Week 6: Revising Your GAME Plan

The biggest thing I have learned/figured out, is that I need to map out a timeline for my projects. This timeline would not just be for my students, but more or less for me when planning and try and coordinate that with available computer lab time. Without computer labs access, most plans would have to be reworked to accommodate those that do not have internet access outside of school. My plan if that was to happen would be to give students approximately 3-5 days to respond to question or an assignment posted online. This would allow those who do not have internet access time to get to a friends, local library, family members, etc., without having to do it by the next day. Any long term project at this point, without time in the lab, would be pretty much obsolete because of such circumstances.

Goals I would set for myself, would include:
1. Making sure there is a allotted time reserved in the lab for a project
2. Making sure that I meet my timeline set to be ready to be in the lab.
3. Making the most of the time in the lab that we have, so that little has to be done outside of school.
4. Continue to plan well, including making sure all accommodations for my students can be met.

Finally, I would want to make sure that I have everything set up including a list of websites and information readily available for all students. This could be setup through google docs, Blackboard, a wiki, or even a blog.

Again, I look forward to feedback from fellow colleagues as to what I may be forgetting or what I may not have thought about!

Thanks in advance!

Mike
:)

Evaluating Your GAME Plan Progress EDUC 6713

Like most, school is not in session here in Michigan, but I still am continuing on. As I continue to develop plans and layout for early part of the year I am trying to come up with more ways to integrate technology into my plans/units. In talking with my principal the other day, class lists are not available yet. However, he did ask if I wanted to come in for some brainstorming and curriculum development with a couple of other teachers that will be teaching a computers class for the first time this and the computer teacher. Basically projects and ideas will be discussed, what has worked, what hasn't worked, etc.

My list of websites continues to grow, and am toying with the idea of setting up a blog before school starts for my class and/or a facebook page for my class. I actually had a friend of mine do this last year, school related only, parent and students both loved it. I am thinking that is strong possibility.

I have learned that I really like the idea of project based learning, as I have only used it a little. But, after watching and reading this week, I have thought of a couple of units that I can use it for the coming year.

As far as what do I have to learn, I would say it is just basic thing mostly comprising of time. How much time to spend, how much time in the lab will I need, how soon can I get into the lab - do I have to wait for another unit, and can the computers in the lab handle the technology I want to use? I'm sure more questions will pop up as I go along.

Adjusting of my plan I think, is just a matter of looking down the road as I mentioned above and trying to line up lab time in advance.

I love the feedback I have been getting and look forward to more. Thanks in advance!

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress EDUC 6713

As I continue working on my GAME plan, I have encountered few problems. Most of the resources I need are already available in our computer lab at school, including computers, internet access, and a variety of programs for students to use. If they will be using VoiceThread, it is just a matter of going in and setting it up. I also figure that if they would like to search for clips and ideas on Unitedstreaming, I will give them my login information. I plan to use some of the same websites we had for my previous class from Walden University, EDUC 6712. I have also started compiling a list of websites to include.

Overall, I am pretty happy with my action plan. However, one of my problems is that school is not in session and class lists have not been established yet, so it is hard to determine exactly what my students needs will be. With no IEPs or 504s, I can only make tentative ideas for them.

I have also learned that overall, this has been a fairly easy process. Plus, the more I play around with some of the programs, I am becoming more and more comfortable with them. Basically, it gets me excited about school getting closer to starting back up, so I can put some of my ideas into action. I have talked to a couple of fellow staff members with some ideas and they have been helpful, but mostly want to wait until school is back in session.

As of now, no new questions have popped up, however, I'm sure given time they will. My brain always seems to be running 100 miles an hour!

Carrying Out Your GAME Plan (EDUC 6713)

Resources needed would include the following:
1. Internet access and computer
2. Access to united streaming.com (from Discovery).
3. Examples of different types of websites including .gov, .edu, .com, .org, and any others that people may feel would be helpful.

Additional Information needed would include:
1. Students with disabilities and/or accommodations (copies of IEPs and 504s)
2. Background from fellow staff members on my current students that might be helpful
3. Feedback from fellow staff members, including having them sit in on a class period or two to see the assignment/project in motion

Steps taken so far:
1. Layout of ideas and revamping of similar plan
2. Locating websites to show example of
3. Not much more, school in not currently in session

Any other ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated from fellow Walden students! Thanks in advance!

Developing Personal GAME Plan - EDUC 6713

The indicators I chose were #1, to Facilitate and Inspire students learning and creativity, and #4 Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility from the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T):

G = goals:
1. To have students working more on researching , analyzing and drawing comparisons to real world issues globally and within the United States. One example I already work with is working /mental conditions in India's call centers. They could be compared to auto factory jobs here in the US?
2. Continue to model and teach validity of websites and proper citation for all information obtained on the web.

A = action
1. One example I already work with is working /mental conditions in India's call centers. They could be compared to auto factory jobs here in the US?
2. Use the website example that was used in my EDUC 6712 class to determine the validity of websites. Also, include explanations and example of how to tell if a website has good information. Included would be definitions and example of website addresses ending in .gov, .edu, .com, .org, etc.

