Tough Winning a Road GAME-Draft

What seemed like a simple thing, creating and maintaining a blog, taught me as much about self-directed learning as I needed to know to help structure learning activities for diverse students to be successful with their content and their technological skills development and application. Designed well, technology infused curriculum allows for self differentiated, individualized learning that will serve students from various culturally and linguistically diverse households, engaging the students to collaborate and communicate creatively while practicing and applying metacognitive strategies and critical thinking.

I'd set up a personal blog a few years ago,with a few writings from the non-teaching portion of my life. I'd found blogger easy to use, and went back to build on what I had started and to allow myself one place to go to use either blog, the one required for class, and the more personal one that deals with issues of self, family, and home, all themes I stress in language arts classes with my students. Thus, some of the material from the one blog arose from modeling and sharing my own writing with some of my classes, as well as my peers in the CCWP in both 2002 and in 2011. Source about peers, and tapping into what one knows already.

I had a clearly defined goal: to learn to utilize a blog as a communication tool with students and ultimately, parents, too. I wanted to learn how to set up and publish to a blog on a regular basis. Although this coincided with multiple trips across country through California, both of the Carolinas, both of the Virginias, a steep sna rocky little corner of Tennessee and an accidental foray into Southern Ohio, I managed to experience all levels of frustration in following through with each aspect of the blogging process. Some of the actions I took in creating my blog worked well, and I was pleased with the results. Source on steps and metacognitive assessments along the way As I tried to add and edit and subscribe, I ran into difficulties, some of my own creation and some attributable to geography and quality of the network services I WiFi-ed into. In this way I recognize that the Mountain Culture along the Appalachian chain resembles that of my heavily Latino student population along the agricultural food basket of North Monterey County and the Salinas Valley salad bowl of the world. (Source this)

In my own search and destroy (ignorance) sorties into more advanced technology, I recognize myself as _______'s digital immigrant. While I may have been a fairly early adapter (oh, for the days of usenet groups and ads free internet), my skills stagnated, limited by my own frustration levels at trying new things via computer. (speech about the virtue of the Mac over the PC, but I digress) As technology advanced in the last thirty years (use source from NYT>>>) schools and large institutions remained slow adapters as evidenced by the discrepancy that still exists in our “digital divide'” Having experienced the digital divide as a digital immigrant, but one who came in when she was just a kid and she only has vague memories of dimes for payphones and pong, I know just enough to get buy, to find what I want, a lesson idea, or people from thin air and meager public records. In my actions, I am constatly monitoring my success. Blessed with ADD and OCD, I am easily frustrated and doggedly persistent at the same time, so my own learning comes in great leaps and slow progress, much like my golf game. Eagleton & Dobler's QUEST for technology integration enables teacher to focus on distinct but necessary skills of internet and online work, but frees the student to practice the 21^st century skills in what is in many ways, still 20^th century knowledge.

In Evaluating my own progress, I am my won worst enemy, often allowing the perfect to rub up against the deadlines of the good. This is true in my teaching as well: I want the very best, but the perfect lesson plan, like the perfect golf game, doesn't exisit, only our steps toward our stted goals: learning about cultural and historically diffeent times and places (Bles Me Ultima or To Kill a Mockingbird) or shaving strokes off my short game

Playing a new GAME (RePost)

Playing a new GAME (Repost)

(The darkness troubled, me, too...)

Goals:

• develop fluency in creating, posting, and managing blog posts and blog feeds
• Investigate use of Google Docs and Google Notebook (Source)
• Incorporate WEB Quests/ Inquiry project and flexible assignment options for thematic, cross- curricular units that allow for collaborative learning along with individual accountability.
• Students will utilize tools to communicate creatively to demonstrate application of concepts
• and critical thinking skills.

Actions:

         I've set up a professional blog, and revisited a personal blog that I don't write in enough.

