The Seventh Inning Stretch

In my game plan I listed the goals of professional development and creating a digital classroom. I feel very confident that I will attain these goals in a timely manner. The reason I feel so confident in this endeaver is because of the people I share my life with. My administration believes in me and gives me great support along with my fellow teachers. My students are a fantastic support--they are always asking what I am studying this week and what new technology will be introduced in our classroom. They are always telling me good job (middle schoolers are amazing). Lastly, I have the support of a tight knit family. My children who are in college are a crutch to lean on, my parents are always their for me as well as the rest the familia! Without all of them, I would not be even in the second inning.

1. Are you finding the information and resources you need?

In the last two weeks I have met with two other teachers who will be attaining their National Board Certification. I have been assigned a mentor--she is fantastic and someone I admire, and want to be like (she is two years younger than me!!!!). On the 29th of November the Office of Public instruction for the State of Montana is announcing the teachers that were chosen for the certification in technology classes, that will be paid for. If I get this it would be amazing, If I do not, I will try again next year. As far as building a creative digital classroom I am constantly working on this, I have put aside an hour a week for research, then the other hours will be focused on building lessons that allow my students to be inquistive life long learners.

2. Do you need to modifty your action plan?

At the moment, I am not planning on modify my game plan. The only reason I will be modifying it is if I get accepted to the OPI technology classes. If I am accepted I would put off my National Certification until August. The reason for this is because I will be finishing my Walden courses in May. I do not feel I would be able to keep up!

3. What have you learned so far?

That even a digital immigrant like my self can learn to play the game, with work and dedication. I have learned so many things from my classes at Walden University, I am looking forward to spending time becoming familiar with everything I have learned so my students can benefit from it. I have also learned that a positive attitude and being flexible are the main goals of any game plan.

4. What new questions have arisen?

At this time my only questions would be, how does everyone find enough time in the day to keep up with all of our demanding schedules. Life is a journey and I am enjoying it.

At the moment I am on a plane to Cancun, Mexico with my mom! We are going for Thanksgiving break to watch my daughter play in a Division 1 girls basketball tournament. My son is in North Dakota playing in a tournament. Last year I was with him. Since they are both college athletes, that is one of the done falls, they are not home for Thanksgiving. But, maybe Cancun and the nice weather isn't so bad. Since my hometown had over a foot of snow and was 15 below zero when we left.

Carrying out my Game Plan

The Old Proverb: "Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand." I love this saying!

This week we are required to blog about how we will carry out our Game Plan--I have started the process! The first thing I did was put together a binder that is called my "technology notebook). In this three ring binder I have page dividers, that divide everything that essential to my being successful in this journey of moving my teaching entirely into the 21st century. In the very front is the NETS standards! I have thought about making a second binder for at home, this would help in always having these resources at my fingertips.

I have met once this week with two teachers who will be starting the National Teacher Certification process with me. I feel this is extremely important to me being successful in this process--having others to lean on! On November 29th, OPI (Office of Public Instruction) will notify the teachers who have been selected for the technology certification training. I am crossing my fingers for this opportunity, because I feel this would help me reach my goals much faster.

I went to my principal begging for the newest CPS units, that allow texting your answers and for a Mobi slate to be used in my classroom. She found the money to purchase these items, and is excited that I use so much technology in my room, to enhance my curriculum and standards. While technology is not required to achieve each item, many of them can be more readily achieved when technology is added to the learning environment (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer 2009).

In the textbook "Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use", I have read Chapter #2 several times in order to really comprehend supporting student creativity with technology.
I am looking at each of my lessons, and finding ways to incorportate technology into them, or add more technology. I have also found two more teachers to correspond with in epals. I have also finished a survey, I submitted to all my students about the use of technology in my room. This weekend I will look at the results.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful classroom Use: A standards-based approach. Laureate Ed. Belmont

WANTED: GAME PLAN

Developing a Game Plan of My Own!

