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Personal Technology Plan J'aime Holderbaum Vision Statement for Technology in Education Plan for Growth in Using Technology in EducationVision Statement for Technology in Education I believe that
incorporating technology into the classroom is critical. Today’s students need to become productive
members of our society and in order to function, live productively, and learn
effectively, in our digital world it is of utmost importance that students
learn about gathering and presenting information with the use of
technology. As students communicate and
collaborate with various technologies, they will develop interpersonal skills
as well as become educated individuals.
The use of technology in the classroom is a huge motivational tool as
well. If students know that their work
will be published on the internet for a real audience, it encourages them to
display higher quality work. In the classroom students should be learning about various methods of conducting research and gathering information using the internet. They need to be taught skills to use when obtaining information from the internet, such as understanding about copyright information. It is also important that they learn to question their sources and make sure information taken from the internet is credible. The National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS) state that, students need to “apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.”
As students evaluate and select information
to conduct research, they will simultaneously develop critical thinking,
problem-solving, and decision making skills. In the NETS it states, that
students should be able to learn “critical thinking skills to plan and conduct
research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using
appropriate digital tools and resources.”
Alan November, author of Empowering Students With Technology, writes,
“The Internet is the wild, wild West of information and there is no sheriff in
town. It is essential that students
learn information literacy: how to
access and validate information and understand the organization of information
(2001).” Many applications inspire students to use creativity and innovation in
their work. There are many
presenting tools available for students to use when presenting information such
as Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Students can create podcasts
to broadcast information gathered.
Google now offers a number of free applications that students might use
as well to present information such as Google Docs (which is similar to a word
processing program) and Google Page Creator (which allows one to create web
pages). Incorporating technology into
the curriculum encourages students to think “out of the box,” when designing
various publications. It is important to
teach students about various methods of publishing their work in differing
applications. The NETS suggests that
students, “apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or
processes, and create original works as a means of personal or group
expression.” Integrating communication and collaboration technologies into the classroom enables teachers to expose students to a wealth of information that otherwise could not be possible. Video conferencing helps students to obtain real time information. Writing skills are promoted when students are encouraged to communicate using a Blog or e-mail. Students need to “use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others (NETS). The integration of technological communication and collaboration skills promotes the growth and development of digital citizenship in our country. They will begin to “understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology…(NETS).” Exposing students to technology in the classroom, prepares students for experiences that they will encounter as adults. In order to compete in our global society we need to give our students appropriate technology skills as well as encourage creative thinking. Click on the following
sites to obtain further information on technology plans and standards: National Education Technology Plan: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/os/technology/plan/2004/site/edlite-default.html National Educational Technology
Standards for Students: http://www.iste.org/inhouse/nets/cnets/students/pdf/NETS_for_Students_2007.pdf State of http://techplan.org/STP2006.pdf Presently I have
been employing a number of aspects of educational technology into my third
grade classroom. Technology in my
classroom is used for communication, modeling instruction, research,
publishing, record keeping, and inspiring creativity and innovation. To promote better communication between teacher and parent, I
have created a webpage (http://msu.edu/~holderb3/). The webpage
contains classroom information about important events, dates, and academic
material. Parents are able to print
permission slips and class news letters.
They can follow the link to send me e-mail and discuss any concerns or
questions they might have. Students have
also published a number of web pages reporting on what is happening in our
classroom on various academic subjects.
As students work as a team to gather information, they develop positive
collaboration skills as well as increase their writing proficiency. Parents have the ability to read these
student created reports from the internet. Powerpoint can be
used as both a presentation aid as well as a stand alone instructional
resource. At the beginning of the year,
I created a Powerpoint presentation that outlines our third grade behavior
reward program, “Superkid.” Students
viewed the presentation on the first day of school. I also made it available for parents to view
online. To teach third grade students
about rounding numbers, I created a stand alone instructional resource. This resource gives students instruction and
practice, as it makes use of a number of instruction techniques including
scaffolding and the use of a metaphor. Students use the
internet in my classroom in a guided fashion in order to obtain
information. They have taken part in a
number of webquests. One webquest that I
developed focuses on the Alaskan Iditarod!
At times, students are given a graphic organizer to complete that guides
them in obtaining specific information from a website. In order to learn about continents I
developed a graphic organizer that led them to discover facts about each
continent that was shown on a specific website.
Students learn about core democratic values from viewing short story clips
from http://www.michiganepic.org/coredemocratic/Flash/indexb.html. I use video streaming in my classroom to teach a variety of subjects. As I taught about the continents and oceans,
I created a file containing video clips as well as a song to teach about the
continents. The use of Excel is
integrated into my math program. Click here to view a sample graphing lesson. I have
used it as a presentation tool to model how to collect data and present it with
different types of graphs. Students use
it to create their own graphs and present information. In the future I plan to have my students use
Excel to create timelines. Presently, I am
using WebGrader as my online grade book.
Webgrader is an online grade book that I have piloted for our
district. It is a standards based
program that enables teachers to easily print reports and analyze standards. Click here to read my analysis of WebGrader. I am planning to
incorporate podcasting into my classroom this year. Although I have created a resource for other
teachers to use when learning about podcasting, I have not had the opportunity
to use this technology with my students.
Now that I have researched various methods of podcasting, I am finding
that a number of these websites are blocked in my district. Currently I am thinking about having my
students create a podcast explaining how to solve a math problem. Another possible idea for creating a podcast is
to have students interview someone. Presently, these
are the technologies that I have incorporated into my repertoire of teaching
skills. Throughout my teaching career, I
plan to continue to grow and develop as
I pursue various ways of integrating technology into my classroom. Plan for Growth in Using Technology in
Education Throughout the next
two years, I plan to continue in the Master’s of Educational Technology program
at The following timeline illustrates how I plan to enhance and
increase my use of technology in education: May 2007-2010 ~Complete my Master’s of Educational Media Technology through
September 2007-Continuing ~Take part in the Gen Net Pioneer Teachers group at the December 2007 ~Integrate podcasting into the curriculum January 2008-Continuing ~Continue to use various technologies in education *Teacher and student created web
pages *Software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) *Internet applications and internet
research tools *Webquests *WebGrader (online gradebook) *United Video Streaming February 2008 ~Take part in “Read Across the Planet” March 2008 ~Implement the Iditarod Webquest that I developed April-June 2008 ~Explore communicating using Skype September 2008 ~Introduce using e-pals in the classroom ~Student created digital video Works Cited National Educational Technology Standards
for Students. “International Society for
Technology in Education,” 2007. November, Alan. “Empowering Students with Technology.” Corwin Press. 2001. |