         I've attempted to subscribe to everyone in my group's blog-feeds, but I haven't mastered that yet. As I return to the Course Weblog site list, I will use a mini-game plan, without even thinking about it, because the steps to analytical thinking are already automated. Directing my attention to both successful RSS feeds and to my understanding of how to connect to a community of blogs sets up a think aloud (quietly, in my own room—people hear talking aloud and they think you are nuts) of metacognitive monitoring, evaluating and taking action that repeats until I've learned by doing what I needed to know. From this, I need to boil down these new program tricks and tips into simple bullet-pointed steps and procedures, easily accessible in a classroom.

         I've used Google Docs to communicate with other professional in the CCWP, and I've read of one colleague's initial success with collaborative documents. In terms of developing both editing skills in the advanced students, and modes of good language usage in the second language learning students, carefully crafted mixed ability groups can collaborate on a variety of materials connected to content to demonstrate their learnings. A Seedfolk unit, for example, allows for character study and point of view analysis, as well as the impact of setting on characters in the story. As each character is an immigrant to Cleveland form elsewhere, students can self select or be draw names to form groups of three to analyze any of these and work creatively and collaboratively to communicate what they've discovered about whey people from El Salvador or Korea came to this country.. (12 chapters after model, 3 students per chapter)

Monitoring

         See above frustrations in the Action steps. I've learned to post and respond, but gathering all responses in one location eludes me. Some come to my Walden email address, others come through my gmail address. In order to facilitate class discussion groups, I will have to be able to take students through blog feed set up in relatively short sequence of steps. Simplify.

Evaluation.

Halfway to my goal, and incorporating Quests and self directed inquiries into unit questions. As I revisit past successful lessons, I look to blend the technology-enriched activities and projects into the unit. Dobler and Eagleton provide a dsk-reference in how to's for modeling the acquisition and practice of discreet new literacy skills, the constant recursive repetition of questioning, using information, evaluating results, searching and transforming information that makes up

No time yet for Google Notebooks, though I intend to remedy that soon. I like google docs for its accessibility from any internet linked device, and for it's collaborative editing features. Making better use of google docs myself, rather than immediately using Open Office's word processing program will allow me to better teach the skills of information archival and retrieval as well as portfolio building. .

Next steps:

Dig into Google Notebooks, and resubscribe to blog feeds. Trying to accomplish the most technologically demanding class thus far in my program while I am bouncing around the Appalachian Mountains has brought to my attention the problem of areas with little or poor internet access, or those still waiting on slow internet connections. I whine when my hotel doesn't have wifi. The new normal is never thus... Get a little help from those more proficient to learn how to manage and incorporate 21^st century tools for my 21^st century students.

Playing a new GAME

Goals: develop fluency in creating, posting, and managing blog posts and blog feeds

Investigate use of Google Docs and Google Notebook

Incorporate WEB Quests/ Inquiry project and flexible assignment options for thematic, cross- curricular units that allow for collaborative learning along with individual accountability.

Students will utilize tools to communicate creatively to demonstrate application of concepts

and critical thinking skills for digital story-telling, webblog creation and communication, and document archive and retreival through Google Docs

Actions:

I've set up a professional blog, and revisited a personal blog that I don't write in enough.

I've attempted to subscribe to everyone in my group's blog-feeds, but I haven't mastered that yet. As I return to the Course Weblog site list, I will use a mini-game plan, without even thinking about it, because the steps to analytical thinking are already automated. Directing my attention to both successful RSS feeds and to my understanding of how to connect to a community of blogs sets up a think aloud (quietly, in my own room—people hear talking aloud and they think you are nuts) of metacognitive monitoring, evaluating and taking action that repeats until I've learned by doing what I needed to know. From this, I need to boil down these new program tricks and tips into simple bullet-pointed steps and procedures, easily accessible in a classroom.

I've use Google Docs to communicate with other professional in the CCWP, and I've read of one colleague's initial success with collaborative documents. In terms of developing both editing skills in the advanced students, and modes of good language useage in the second language learning students, carefully crafted mixed ability groups can collaborate on a variety of materials connected to content to demonstrate their learnings. A Seedfolk unit, for example, allows for character study and point of view analysis, as well as the impact of setting on characters in the story. As each character is an immigrant to Cleveland form elsewhere, students can self select or be draw names to form groups of three to analyze any of these and work creatively and collaboratively to communicate what they've discovered about whey people from El Salvador or Korea came to this country.. (12 chapters after model, 3 students per chapter)

Monitoring

See above frustrations in the Action steps. I've learned to post and respond, but gathering all responses in one location eludes me. Some come to my Walden email address, others come through my gmail address. In order to facilitate class discussion groups, I will have to be able to take students through blog feed set up in relatively short sequence of steps. Simplify.

