Sunday, July 27, 2014

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

As I have continued moving forward with my GAME plan, I have found myself making progress in my understanding of skills that are required to be a leader.  Although the resources are beneficial, it has been watching my administrators that has really helped me pinpoint the skills. What I have found that I need to become a better leader is confidence.  My administrators tell me they see me as a leader but yet I lack the confidence to see myself that way.  I have found that if I continue to read some of these great leadership articles that they give me great insight into new ideas and ways to make changes to better your procedures and staff, but there is are also key components that you must learn by doing and watching others.  A good leader doesn't just tell people what to do, a good leader communicates, collaborates, listens, helps to guide and more.  I am lucky enough to work for some admirable administrators that help guide me and help me grow.

I have found that the information I read within my resources helps to affirm my understanding of digital citizenship.  There have been some wonderful poster resources as well as lesson plans that I have pulled so that I can use them with my current set of students and at the beginning of the school year.  



Some of the more important components that I have not had time to address with students are online safety and cyber bullying.  The main reason why these aren't addressed by me is that I am already spread so thin, and despite my best efforts, I can't get a normal effective schedule.  This I believe is where I need to take my leadership skills and help my teachers understand the importance of adding this to their curriculum.  Another option is bringing the topic to the attention of my administration and developing a district wide curriculum for not only digital citizenship topics but also the new literacies.

The most important thing I have learned while following my GAME plan and taking these courses for my Masters is that although we have an innovative thinking district, we lack some important pieces in our curriculum that will help us create students who are ready for the digital world.




Wednesday, July 23, 2014

International Experiences

Today I had the wonderful experience of working with students visiting us from China for our International Festival and Institute.  We had 120 students arrive from different schools in China and they will be staying with us for the next 3 weeks.

Our first day of the Festival for elementary and middle school students was a whirlwind of activities!  Our visiting students got to know some of our local Janesville students.  Our biggest discussions revolved around cultural differences and how our differences are okay.  We also discussed the meanings behind the flags of our countries and how they represent and have meaning to us.  This sparked the activity of each group (made up of local and Chinese students) to create their own group flag.  The products far exceeded my expectations.





In the afternoon I worked with a group of 9th grade students.  I gave them each an iPad and tasked them with blogging about their arrival and first day experiences.  This did prompt a discussion about what blogging was and the best association we made was an online journal or diary.  The students got right to work and you could have heard a pin drop!




It's amazing how much we have learned from each other in just one day.  I can't even imagine where the journey over the remainder of the three weeks will take me!

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Resources for my GAME Plan

My goals for my GAME plan were based upon the focus areas of digital citizenship skills and building my leadership skills.  There are many resources and information available to me to help me to take the action and build these skills for myself or for my teaching to the students.
The first resource I will use is Common Sense Media.  This website is a well designed hub for all things related to media. “Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology”.  The feature they have that best addresses my needs is their “Digital Literacy and Citizenship Classroom Curriculum”.  These free resources range from videos to iBooks, to printable resources, and more.  The resources can help me begin to implement good curriculum that addresses the needs of my students beginning at a young age.  By looking through these curriculum pieces, I can pull lessons to implement throughout the year, as well as develop ideas for integrating into projects that our students complete.
The next resource I will use is the website from the Partnership for 21st century Skills.  This website really focuses on the framework of a 21st century learner and the skills required to create a successful digital citizen.  P21’s mission statement is “to serve as a catalyst to position 21st century readiness at the center of US K12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders”.  The focus of this website is to provide the information for educational leaders in districts and for those that are making policy related decisions for schools.  This is a great place to find fantastic learning resources and connect with districts that have already set a standard for exemplar programs.
Another resource I will use is a publication from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development called Educational Leadership.  This publication has many articles addressing the leading trends in education that are important for those in a leadership position to know.  This resource will help me gain the knowledge needed to create a vision, make decisions, build a community, and vitality in a leadership role.  It is important that as a leader I have all the information necessary to make informed decisions and contribute to a collaborative group.

