Wednesday, September 29, 2010

GAME Plan: Reality Check!

Unfortunately, I am not finding the information and resources I need with my goal of incorporating epals. Responses to my requests to collaborate, using epal, has not proven successful thus far. I still am unable to access the personal emails sent by people registered on epals. Because this source does not seem reliable enough for my needs, I decided to alter my original GAME plan. Although students will not be able to write to other students across the nation, they can still share about our school community to a world- wide audience. Using the following website, created by Richardson, http://myschool.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Schools_in_Minnesota, I plan to have students create a wiki page about our school. When I looked, there is not a Minnesota school listed on this wiki site. Students can look at a variety of ways students created their wiki page about their school. It allows easy access to downloading videos and pictures. This option is more promising, as it offers a reliable, trusted authentic environment.

Progress on my goal to increase my knowledge using iPods has been slow. I called the Apple store to set up an one-one-one appointment. They did not have me registered; as my activation code did not go through. I spent half an hour on the phone trying to get it all settled. My goal is to schedule an appointment with in the next week.

I have developed a list of what I’d like to accomplish with the consultant. First, I want to upgrade my educational applications on the iPod. I want to research the latest educational applications that relate to reading and writing. I also want help transferring students’ work from the iPods onto desktop computers. Next, I want help using software to edit videos and publishing them to the internet. Finally, I want to become more familiar with different ways the iPod could be used in the classroom.

Through this process I have learned the best looking plan means nothing unless it can effectively implemented. This is true of my epals goal. The novel idea of corresponding with others around the globe in real time was appealing. However, the logistics of making this happen were not practical. The many glitches I encountered, without the kind of expert support I needed to trouble shoot, lead me to alter my plan. One thing I need to account for in the future is the kind of support that I will have access to when using a resource.

New questions that have resulted from my GAME plan revolve around the word ‘how?’ How do I use the resources, once I have understood how they work? How will I effectively teach students to use these resources? How will I maintain my knowledge and keep up with the evolving state of these resources? How will I know that the resource is positively impacting and enhancing students’ understanding of concepts?

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Review of my GAME Plan

Resources:
In order to address goal one, I will contact Dave at the Apple Store who specializes in helping educators. He will be able to help me create, manipulate, and trouble shoot in a variety of areas.
To address goal two, I need to access the epals website and find out how to read the emails I have received from interested teachers. I may need to read a help button or contact their support services to remedy this roadblock.

Additional Information:
Goal one: I need to research what kind of movie maker I want to use. I need to make sure I have accounted for all the iPod applications I already have. I need to generate a list of questions and goals that I want to accomplish when meeting with the Apple consultant.
Goal Two: I need to further research the epals website. By doing so, I may be able to find other links to ways I can connect with other classrooms.

Steps taken so far:
Goal One: I activated my membership on www.apple.com/onetoone/activate.
Goal Two: On the epal educator site, I posted interest in working with other teachers.

Learning Strategy: The learning strategy I will employ will be to use the GAME plan strategy. I will keep my goals in mind, take the steps above to make my goals, monitor my progress and evaluate if I have successfully met my goals. In addition, I will keep a KWHL journal to track my progress. I may color code items that need more attention and use graphic organizers to connect concepts (Cennamo, Ross, Ertmer, 2009).

Friday, September 17, 2010

Goals for Implementing Technology Standards in the Classroom

One area I would like to strengthen is in promoting and modeling digital citizenship. Specifically, I would like to “develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools” (ISTE, 2008). To achieve these goals, ideally I want to become an active member of epals, an online global community for educators. Using this tool, I would like to find a classroom in which to collaborate with from another culture or region of the United States. Each student in my class would receive a pen pal. Students would collaborate on a similar project that emphasizes each students’ unique culture.

My second goal is to extend my knowledge of digital tools for educators, or “…to model and facilitate effective use of current emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate and use information resources to support research and learning” (ISTE, 2008). I plan to achieve this by meeting with an expert. Thanks to one of my friends, I have a one-year APPLE computer consultation. This allows me to have one-on-one tutorials with an APPLE representative. During the session, I hope to gain confidence using new digital tools. This in turn will increase my ability to model how to effectively use these tools in the classroom.

After locating a resource and digital tool, I will strive to implement the digital tool seamlessly into the curriculum. The success of using the digital tools will be based on what students learn from it. Students’ journals and reflection will help indicate whether or not the goal was met, along with my personal reflection along the way.