Technology in our classs….how do you use it?

This class has introduced me to some new and exciting pieces of technology.  Through this class it has brought some thoughts to my mind about different ways of implementing technology.  Some pieces of technology are new to me and others that aren’t new I have learned some possible uses for them.  Throughout this class we have talked about 21st century learners and how their interests are changing.  With the addition of technology we can bring interest into the classroom.

One thing that week 6 and 7 did for me was make me research a little bit into my own resources and what I could bring to the school.  As a p.e. teacher we are limited somewhat in what we can do with technology.  I had some ideas and did some research and the activities that I found would be great to put into our classroom.

There was also discussions of writing grants to fund these new technologies.  I think it is a really good idea and here in my school district we have access to grants that might be able to help us acquire this technology.  Another good point about the technology that I found was that is relatively cheap.  We would need to pay for the new systems and the games but we wouldn’t need to pay for much more.

The biggest adjustment I will make is allowing more technology into my classroom.  As long as students can use it for learning purposes I will allow them to use it.  A lot of teachers are still really uptight about that and it makes it difficult for themselves because they are fighting a never ending battle.

The resources I will use will be the ones we learned about for gaging our students interests.  Surveys will help me understand how my students learn and what their interests are.  Learning styles are observed and I will try to implement strategies to accommodate the students styles.

This is really important for the differientiated style because you can set different students or groups up to learn how fits them the best. 

The most immediate adjustment I will make is including the surveys to the students at the beginning of the semester.  Our schools are currently getting ready to start and with this being fresh in my mind I will be able to implement them. 

I really enjoyed this class because I kind of differentiate the way it is, but with small other tools I can do a better job.  Small things can make a big difference with learners.  With these tools I can make a move in the direction that can help my students learn.

I liked the GAME plan in the end. It really puts you on a specific course of action and a direction. I like the technology we put into it and I think the kids will like the activities that accompany the product. I think that the game plan demonstrates the appropriate activities and learning objectives that the district that I work in really wants us to use with our students. I think also this is off the beaten path for activities that the kids usually do in their health classes so by implementing this the students will feel like they are doing something new and interesting. It is a big project but it really gets the students thinking about their material.

The new learning that occurred is mostly from the new ideas and completing the overall game plan. I don’t have any units currently that involve this much technology and I think that is a big step in my learning. Our district is really pushing technology and with the implementation of this project I will be moving in the right step for the overall goal and mission of our district.

The most immediate adjustment will be the overall implementation of more technology in our class.  I want to do more blogging and digital story telling, the thing I have to get figured out is how do I get enough technology for all of my students to use it on a regular basis.  I have got all summer to figure it out so it will give me something to do at school.

The NETS and the ISTE are comparable because they have the same goal in mind.  NETS to me seems more like the standards.  They are the expectations, whereas ISTE is a process of getting “people” to the standards.  Through the ISTE there aren’t really any expectations.  If you go straight to the NETS website they have the expectations for the students, teachers, and administrators.  The overal feeling I get from ISTE is that it is the organization, and NETS is the product the ISTE is pushing.

The NETS-s and the NETS-t are inter related because they are working towards the common goal.  For the teachers it is getting the students to the point of where the teacher wants them to get to.  It is what the students need to know to be able to exist in an ever changing world.

Well it is moving right along. My big problem is everything I am doing right now will have to wait until next November or so to be implemented. Based on the NET-S I need to model the technology more. The principals at our school do a great job of implementing technology in their meetings with us. We have instructional facilitators who give the principals ideas and then they model to us, and then in theory we model back to the students.

I am still stuck on not failing as my number one goal. I will say actually not afraid of failing, I am worried because then my students are just sitting there. How do I fix this? I think it is just becoming comfortable with my students and letting them know I am human. As a teacher you want your students to look up to you, there is a line between looking up to you and knowing your human and then looking up to you and then going “geez Mr. B is an idiot”.