The last resources I will use are my social media outlets.  I will become a member of Educational Leadership PLNs so that I can collaborate and share resources with others leaders so that I can learn from them to build my skills and knowledge.  This will also help me to have a place to ask questions of other professionals and leaders creating an invaluable resource where those that have come before me can share their knowledge and I can learn from their expertise. 

References:

Common Sense Media. (2014). Common Sense Media.  Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/


The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2014) The Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved July 16, 2014, from http://www.p21.org/

Monday, July 14, 2014

Class Post on Tech Integration

In my lesson, students will act as history researchers in trying to determine the real reason immigrants wanted to come to the United States of America. They will discover the unrest people went through and what they had to leave behind to start a new life in the main land. 
“While technology is not essential to creating authentic, learner-centered instruction, it offers a powerful resource for engaging students in authentic experiences, typically increasing both their motivation and their learning” (Cennamo et al, 2009, p.51).  Technology is such a great tool for enriching our lessons.  It opens doors for students to resources that might not ever had had access too.  For my lesson, this will be vital.  Since students are researching the different reasons why immigrants came to America, significant resources will be needed for students to really understand the reasoning behind the choice they made.  I will be utilizing technology in two ways that were discussed in our readings, computer as a mind tool and computer as a conversation support.  “Mindtools are computer applications that enable learners to represent manipulate or reflect on what they know, rather than reproduce what someone else knows” (Cennamo et all, 2009, p.56).  Mindtools require students to think deeply about the task.  As students generate their questions to help guide their inquiry, they can utilize concept-mapping tools to help organize their questions and the answers they find.  Students will also be utilizing databases as they search for information to answer their questions.  In the state of Wisconsin, we have access to many wonderful databases because of our department of public instruction.  These databases have a plethora of information for students to search through, even those tied to the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Students will have access to primary resources to help them understand the reasoning behind the immigrant’s choices.
Throughout my lesson, I really want students to be communicating and discussing what they find while exploring the resources.  “The computer as an interactive tool can contribute to conversations among learners and thus contribute to group and community learning outcomes” (Cennamo et al, 2009, p.70).  I want students to feel free to talk about what they found to really analyze with each other how their findings apply to the essential questions.  I also want students to feel comfortable commenting on blogs to gain more information or emailing experts who might better be able to explain an important piece that they are missing.  There are so many experts in the field of history and genealogy that why should not students feel free to communicate and collaborate with them.  Between the iPads, desktops, and Chromebooks, students will be able to explore the vast resources that relate to our immigration history to really create a rich informational project.


Resources


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

What's my GAME Plan?

After reflecting on the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) for my Master’s Class, I felt proficient in many of the standards.  It is my job to keep up on these important standards and make sure they are being implemented in my schools.  With that being said, I chose standards four and five to develop my proficiency in.  Standard four states that I will “promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility” (International Society of Technology in Education, 2009).  The reason I chose this one is that I feel I can always be more proficient in the area of digital citizenship and make sure that I am designing lessons that are teaching and incorporating these skills.  Standard five states that we will “engage in professional growth and leadership” (International Society of Technology in Education, 2009).  We want to teach our students to be life long learners, and it is important for us to do this too.  The digital world is constantly changing and growing, and its regards to education need to be looked at closely to make sure we are preparing our students.  I need to be sure I am knowledgeable in my field so I can help my staff.  This also means being a leader.  This may be the area I need to focus most on.  I don’t really think of myself in a leadership role or as a leader.

Since these are the areas I feel I need to focus on, I have written a GAME plan for these areas.  If you are not familiar with the acronym GAME, let me explain its meaning. GAME stands for setting goals, taking action, monitoring, and evaluating and extending.  Each of these steps helps to guide you in your self-directed learning.  “The GAME plan requires you to think about and take steps to direct your learning process, specifically while learning about technology and how to integrate it into curriculum” (Cennamo et al, 2009, p.3).


