Monitoring My GAME Plan Through Assessment- Week 4

In effort to monitor my own teaching for my GAME plan I decided to use this week’s resources as guide to create assessment strategies for formative and summative purposes.  With these ideas in mind I hope to use these technological assessments to direct my planning, activity choices, revision, and reflection.  Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009a) explain the importance of cognitive feedback that offers explanation along with a better understanding of the expected skill level of students as well as techniques on how to improve.  Through the use of forced option, open ended, performance based, and project based formats I hope to guide objectives, planning, and student success.

            In my first goal, teaching digital etiquette, I have already met with a small group in which we participated in a discussion of what social etiquette is, created a “rules of the road” list of what is expected for proper digital etiquette, created a student compact, and watched a video explaining the importance of digital etiquette.  After reflection I realized that after these activities would have been a perfect opportunity to have students do a quick forced option assessment in which I could determine up to this point what my students had taken from the activities and see where I may need to review.  Looking ahead to our next activity where students will be given social etiquette scenarios in a group and practice role playing on how they would respond in differing situations I plan to use a performance based approach for assessment to see if they are applying the new information to a real life situation.  Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009b) emphasize the importance of authentic assessments being realistic, that they should be applied to the real world for better student understanding.  Through an open ended assessment I plan to have students participate in a blog where they are given digital etiquette scenarios and they are required to provide a short response on how they would handle the situation, along with building on the ideas of their group members.

            My second goal, incorporating learning into real world problems, in which my group of students have chosen to focus on the environment and recycling leaves room for formative assessment use as well.  At this point my students are ready to start their research process on recycling, and create concept maps to organize their ideas for their final project.  Initially I had intended for the concept maps to be a tool for students to create their final project, but after some thought I realized the maps themselves can give me a wealth of information on how my students are processing and organizing their research as well as understanding the new information.  Since my students have been given the option of creating a short movie, a power point, or a voice thread to demonstrate their learning, I see that this falls into the category of project based assessment that will allow students to help solve unstructured problems, make personal judgments, and apply knowledge through action, all of which Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009c) suggest is crucial to project based authentic assessments.

            Assessments for my two goals meet the needs of my students on a formative and summative level.  Providing formative assessments not only allows me to plan instruction and revise it, but for my students to have feedback on where they are in their learning process and where to go from there.  Using these types of strategies provides a re-teaching and learning reflection opportunity.  Through the use of summative assessments I am able to better understand student learning, and students are able to receive meaningful feedback and suggestions to move them onto the next level of proficiency.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ermer, P. (2009a). Technology integration of meaningful classroom

use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ermer, P. (2009b). Technology integration of meaningful classroom

use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ermer, P. (2009c). Technology integration of meaningful classroom

use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA:

Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress - Week 3

I began the process of carrying out my game plan for teaching students digital social etiquette and applying learning to real world problems by developing a plan incorporating technology and beginning the implementation process. My first developmental goal of teaching a small group of students digital social etiquette began by planning some activities that would give them information about this subject, discussing some student and teacher created etiquette ideas, using media to reinforce the learning, and creating practice scenarios on how students should behave online.  Through the Netiquette Guidelines website  I was able to come up with some ideas on topics that should be included in our group discussion for what netiquette is and what it entails such as; using computer courtesy, being sensitive and constructive with wording and key functions, language use, thinking before posting, keeping personal information private, respecting copyright laws, and the issue of cyber bullying. Through discussion and examples of these items my small group and I created a “Rules of the Road” list on what we deemed important for digital social etiquette and turned it into a contract for all of us to sign.  We then watched a YouTube video on social netiquette and safety at YouTube Netiquette.  The next time we meet we will work on online use scenarios to see how well the students are applying the new knowledge and skills.  Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009a) explain that when students set their own goals, manage their learning, and assess progress it leads to engaging, enriching learning experiences.  Through this goal setting I hope to provide my students with ownership of their learning helping it become more meaningful.

