EDUC-6715I-6 Reflection

There are many new and exciting ways to help our students learn, and much of that comes from the integration of technology. Technology in itself is pretty amazing but when brought into the classroom it can provide an endless array of possibilities. Our students can use their creativity while using technology, it can make an otherwise quiet students voice louder. Our students love doing new and exciting things in school and technology is dynamic and ever-changing. We can keep our students motivated to learn because of technology. Going through this course and the program as a whole has given me new tools to use in my class to help my students become more successful and involved learners.

EDUC-6714I-2 Reflection

I think that as I have gone through this course that it has brought some things back that I may have forgotten to think about when it comes to my students. It is important that we as teachers do what is best for our students. Being familiar with our students backgrounds as well as their previous successes and failures, will help us to teach our students in the most effective way. All of our students learn differently, and it is our job to find a way to help them learn. Technology can aid in DI and help to make the learnig process more efficient for our students. All of our students want to learn, it is our job to find out the best way for them to learn and teach them that way.

Course Management System

Reflection

One thing that this current course has done for me is to make me think about how I can use technology in my gym to help my students to become better learners and more excited about learning. The use of pedometers is just a beginning and one way to use technology in my classes. I think that there are many extensions that can come from using a pedometer. We can begin to chart our results using a spread sheet, we can use a flip camera to shoot video of different exercises we can do using the pedometers and post them on our website. I think that starting with something that seems so simple can lead to many other uses of technology in the gym. Not to mention that it is a great motivator for students to become more active, which is the reason we teach PE in the first place. I think that there are many useful ways to use technology in the gym. Kids are intrigued by technology, and if I can use it to gain their attention I owe it to the students to do that. As educators we need to have "a bag of tricks" that help our students to become more engaged and better learners.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

Our students need to be able to use technology in their lives and will continue to need to be able to use it in the future. I'm not sure that there are many jobs out there that don't use technology in some way, shape or form. I think the more we introduce and use technology with our students the better chance they have at being more successful in the future with technology. Even using and charting something that seems simple, like pedometers, I believe gives them an advantage. Students need to know how to use technology not only in school but in their everyday lives.

Revising Your GAME Plan

Making sure that our students are learning what we are trying to teach them is the most important job we have as teachers. Our students learn in different ways, and we have to make sure that we do our best to reach each and ever one of them. I am still trying to find ways to get this done. Doing this while try to integrate technology at the same time makes this an even more difficult task. I know that my students love using technology and I believe that it helps them to learn more efficiently. I want to introduce as much technology into my class as possible. One thing I have learned in this process though, is to take my time and make sure that it is technology that is helping my students learn and not just technology for technology sake. I want to make sure that I try to keep extending the learning process of my students. I think that it is important that I get feedback from my students on what they like and don't like about the technology that I am trying to introduce into my class.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

As I think more and more about my "goals" for my game plan, that this will be an on going process that is ever changing. I think that I will always be growing and changing what I am doing in my class. I think that this goes for all teachers that care about their students growth and development. The use of pedometers is a PE setting can help to motivate students and can also help students with there own goal setting when it comes to fitness. I also think that using pedometers is a great way to teach our students about respect and responsibility. They have to use them in the correct way so that they will be able to be used for a while. I think that I have some good ideas on how to use pedometers but by no means do I know everything or have every idea. This is where collaborating with other PE teachers comes into play. As teachers we steal ideas from one another all the time. If someone has something good, take it and use it. Again, I think that this is an ever-changing process. I am sure that it will be modified from year to year and even class to class. I think that this process is what makes good teachers.

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

As I think about ways to use technology in an elementary PE setting I come up with more and more ideas. I think that as I orginally thought about this, I was getting too complecated. I don't think that it needs to be that complex. Even using pedometers for students to monitor effort levels is a great way of integrating technology into the gym. I don't know that I need to modify my action plan but I do think that I need to refine it. I need for my action plan to become more directed at the outcome that I want technology to have on my students in my classes. I've learned that students want to use technology. It is a great way to gain our students attention, and hold that attention. If I can use technology to gain my students interest I think that in the long run that it will help my studnets to learn more and become more interested in our content areas. This is an ever changing process, it is dynamic. It never really done, it keeps changing and evolving though the learning process.

Carrying Out Your Game Plan

There are many resources that will we will use to help carry out my game plan. I think that colleagues can help almost better than any other resource. They know what we go through as Physical Educators and they also have many great ideas. As an elementary PE teacher I don’t get a chance to see a lot of other PE teachers teach. I know that collaborating with other teachers can help me to become a better teacher. This week’s resource spoke a lot about how our students all learn in a different way. I think that it is important for us to have differentiated instruction. I also think that we need to provide our students with interventions and enrichments. I believe that I am taking steps toward becoming a more effective teacher.

Personal Game Plan

I think that it is important for us as teachers to instill the importance of technology in lives of our students. They need to know how to use technology and they also need to see us use technology. We cannot tell our students that technology is important and then now use it ourselves. One NETS-T goals that will help with that process is “Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.” This goal lends itself toward showing our students just how important technology is and can be to their future. Students will need to see me use technology in my daily life and also in class. This goal will also help me too collaborate with of teachers and educators. I think that it is important that I stay in communication with other educators, whether those educators teach in my same content area or not. Another NET goal I will strive for is “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.” I think that it is important that if I teach my students technology that I also assess them with technology. There is a ton of great technologies out there to help me with those assessments. I also know that students learn in a variety of ways, which is why it is important for me to use a variety of technologies to teach them. Some of our students are kinesthetic learners while others are visual learners. I will continually look back at these NETS-T standards to monitor my progress with the goals I have set for myself.

Reflective Essay

In a reflective essay to post on your blog, respond to the following:

• Describe the most striking revelation you had about the teaching of new literacy skills to your students as a result of this course.

I think the thing that struck me the most, is actually knowing what it is to be computer literate. There is a ton of information for our students to know in order to know the "new literacy skills." They must be able to find reliable information on the web and be able to know the difference between a reliable site and one that is less than reliable. Students must also know how to navigate a website to find the information they are searching for. Students today must have a larger skill base from which to call upon.

• Describe how the knowledge and experience gained in this course will influence your teaching practices going forward.

There is a ton of useful information I learned in this course. Some of the things I will take and use in my class are; internet based projects, using reliable websites, and helping my students to become computer and internet literate. There is a wealth of information out there for our students to use, our students need to be able to get to that information.

• Identify at least one professional development goal you would like to pursue that builds upon your learning in this course and develops your own information literacy or technology skills. Describe the steps you will take to accomplish this goal.

I am lucky enough that our district offers many technology based classes. I plan on taking as many as possible to help me get a better understanding of how to use technology to improve my teaching. Our students are growing up in a world of technology and we as teachers need to keep up with it as well.