Sitting staring at the NETS standards for teachers, I find myself, switch hitting on which area I would like to improve my overall game. The main reason I am currently getting my Master's degree is for professional development--I knew that education was taking a whole new role with the use of technology and I needed to get on board. I am using the Game Plan from Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer's text book. The first net I picked was easy, Professional Growth and Leadership. The second was not as easy, I could have picked them all--but I choose, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. My Game Plan follows:

Set the Goal: Up to Bat
Two years ago, I started trying to incorporate more technology into my classroom. Then came signing up for the Master's Program with Walden University, this was a big step for me--as I knew I did not have a lot of extra time in my week. Last week I signed up for "Taking Technology to the Classroom", this is to earn credits towards an APSC technology in education notation, from the Office of Public Instruction in Montana. If I was able to get this, I would have certification in Technology. Also I will be starting phase one of my National Certification, this will involve my technology skills in the classroom. All of this will help in my being an extremely proficient facilitator in the classroom, and it will inspire my students.

Take Action: First Base
Setting up the goal is my first part of the action. Surrounding myself with people in the district who are also utilizing technology in the classroom. Subscribing to blogs, and blogging myself on the topic will also help. Being involved with epals in my classroom, I am currently working with two teachers and their classrooms from California and New York. My students have been skyping others who are in various parts of the world. Two college students will be coming into my classroom in December to help strengthen my students skills with video production. Work on lessons that will engage my students in real world issues. One way of doing this will be when my students work on C-Span's annual student documentary (5 minute-video over federal government).

Monitor: Second Base
Sometimes I need to slow down and take things one step at a time, and master one thing before I move on to the next item. Have my students give me feedback on my technology skills, and fill out a rubric. It would also be a benefit to have another teacher sit and observe me as I facilitate my students and see if they feel I am inspiring them. Then I need to do a personal reflection!

Evaluate: Third Base
If I can evaluate myself, and monitor my skills--I am almost home! Will my students go on to use the material I exposed them to in class. Am I improving my skills on a weekly basis, are my lessons becoming more engaging for my students and for myself. Johnson and Johnson (1998), and Slavin ((1994) have documented student achievement gains when students work in collaborative groups. Will I have the same documentation? What has worked best, what do I need to change in my lessons. Become very familiar with the NETS standards for myself as well as my students having a copy in their folders.

This is going to be a long road to home plate, but I am not ready to steal home just yet! I realize that I have so much work to do before I can even think of heading in that direction, but I do believe I am on the right path with my education and my students. This plan will help me to become the teachers I do so admire and will help me to inspire my students in a positve way.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate). Belmont, CA

NETS-T National Education Standards for Teachers. (2008).

Reflection

I have always been a strong advocate for inquiry based lesson plans in the classroom. When you encourage your students to ask deep questions, to critically evaluate information, and to transform ideas, you are embarking on a learning adventure for both yourself and your students (Ealeton, Dobler, 2007, Pg 281). This course has taught me that inquiry based lessons, should be happening all the time in my classroom, and not just a few times a year. This is probably the greatest revelation I have had this course. At the beginning of the school year I give out my cell phone number to my students to be used only for school related topics. This is a fantastic tool for them to use, and their parents love the fact that they can text me or call me anytime with a question from class. During the last two months’ some of my honors eighth students, will text me on Sunday to see what assignment I am working on for my master’s degree. I believe they have taken an interest because they realize it reflects in my teaching.
Teaching new literacy’s is becoming second nature to me, due to my training in this program. Technology has definitely changed the role of the teacher in the classroom. I have always used the text book as a resource and not as a tool that you take a test at the end of the chapter. In the article “Teaching two Literacies”, the author Joanne Rooney states that you need to be in a mindset that you can incorporate both literacies at once. Students have already crossed over to a new way of reading and writing. They, no doubt, will remain our best teachers as we struggle with new technological tools (Rooney, 2009). I think this is a really hard concept for some teachers to swallow. They still are in old school, and feel that the teacher needs to know everything. Therefore, they do not introduce new concepts because they do not want to let on that they have not mastered that task. I am very comfortable with introducing something new to
App 8: 3
my students and then they are teaching me something new before day’s end.
On January 15th, 2011, I will be teaching a group of twenty five teachers about the subject “Representative Democracy in America”, I have a lot of great lessons, but many of them I have switched over to some form of technology. These teachers have not used voice thread, wiki’s, blogs, etc. in the classroom. So it is a goal of mine to teach this day long training using all the new technology I have learned, and am using in my classroom. I feel this will make me a stronger teacher in my own room, because I will have to really practice all the steps needed to teach others the language and skills to take back to their own classroom. When I teach these items in my classroom at the moment, if I hit a rock, my students can usually answer my questions. I am also setting up this training as an inquiry based lesson plan, showing the teachers how powerful of a tool this can be in a classroom.

