Course Reflection:Integrating Technology Across Content Areas

At the beginning of this course, I made a GAME plan to collaborate both with two other ELL teachers that work at a different schools and with my colleagues at the school in which I work. The collaboration is focused on incorporating technology in the classroom. Throughout the past seven weeks, I have begun to take steps toward completing this GAME plan. In my last post, I discussed that I had been contacting the ELL teachers and my colleagues via e-mail to get the collaboration process started. The e-mails have been working great with the ELL teachers. We have already set up a plan of action and dates that we will communicate each month for the first semester. With school now starting, I am excited to begin using some of the ideas we have already discussed. For the collaboration with my colleagues, our first PLC will be this upcoming week. During our meeting, I plan to introduce VoiceThread. I absolutely love using VoiceThread, and I hope others will find it useful and beneficial in their classrooms as well.

Even though my GAME plan is still in its beginning phases, I still feel that I have grown as an educator as a result of my plan. The simple process of setting up collaboration is a great step for me. In the past, I have not participated in as many collaborative activities with colleagues as I would like to. I have learned that others are eager to learn and share their experiences and knowledge as well but may have been unsure of where to begin to find others to collaborate with just like I was. It is exciting to begin a new school year with new ideas and strategies for incorporating technology into my content lessons. I truly feel that it will have a positive impact on my students. Because my GAME plan is still just beginning to take action, I do not feel like I need to make any adjustments as of now. As I collaborate more with the ELL teachers and my colleagues, I may find that I need to make changes to my plan, and I will do so accordingly.

The GAME plan would be an excellent tool for me to use with my ELL students. At the beginning of each semester, we do goal setting. I can now use the GAME plan format to help that goal setting to be more effective.

As a result of taking this course, I have many new ideas that I will bring to my classroom related to technology. I have already planned two problem-based learning activities that I will incorporate. I have always included project-based learning but not problem-based learning in the past. I am excited about problem-based learning because my students will have the ability to learn the content while improving their higher-order thinking skills, collaboration skills, the ability to monitor learning, and so much more (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009b). I have also learned some new ideas for methods of including digital storytelling. I am looking forward to having students create a digital story that shares their country of origin and a bit about their culture. I work with students from all over the world. It will be really fun to learn about their cultural backgrounds firsthand, and I know that they will be excited to share this information as well. I will also use digital storytelling in other ways because it will help my ELL students to improve oral communication and writing skills while learning 21^st century skills as well (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009a).

Overall, I have gained a lot of great information from this class. I feel more confident with my ability to incorporate technology effectively throughout this school year, and I am looking forward to seeing how that impacts my students.

 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009a). Integrating technology across the content areas: Spotlight on technology: Digital storytelling, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009b). Integrating technology across the content areas: Spotlight on technology: Problem-based learning, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.

GAME Plan Update

While continuing to work on my GAME plan, I have been able to find most of the information and resources that I need to make my plan a success. One piece of information that I mentioned that I needed in my last post was what types of technology the ELL teachers and colleagues that I will be collaborating with have used in the past. In order to answer this question, I sent an e-mail out asking everyone to share that information with me. So far, only the ELL teachers that I will be working with have responded. This is understandable because it is still the summer and many teachers may not be checking their school e-mails regularly. Even though I do not have all the responses that I would like, I still believe my GAME plan is on track. I do not believe that I will need to make any modifications at this point. In the two responses from the ELL teachers that I will be working with, I learned that the technology that they have used in the past includes PowerPoint, virtual tours, applications such as Class Dojo and Random Student, Facebook, and general internet researching. It is good to know this because it will help me to make decisions as to what technology tools I would like to share with them as we collaborate throughout the school year. With this new knowledge of the technology tools the other ELL teachers have used in the past, new questions arose. I began wondering how they have incorporated each tool into their classrooms. Because of this, I will be continuing my correspondence to get a better understanding. This communication is exciting to me because I may be able to encounter new ideas that I have not thought of utilizing and may want to bring into my own teaching.

Overall, I feel as though the progress of my GAME plan is right where it needs to be. Once I hear back from my colleagues regarding the technology tools they utilize in their classrooms, I will be able to make a more solid plan of what tools I would like to share with them. I am really hoping that this collaboration will result in classrooms that are filled with authentic learning experiences that incorporate technology to enhance the concepts being learned. If this is the outcome, my GAME plan will most definitely be a success.

Continuing my GAME Plan

As I continue to develop my GAME plan, it is important that I take some things into account to make sure I am on a path toward success. First, I must decide what resources I will need to carry out my goal of improving Standard 1d and Standard 5b of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) (2008). For Standard 1d, I am going to communicate and collaborate with two ELL teachers that I have worked with in the past. Our discussions will occur monthly throughout the entire school year to improve our implementation of technology within our classrooms. For this goal, we will be communicating via e-mail and/or FaceTime. Therefore, I will need access to a computer or cellphone that has the capability to communicate through those means. I will also need a journal to write notes and reflect upon the information we discuss and the technology tools we utilize in our classrooms. For Standard 5b, I am going to help develop the technology skills of my colleagues by sharing technology tools monthly in our Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings. The resources I will need for this are a computer with internet access and whatever technology tool I plan on sharing with my colleagues.    