M = monitor
1. I will check for understanding periodically by including questions in warm-ups/bell work.
2. Have students demonstrate/model for the class how to tell if a website is valid and has good information.

E = evaluate and extend
1. If I see students are struggling, I will go back and look for other ways that I could explain and model things.
2. Get feedback from students and colleagues on what if anything could be done differently?
3. Continually modify and tweak methods and projects for student’s achievement.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

EDUC 6712 Reflection

Application 8: Reflection
I had a few revelations about the teaching of new literacy skills to my students, but I will narrow it down to one, searching for information and how easy it can be made. What I found, like most teachers, is that students can search for information, but that they give up so easily. This I feel is because of confusion and looking at a bunch of text and pictures, which can sometimes lead to overload. Most students only know the good old-fashioned way of searching using Google, Wikipedia, and Ask.com. With just a little help and showing them a couple of easy tricks and examples, students can become better researchers and deciphering information.

The knowledge and experienced I gained from EDUC 6712 will definitely influence and an impact on my teaching practices going forward. Probably one of the biggest things I will do is starting near the beginning of the year will be to teach how to do proper research. I will start small and build to bigger, longer examples and assignments/projects. By spending more time explaining and giving more examples of research techniques, including how to search and how to tell what websites are reliable and which are not, my students will become better researchers.

My goal after this course goes along with what I talked about earlier, I would like to become a better researcher myself and to continue to pass that on to my students. The step process will consist of series of steps for both my students and myself. By continually going in and evaluating websites for quality and quantity of information, this will help to keep me sharp. When teaching my classes, I will start with very simple projects that are only one day in length. I will start by following the plan I laid out for locating and evaluating internet resources in EDUC 6712. I will start with a website analysis activity where students look at two different websites and tell me what website they think is most credible, or if they both are. Then as a follow up, ask them to define or explain what the ending of a website address means, (.com, .org, etc.) I then will explain the difference between the two websites and how to determine which one was credible and which was not. Following this, I will show them what each of the endings of websites means, answer questions and show examples of each. A short activity will follow where students will be allowed to use a variety of search engines including Google and altavista.com. I will model first where and how to use the search engines by showing multiple examples and results to determine how to conduct a proper search. This should take no more than about 10 – 15 minutes depending on student questions. Then, for the rest of the hour, students will be allowed to start conducting searches on their own, while I am walking around and helping where necessary. By choosing topics that they are interested in will help them stay focused and on task. After completing this, a follow up and question and answer period will done clarifying any issues or problems students had and checking for understanding making sure everyone is a little more comfortable in the research process. As the year goes on and projects get a little more in depth, I will still have a short recap before starting just to make sure students are ready.

EDUC 6653 Evaluating Research Methods

Scenario 1: Ten students are available for in-depth interviews. Participants will be selected based on their involvement with the peer mediation program. They will be observed over three weeks. Analysis will attempt to determine issues concerning peer mediation.

I think the qualitative method would be the best, because according to Dr. Canipe, it would be considered a face - to - face in a natural setting type.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program six. Qualitative Research Methods [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research. Baltimore: Author.

Scenario 2: Two classrooms of students are selected. There are 30 students in each class; each group will have similar demographics—age, sex, race, socio-economic background, etc. Classes will be randomly divided into two groups of 15 students. Of these two groups, one randomly selected group will get training on peer mediation and the other group will not. Thus in each classroom there will be one group that is trained in peer mediation and one that is not. Analysis will occur on which groups have the fewest office referrals.

I also feel this could be answered by using the qualitative method because of the fact that race is coming in to play which would be classified under the ethnograpic type. Basically, "the cultural group in natural setting, " according to Dr. Canipe.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program six. Qualitative Research Methods [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research. Baltimore: Author.

Scenario 3: A school counselor is interested in knowing how student attitudes affect the value of peer mediation to decrease the number of office referrals that are being filed for inappropriate interactions.

For this scenario, I pick the quantitative method, because variables have been setup, and their is validity due to the information being collected is appropriate. Although, looking back, and action method could be used because according the video, "it is work that has immediate application to a specific problem."

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program five. Quantitative Research Methods [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research.. Baltimore: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program seven. Additional Research Methods [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research. Baltimore: Author

Scenario 4: Peer mediation has become widely used in many schools. The feelings of those involved in the process are little known—either from those doing the mediation or those receiving it. The ZASK-R Acceptance Preference Survey will be given as pre- and post-tests to 40 students participating in mediation. Follow-up interviews will be conducted on a bi-monthly basis.

The qualitative method may be the best choice here, it is similar to a critical study that is being done. It could also be argue this is a case study being done, because the follow up interviews would have participants giving information and "summaries more or less told through stories."

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program six. Qualitative Research Methods [Motion picture]. Introduction to educational research. Baltimore: Author.

I am definitely curious about thoughts on my responses and look forward to reading them!