GAME Plan Resources

For me to be successful in my GAME plan, I will need to find a variety of links that will help my students complete their WebQuest.  This Spring Break I will create a new WebQuest for my students to complete in lieu of the traditional pencil to paper exam for their final exam.  The WebQuest is going to let my students explore a Spanish speaking country of their choice and then they will learn about that country's culture and cuisine.  The resources that I will need for them to be successful I have found and posted on my "digital library" that gives the students access to many links that talk about cuisine and the culture of the Spanish speaking countries in Central and South America.  I have also found many things that my students can use from Spain.  The best resource that I have at my disposal is Google since it is the search engine of choice in my school.  Through this I can vet resources and then have my students use them for their project.  There will also be more traditional resources such as travel guides and text books that I have gathered from the local library, but the best bet is by using a computer and utilizing search engines to find information that is essential to complete the final project. 

GAME Plan

There are two ISTE standards that jump out at me when I look at them and they are:

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.

What I will do to make sure that I utilize the second standard is to make sure that I use the technology that is available to me and my students.  It is easy for me to fall into the same trap of following the same lesson plans from years past and using the same books and videos as resources, but there is so much more available for me to make class more interesting and for my students to interact with so that they can understand Spanish in new ways.  My goal to do this is to have my students go on a virtual field trip or complete a WebQuest every quarter so that class instruction is fresh and different. 

The next thing that I want to make sure that my students understand that all of the materials and things that I or they use belong to someone and that they need to give credit to the people who created the resources that are used.  My goal is to cite everything that I use in my lessons if the ideas are not mine.  I also will cite pictures and works that I have created if I use them in a WebQuest so that students understand that things found on the web have a creator and that person is the owner of that “digital property.”  I want them to understand that it is okay for them to use other people’s ideas, but they need to give credit to the people who came up with those ideas. 

I will monitor my progress by making sure that I keep my personal responsibility to give credit to owners of intellectual property.  It may not seem like stealing, but it is and I have to be honest to myself since I am to be a role model for all of my students.  The other way for me to monitor my plan is to make sure my students know of my plan and hold me to giving them a digital project each quarter.

My learning and growth will be continuous, because technology is continually evolving.  The computer that I am using to write this is less than a year old, but it is already almost obsolete compared to the computers available in my local stores.  I will be able to evaluate my learning by looking at the products that my students produce during their digital projects, but I know that I will find better and faster ways to make sure they are learning and I am learning with them. 

Reflections

Throughout this course there many revelations that I had when it comes to new Literacies and online inquiry.  As Warlick (2009) said, there is such an “abundance” of information available that it can sometimes be overwhelming.  Trying to teach students how to navigate through all of that information and then how to properly use it can seem daunting, but with practice it will become second nature. 

I think that the most important thing to try to remember when using someone else’s intellectual property is to give them credit.   The burden falls on the teacher to remember to use proper citation using intellectual property so that a good model is set for the students.  I have found in this generation and their ability to find things on the web that they are used to not giving credit to the owner.  What I mean by that they are used to finding video games, music, shows and movies on the web and using them for free.  If the students see that the teacher gives credit to everything that they use that isn’t of their own making, or maybe for the purpose of driving the idea home, and things of their own giving credit to what they do.  If I were to use pictures that I took on a trip to Spain or Peru, then I show in the bottom corner that it is my picture then they will understand the importance of citing information.  

Something that I think I will always keep a watchful eye on is making sure that my students always give credit to what they are writing.  The best and easiest way for me to know if my students are borrowing information from somewhere is simply how it written.  If the information from them is well thought out and written with very few grammatical errors then I will be led to believe that they are borrowing someone else’s work.  Then I would simply type in their topic in Google and chances are that it will be one of the first items that the search engine finds.  I will then have to make sure they know how to use someone else’s ideas and then summarize that information in their own words.  They would still have to cite whose idea it is, but at least they will begin to learn how to use other people’s thoughts to support their own beliefs.    

