Online Learning in K-12 Schools

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UDL/DI Reflection

I have learned a tremendous amount during Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology. This class served to reinforce my ideas about how math instruction should look in my classroom. I say math because that is our big focus this year. Our math scores are not as high as our reading scores and we want to bring them up. As I have searched for resources and chatted with my social network partner, I have collected many resources to use when differentiating instruction this year. At first the thought of Universal Design for Learning scared me. However, upon learning more and reading all the great resources on the CAST website, I am now more comfortable with the idea. I plan to use the great resources offered by Pearson for reading. I also plan on using the wonderful interactive math web sites I found to have students practice in a fun way. In addition, I will continue to use resources such as Spelling City and others I have used in the past to provide students with alternatives to paper and pencil assignments.

One immediate adjustment I will make is administering pre-assessments for all math topics we cover. I want my students who have already mastered the standard to move on to application problems and projects rather than the continuous practice needed for mastery. I am also looking at adjusting how I assess in science and social studies. I want to include project and performance based assessments in each of these subjects.

Course Reflection

During this course I learned about using a GAME plan as a way to set goals and follow through in accomplishing those goals. While using the GAME plan I learned some valuable lessons. The goals I chose to focus on would be considered long term goals considering it was almost summer and the things I want to try will have to be done in the upcoming school year. This reminded me that while long term goals need to be set, the GAME plan would best be used with students to accomplish short term goals. I also plan on using the GAME plan in conjunction with a KWHL chart in class. After the students have set their learning goal, they can create a KWHL chart to plan on how best to accomplish the goal. I really think the GAME plan will work great with students in all subjects in my fourth grade classroom.

The GAME plan I created focused on two areas of the NETS-T. First, I wanted to involve my parents more through the use of technology. To accomplish this goal, I created a blog that I intend to use with parents and students next year. The main focus of this blog is to post homework assignments and announcements about classroom events. Because I am around the computer so much in the evenings it will be easy for me to check the blog periodically and answer any questions that might have been posed. I have also created an account with PhotoBucket to upload pictures taken in my classroom throughout the school year. In addition, I have decided to go back to using Scholastic to maintain a web page. I am going to try to use both the Scholastic page and the blog, but if I find the blog is doing well, I might just use it instead. Finally, to complete this goal I am going to create an e-mail list so I can send out periodic e-mail reminders to parents. I have done this in the past and it was a great way to communicate with parents.

The second goal I focused on dealt with adapting my lessons to include technology that will require the students to think more creatively. I have begun searching for resources on the internet to use to make my lessons more interactive for the students. I am trying to move away from me standing in front of the class teaching to students taking a more active role in their learning. I have found some good resources so far and plan on starting in July revamping some of my lessons to use my ACTIVboard more. I have not focused quite as much on this second goal since I wanted to enjoy my first month of summer vacation. I am pretty sure I will be ready to start gearing up for next year within the next couple of weeks.

I have decided to make some adjustments in my teaching practices based on the things I have learned in this class. This class has reaffirmed the need to have students become active instead of passive learners. After creating the problem based lessons, I feel that I will be creating more of those in the future. Because I am self-contained I can create units that are cross-curricular without having to worry about having to work the logistics out with another teacher. I have always thought of teaching this way, but now I have a better understanding of creating this type of lesson and including technology. Overall, this class has given me some ideas for changing my teaching practices that I feel will really open up doors for my students.

Using the GAME Plan with Students

I think using the GAME plan approach with students will be beneficial, not only with meeting NETS-S standards but in many subjects and areas. Using a GAME plan gives students and me a clear focus on what goals need to be met and sets forth a plan for making sure students are working towards those goals. I can see the GAME plan model being used in conjunction with KWHL charts to help students plan their learning and projects.

As far as using the GAME plan model to help students develop proficiency in the NETS-S standards, I would begin by introducing the standards to the students and talking about each one. Next, I would use one of the standards to model writing a goal that students could meet. For example the goal might be, Students will use a KWHL chart to plan a strategy for finding information. This goal would fall under standard three of the NETS-S. This standard is the one my students will be working on the most throughout the year. I will be concentrating on teaching them how to find and evaluate resources. I learned this past year that my students did not have the knowledge to use the internet to find answers to their questions. Therefore, my primary goal this upcoming school year will be to teach them to find and evaluate resources. After writing a goal with the students, we will come up with actions that can be taken to work toward the goal. This will be a goal we will work towards all school year. After a few weeks of working on this goal, we will monitor our progress. At this point, I will ask the students to examine the NET-S again and develop a goal to work towards.

I look forward to using the GAME plan method with my students next year. I plan on using it not only to help students show competency in the NET-S but also with the other subjects I teach.

Revising My GAME Plan

At this time I am still working toward the two goals I initially set forth in my GAME plan. I set two long term goals that I will work on all summer and throughout the beginning of the school year in August. I am continuing to look for ways to incorporate my ACTIVboard into most of my lessons. I am also going to take a course offered by our district on using the ACTIVboard in the classroom. The Promethean Planet web site has a plethora of available resources, including a blog where I can connect with other educators who use the ACTIVboard. I plan on exploring all these resources this summer and enhancing my classroom learning even more.

I feel the way I have approached this GAME plan has been just right for me. Based on my own searching and the great suggestions from my colleagues on here, I have made progress on meeting my goals I set forth. When I complete this GAME plan in August or September I will be ready to focus on another part of the NETS-T.

GAME Plan Rundown

This week I have taken more steps to carry out my GAME plan. Thanks to the suggestion of a classmate, I have signed up for Photobucket. I like this site because I can password protect the albums I create so only parents can have access to photographs taken in my classroom. In fact, I have already created an album of the photos I took last year and will send the information home with my former students at the beginning of next school year.

I have also set up a blog to use as my homework blog next year. I really hope that this idea takes off. I plan on sharing not just homework help, but also post important class notices about upcoming events and due dates. I really hope this turns into a great forum for parents and students alike.

As I mentioned last week, I have found some great flip charts that I can modify to help me meet standards. I have been concentrating my search this week on math. I have found some interactive games I can play with my students that will reinforce the concepts they are to master in fourth grade.

I still have a lot of work to do over the summer to complete my GAME plan. I am going to take the time to rewrite several of my lessons to include the use of my ACTIVboard and make the lessons more interactive. I still have more searching to do to find ways to incorporate my ACTIVboard into my everyday teaching. I would also like to find out how much the ACTIVvotes system costs. This would allow me to give quick multiple choice assessments to find out if my students are comprehending the material.

I think this plan has been great for focusing me on what I need to do to make my classroom more accessible to parents and more interactive for my students. I will continue to work on my GAME plan throughout the summer and into the beginning of next school year.

Continuted GAME Plan Progress

I have started carrying out parts of my GAME Plan. I have made sure to bring home all my pacing guides and resources that I had at school. I have also started perusing the web for resources to use with my ACTIVboard. I have found some great flipcharts that I can customize to meet my needs, especially in language arts and math. One area I have not started working on yet is finding a secure photo sharing web site. I am wondering if any of my classmates have used a photo sharing site with parents and how it worked out. My blog is set up to begin using for next year, but I need to work on creating a letter that introduces the idea to the parents. I also need to add information about the blog to my beginning of the year PowerPoint I share with parents at open house.

After the readings last week and this week, one thing that has come up in my mind is revamping not just my lessons but assessments too. Although I use all four types of assessments, I lean heavily on forced-choice simply because they are easy to grade. As I am revamping lessons I am also going to be finding ideas for more project and performance based assessments.