6712 - Reflection

In the area of checking a website for validity, neither I nor my school district has addressed this issue well. The English Department will not allow the use of Wikipedia. That is the extent to which the issue had been dealt. I now know the importance and have better techniques to examine a website. I will bring it up at the next technology meeting and perhaps it can be discussed at the next teachers meeting.



In work that I have done for the district, I have later found other people using the information. At this time a PowerPoint that I made is being used by another person and I receive no credit for it. It is really my fault and this class has shown me how to prevent it in the future and talk with students about how to do the same. In the same light, my students need to be aware of how to properly use information of others and give them the recognition they deserve.


I want to work more with guided inquiry using Delicious, Wiki’s and Screencasting. Delicious can easily help students narrow down where to look for information and also share good sites with others. The wiki can help students participate and communicate better. The Screencast can help students demonstrate what they found on a site easily.


The Screencast is something I want to work with more as part of professional development. Now that I have used it a couple of times, it is much easier. On days when I know I’ll have a substitute it is the perfect way to demonstrate what I am looking for. My voice is there to let them know it is what I want them to do and how I want it done. That should enable students to understand assignments better than a sub reading them the assignment. At the next teachers meeting I can also demonstrate this new tool.

Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas - Week 8- Final Blog Post

     I have enjoyed using GAME plan. It is now time to set different goals. My initial fear of FaceBook has calmed down and I have enjoyed the two groups I have become a member of. I like the way the plan has worked for me and plan on implementing the use of GAME with my students. It gives teachers and students an easy way to expand knowledge and learning in a manageable way. Part of my Game plan was student Blogs. It has worked well. Although other teachers have implemented Blogs they have not produced good open end questions and do not interact with the students on them. Hopefully this modeling situation will benefit everyone.

     I liked the templates we used for lessons. The plans are something that can be easily picked up and used. It was a simple way to plot out what students were to do and a timeline to help everyone understand when and how progress is to be made. Some of the ideas that this course provided were E-Pals which my students will begin using in March, variety in media presentations, and more thoughts on Problem-Based learning.
     I will continue to integrate more technology in to my courses. While some courses easily lend themselves to technology, others require more work. My students need access to and to learn to use as many forms of technology and I can provide. It is hard to say what the future will be like for my students so I want them to have as much hands on experience as possible. This was a very enjoyable and well taught class.

GAME WEEK 7

At this time my GAME plan is going well. I have become a member of two FaceBook groups that share technology enhanced practices and share new resources available to teachers.

By continuing to integrate technology into what we are learning in class my students will become more proficient with technology. I can use GAME to set up a process to make sure all of the students have technology skills necessary to do classroom projects. My students can use GAME to set up goals for themselves. Students know about technology they would like to learn more about and they can work to set up a GAME plan to learn it. Students can achieve proficiency in the NETS-S. It has already been incorporated into my states standards so this process is easily followed.

The ISTE website also has a number of ideas and lesson plans that look interesting. “The Year Movie” looks like a good place to start with my freshman advisory class. Not only do they need skills in technology when they arrive here from the junior high, they need to see how far they have come from day one of high school to the final nine weeks of high school.

Game-Week 6

At this time the classroom blogs are going well and now I am ready to add a new twist for my students.  I will respond to their posts and challenge them to think more deeply and respond to what they have said.  This has not been done in the previous blogs by two other teachers.  They just post a question and students respond.  That is the conclusion of their blog.  Hopefully this will model a different approach to bloging.  

Using Facebook I have tapped into some new twists in technology I am already using.  Some things I will try to implement yet this year and other things need further investigation before trying to use them in my district or in a classroom.  I am very excited about the newness or cutting edge technology for teachers I have found on a Facebook group I've become a member of.  This has led me to want to look into the social network Twitter to see if it has anything I might use in my classroom.  If today turns into another snow day, I'll be Twittering.

GAME plan - Week 5

Well progress was made this week.  I have Facebook all set up and have found two groups that may be helpful in learning about more technology.  It was unfortunate that I couldn't find anything that was Home Ec or Family and Consumer Science based.  I have completed the Blogs for my classes that I wanted to set up.  I now have to instruct my students on how to become a member of the blog and appropriate posts for the site.  I have discovered teachers who have a blog the students are to participate in and the students do not.  The students do not know how to set up a sign in on the site, let along participate on the blog.  We will take it slow and start from square one.  I have to become a little more familiar with the set up of Ning because I have now become use to Blogspot because this class.  Blogspot is blocked from student use.  Have a productive teaching week.