One thing that I would like to explore from this class is to refine my searches on the internet.  Like Warlick (2009) said there is such an abundance of information that it is easy to get lost when you are looking for something specific.  Making searches as specific as possible to find what you are looking for is important so that time is not lost going through many different links finding things that are not important to the search.  With practice and patience I can find ways to navigate the World Wide Web to find relevant information for my inquiries.  This class has been helpful and it will help my guide the students that are from a new digital age use the technology available to them.  

Warlick, David. (2009). “Skills for the Future” [DVD]. United States: Laureate Education, Inc.

Reflections

As I have gone through this course I do not have many modifications that I would like to make to my Personal Theory of Learning.  The few modifications that I would like to implement is to use a more cooperative learning in groups of three or more instead of simply using a partner to practice new Spanish vocabulary. 

Some adjustments that I would like to make with regards to technology integration is the use of Virtual Field Trips.  There really are no places to take my students to experience an authentic Latino trip in Cincinnati, but I can take my students there in a virtual way.  They will be able to explore new places that would be nearly impossible otherwise for a plethora of reasons.  I would also like to have my students produce more power point presentations using the new vocabulary that they are learning in my Foreign language class. 

I would also like to use more WebQuest projects with my students along with Virtual Field Trips.  These two uses of technology would take my students to distant lands that are so different from the inner city of Cincinnati.  I was fortunate enough to take a group of students to Puerto Rico a few years ago with the generous funding of two Cincinnati Bengals.  The experiences that these ten students have will last a lifetime, but I know that was a rare, once in a lifetime opportunity that may never happen again.  By using the technology available to use these types of instructional practices, I will be able to show my students a world that they can strive to visit in the future.  Seeing something and learning about it may inspire them to achieve in school in order to go see the places that they will experience virtually through a WebQuest or a Virtual Field Trip.  

Voice thread

Here is my voice thread let me know what you think. http://voicethread.com/share/1386679/

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Cooperative learning in social learning in practice.  I do believe that in human nature we want to have social interaction to give meaning to everything.   I see that cooperative learning plays an important role in developing social skills and social learning.  Cooperative learning works to a point but it is not the end all learning strategy that a Charter school that I unfortunately worked at for a year believes it to be.  The school wanted every lesson of every day to be completed with cooperative learning, more accurately, using Kagan learning structures.  They believed that those structures made everything fun and then the students would learn.  This was unfortunate because the students at that school were performing at a very low level in every subject but believed they were great students because of the success of the "cooperative learning" that they had in class.  I believe that cooperative learning does reinforce learning and build up social skills.  Cooperative learning is integral in learning a foreign language by relying on your classmates to affirm pronunciation and understanding. It is a tool that is useful when used appropriately,  but is ineffective when over used.  This strategy is just like diet plans, what works from some will not work for all.  Like with everything in teaching every person needs to find what works for them and for their classes and be happy.

Constructivism in Practice

Looking at Constructivist/constructionist learning theories this past week I think of the time I spent volunteering  in a Montessori school as an undergraduate.  I found their philosophy completely different from what I had always thought of as "schooling."  The idea of giving children a learning map and having them find their way instead of leading them to a desired result is something that worked really well for a certain group of students.  I look at this as something that works in combination with an individuals' learning modality, since some people can not learn without being told what to do, when and how to do it.  I really like the idea of learning something new by going through a process and having someone facilitate it or guiding the way.  It takes a special type of environment and facilitator to make this thing possible.  I can remember some students coming into the school from Charter schools in the area and them having a terrible time in trying to acclimate to a new learning environment.  The schools that they came from had no structure, no certified teachers, and principles with no educational backgrounds.  They like the idea of not having a lot of structure, but they also didn't like to actually try and learn things on their own, mostly because the tools were never implemented in them to know how to learn.  I believe that the early years it is easier for students to have a guide that gives them the needed tools to learn so that when they are older they can learn on their own.