Reviewing my GAME plan has been a good reflection on where I’ve been, where I am, and what I need to do to carry out this plan. I have two goals that involve learning more about how to use technology and how to carry out a conducive learning environment towards those goals.
Goal 1: Develop a technology-enriched learning environment that enables all students to pursue individual curiosities and to become active participants in setting educational goals, managing learning, and assessing progress.
Since I first came up with this goal I have evaluated my learning environment and consider it to be an environment that allows students plenty of opportunities to accomplish goals and for students to take part in learning through both direct and explicit instruction. I have tried to focus more on talking through goals with my students. They understand the concept of working towards a goal, but I am not comfortable in individualizing goals with kindergartners. I feel like in kindergarten it is not how much they have to do individually, but what have I taught and shown them how to do. Are there any books out there that are specifically written for educators in managing a learning environment using technology?
Goal 2: Engagement within a PLC to learn about what new technology is out there and to educate colleagues.
I have checked about professional workshops to attend about technology and the earliest one is in January. Until then, I am working with my Technology Representative at my school discussing various technology tools that are available for use.
I do not plan on modifying my plan because it is an ongoing reflection and one that is to develop over time. Since doing this plan I have learned that technology is something that should be well thought out and given much thought. It’s important for a teacher to not isolate him/herself and to involve other colleagues in this professional learning community. I’ve also learned that teachers should set their own goals as well. A new question that I have is, whether there are resources out there pertaining towards managing a learning environment with technology and how a teacher is able to evaluate whether learning is taking place with that technology?
Erica,
ReplyDeleteThe PLN at my school is focusing on this book throughout the year. We are not very far into it at this point but I thought I would share in case it might help you. The book offers many great ideas of how to use technology to differentiate for your students.
Smith, Grace E., and Stephanie Throne. Differentiating Instruction with Technology in K-5 Classrooms. Washington D.C.: Intl Society for Technology in, 2007. Print.
We have already created a game and a tic-tac-toe board that we will be able to use with our students. Our PLN site is http://dipln.wikispaces.com/ in case you want to check it out.
I think you can always start out by making the goals very basic with the students. You could make a goal that through the use of technology resources such as www.starfall.com, a student will increase their letter identification from 3 letters to 20 letters by the end of the year. This is a basic skill all students need and it would likely be easier for students to understand because it is pretty concrete.
I agree that your professional development goal should be ongoing...after all we are lifelong learners! Hopefully you will be able to find some good professional development opportunities. You can also look for technology conferences in your area. I attended a state and national technology conference last year and I learned a lot at both of them. There are also blogs with good information and webinars that you can listen to while working on other things. If you want more information about these, I would be happy to check with my ITRT because I know she is always learning from them.
Thank you Sarah! I will check out your website and look into that book that you suggested. I will see what I can do towards professional conferences.
ReplyDeleteErica.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is really hard to appreciate what technology should get integrated into classsroom and how this should be managed. All is not about the fact that it gets used but about the way the teacher manages.
I have also many times thought about the fact that it is not only technology that makes sure that learning takes place. There must be much more about the classroom management. But how to manage? How to evaluate correctly? I would like to know as well...
Erica,
ReplyDeleteI must agree that with kindergartners it is hard to help them develop individual goals. This is because most of the interaction that takes place between the teacher and student at this age is modeling and teaching as you mentioned.
I found a site that proved quite useful with providing links for ways to differentiate learning with and without technology called Dare to Differentiate at http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com
I actually shared a great deal of what I found on this wiki with my peers. It proved beneficial. It may answer some of your questions on management techniques as I was able to apply some of the suggestions I found here into my own kindergarten classroom.