Teaching and Technology in Park City

The biggest thing I have taken away from the GAME Plan format is the structured means of planning and continually reevaluating one’s plan.  It’s a cycle that is much like writing a paper, especially the editing and revising stages.

Since I work primarily with teachers, I would like to share this format for setting a goal and looking at how one might fulfill that goal from start to finish.  This year I’m in a school that is starting a one to one laptop model.  The GAME Plan format would be a good means of having teachers set a simple goal based on the NETS standard of their choosing.  Each teacher would have a goal specific to their needs and where they would like to focus their efforts during the school year.  I would encourage teachers to keep it simple and focus on one NETS standard.  They could look at their curriculum for the year and pinpoint specific lessons or units where they would meet this standard with the integration of technology.

Throughout the year, teachers would review their plan with me, making changes that would better meet the overall goal of their plan.  At the end of the year, teachers would share their goal with others in their professional learning group and lessons that helped fulfill it.  This would benefit everyone as teachers with a different NETS standard would be exposed to all the standards.  Hopefully it would spark interest in teachers utilizing a new NETS standard the following year.

What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?The importance of observing copyright and intellectual property is an ongoing task I will take into my instructional practice.  I will continue to work towards getting teachers and students to see the importance of these items and to respect them in their own work.  The comments of my classmates have reiterated the importance of being a good model for fellow teachers and students.  They also pointed out that if I can find “real world” examples of folks who disregard copyright and intellectual property (and the effects of such things) that it might help drive home the importance of these topics.

What goals are you still working toward?My goals are ongoing.  I’m still working on putting together the professional development piece of copyright and intellectual property for my school when we start back this August.  I have to meet with my co-worker to fill in the details of what should be covered.

Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?I’m going to continue to work on NETS Goal #4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

If you are not ready to set new learning goals, how will you extend what you have learned so far?I will continue to learn about instances of folks breaking copyright and disrespecting intellectual property.  Specifically, I will collect stories of the effects of such things to teachers and students.  The more actual cases I can bring to light when discussing this topic, the more people will see that folks are prosecuted for these things and that it can happen to anyone.  I’ve never been one to scare people so that they’ll observe the law, but it does help to have evidence when talking about what can happen to anyone.

What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?I like the ideas outlined in the Universal Design for Learning, most notably giving myself, and the teachers I train, a myriad ways to explore topics and demonstrate their learning.  To often training is delivered in a “one size fits all” format and teachers need variety just as the students we teach need variety.

• How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?

Doing as well as expected given my limited connection to folks in the school setting in July.  When we return in August, fulfilling goal #1 (advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources) will happen in one of our first professional development sessions.  Goal #2, as always, is ongoing!

• What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?

There are a ton of resources out there in regards to digital citizenship, copyright, fair use, etc.  I need to narrow down the resources, picking the best ones for teachers and students.  Essentially, I have to compact several items into about a 2 hour professional development session.

• What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

I’m still struggling with how to monitor appropriate use by students (and teachers) in regards to fair use, copyright, etc.  Some of the folks I work with don’t see these issues as a big deal.  They point out that rarely are people prosecuted for violations in regards to these topics.   How do I instill the importance of respecting copyright and whatnot?

• How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?

No significant changes at this point, but will continue to heed the advice of my peers in this class when they post comments on this blog!

As of now, I’m still on target with meeting my goals.  I will admit that it’s tough to carry on with this process right now because it’s July and school feels so far off!  Here’s an  update on where I am in regards to what I posted last week on my blog.  The updates are color coded so they stand out.

Goal #1:  advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources
Download and print copies of fair use for teachers:  copyrightTEACH

*I have this downloaded, but copies have not yet been made as I don’t have access to a copy machine in July.  This is on my to do list for August 1 when I return to school to begin my preparations for the year.

Explore the following site for more info on copyright and fair use.  Decide which videos to share with teachers and students:  Copyright Mystery
*This is a cool site, and I have surfed some of the videos.  I also need to visit a site recommended by Lyndsay Paisley (http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/welcome/start.htm) to confirm what it has to offer in meeting my goals.
Contact Utah Education Network Instructors to set up a lecture on copyright and fair use.
*My co-worker has an established relationship with the gentleman at UEN who does this presentation.  I will organize a meeting through my co-worker.
Goal #2:  promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information
Just as I stated last week, this is ongoing and something that I need to be cognoscente of each and every time I share a presentation.  I’m still unsure as to how I can monitor teachers and students next year as they create projects using copyright sensitive material.  Any advice on this front would be greatly appreciated!

