Reflection Emerging Technologies

Over the past several weeks of this course I have come to realize that technology in education has endless possibilities. The new emerging technologies that are filtering into the learning environment are a bit overwhelming at times and for a digital immigrant like myself, I found it hard to realize that technology is and will be an intragel part of my students now and in the future. I must adopt the reality of it all and accept the challenge ahead of me if I want to be the best at my field and for the education of my life-long learners. When I chose technology to recieve a Master's in, I knew it would be difficult and frustrating at times but if I want my 21st century students to be the best they can be, I have to be able to demonstrate and model 21st technology and implement it my lesson and their learning. I am very pleased that this course allowed me to research some new ideas on how to approach some new methods and technologies that will be benefical for all types of learners. I really enjoyed this course and it set my mind at ease a bit knowing I was already have been using an emerging technology with my game playing in my lessons. I do though have a long way to go and so does the district I teach in. The finacial set backs that public education has taken in Michigan out weigh the gains. It will be up to individuals to find grants to suppliment the cost of educational needs and technology. I hope in the near future to start asking for grant money to provide my learners with the best possible chance to use what they know about technology and amend my lessons to provide them with a 21st century learning environment.

CMS/LMS APP4

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Differentiated Reflection

Throughout this course the idea or theory of differentiated instruction and universal design has made me aware of how each student can be taught at various levels in a diverse learning environment. The challange that I face is with the implementation of technology with these learning strategies and concepts. It is going to be difficult at my school to add technology because of the lack of technology and funding. Our school is the 3rd high school in the district. We are at the bottom of list when it comes to educational support and resources. We have the 1% of the students that these two schools do not want. So the implementation of technology will take some time and patience.

I like the idea of differentiated instruction because we do have a diverse culture and our students have many different needs. To make the curriculum fit to my students it takes time and these strategies can improve my teaching ability. This can not only make me a better teacher but also a better student of education. The more weapons I have in my arsenal the better I can attack and make quality life long learners and positve members of our community.

Reflection GAME Plan

As I reflect on the GAME plan that I have developed and followed throughout the course, I have come to realize that there are many options avenues and approaches to integrate technology into my class room. Technology is a huge asset to have in your back pocket to broaden the knowledge base for all students. The technological networking is a fantastic way to involve students socially and academically. These 21st century learners are accustomed using technology to communicate and what a better way to involve students by using a learning tool such as a wiki or blogging or another networking idea to get students involved. As I summarize any of the new learning that resulted from my following GAME plan, I need to explain the impact of my new learning has had on my instructional practice. As I worked through this class I found myself researching the internet and processing plenty of information and data that could improve my curriculum and lessons. The biggest road block that I found was I am unable at this time to use these ideas or lessons because of our districts lack of funding and technology. It is a shame that our state will not commit to education and the funding of our public schools along with the improvement in technological resources. It is impossible to even think about using all of these wonderful ideas from my classmates and this course to improve my lessons because of the lack of resources.

GAME plan week 7

As I was researching video storytelling this week for our unit assignment, I ran across some interesting ideas if you the means and the technology. My biggest complaint about my Game plan I think is our schools lack of concern for our 21st century learners and their use of technology. Our district is so far behind it is disgusting. In our lab we only have 16 stations and those are continually occupied with credit recovery classes and English. At no time can I or other elective teachers have the opportunity to use the lab. In our building we still have chalk boards. That is a real hoot. So to ask my students to even try to use technology for learning is a joke. Yes I venting. Number one because I always forget about this blog and the other is I would love to do some digital storytelling because it is a great way for students to express themselves and learn the content material. This whole unit is dream a dream along with my GAME plan. I could continue to dream about what could be, but reality says it may never be. The kids are the ones in the end that are missing out but I know if and when our state and district pulls its head out of its behind then I will be well prepared to advance in technology in my classroom.

GAME Plan Week 6

As I continue to compile research upon constructing my GAME plan for instruction, I took a good look at concept mapping. I am a big fan of this learning tool. I have used concept mapping for some time now, but with a technological inhancement. I was researching the web and found there are many good sites and programs that make mapping fun and instructional as well. These sites allow students to be creative and these sites also give students the opportunity learn material in an organized fashion. A concept is given and students must break it down into detail and allows them the freedom to be creative at the same time. I am a big fan when students add pictures. These visual learners like myself, can create many maps by expressing what they know through pictures and not just words.
Given my own personal goals for improving my technology, I would definetly like to see myself continue to break my own inhibitions and dive right in. I am still a bit aprehensive when it comes to technology and I would like to become an explorer not just a follower.

