Monitoring My GAME plan

Hi Everyone,
I am so sorry to be posting a day late--the week just gets away on me.

I am always looking for creative ideas to ignite interest in students--to keep them engaged and interested. Sharing with colleagues is one way I can do this--I also stay abreast of creative ideas that others have used successfully via journals--Learning and Leading with Technology and other publications have been very helpful to me. Finally, I enjoy reading colleagues' blogs to learn about new websites or novel ways to use familiar technology. As I have mentioned, some of my favorite ideas have come from the Walden learning community.

One challenge that remains for me to work on is my organizational skills. If I don't immediately bookmark a great resource I will forget it--I tend to bookmark on a variety of computers in a haphazard way. I am a very NF learner--and I want to develop my ST abilities.

One technology tool I'd like to explore more fully is Moodle. I'd like to work with this to a great extent and need to make some time.

I look forward to others' thoughts.

Resources

Hello everyone,
There are a wealth of resources that can be so helpful in moving us forward with our game plans.

One approach I take in seeking out web sites is to spend some time "Googling" sites in the content area I am teaching. I look for interactive sites where students will be very active--where they will take on an active role in the activity, as opposed to listening passively. By Googling the topic with the words "interactive" I'm usually able to find some excellent sites. For example:

http://www.starfall.com/
(early reading)
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/ (all kinds of resources in game format)
http://www.mathplayground.com
(math games)
http://www.edheads.com
(nice interactive activities for simple machines, weather, others)
http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/vLibrary.html
(wonderful site with virtual manipulatives for math)
http://jamit.com.au/fraction-games.htm (nice fraction practice games)
http://www.decimalsquares.com/dsGames/ (decimal game practice)
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/ games and resources for all grades)
http://www.funderstanding.com/coaster roller coaster simulation--nice for physics
http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_watercycle.html the water cycle
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/ plants
http://yucky.discovery.com/flash/ fun biology site
http://www.andythelwell.com/blobz/ electrical circuits—nice interactive
http://www.nga.gov/kids/zone/zone.htm interactive art site--very nice site
http://www.sfskids.org/templates/splash.asp
http://www.mypyramid.gov/kids/ health site
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/ social studies, science
http://ratify.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/index_no_flash.php interactive US constitution
http://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html human body
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/ (science)
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ (Ben Franklin gov't (social studies))

Since one of my goals is to create lessons that encourage creativity to a greater extent, I'd like to focus on ways to use technology to move students toward self-directed creativity. I like spreadsheets as a way to foster analytical thinking--giving students a foundation in how to use spreadsheets opens up a lot of possibilities for them. A project where students collect data that is meaningful for them, and then use a spreadsheet to analyze that data can help students develop their skills of hypothesizing, analysis, and critical thinking.

Tools like VoiceThread, PowerPoint, and related presentation software packages can faciliate a more constructivist based approach to learning content where the emphasis is on students making personal connections to the material and making it their own.

Social networking type technology and wikis and blogs encourage the kind of interactive exchanges that promote creativity and problem solving.

I look forward to reading others' ideas.

Susan

Choosing Objectives

Hello everyone,
Two NETS objectives I would like to focus on include:

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

and

Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments


I find that these two NETS objectives are closely related. The way we assess our students may factor into the way they think about learning. I'd like to develop assessments that are learning experiences in themselves, and shift students from focusing on grades as "rewards" -- to create assessments that function as guides for students on where they might revisit material--what they might want to explore further--to develop assessments that function as opportunities to learn while being assessed. Project-oriented activities may offer a possible route to meeting this objective. When students create authentic projects, they are learning so much--not just about content, but about working together, negotiating differences, planning and executing, and the value of perseverance.

When students shift their focus from thinking about their instructional experience as a task to get done and out of the way, and instead see it as something enriching that they can make a personal connection to I find that they tap into their natural creativity and curiosity. I want students to enjoy what they do. I hope they will see learning as a part of life--rather than as something that takes place in a school room for a given number of hours. I hope to model that learning is a lifelong process.

I want to instill in students the confidence to take cognitive risks--because we learn from those risks--those mistakes we may make. I want them to see that any progress no matter how seemingly minor, is a step in the direction they want to go.

I plan to tweak existing lessons to make them more learner-centered--to enhance the areas of the lesson where students are active and making decisions. I will reflect on what is most engaging and why. Sometimes I'm sure an activity will be much loved, only to learn students are apathetic about it. Careful reflection can help me fine tune activities to make them more effective.

I hope to be able to tap into students' own interests and tie them to content. There are so many ways to learn about a content area--finding the way that maps to the student's particular interests and learning styles will help me to ensure that all of my students are engaged.

I look forward to others' thoughts and ideas.

--Susan

Welcome

Hello Everyone,
Welcome to my blog.

If you post to me, please stop back to visit again to see my reply posting.

Looking forward to blogging with everyone,

Susan