My “GAME” plan for strengthening my classroom and confidence is focused on the performance indicators of facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity, and engaging in growth and leadership as a professional. In relation to these areas, I have set a goal to learn how to use a course management system known as Moodle and implement it in my classroom. The reasoning behind this goal is to promote an environment that students can use to interact, collaborate, and strengthen their knowledge of content. It will also provide growth for me as a teacher in determining ways to “explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
This was actually a goal I had addressed at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, but having moved schools, I decided to wait until I got settled into the new environment before taking on the challenge. Last month I saw a training session available to January 18th and quickly signed up. Coincidently, this training and goal correlates nicely with the performance indicators put in place by the International Society for Technology in Education, and I am excited to learn the tool and put it into place. Second semester starts for us on the 30th of January, which will provide a great transition point to implement the application.
For this goal, I will monitor my progress by first requiring students to have discussions within the host site, and encouraging positive collaboration between them. I will then have links and assignments posted on Moodle that students will be required to use in order to complete assignments and activities. Some of the links will go to other interactive sites such as VoiceThread, NCTM Illuminations, and the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives in which students will be asked to creatively problem solve.
The most challenging part of this process is going to be developing a method to evaluate and score student work that is not simply based off of completion. My plan as of now is to create basic rubrics so that students know what they will be scored on. Extensions could also be linked to these the sites I mentioned above, as well as to other applications to provide a place to go for enriching lessons for students who need more challenges. In the same light, re-teach options such as video links, study guides, and lesson notes could be posted to help struggling students.
References
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
Mike,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your reply. Your insights are very helpful and I will definitely integrate your suggestions into my GAME plan. I will use the computer lab that we have in the school (that has 25 computers) because sometimes the laptops in our school do not work so well. I love the idea of having the teachers create their own Notebook. As the famous saying goes, catch a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats forever. If teachers are motivated to create their own Notebook from my session, then they will be more apt to continue to utilize this technology. Thanks, again, Mike. Your post has been helpful.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI've never worked with Moodle before; I would be interested in knowing more about it. You made a great point with your comment about assessing students for areas other than completion. Using rubrics definitely helps with that. I typically use them with most writing assignments and projects. It puts all of the responsibility back on to the students. It prevents them from gaining the power or excuse of being able to say that they weren't aware of a requirement if they receive a low grade. They know what's expected of them from the beginning; therefor, they know there are no excuses for not completing it. They understand that just by completing it, they may not earn an A because the quality of the process and product and will be evaluated.
-Mollie
I'm sure I'll be sharing some of the things I learn about Moodle in these blogs as my training is coming up this Wednesday. Thanks for your insights on using rubrics. I will do my best to create ones that are descriptive and useful.
ReplyDeleteMike