Another necessary component to making my plan work is to determine if I need any additional information as the process begins. The only information that I can think of that would be beneficial at this point would be what technology tools both the ELL teachers I will be working with and my colleagues have used in the past. Knowing this would help me to be able to share and discuss new tools that have not been incorporated previously. This would make the process much more effective because we would not waste our time on technology tools that are already well known.

I have already been able to take some small steps for the implementation of my GAME plan. For my ELL collaboration, I have contacted the two teachers, and we have set up a schedule for communicating during the first semester of this upcoming school year. We will begin our correspondence the first week of each month that school is in session. We will proceed to talk throughout that week to discuss technology tools, their possible applications within our classrooms, and how each tool worked after we have incorporated them. Each new tool will be utilized at some point during the next three weeks of each month if possible. This process will continue throughout the entire school year, unless we determine that an adjustment needs to be made. For my goal to help others develop their technology skills, I have planned out a schedule of tools that I would like to share with my colleagues during the first couple months of school. I am going to first introduce VoiceThread because I feel that it can be hugely effective in both English content classes and Foreign Language classes. Next, I will demonstrate how I have used blogs in my ELL classroom. From there I will continue to present a new tool monthly. I am excited to see how my classroom and the classrooms of others will be impacted throughout the school year as a result of my GAME plan. I am hoping for greater student progress because technology allows teachers to reach all students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas: Meeting students' needs with technology, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Making a GAME Plan

I am currently taking a course entitled Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas for my master’s program. This week, we are revisiting the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) website in order to examine the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) to determine indicators in which we would like to improve our confidence and proficiency. I feel that I have progressed in many of the indicators within the NETS-T standards as a result of my master’s program, but I definitely still have room for growth. In order to achieve that growth, I am going to make a “GAME Plan” which is a method for developing self-directed learning that includes setting goals, taking actions to achieve those goals, monitoring progress, and evaluating learning (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

G – Goals

My goal is to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in two indicators within the NETS-T standards. The first indicator that I would like to improve in is Standard 1d which is the ability to “model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments” (International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2008). I am the only English language learners (ELL) teacher in my school. As a result, I often collaborate with teachers who teach other content areas, but I seldom speak with other ELL teachers. I would like to change that fact. To do this, I will have to extend beyond my school to collaborate with ELL teachers from other schools.

The second indicator within the NETS-T standards that I would like to strengthen is Standard 5b, my ability to “exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others”(ISTE, 2008). As a result of my master’s program, I have learned a great deal of information related to integrating technology into the classroom. I would like to take the initiative to share my knowledge with the teachers at my school to help others to be motivated to incorporate more technology in their classrooms and to improve their technology skills as well.

A – Action

In order to achieve my goals, I will have to take action steps. For Standard 1d, I will collaborate with other ELL teachers outside of my school. I plan on getting in touch with the two ELL teachers that I worked with at my previous school with the specific goal of discussing technology that they and I are incorporating to enhance teaching our content. We will communicate monthly via e-mail and FaceTime to talk about lessons we have completed using technology and their outcomes.

For Standard 5b, I will work to inform other teachers of technology tools that I have used that may be beneficial in their classrooms. We have Professional Learning Community (PLC) time every Wednesday at our school. During PLC time, I join in with the foreign language teachers and the English content teachers on a rotating basis. In those meetings, I will share information about technology tools that I have found to be successful within the classroom. I will also let all the teachers know that I would be willing to meet with them to provide an individual overview of how each tool works. As Dr. Peggy Ertmer discusses in Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas: Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1, a supportive culture is highly beneficial for integrating technology effectively (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). I am hoping the support I provide will help my colleagues to develop the knowledge and confidence that they need to incorporate more and more technology tools into their content teaching.  

M – Monitor

In order to monitor my progress while collaborating with the other ELL teachers, I will keep a journal to document new technology tools we have discussed, whether or not I found new tools to be beneficial in my classroom, and new ideas for future conversations. I will also have a set day/week each month for correspondence. I can keep the date in my planner and make sure to continue collaborating throughout the entire school year.

To monitor the technology support I am providing to my colleagues, I will keep track of the technology tools that I share and make sure to share one new tool each month.

E - Evaluate   

I will have my students help me to evaluate the new technology tools that I incorporate as a result of my collaboration with the other ELL teachers. I will have them rate each new tool and provide feedback as to why they rate each tool the way that they do. I will also ask the other ELL teachers to share their opinion about how our collaboration process is impacting their teaching.

In order to evaluate my ability to support and motivate colleagues in their use of technology tools, I will ask them to provide feedback to me about whether or not they found the tools I shared to be worthwhile and beneficial in their classrooms. I will have them either share that information orally or via e-mail. That information will be used to determine how to continue this process in the future.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas: Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.