Learning Management Systems

This week I had the opportunity to learn about Learning Management Systems (LMS). I examined the site http://www.moodle.net/ and created a presentation for my staff. Here is my presentation!



http://www.slideshare.net/heatherblakely8/learning-management-system-5343521

Final Reflection on DI and UDL

The understanding of how differentiated instruction and universal design for learning go hand in hand has become clear to me throughout this course. The concept that it is "a way of thinking, rather than a set of strategies" has become my mindset when it comes to DI & UDL. This is something that I have been doing, in varying degrees, for several years now. With the use of technological tools and websites that I have readily available, I will be able to utilize this mindset more efficiently and more frequently.

Throughout the course, I have had the opportunity to locate resources that I have found to be valuable and read through the resources provided by my colleagues. This school year, I will be able to access these resources and apply them to my lessons and students' work opportunities. By already having a vast amount of resources, I will be able to save time by not having to search the Internet during the school year. I love how this will save me time and energy! One great resource that I plan to utilize next year is Tumblebooks online. For a part of my differentiated literacy instruction, students will be able to get online and read/listen to stories online for a part of their independent reading time. This resource virtually eliminates the need for a listening center and buying books on tape/c.d. Simple resources like this will make it easy to differentiate instruction according to student learning ability and personal interest. I'm also looking forward to using voicethread for student reports and so much more!

Here's to a year of taking these skills and applying them to my classroom instruction one step at a time. I'm excited to see the learning that will take place in my classroom and wish you all the best of luck in your own endeavors!


References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Reaching and engaging all learners through technology. Baltimore: Author.

Final Reflection

Looking back on the GAME plan that I created, I feel really good about the goals that I have set out to attain. I think that they are still very attainable, once I have all the materials necessary, and that they will help to improve both my instruction in my classroom and my students' learning. My GAME plan will help me to utilize the technological tools that I have available within my classroom and will assist in the learning that will take place in my students. At this point, I am excited for the new school year to start and get working on my GAME plan for next school year. This year will bring about challenges with all of the new curriculum and the goals that I have set, but taking it one step at a time will make it manageable.

GAME Plan Wrap Up

GAME plans are a great strategy to teach students to use. GAME plans can be used in any content area and are very user friendly. In my district we use Quality Data Notebooks for students to track their success throughout the year. I would like to use the GAME plan to guide students with their data tracking. Using their notebooks they'd easily be able to set goals, analyze their plan, measure progress, and evaluate their success. I think that students would be able to use this process with guidance at first and independently as the year progressed.
As for my GAME plan, I plan to pick up in the fall and proceed once I have all the materials that I will need. Hopefully both my students' GAME Plans and mine will go smoothly next school year!

GAME Plan Postponed

Well, if things hadn't been tough enough for me, they are now. School is out for the year and I didn't receive any of my instructional materials. The only materials I have are the student books. I'm sure that if I went through the books thoroughly I could begin to create some of my assessments. I'm leary of doing this only because I do not know what materials and supplies I will be receiving later this summer or this fall. I really had hoped to have all of my materials so that I could peruse them and get started. Looks like I'm going to be forced to take a vacation.

GAME Plan Check Up

Well, last week I hit a lot of snags in my GAME plan. However, this week I think I've made a little head way. Just today my new math materials were delivered. I was able to pack up the old and unpack the new, just what I want to be doing two days before schools out. At least they arrived before summer began. Now I will be able to begin to unpack the curriculum, exam the standards and benchmarks and see where things align with our guaranteed viable curriculum. Once I have done this, I will be able to start creating formative and summative assessments for my Smart Board and responders.
I spoke with both my old instructional coach (that's going back into the classroom) and my new instructional coach and they both had great suggestions for me. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew and they both suggested that I create assessments for the first half of the math curriculum this summer. Once I have that under way, I can test them out on my class and make adjustments as I go. If I see success and don't run into any glitches then I can continue to create the rest of my assessments.
I think that eating the elephant in small bites will help with my burn out. I don't want to take on too much this summer and end up exhausted before the new school year even starts up. So away I will go unpacking!

