology in my classroom by helping bring the NETS standards in with appropriate technology.

The NETS-S for students has 6 goals.

1.  Creativity and innovation.

2.  Communication and Collaboration.

3.  Research and Information Fluency.

4. Critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.

5.  Digital Citizenship.

6.   Technical operations and concepts.

All of these goals are similar to the goals setforth for teachers, but the difference is the students already are aware of or are able to perform most of these. They are second nature to them. Give a student an assignment with a blog and they can do it with minimal or no help at all.  The thing I can do the best is to continue with and to improve on what I am doing now. I do an activity in the beginning of the year on how to correctly research a topic, finding information more efficiently, looking at sites for key indicators, etc. I need to continue to model proper internet/computer use in class. I need to continue to create and redesign lessons that incorporate critical thinking skills, creativity and students using new technologies that challenge them, all the while engaging them and enhancing what they are learning.  I need to continue to incorporate technologies that they are native to ….blogs, wiki’s, podcasting, along with newer ones…voicethreads, prezi’s, mashon.com, etc. to keep their interest in the class. (some kids like the content, but you lose them with the way they learn the material.) So I guess, my GAME plan for my students is essentially my GAME plan, which is to continue to learn about new technologies to improve  my methods of engaging and challenging my students with authentic learning experiences that help them connect more to my content.

I feel I have had some success already in achieving my GAME Plan. Sometimes as teachers we get busy with other aspects of our jobs-  grading, committee meetings, helping students, changing activities,etc. that we need something to force our hand to help us meet a goal we may have, but never got around to doing it. My GAME plan has really forced me to do just this and I really am glad for it. I also feel my students are glad for it and benefiting from it.  I have already incorporated several new technologies into my Spanish 4 class and will expand that to my Spanish 2 and Spanish 3 classes next year.  I have changed old lessons to include the use of voicethread, prezi, blogs and wikispace’s. All have been met with success as my students have appreciated the change. Now the material and the technlogy for presentations are equally challenging. Power Point is still used, but has been overused to the point where students are now bored with it.  I feel I can still learn a lot more about each new technology I am using, but the great thing is I now have 15 teachers (my students) to show me what they have learned. I want to try to continue to master these new tech’s but also continue to learn about new ones to blend into my classes. I need to continue to take tech courses, professional development classes,  talk to peers and research the internet. I also want to start to follow the NETS standards in my classroom to help prepare my students for life after high school, whether it be the workplace or college, where technology may really be incorporated.

This past week has actually been very productive in terms of carrying out my GAME plan. I have begun the creation of my PREZI presentation over the Aztecs and Mayas. The Aztec portion is completed, but as I learn more about PREZI itself, I find I keep wanting to change what I have done already. But fortunatley the unit does not begin for 3 more weeks. PREZI is just really easy to use. I have even had a few of my Spanish 4 students help me with a few uses of PREZI. ( Some  of my students have used PREZI to present on Cuba and are pretty good with it.) I do encounter problems with PREZI though and I have consulted our tech guru. Apparently our computers or server are the issue, so most work has to be done at home. The great thing about this though is I have showed my son how to use it and he really likes it. He will probably use it with his next project.  I have checked on the microphones I ordered and they will definitely be in next week, so I will have time to get those set up for the Voicethread my classes will do. I just need to decide which assignments they will use it with. I will also need to modify that assignment to include some practice days with Voicethread so my students are familiar with how to use it.  My GAME plan at this point does not need  modified as everything is really going according to plan. I have found any and all information or resources needed and with the exception of technical difficulties, all has been smooth sailing. I have learned to try and not do too much or get to complicated with a new technology. I really want to keep it simple, show my students how to use it in its’ basic form and then let them explore and try new things with it. Then they can show off to other students what they can do or they can teach other students (and me) how to do what can.  My only real question is … Why can’t my district provide valuable inservices such as learning how to incorporate new technologies in to the classroom instead of  listening to someone speak about motivating students (usually in some  traditional manner)???  Just these  2 new technologies have changed so much in my class, I can’t imagine  what it would be like if I had better computers, updated methods and ideas, etc.

There are several items that I will need or need to follow-through on in order to fulfill my GAME plan. I have already put in a request to our Curriculum Department for the purchase of 15 microphones to be used with our schools’ new lap top computers. (I have already reserved the new lap tops for the time needed.)My request has been granted and I should have the microphones in mid-April. I am planning on using a Voicethread project with my Spanish 4 class. I am also planning on using PREZI, which is a free online presentational site I discovered while researching for a Walden assignment. I will use PREZI to present information about the Aztecs and Mayas and then the students will create their own PREZI presentations about the Aztec or  Mayan artifact they will create. By doing this, Iwill have completed one of my goals- Model/Using new technologies in the classroom. I  have also asked my principal to pass along any magazine he gets that has articles about technology in the schools. He receives “Technology for the 21st Century” magazine and has promised to pass it along to me when he is finished with each issue. The magazine usually has articles dealing with new ideas being tried in schools today, but also focuses on future technologies that are being tried. I feel that by accomplishing these two goals, I will improve the Project-Based Learning that happens in my classroom and I will also show to my students that I am trying to use a variety of new technologies to help them learn and keep them engaged in Spanish.

When I was looking at the NETS standards for teachers on the ISTE website, it really drove home what I do well in class and what I do not do well. What I believe I do well is follow standards 1, 2 and 4.  I believe that I help facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity(1), design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assesments(2) and promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility(4). I have really always stressed to my students to be as creative as possible in all activities and projects that we do in class and to use any form of technology that they are familiar with. I also have always provided different manners in which projects can be accomplished, to therefore try to reach as many learning styles as possible.  But, I also feel I can greatly improve in 2 areas to improve my classroom. Standard 3c  discusses modeling and using current or new technologies in the classroom. I think I could really improve in this area because most of the time when I explain a project and how it needs done, I usually just pass out a handout and explain it. I will simply tell the class to use Power Point, Voicethread, Edublogs, Wiki’s or Prezi.  What I really think would be more effective and what would truly show the power and benefits of these technologies would be to use them to explain the project. To show the students what needs done and how it can be done by using the technology to do it. I feel they would be more excited by what they are about to learn about and create with.  It would be beneficial to take notes on how the students respond and what could be modified after I present the information to each class. Also, I would like to hear student’s comments about what we are doing and how it was presented–whether it was clearer, better to see the technology used as an example, etc. Student input is really the thing I think is the most important to make anything work better in class.  My second area of improvement is standard 5, which deals with constantly researching, reflecting on and trying to utilize current and new technologies in the classroom. Obviously, this is being supported by taking courses through Walden. But, it is something that I will need to continue to research on my own or by taking further courses. I can also find out about new technologies by talking with peers not only from my school but other schools or attending conferences in my subject area. I believe I have to constantly evaluate and reevaluate what I am doing in my classroom in order to keep it current and interesting, not only for me but my students as well. How many times can you see a Power Point? I have to realize there are more interesting ways to teach activities and projects and keep searching for those new methods.