"Reflecting On The Last Eight Weeks"

When I sit back and think about my teaching style and everything I learned in the last eight weeks, I would not change a thing! I am a little bit of everything, I said in one of my blogs I was like heinz 57. I believe in order to reach every child you need to be open to every style of teaching. What works for one person, does not necessarily work for another. The most important thing is to stay positive and flexible, and keep an open mind.

The fantastic thing about the last eight weeks, is the feeling that I am doing things right in my classroom. I have worked really hard to incorporate technology into all aspects of my teaching. Not only for teaching lessons different, but for changing my lessons completly to have students do the teaching. When I first began teaching, I did have teachers looking at me odd, thinking that my students were having way to much fun. Therefore, they must not be learning! Glad to see everyone is getting on board with cooperative classrooms.

The text book we used in this course, is a fantastic resource of great sites. I have already been busy working on new ideas and lessons for the upcoming school year. The big thing I want to do is master some of this technology I am using in my room. For example, voice thread is the only thing new to me, and I love it! I plan to work hard to master this, so I am ready to go with a great lesson using this site. I am also looking for more classrooms to skype in the geography field.

voice thread

wow, these are fun--
voicethread.com/share/1197551

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Cooperative learning can take on many roles in a classroom setting as well as the workforce, so as teachers it is our job to prepare students for the workforce. The 21st century is all about technology--in the classroom popular sites like epals, webquests, and portfolio's have been a part of the classroom. The classrooms are starting to introduce wiki's, blogs, skyping, podcasting, google calendar, and kaboodle just to name a few. Personally I have started to use all of these resources and I love the way the classroom is changing and so do my students.

In my classroom, I have tables instead of desks making it extremely easy to work in cooperative groups all the time. The latest assignment I did is as follows:
ATTENTION
URGENT NOTICE TO
STUDENTS OF FMMS

1. During the last official school board meeting, Mrs. Meredith was informed by Dr. Darnell that Fred Moodry Middle School will be re-located to an Island!
2. Due to low test scores on standardized tests, the school board recommended that FMMS be put on an Island for one year in hopes to bring test scores up.

BAD NEWS
3. School will be held 10hours a day, six days a week, NO cell phones, NO videogames, and NO T.V. (except the news).
4. If bullying occurs between students, they will be required to stay an extra year. If you break and of the school rules---you will attend school on Sunday’s as well!

GOOD NEWS
5. The school board is allowing Mrs. Meredith to decide between Islands listed below: This is where you come in! Mrs. Meredith did not pay attention during Geography class when she was in school; instead she was dreaming about her math class, and the cute boy she tutored in Math! So……she needs our help!!!!!!
6. She is asking students to put together presentations on the list of Islands below.
· Presentation needs to follow, the 5 Themes of Geography!
· Please use some form of technology for your presentations.
· The Islands are listed below.
1. Greenland
2. New Guinea
3. Borneo
4. New Zealand
5. Sumatra
6. Madagascar
7. Malta
8. Crete
9. Cyprus
10. Seychelles
11. Sri Lanka

· Using the context of the 5 Themes of Geography, defend your choice of Island by demonstrating through concrete examples how your Island will help improve test scores.
· Your project will be graded on the following rubric
· A model of your Island needs to be presented

This was a lot of fun, and just one of the many assignments we did in Geography class. Social learning theorists view student learning as a collaboration through interactions while constructing things, accompanied by content-based conversation (Laureate Education, Inc.) I feel it is extremely important for students to have many opportunities to be social in the classroom, solving problems, debating etc., I have an Aunt who owns a very large engineering company--she has told me many times that when her company hires, they are looking for people who can communicate with others and not just the people who have the best grades.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2009). social learning theories. Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. DVD (custom ed.).