The second developmental goal I began to work on for incorporating learning into real world problems started off in the planning, researching, and discussion phase.  With the same small group previously mentioned I decided to have a whole a group discussion of what real world issues were important to them.  Through this discussion we formed focused inquiry questions so that they could do some research on their topics to see if what they were interested in was indeed the topic they would proceed with for this unit.  Provided guidelines and focused questioning helps students independently learn and accomplish tasks (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009b).  Through these strategies I hoped to give my students the tools they needed to move forward.  After the research process we came back together as a group and discussed the topics and information they had found.  Originally I thought this would be a project where students would choose their own topic for their activities and final product, but after much talking they came up with the idea that they would be more effective in their efforts if they worked on a common goal through the same topic.  The students were mostly interested in our environment so they decided to choose something that they could not just do a presentation product on, but actually get out there and physically make a contribution to, through recycling.  I was really excited about this because our school has a limited recycling program and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get the school involved, along with meeting 4^th and 5^th grade content standards.  In planning at this stage I decided I would like my students to do more research on the topic and organize their ideas through concept mapping software.  From there the students can share their newly found information to the group so that everyone can use it for their final product, with cited sources of course.  In the final products students will have the choice of creating a short movie, a power point, or a voicethread where they can share the environmental concerns and the importance to recycling.  Some of the extension activities I have planned are; students sharing their presentations to each class at the beginning of the school year to help prompt participation in individual classroom recycling, doing a recycling hands on activity where students make new paper out of old paper, and create a proposal of what the school could potentially use the money received from recycling for.

In both of my developmental goals I have done most of the planning, and have implemented the initial plans.  I hope to use the mentioned activities to guide instruction and check for student understanding and application.  Through the ideas of my students I feel will guide this process and make it more memorable for them.

References

Internet at Suite 101. Top 10 etiquette guidelines. Retrieved from

             http://www.suite101.com/content/netiquette-guidelines-a26615%20on%20July%206, 2011

YouTube. Social Media for kids at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. Retrieved from

            http://www.com/watch?v=z7MX6xIHd8E on July 5, 2001.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P, (2009a). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

            use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed). Belmont, Ca:

            Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P, (2009b). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

            use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed). Belmont, Ca:

            Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Developing a Personal GAME Plan (6713- Week 2)

There are many areas that I work on being successful in integrating technology into education, however, due to the fact that technology is constantly changing and the work load that being an educator brings sometimes leaves important skills and strategies for development by the way side.  One of the NETS-T (2008) components that I feel I would benefit from is promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility by promoting and modeling digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.  Another skill I would like to work on is facilitating and inspiring students learning and creativity by engaging students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.  Developing a GAME plan strategy mirrors Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer’s (2009) ideas of putting effort into generating ideas and forming courses of action to bring those ideas into fruition.

            The GAME plan I would like to implement for promoting and modeling digital etiquette would begin with setting a goal of finding out through discussion what my students know about digital etiquette so I can build upon that knowledge and create activities that help students better understand the importance of being responsible, social, digital citizens.  Through action I will discuss what social etiquette means based on our discussions, and begin practicing simulations where students are presented with a etiquette problem or scenario and have to share what their actions or reactions would be in that context.  To monitor student progress I will have them take turns in partners posting responses, some designed by me, to challenge their partner’s etiquette skills.  I will at that point be able to read their responses and see if I need to modify the lesson or proceed with the evaluation process.  In evaluation and extension efforts I will individually give students posed problems of etiquette situations to see if they are applying the new skills and evaluate if I need to re-teach using different strategies. 

            Creating goals for engaging students in real world issues and solving authentic problems would begin by presenting students with some of these issues present today and opening discussions of what students think are some important issues to them. Students will then be able to sign of for a group with an issue that is important to them. Cennamo (2009) shares the importance of personalizing student learning through choices, freedom, and creativity so they develop their best work. The action component would include student groups researching using a KWHL chart to get a better understanding of their real world problem. Student groups will then be able to form a plan of how they will present their information, what they will do to better the problem; write letters to those involved, start a donation collection, community service, or engaging in assistance efforts through communications, just to name a few.  Students will be able to choose their groups course of action.  I will monitor student progress by having group interviews to see if they are on track, and suggest ideas, or pose questions to lead them to where they might be most successful.  This is also a good opportunity as a whole class for the groups to share with the class what issue they are working on, where they are in the process, and what their plan of action is.  Through this discussion and sharing students will be able to borrow ideas they find beneficial, ask other groups questions, and provide suggestions.  The evaluation process for this plan will be through the observations of group discussions, interviews, and final products produced.  These artifacts will help to in the evaluation process by helping me reflect on their learning process and make modifications for the next time we deal with real world issues and authentic problems.

References

International Society for Technology in Education, (2008). National education standards

            for teachers. (NETS-T). Retrieved from

            http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx on

            July 1, 2011.

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. Baltimore, MD: Author.