EDUC 6713- week 5

I have not made much progress this past week in my GAME plan. The assignments for this upcoming school year are still being finalized and I have been working on helping my colleagues move their items to their new rooms. I am trying to stop being lazy- school is almost here- so I plan on working on my GAME plan some more for the majority of today. The goal I am finding the motivation for difficult is updating my class website. All of the areas (videos, links, etc.) are not complete for each unit and I would like to have this done ahead of time so the students can begin previewing at their leisure. I have contacted some other people about speaking to my class, but I have not heard back from them yet.

EDUC 6713 week 4

I have been moving and dealing with all of the headaches that go with it, so I have not had much time to work on my GAME plan this past week. I did relocate a resource I had heard of that will match scientists in your area with educators. This can be found at www.nationallabday.org. I forgot that I had registered a while back and I have received numerous matches who I can contact about speaking to my class.

So far, I have not noticed that I need to modify my GAME plan, but the possibility is always open. I am having trouble putting into words what I have learned so far because I already had these goals before starting this class, but this assignment has given me the motivation to work on it more. A question I have, though, is have any of you ever done video conferencing? I am thinking about using this tool for speakers who have busy schedules, but I am unsure about the resources needed for it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

EDUC 6713 week 3

Resources I will need to carry out my GAME plan include internet access in a computer lab, LCD projector connected to a computer, contacts in the professional realm who are willing to speak to my class in person or via teleconferencing, a website for the class, etc. All of these I have, but I wish to gain more professional contacts in more areas. Currently, I have a meteorologist, chemical engineer and aerospace engineer, but I would like to locate a geologist of some sort. I will try contacting my local geological society and/or museum to see if they are aware of any educational program that I could register my students for.

As for steps I have taken so far, I have updated my class website by refreshing the class calendar, adding text to read sites and I will be working on a new webquest next week. The new webquest will be over the lab created diamond called moisonite. If any of you are teaching rocks/minerals, I highly recommend you look into this cheaper alternative. Samples of moisonite are relatively cheaper and it is a great way to show students the hardest mineral on Moh's scale. I feel like my GAME plan is coming together, but there is always something more to do as ideas present themselves and as technology tools multiply and improve.

EDUC 6713 App2

Looking at the NETS-S I find that my current strengths include professional development (as shown through the pursuit of this degree), modeling digital-age work and learning (represented by my class website with frequent added elements/tools), and designing/developing digital-age learning experiences/assessments (shown through my differentiation and modified lessons based on prior knowledge, learning style and rate of learning).

The two standards I struggle with include promoting/modeling digital citizenship/responsibility, and facilitating/inspiring student learning/creativity. When showing a power point presentation, I usually do not provide the students with the exact location or reference information for the pictures, videos, sound clips, et cetera that I have inserted. Through my discussion of the slide I might mention the search engine or way that I located this piece, but I do not do a good job of modeling digital citizenship and responsibility. Another unfortunate truth is that I provide much additional information/resources on the website I maintain for my class, but with such a low income area very few homes have internet access and therefore are not as able to utilize the tools I have worked hard to provide. I do, however, have two classroom computers that I allow students to use during homeroom for this reason, but this is still not as equitable as it would be in an ideal situation.

My goals for improving the promotion and modeling of digital citizenship and responsibility include a stronger focus on interacting (professionally) with others via the web, as well as being sure to include the proper citations for every tool not originally created by me. My goals for better facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity include utilizing student blogs to discuss the learning process, as well as provide students opportunities to experience more real world applications through virtual field trips, discussions with professioanls in the field, et cetera.

Since school is not in session currently, I will plan to review the power points I have used in the past and attempt to relocate files and insert proper documentation; if the file's origin cannot be found, then I will replace the file with a new one including documentation. I would like to set up a video conferencing opportunity between my class and several professional contacts I have in the field of study that I will be teaching. I will have to check on the technological logistics of this when the technology director returns from vacation. As for student blogs, I would like to find a free or cheap host site where students must log in to post their ideas anonymously, but to where I can see who is posting them. Teaching middle school students, I worry about inappropriate comments and/or teasing occurring due to posts made. Do you know of such a thing?

I plan on evaluating my progress made in these standards at the beginning and end of each unit so that I can compare and calculate my growth.