Well everything  is moving along smoothly, I haven’t moved forward with the unit plan.  The resources that I have used are the voice thread website.  I do not need to modify my plan as far as I know and as of right now.  Because we have used this prior technology I am fairly comfortable with it, but I know their will be some hiccups.  My action plan is to be able to not be afraid of failing or taking the time to work.  Work through it with the kids.  We are moving to a block 74 minute class next year so it will give us plenty of time to work on projects such as these.

I am a little behind in the progress of the project and therefore haven’t had many problems.  What are the people out there having problems with?

The Walden website is down so hopefully I do this correctly.  I tried to remember what it was that I was supposed to be doing.  I am implementing my plan a little further.

We are going to use voice threads to explore different health careers the students can go into when they get older.  I am a health teacher so we are trying to get the students to understand the opportunities that are out there for health.

The tools that I need is a computer for everyone.  We have access to instructional facilitators so I want them to come and help with questions as we are completing the assignments.

The steps that I have taken to complete this, well haven’t been much.  I have the plans and how to access the website to set it up, but I haven’t done much after that.

The NETS standard that I feel the most comfortable with is the Facilitating student learning and creativity. With the projects we do in class, I think this promotes creativity as well as letting the students explore technology.  With these projects the students are creating multimedia projects and other projects for others to see.  These projects are informational for others and for themselves.  The students usually don’t know the material very thorough before the project and by the end of the project they have learned about the subject as well as put some of their own creativity into it.

One standard I think I can get better at is developing digital assessments.  We have Smart Boards in almost all of our rooms and I use them usually for the presentations and media projects.  Also available to us is the system where you can check out remotes to students and then quiz them, they then are attatched the computer and their results are stored.  We have had one basic training on this program, but I do not feel comfortable yet with checking them out from our administration building so I can use them.  I think that will be a project for my 9th grade classes next year.  This is the in between standard, I don’t do it now, but I think I can get comfortable with using them. 

I do not model digital age work as much as I should.  I do what I know how to do (which isn’t a lot), and what fits me the easiest at the time.  To implement this I need to access everything we have done for our Masters and various other projects and find a way to implement them into lessons.  The one project I am really excited to get my students going on is the voicethreads.  We learned it in a previous class, and I could easily set this up for lessons and projects so the students.

My game plan is to become confident in failing.  I don’t want to have a bad lesson or have botched class period because something has messed up with the technology.  I need to be confident and plan, so I can share this information with the students.  I will monitor progress by giving the students mini quizzes and also questionnaires for the students to fill out to assess their progress.

My original teaching theory that has been developed and manipulated over the course of the Masters program remains my main beliefs.  Through this course I feel as though the lessons have solidified my beliefs and made them stronger.  I can add to my theory but I don’t think that I will change it. 

In my original theory I mentioned wanting to add more technology to the lessons, and through this class we have learned different ways to do this.  I can’t wait to incorporate voice threads, it should be a fun assignement.  My main problem is being a p.e. teacher and that I don’t have a lot of time around computers and technology unless the students are in health.

As I mentioned before I want to incorporate voice threads, but I also want to incorporate pod casts as well.  I need to have a more structured unit and time allotted for the computer lab, so this will have to happen next year.

One long term goal is spending more time with the students touching the technology.  I use the smart board a lot but the students don’t always get to use it.  I will do this by making the assignments more technology friendly, the unit plans of old will be modified to incorporate technology on a more regular basis.  I got to the point last semester in health where at least every other day we were using the smart board for power points or smart mapping.  I want to get every student touching the technology.

To go along with the students touching the technology another long term goal is to get the students to teach more to themselves and their peers.  I want the students acquiring the daily information and then teaching that information to the students.  I think that to achieve this I need to lay out the unit plan and at least twice a week have the students acquire the information (book, powerpoint, internet, etc) and then allow them to teach the part of the class and lead discussion.  It will be difficult to get students to buy into their own learning, but I am willing to try it.