Reflection

Course: Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas
Instructor: Virgil Kirk

Thanks to the technological advances found in our educational environment, learning is no longer confined to the four walls of the classroom. If the 21st century teacher wants to capture the attention of her students she will need to integrate technology into the curriculum. This task can be challenging but the rewards will benefit both the teacher and her students. Using a variety of instructional strategies and learning tools students will be interacting and taking ownership of their learning. The GAME plan I developed during this course will assist me in developing lessons that will challenge my students.

I’m still working on my first goal:5b exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skill of others.

After the Christmas break I plan on starting the “Tech Café” for my staff. I’m looking forward to sharing different ways to enhance the curriculum with technology. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome for this goal was patience. I wanted everyone to be as excited as I am about technology. I realize that technology means change and some of my colleagues are digital immigrants and will take time to assimilate.

My second goal: 2c: customize and personalize learning activates to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resource.

While developing my plan I was able to introduce technology in a purposeful manner. For each lesson, the standards correlated to the curriculum and created a higher level of learning for my students. I liked that the GAME plan allows for modification and revamping of ideas. The GAME plan is flexible and easy to create. At this time I will not be modifying my plan. After the break I plan on having my students create their own GAME plan.

I am very excited about implementing the GAME plan I created in our learning community. While developing this plan I was able to visualize the different technologies and how they will enhance the content of the lesson. This is a unit I will be able to modify and adjust as needed. I believe this unit has opened my eyes to the many possibilities that technology offers in the learning environment.

Using the GAME Plan Process

Course: Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas
Instructor: Virgil Kirk

When I first read about the GAME plan process I thought it would be very time consuming and another item to add to my overflowing plate. I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the process helped me organize my thoughts and the direction I wanted my lessons to go. It also gave me the opportunity to revisit my plan and revamp it if I needed to.

Using the GAME plan process with my students helps them to become self-directed learners. They become responsible to take a closer look at their own learning. It gives them the skills to learn how to synthesize information and develop a way to track their own progress. It will also give students ownership of their learning environment. Teaching this process will take time but the end result will be to benefit both the teacher and students. I have really enjoyed reading everyone’s GAME Plan and I hope you are able to successfully infuse it into your classroom.

Revising my GAME plan

Course: Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas
Instructor: Virgil Kirk






So far I have learned that integrating technology can be a slow process and I need to be very patient. This is the same when I’m teaching because students are like snowflakes – each is unique and has a unique way of learning. As a teacher I need to be patient and let them be creative in their exploration of the topics. As the teacher, I need to facilitate that learning. This may include guiding students toward a finished product. I really enjoy watching my students explore different ways to express what they have learned. This has given them ownership of their education and allowed them to express themselves.

I want to continue to incorporate technology into my content area instead of always assessing my students with flat piece of paper. In the same respect, I need to realize some that a pencil paper assessment might be the best way to assess students progress.

At this time I don’t want to add additional NETs standards onto my very busy schedule. I still need to follow through with my “Tech Café” plan and get more teachers involved with integrating technology into the classroom. I just found out that I am getting a student teacher for the spring semester. During her six weeks residence I will use that time to expand my “Tech Café” to more hands-on/in class assistance for my colleagues.

Evaluating my GAME plan

Course: Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas

Instructor: Virgil Kirk

“Patience is a virtue” could not be a truer statement with regards to my GAME plan. I feel as if I’m at a stand still on Goal 1. I have created the staff survey and sent it out but only seven people have responded. With the end of the quarter and holidays my staff is very busy and the last thing they want to do is fill out a survey. Some of them stated that they couldn’t open up the form so I’m going to put some paper forms in the lounge to see if I can get more responses.

I have come to the conclusion that these seven colleagues will help spread the news and get the rest of my staff excited about learning new ways to infuse technology into their lessons. Next Monday I will be meeting with my Building Tech person to start our “Infused Technology” plan. I’m excited about organizing what we want to do and that will help guide my “Tech Café.”

My students did fill out their “Learning Style” survey. They were very excited to learn what their learning style was. I was surprised by some of the results but for the most part I had figured out what style they were. This week we began the webquest I wrote for EDUC 6712: Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom.

One of the tasks was to communicate with an Elder from their assigned region. They had to ask permission to explore the region. As a class we brainstormed different methods to communicate and the teams were allowed to pick which method they wanted. After it was created they had clues on the location in the school their elder was at and the team delivered the message. The different methods were: word processor, comic life and create a post card, or write it out on a piece of paper. All the students used comic life and even imported a picture for the region they are studying.

I was very proud of the results but more than that, my students were excited about the lesson. I talked to each of my “mock” Elders and they reported back the enthusiasm my students had when delivering their message. I still want to brainstorm a list of different ways to infuse technology into our lessons but this first experience was top notch!