I feel very comfortable using
technology and I feel like I should be using it more in my classroom with my
students. I am a third year teacher and
in the past I have been just trying to make it through. As I am being more experienced, I feel as if I
have more time to create new engaging activities for my students. In order to increase
the amount of technology used in my classroom, I have created a GAME plan
meaning I have set my Goals, planned Action to take, thought about how to
Monitor my success and then Evaluate my success (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009) . I have set two goals for myself. I would like
to improve upon two indicators from the International Society for Technology in
Education (ISTE) National Education Standards (NETS-T). The first indicator I would
like to improve upon is “Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and
community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and
innovation” (ISTE, 2008). The second indicator is “Design or adapt relevant
learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student
learning and creativity.”
In order to collaborate more with
stakeholders, I would like to add to my Moodle.
Our district has recently changed to Moodle and teachers are still
getting started. I have set up my computers course on Moodle but I have not set
up my math courses with much detail. I would like my Moodle page to share
information with parents about their child’s algebra class. I would also like to send out more emails to
my parents. In order to design more learning experiences with digital tools, I plan
to collaborate more with other teachers. I share information with other
teachers in the math department very often and we work together nicely. I think
by collaborating with them and using what I am learning in this course, we can
develop some authentic learning activities using digital tools to promote
learning and creativity.
As I am working towards my goals, I
will continue to monitor my success. I would like my mentor teacher to help
with this. She has seen my current
Moodle pages so I would like her to periodically check them to see how it is
progressing. She will be able to give me feedback and ideas of more information
to add to help communication between myself and parents. I would also like to
share with her the activities I incorporate that incorporate digital
tools. I hope to have one activity per
unit to share with her.
Lastly,
I plan to evaluate my success. By the
end of this course, I will look over my Moodle to ensure I have effectively
communicated with parents and students. I can also survey my students on their
Moodle usage and how it has or hasn’t helped him. I will also survey them on the technology
based activities to get their feedback.
Hopefully students are more successful on the learning targets from
these activities when it comes time for a test.
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
Hi Tanya,
ReplyDeleteI must admit, I wasn't sure of what a Moodle was but after doing some research it looks like a greata way to connect with students, parents, and professionals. It looks versatile and customizable for educational needs. Can you collaborate with other school on projects through Moodle? Or will you use it more as a personalized website for students and parents? I would love to see it if you would like to share.
Sounds so interesting, I wish my school would move towards something like this.
Melissa A.
Melissa,
DeleteMoodle is used more for communication between the teacher, students and the parents. I do not think many parents look at it but students do since they know I post reviews and answer keys. I think my school's Moodle pages require an enroll code but I am sure if you did an internet search you could view some!
Tanya
Hi Tanya,
DeleteThank so much, I will take a look, it sounds like a great way to communicate with students and parents!
Melissa A.
Tanya,
ReplyDeleteCollaborating with community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation is a challenge but I think the payoff will be substantial. I am working on putting together a tech camp this summer. It is mainly for those students that do not have Internet access at their home or have very little experience using a computer. I first heard about Moodle this week, I think it was one of the teachers on the video explaining how he used it while he was checking role. I did some research on it and I am impressed with it. In Texas, we use software called C-Scope; I am hoping my school will move on to Moodle. How much resources come with Moodle? I also plan on collaborating more with my colleagues and developing authentic learning activities that will keep my students engaged.
Dan Kirst
Hi Dan,
DeleteWhen we got Moodle this year, we had a couple days of training and I learned a lot about it. What do you mean in terms of resources? I typically post links to websites or upload files for my students. For my computers class, I put my multiple choice quizzes on there and they are automatically graded. These students also submit their work on Moodle just like how we do at Walden. It is very convenient!
Tanya
Tanya, I strongly believe that partnership between all stakeholders of education is important for educators to turnout young people who are ready for the 21st century work environment. The education of our nation’s children cannot be left to just the teachers in the classrooms. Parents and the community must play an active role. I commend you on your efforts to improve communication and collaboration with this group and it is an area where all teachers must strive to improve. The technology does exist to assist with this task and your school is on target to facilitate you in your efforts. Sending out emails to parents can be difficult to do with the other ‘hats’ teachers wear. Have you thought of creating form templates that you can easily fill out and then email to parents? I think this could save on time and facilitate you in sending emails of a personal nature.
ReplyDeleteI have not made any forms but that does seem like a smart idea since many of my emails are very similar. I send a lot of emails to my parents and make phone calls when necessary. I believe parent communication is key. I always contact parents when a student is failing and most of the time, the parent had no idea. It takes a lot of time but I always try to find the time to do it. :)
DeleteTanya