Last week I defined my game plan for becoming more competent
in two areas of the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) in order
to better inspire my students to reflect on their learning and also to teach
them to become more mature and responsible digital citizens.
The goal that I have set myself to do this are:
·
To give my students the skills to reflect on
their learning and findings to improve their understanding, critical thinking
skills, planning and creative processes.
·
To be an advocate for and model best practice of
digital citizenship and responsibility to make sure that my student’s use of
technology is safe, legal and ethical.
All of the students in each of the classes that I teach have
differing levels of ability, working strategies and learning styles and in
order for me to fulfill my goals, I need to design the learning experiences so
that they can be easily personalized for each of these students. As such, the
resources that I will need to enable me to do this are:
·
To create a database listing details and
locations of useful online resources and media segments that students can use
based on key themes or topics,
·
New technologies that enables and motivates
students to communicate, collaborate and reflect on their findings and
learning,
·
To find expert teachers within my school and
also online that can give advice, feedback and suggestions of ways to fulfill
these goals.
Currently, I have a Delicious.com account that my students
use to access websites that I have bookmarked as being useful and pertinent to
their studies. Although this is a useful resource, I feel that I could improve
it by embedding this information into an online database of other resources
such as video clips and audio files. Students could then also collaborate and
add comments to these resources to better the understanding and learning of the
whole class. I have just started to develop this resource on my schools VPN
(Moodle) and students appreciate having just one place that they can go to in
order to access all of the information needed for their class.
I am constantly on the lookout for new technologies that I
can use in my classes and thankfully I have learned of quite a few this year by
taking this masters course. As I there are so many fantastic resources
constantly being invented and created, I intend to continue my professional
development and focus on new technologies throughout my life as a teacher so
that I can better prepare and teach my students.
I think every teacher, no matter how affluent a district maybe, have students of different learning levels and styles. I like the fact you want to design the student learning experiences so each of them can personalize them to their learning style and level of learning. Creating a database is a great way to post information for students to gain access to information and useful online resources. It gives them a clear road as to where information can be found. I like the fact you want to find programs that enables and motivates students to communicate , collaborate, and reflect on their findings. I think to do that you may want to try blogging with your students. Finding colleagues within your school/district with advice and knowledge on programs out there is an idea I used as well. There’s nothing like picking the brain of someone who has a good grasp on what’s out there and what programs work best.
ReplyDeleteIt seems as if you have the ball rolling in the right direction with starting a delicious.com account. It now allows students to view the websites you’ve bookmarked that coincides with the topic at hand. Allowing students a way of collaborating and adding comments I believe may help students tremendously if they are in a bind and don’t know the proper direction to take. I think you are on the right track so far, good luck!
Hi Craig,
DeleteGreat idea about blogging with my students to find out more about my students and their interests so that I can design my lessons to be based around things that appeal to them.
Regards,
Tom
I am also constantly on the lookout for new technologies that can be incorporated into my classroom in order to increase student learning and provide differentiated instruction. Having a central database for all of your students to use seems like the perfect opportunity to provide students with different resources. Plus, I am sure this database could provide you with the opportunity to model effective and appropriate digital citizenship, not only for your students, but also for fellow educators. I also believe this Delicious.com account could also serve as a way to provide parents and caregivers with resources that could be used at home as well. It sounds like you have a great start!
ReplyDeleteAngel
Hi Angel,
DeleteGreat point about the database giving me an opportunity to model appropriate digital citizenship, I didn't think of that!
Thanks for your reply.
Tom
Tom,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful idea to create a database with listing of useful online resources which students can access using key themes or topics. You are incorporating the skills and strategies we have learned thus far in our classes. The only suggestion I have for you is to continue doing what you are doing.
Also, I will use your ideas of creating a database of useful “bullying” information for the anti-bullying committee my principal recently started at my school and a Delicious account. I believe that these will be useful tools for the committee.