I’m still in the locker room for the pregame, getting ready to head out onto the field in August to execute my GAME Plan!

Here’s where I am at this point in regards to lesson preparation.

Materials I need to gather to meet my goals:

Goal #1:  advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources

1. Download and print copies of fair use for teachers:  copyrightTEACH

2.  Explore the following site for more info on copyright and fair use.  Decide which videos to share with teachers and students:  Copyright Mystery

3.  Contact Utah Education Network Instructors to set up a lecture on copyright and fair use.

Goal #2:  promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information

1.  Nothing specific at this time. This is an ongoing task as each time I create a digital presentation of some sort I give proper credit to my sources and respect digital property!

I am fortunate in that my current position in my school district is Technology Instructional Coach.  Most of what I do revolves around the integration of technology in lessons that teachers are doing with their students. I feel very comfortable with the implementation of the NETS standards when working with these teachers.  However, there is always room for growth and the standard I need to continue to work on, both with teachers and their students, is standard 4:  Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility.

Often times when I’m working with students and teachers on products that involve images and music, the topics of copyright and intellectual property don’t get the attention they need.  So here’s my game plan, outlined in a PDF  as I think best in a visual sense.  Once you click on the link it takes you to another page where you click again to download the PDF.

GAME Plan

The biggest revelation I had during this class was the realization that kids today are reading just as much as they did in the past.  As Sara Armstrong pointed out in one of the DVD videos, even though much of the reading they are doing now is on the internet, they are still reading! (2009).  At the same time I understand that we don’t have to abandon the old (e.g. books) just because of the new. As Joanne Rooney states, “Our challenge is to teach students to be truly literate in two languages—those of the pre- and post-digital worlds” (2009).

As I go forward in my teaching endeavors, I will be reminded of the importance of teaching students to critically search and evaluate the information they glean from the internet.  I will also be a proponent of giving credit where credit is due when creating projects where media from others is utilized.  In the past, I have been less than adamant for the need to ask permission or to cite where media came from when completing a project.

My goal leaving this course will be utilizing the unit lesson plan I created while in this course.  That unit is designed for professional development offerings I will have with teachers next year and beyond.  If I can educate teachers on how to best utilize the internet, that skill will transfer to their classrooms, thereby affecting the folks I actually work for:  students!

In closing, I think Joanne Rooney puts it best:   “Although the nature of how people read and communicate is changing, the ability to understand, use, and appreciate the written word remains the core quality of an educated person” (Rooney, 2009).

Walden University

June 25, 2010

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore: Author.

Rooney, J. (2009, March). Teaching two literacies. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 92–93.

Just a heads up that I will not be monitoring or updating this blog in the near future.  I am involved in many other projects, so this is taking a backseat.  Feel free to check out any other sites I’m involved with that are related to education and might be of interest:

www.ipadintheclassroom.com

www.prettymuchthebest.wikispaces.com

Peace!  I’m out!

-Sam

Constructivism was my chosen learning theory at the beginning of the course and will continue to be the predominant theory I subscribe to as we exit this class. With that said, I now also view certain components of the other theories as key to student learning.  For example, Paivo’s Dual Coding Hypothesis is simple, yet makes a great deal of sense:  we need both text and images when learning so as to retain and recall what we’ve learned.  Adding the social piece to constructivism is also key as kids are learning from interacting with one another.  The last bit of instruction that really struck a chord with me are the nine clusters of instructional strategies that every teacher should be using.  Research supports the use of these strategies and they can all easily be incorporated using the various tools the kids have access to.

I will continue to find ways to have my teachers integrate technology in their lessons.  I will be showing teachers what VoiceThread© is and how to use it.  I will also be pushing teachers to continue to utilize Inspiration© as much as possible, especially since the visual part is so important with our English Language Learners.

My two long term goals are simple.  For one, I want to make sure I continue to use technology (in both instruction and as a learning tool) to engage students in their learning.  Kids should be excited about what they are learning and it should be meaningful.  Secondly, I want to incorporate the nine clusters of instructional strategies when I’m planning my lessons, keeping track of which ones I have used and how often I used them.