Evaluation.

Halfway to my goal, and incorporating Quests and self directed inquiries into unit questions. As I revisit past successful lessons, I look to blend the technology-enriched activities and projects into the unit. Dobler and Eagleton provide a dsk-reference in how to's for modeling the acquisition and practice of discreet new literacy skills, the constant recursive repetition of questioning, using information, evaluating results, searching and transforming information that makes up

No time yet for Google Notebooks, though I intend to remedy that soon. I like google docs for its accessibility from any internet linked device, and for it's collaborative editing features. Making better use of google docs myself, rather than immediately using Open Office's word processing program will allow me to better teach the skills of information archival and retreival as well as portfolio building. .

Next steps:

Dig into Google Notebooks, and resubscribe to blog feeds. Trying to accomplish the most technologically demanding class thus far in my program while I am bouncing around the Appalachian Mountains has brought to my attention the problem of areas with little or poor internet access, or those still waiting on slow internet connections. I whine when my hotel doesn't have wifi. The new normal is never thus... Get a little help from those more proficient to learn how to manage and incorporate 21^st century tools for my 21^st century students.  So, Alphabetical denizens of Group 1, throw some advice my way....

Extra Inning GAMEs

I connected a few dots, and now have some questions...

        Librarians become Media Coordinators. Schools hire Technology teachers. We're wiring everyone up to the internet. Podcasts, Youtube, 'blogs, email, wikis—wonderful programs designed to help our students think critically and creatively to collaborate and communicate to real audiences for authentic purposes. Sounds great. Where was this when I was in school, in my Seniors only Computers elective working with dos prompts? (Google it, young 'uns.) But rather than looking back to see how far we've come since the, dare I confess, 80s, stop for a moment and examine the big picture: what are the various trends in Education, and where are they leading us?

        Each of us in engaged in future learning. By this I mean the world on on-line classes. The cost ofmaintaining fleets of yellow buses, criss-crossing the rural counties and the crowded cities, and mid sized towns in between. The standards are in the process of being Standardized further with the Common Core. While I applaud their simplicity and their flexibility,they cry out for self-directed, differentiated, inquiry based cross curricular learning. Immersion in a time and place, to examine the prevalent and relevant ideas and concepts “the educated” know. What happens when we add the economic crisis to the mix? What happens when local and state revenues are down as costs for safety net services increases? What happens when good teaching is reduced to a set of acronyms providing step by step instructions? Enthusiastic about the possibilities of technology use in the classroom that replicates real world communication, I can't help but be troubled isn't the right word about the future of public education.

        Privatization, vouchers, and the explosion of charter schools and virtual charter schools leads me to ask what a “classroom” will look like ten years hence, or twenty, when I retire to the fairways and greens of Western North Carolina or Southern California. Colleges offer more and more distance learning oppportunities, high school students work on independent study programs designed to move them ahead, or allow them to catch up, and the rise of homeschooling and virtual schools like K12.com leave me to wonder how many of us will teach in on-line programs, where we learn about our students throught threaded discussions and voice within their writings? How will packaged learning programs affect K-3, 4-6, 7-9, and 10-12? (the natural groupings, imo....) At what point will we teach skills in K-6, then shift students to virtual classroom for 7-12, when their hormones explode and they become snarky teenagers? How will the new economic and literacy demands demand that we radically modify the delivery of education in the future? I remember whern the white board was the newest, latest technology. Colored markers! Wipes off easily! Better than an Overhead projector!

        What will my students remark about as their learning environments and their tools for knowledge excavation?

Better bring your A game...

Setting Goals, taking action, monitoring progress, and evaluating results: it sems so easy, simple,a nd straightforward. We do this kind of metacognitive analysis constantly, yet we rarely break down our thinking into small enough chunks for our students to follow.  Putting a name to it, whatever it is, is the first step in moving toward understanding.