1.    Goals – My goal would be to learn more about the curriculum integration of digital citizenship skills as well as exhibiting leadership skills that demonstrate a vision, decision making, community building, and vitality.
2.    Action – I will begin by reading through literature provided by Common Sense Media, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the 21st Century Fluency Project to help better understand the role of digital citizenship in our curriculum.  Each of these sites provides lessons, projects, and units to help embed these skills into the curriculum.  I can utilize these sites to help create new opportunities for my teachers and students.  I will begin reading through a subscription magazine purchased for me called Educational Leadership.  Lastly, I will use the book list provided my Angela Maiers on he website to begin reading text that applies to school leadership to better understand how I can fill that role.
3.    Monitor – I will use these goals as a talking point during my monthly meetings with our district’s CIO.  I will discuss my takeaways from the readings, project creations, and listen to his feedback.  I will reflect upon what I have read and debrief with teachers after a project, lesson, or unit has been completed.
4.    Evaluate – As I evaluate my knowledge level, I will ask myself some important questions.  Are students showing digital citizenship skills without prompt?  Does data show a growth in students understanding of digital citizenship skills?  Do I feel in more confident in my leadership role?  If lessons do not seem to have helped to grow students digital citizenship skills, then we must revisit the lessons and find out what we can do to make it better.  It’s always important to evaluate your journey to know what is working and what is not.


 Although I feel as if I have a very good handle on my field of expertise, there is always room for growth.  This week’s resources have really helped me to understand what I am doing right, or enlighten me in areas I may have been struggling in.  We need to be life-long learners just as we want our kids too, but we must do it in a manner that elicits to best outcome.  This can be done by creating your GAME plan.

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


Sunday, July 6, 2014

What's the Connection?

“Over the last few decades, as technology has become more prevalent in our everyday lives, both educators and business and industry leaders have increasingly stressed the importance of developing students’ creative and critical thinking skills” (Cennamo et al, 2009, p.23).  As we prepare our students to go out into the world after graduation, it is not the same skills and learning they need that we grew up with.  Technology is creating an environment where everything is always changing and growing.  Information can be found at the snap of a finger.  It is imperative that students learn how to function in this new learning environment, while understanding that they will need to be life long learners to keep up.
One of my favorite quotes was said by Oklahoma Lieutenant Governor Jaris Askins  is on education.  She said, “"It's not about thinking outside of the box. It's about realizing there is no box."  We often define creative and critical thinking as ‘thinking outside the box’ or original ideas, but this is not often the case anymore.  We want all of students to have original ideas, but what makes them creative thinkers is that they are also “able to determine which of those ideas are the best ones to use” (Cennamo et all, 2009, p.25).  In order to teach our students how to be creative thinkers, we must give them opportunities in the classroom where they can do critical thinking.  We also need to do this in environment that engages the students, as well as makes it prevalent to their real world.  The use of self-directed learning allows students to go in depth into a topic they are interested in helping them to feel more at ease when they step out of the comfort zone.  The integration of technology is important because these are the tools they use everyday and will continue to use when in the workforce.  Creative thinking allows them to present ideas in a new and interesting way that conveys their personality and interests.  All this can be tied into the regular curriculum that we are required to teach just by looking at these components in a new light.  We don’t teach or offer these opportunities in isolation, they must be embedded into our lessons, units, and projects.
In the video “Promoting Creative Thinking with Technology”, we heard a lot of students share that they were excited when they were able to be creative.  This is completely accurate in my experience.  Students like to direct their learning and be creative in regards to it.  I worked with a group of students towards the end of the school year on independent research projects.  The students were able to choose what they wanted to learn more about, as well as choosing whatever creative way they wanted to share this knowledge with others.  Throughout the activity, I promoted critical thinking skills and information literacy lessons.  The result was a fantastic array of information and an eagerness to continue on to a new learning adventure.  Dr. Katherine Cennamo tells us that confidence, motivation, persistence, open-mindedness, and flexibility are all critical components to creative thinking and innovation (2009).   It is through the inclusion of self-directed learning, creativity, technology integration, and content learning that these components can be brought out in our students.  I have witnessed it with many projects but most predominantly with the one I described above.

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.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas: Promoting creative thinking with technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.