Taking my GAME plan further

This week, my district rolled out the decision to change our math curriculum (Everyday Math) for next year. This is a great decision, especially since our old curriculum (Bridges in Math) had a lot of holes in it. So now I need to take this new curriculum into consideration when creating my Smart Responder (Senteo) assessments. We are supposed to be receiving our new materials next week, the last week of school. I will most definitely need to examine this new curriculum before I can move forward with my GAME plan.

So, my new steps that I will be adding to my plan are to thoroughly go through the new math program. This will help me to ensure that there are no new holes in this program. Also, I will need to see if we receive any technology support with EDM. If there is technology support or integration with this new program, then I'll need to take that into consideration.

The second issue that I have had come up is my instructional coach that I was going to work with recently accepted a new teaching position. We will be hiring a new I.C. for our school next year. It is their job to work with teachers, I'm just hoping that our new I.C. won't be too overwhelmed to help me out. Therefore, I now know just how much I need to get done over the summer. Good thing I'm not teaching summer school!! Onward and upward, I think that I will be able to overcome these minor road blocks with good planning.

GAME plan resources

Looking at my GAME plan makes me realize that there are some resources that I need to line up in order to move forward. The first thing that I will need will be my computer at school, this has all of the programs that I will need to create my survey of student needs and the Senteo/Smartboard assessments. In my district we have Instructional Coaches, being able to work with my I.C. will help me in creating these documents. I have already spoken with her and she is on board with helping me this summer!
My I.C. will help me with the information that I might need along the way. Currently, I know that I need to gather the content standards that I will be addressing along with the units of study that I will be covering. Gathering this information will be easy seeing as how it is all on my district website.
So far, I have contacted my I.C. for possible help & guidance. I have located the content standards and units of study on our district website (www.laramie1.org). I have also created a time schedule in which to work. I feel prepared and ready to begin work!

My GAME Plan

After examining the ISTE and NETS-T standards, I was initially pleased with how comfortable I feel with most of the standards. The two standards that I have chosen to work on were both a part of Designing and Developing Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. Teaching second grade can pose a problem with digital learning. So many of my students are still learning basic computer skills, especially at the beginning of the year.

The first standard that I have chosen is 2c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. I know that many of my technology lessons are general lessons that are not customized to students' unique learning styles. My goal is to take an inventory at the beginning of the school year to see what my students' unique needs are. By doing this, I will be able to pinpoint what skills each student is needing time to work on. Once I have identified students' individual needs, I will be able to construct mini lessons to have students work on either individually or in small cooperative groups. From there I will monitor student progress to determine what students' next learning step will be. I will be able to evaluate students through observation and completion of projects to determine their mastery of specific goals.

The second standard that I have chosen is 2d. provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. I have begun using Senteos to assess my students for various assessments this spring. Senteos are a digital device, much like a remote control, that students can punch their answers into. I have used this device with my Smartboard. By creating a Smart Notebook that is interactive with the Senteos, I am able to use a digital tool to assess my students. My goal for next year is to create pre and post assessments for each math and science unit that I will be teaching. My plan for this is to take the time to go in over the summer and create these assessments. I will create a schedule for myself to ensure that I stick to my goal. By creating these over the summer, I will have them ready to use next year and not need to create them as I go. Once my students begin to use these assessments, I will be able to monitor the ease of their use and determine their effectiveness.

I look forward to receiving feedback on these goals! Wish me luck!

New Literacies Reflection

During the recent course on new literacies, I've had a few revelations. The most profound would be that as a primary teacher it is my job to not only teach the 3 R's but also the new literacies. Primary students are truly like little sponges soaking up information. Realizing this will help to guide my instruction during computer time with my students. They need to learn to use the internet for research, identify the validity of a site, and use that information in a non-plagiarstic way.
I would be interested in taking a class on teaching students basic computer skills. My district offers some courses like this and I plan to sign up for one this summer. Knowing exactly which basic skills to begin with will help point me in the right direction for instructing my students.