GAME Plan Week 5

This week after to talking to a trusted colleague of mine who is very helpful and informative with technology eased a bit of my anxiety. During this weeks application assignment, he led me through some ideas and brought to my attention some new technology that is out there that would help with PBL and how to implement it in my classroom. I am was born in the 1960's and grew up in the 70's and early 1980's, this technology at times and the push towards this type of teaching has me a bit apprehensive. Designing this GAME plan, these courses at Walden has kept me a bit more focused and has forced me to get my hands dirty. As I was researching the web this week trying to create a PBL lesson and speaking with my colleague I have come to the conclusion that the only way to meet my goals is to take some risk move outside my safety net and relax and do the best I can. I know I have a long way to go, but I just need to relax and rely on my classmates, colleagues, and friends to guide me in the proper directions.

GAME Plan Week 4

After revisiting my GAME plan for integrating technology into my area of instruction. I teach health, PE, and one section of world history. In my health class I have done a cross curriculum activity using video and video editing to construct health promotional ads. I was discussing this with a classmate during our discussion portion of this weeks lesson. I thinking of how I could implement this type of lesson in either my PE class or world history. I believe the easier of the two would be PE because of the relationship with health, but I really want to focus on the world history.

Ever since I watched the movie Teachers, I have often wondered how a role playing activity would assist my students with grasping the concepts of unit and the people involved in constructing our world history. Each unit always has at least ten or more key characters that play major roles and at least another ten that may have had an influence on that particular era. I would like to see my students either create a promotional ad for instance the crusades, the inquisition, or the Roman Empire. I think the students could research the any background information construct a dialog, storyboards, and a video presentation. Students could work in teams or pairs to develop their assignment. This project based activity would definitely be fun as well as informative for my students.

What have I learned so far?
I have learned that technology can and will be an important part of a 21st century learning experience. I have also learned that you need to have a focus of why technology is going to be implemented into a lesson.

What questions have arised?
Will my district ever provide enough funds to increase the volume of availability of technology. As of right now, I would have to say no. It will be a difficult task to begin to explore more lessons that are student based with the of technology if the resources are unavailable.

GAME Plan

As I begin the journey of setting a GAME plan for a digital experience I have to reflect on the many years of teaching without the use or even the thought of technology. I see a resource that had to be gathered in a library, periodicals, and micro film. Now with one click of a button you have the whole world to explore for information and resources. As I was searching through the ISTE and the NETS-T I was thinking about how I can become a more proficient teacher when it comes to implimenting technology into my everyday teaching.

I looked at two of the standards I would like to improve upon and set new goals for myself to follow through with them those where standard one and three. The first is 1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. I teach at an At-Risk high school. My students have a difficult time thinking outside the box and using any creativity when it comes to learning. I know at times it is up to me to model to my students and believe me I try, but it has not been with use of technology or a digital experience. It has been difficult in my building because our technology is so limited and unfunded. I know personally I have to move outside the box myself and take some risk to try to get my more involved in 21st century learning. I would definitely would like to use standard one to impliment more real world issues in my world history class. In that class I know that there are many occasions where the use of technology could be used to explore issues of the past that can resolve or compared to an issue from the present. The interent can be a tool to do just that. There are plenty of sites, webquest or other resources that can help students explore the web and find valid information to support their arguements. The second is 3. Model digital age work and learning. at this point in time with the district grading program and email accounts it has been much easier to communicate with parents on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis without setting up a person to person meeting. The only draw back is you are not setting a personal relationship with the parents of the students. I still feel it is important to have that relationship and sometimes it can because of technology that has been lost. I know that I do most of my lesson, quizzes, PowerPoints, and test using some technolgy. All of the grading and attendance is all on a computer program and even now our students are doing credit recovery over the internet using a program called E 20/20. The problem I have is trying to master all of this. I am 43 years old and at times I feel uncomfortable or I guess I lack confidence in my abilities because some of this technology I just do not understand or have practiced it enough. That Is why I am doing my masters in technology so i can improve and learn more skills so I con model it for students with confidence.

To monitor my progress I intend to keep a daily journal of when I use technology and when I should have used technology and then refelect each week on how to improve upon what I did or did not do. To improve upon this I intend to see what other teachers are doing, ask about ways that I can use technology and what is the best avenue to take when creating a digital learning experience. i have some of my own ideas, but I want to be confident in them and jump outside my limited technology box and dive right in.