My own GAME Plan for infusing technology skills into the content curriculum involves more thorough understanding of that sophisticated thinking process, the thinking about thinking that goes on as we use the internet and on-line resources as daily tools to achieve what we want. In wanting to become more proficient with blogging, I've had to awaken my inner blogger and ad a site dedicated to this class and my ideas about teaching today's students. 

 While I was successful in setting up a page, with a simple template, I need to keep a journal, electronic, of course, to jot down the constant stream of consciousness emitted when I am in hot pursuit of ideas. Several of my classmates commented on my blog post, which led me further down the road toward the title of blogger. They also felt my pain and encouraged my development as I stumble through this learning curve.

 In monitoring my success with this new technology (participating and creating, rather than simply reading and lurking in the comments sections), I realize that I need to spend more time ensuring that I am subscribed to each of you, that I am checking some of your blogs daily as part of my daily class routine. 

To evaluate my progress thus far, I am learning, and I still have a lot to learn. In discussions with other teachers in other districts, I hear that “the young teachers are so innovative, and they have students submitting assignments via email, or entering blog posts. They're always in contact.” The technology teacher who spoke these very words teaches 7^th grade computers and technology, yet she is readying for retirement. Without ageism rearing its ugly head, I return to the notion of Prensky's Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants. How do 20^th century teachers reach 21^st century students? In ten years, where will technology drive education? In seeking to find the answers to these questions, I will be forced to refine my own technological skills, to update my technological resume to compete.

How can a blog be adapted to become a class website? What other ways can I incorporate group community and collaborative learning? What absolutely needs to be done with technology and what can be completed in the classroom? How will the tools I choose improve the four C's of learning: how will it allow for students to use critical thinking and creativity to collaborate and communicate? If I can not answer these questions about the tools and tech I bring into the class, I might need to rethink my thinking about thinking.

More to follow as the GAME plan marches on....

Technological refugee

Traveling exposes the digital haves and have nots.  


Free Wifi is only as useful as the access.  We no longer live in a dial up world, and spotty internet service in the hollows of West Virginia and in the mountains of Appalachia reinforces how critical the tools of modern technology have become, but how difficult life beomes when one cannot log on and open multiple windows or tabs and set goals for acquiring information, take action beyond entering the network password AGAIN, monitor progress toward attaining and transfroming information into something of value, nor evaluate the results.  


Teaching one the outer edges of Silicon Valley and down into Monterey County, CA, I worked at schools had pretty good access, regardless of the number of computers (never enought, though one school came close to an ideal situation).  In terms of profesional development within my discipline and toward feeling more like a Digital Native, I have turned to the NWP's website.  Dedicated to improving writing, these teacher researcher offer cutting edge, practical applications for embedding technology withthe teaching. Between NWP.org and the differentiation strategies in this week's readings, I might just be able to drag my teaching fully into the 21st century.  


Now to ponder Brigit's student population and offer a few ideas to give each child a leg up into the content.  
-dd

GAME off, GAME ON...GAME PLAN

ThinkQuest: 21^st Century Students, Teacher & Tools

     Clearly one of Prensky's “digital immigrant teachers,” (2001. p. 4) one who prints out discussion to read it, write comments in the margins, then return to the online world to compose a response, I have come to recognize my students inhabit an entirely different world. If students bemoan “every time I go to school I have to power down,” (Prensky, 2001, p. 4), then we have to find ways to teach our students in their world, with the tools they use every day, to teach them skills that serve them well beyond their schooling. In order to help 21^st century teachers reach 21^st century students, the International Society for Technology in Education's National education standards for teachers (NETS-T) provides five standards for infusing technology skills into the curriculum for increased student achievement and engagement. At this juncture, my focus is on these two:

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

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

     Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer's GAME Plan for integrating technology skills allows a teacher to set goals, take specific action toward a desired outcome, teach and model cognitive skills to monitor progress toward meeting goals, and evaluate the results against desired outcomes. (2009, p. 3). People with mature reasoning and critical thinking skills make use of this recursive process whenever they learn to use new technology: email platform for work, new attendance and grade reporting systems, new websites to provide lessons and resources for classroom use. While these hallmarks of critical thinking seem effortless and embedded into the web-surfing experience or any other self directed learning activity, our students need to practice these metacognitive skills in guided, scaffolded, differentiated learning inquiries and WEBQuests to develop both content and procedural knowledge that allows them to set goals, take action, monitor their own progress, and evaluate their own results in their self-directed learning and, as Newmann identifies, “authentic intellectual work” beyond their academic careers. Teaching students to “construct knowledge” through “disciplined inquiry” resulting in work that has “value beyond school” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p.35)

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.

     To meet the challenge presented in this standard, I have multiple goals: Ideally, my students and I create and archive and portfolio documents and presentations using Google Documents. Both free and easily accessible at any internet connected computers, Google docs will allow students, teacher and parents to keep a record of the ways in which student meet standards and learn in innovative and creative ways. New teaching tools provide “opportunities in teaching Digital Natives...to figure out and invent ways to include reflection and critical thinking in learning...but do it in the Digital Native Language.” (Prenksy, 2001b. p. 5) Put simply, my goal is to break down my own sophisticated internet browsing and surfing to find what strategies I use to analyze, evaluate, apply and synthesize information. Blogging invites students and parents into the classroom to see lessons, discussion highlights, project requirements, rubric, and general communication about the learning environment. Using a blog in the classroom enables me to develop a line of communication via email and comment sections, as well as create for myself a website that can be quickly adapted for any school site as I switch from the southern-most end of Northern California to the southern most end of North Carolina, a blending of my dream job at South Lake Tahoe High School combined with a rich, distinctly Appalachian, distinctly Asheville mix of cultures familiar and new to explore and teach with, to and about.

References

Cennnamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. 2009. technology Integration for meaningful classroom instruction: 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/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Prensky, M. (2001a). “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1.” On the Horizon, 9 (5), 1-4. Retrieved from Education Research Complete.

Prensky, M. (2001b). “Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 2: Do they really think differently?” On the Horizon, 9 (6), 1-6. Retrieved from Education Research Complete.

GAME off, GAME ON...

GAME Plant fothcoming in more complete form, but my initial attemtps to set up and subscribe to this half of Team tech integration proved to be a mini lessoni in game planning.  My experience here dovetails with ITSE.NETS*T Standard 3. Model Digital Age WOrk and Learning.  WHile I've been an avid reader of political blogs and blog-posts regarding education and education reform, I rarely blog myself, though I have another blog I have yet to fully inhabit.  Lurking about the blogosphere is not the same as participating.  Leaving the occasional comment is not equivalent to producing and engaging in dialog, professionally, politically [not here, folks], or personally [the other blog I half-heartedly keep but plan to contribute to more regularly to a wider audience].

As I set up the 6713 Blog and tried to subscribe to my colleageues musings and reflections, I had a very specific goal.  As I took action to subscribe, I was constantly monitoring what I was doing and learning onthe fly.  My god, this will take a long time, cutting andpasting each URL and subscribing one at a time.  Did it work?  DId I spell dauknotas correctly?  Hey, that worked.  WHat does thislink do? I can add more than one?  I can add them all.  Go slowly, these are names.  I think it's successful, because all your blogs (sans Patrice's andMaureens--busy, I'll try later) show up in my listings.  Whether I manage to view them in my blogger dashboard or google reader, which is my goal to transfer to students remains to be determined.  That's where my evaluative skills come in.  Walking through, or stumbling through, how to use the technology I use increases my own technological literacy.

Sure, I can read Spanish, but I have to work to decode it. Sure, I can read blogs till the sun comes up, but writing for a public audience, with a rather specific purpose in mind, changes the equation considerably.
It's writng for readers, and reading for other writers, or, in this case, teachers, and ultimately my students, their parents,a nd my colloaboritive colleagues.

Welcome, fellow candidates!

As an auditory processor first, this blog exacerbates my tendency to think aloud, whichis a strategy, or talk to myself, which makes me look suspiciously eccentric.