Final Blog Post

I really liked that this course required us to make a GAME Plan. So often do I learn something and think “I can use that”, but I rarely take it any further and try it out in my lessons. In this course, I set two educational goals for myself: adapting or creating lessons that contain “digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008), and “contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of [my] school and community” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). After setting these goals, I knew I would have to update everyone on how I was doing to achieve my goals and the progress I was making which encouraged me to put them into motion. Through communicating with my fellow classmates at Walden, I was able to learn from their ideas/insight and even share some of my own with them. I began reflecting on my lesson plans each weekend for work to see how I could make improvements for the following week by using some of the technology I had been learning in my course and testing it out with my students. I realize after taking this course how important it is to update lessons, so students are learning the curriculum and technology skills collectively. Digital storytelling and blogging are versatile enough to add to many lessons, so by looking through the units I teach I was able to update the way in which students are sharing and presenting their information. I plan to continue working on my goals by keeping current on the latest technology tools for education and learning how to use them in order to teach my students.

-Lauren Cogan

Reference:

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008). http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

The GAME Plan Process Used with Students

In week two, I created My GAME plan goals which involved improving my lesson plans so they incorporate more technology and concentrating on my professional growth specifically learning more about technology that I can infuse into my lessons. I believe I have learned a lot through this class about technology tools that can be used in the classroom such as blogs, wikis, and digital storytelling. These are all tools that help students to develop proficiency skills in the use of technology. These tools can enable students to meet the NETS-S standards such as standard number four: “Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). Each week as I am developing my lesson plans for the coming week, I observe how I taught the lesson last year and determine how I can improve the lesson by using some form of technology that was not previously there. By learning more about technology and then trying it out in my lessons, students are being exposed to more forms of it and thus are able to meet the NETS-S standards.
Using what I have learned about the GAME plan process from this class, I can help my students to create educational goals of their own. Once written down, students can reflect on these goals by updating their progress much as we have with our goals. This will help students to easily view their goals regularly and reflect on their goals which will motivate them to continue trying to reach them.
My goals I developed will help me to continue updating my lessons to meet the needs of my 21st century students.

-Lauren Cogan

Reference:

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008). http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

GAME Plan-Week Six

The goals I created for myself about implementing new technology into my lessons and improving on my professional development are ongoing goals. I will continue to work towards my goals for the remainder of the school year. A new goal I would like to set for myself is from the NETS-T standard 3.D. “ model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). This new goal is related to my other goals as it involves me learning about and then incorporating new technology into my lessons. I will be using websites like Free Technology for Teachers to keep me up-dated on the newest was to use technology in the classroom. This website always has great ideas for teachers on how to present the learning content but incorporate technology in the process. New information and reviews are posted every day. Finding time to do the extra research is the problem when it comes to meeting this goal. I could spend hours, if I had that type of time, writing down new ideas on adapting lessons I have or developing new ones that increase the use of technology. Time is always the roadblock.
-Lauren Cogan
6-7 language arts

Resource:
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008). http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf