As I am working towards the goals
in my GAME plan, I am feeling overwhelmed.
With so many new resources that I have found or have been suggested by
my professional learning community, I am having trouble focusing and must
narrow my scope in order to feel that I am accomplishing something.
I
originally wanted to focus on collaboration and simulations. I have seen proven success with Voice threads
and the collaborative characteristics of them.
I would like to try WallWisher (www.wallwisher.com). Using this website students can brainstorm,
share ideas, and then comment on them. I
would implement this at the beginning of a lesson like a concept map in order
to see the students prior or background knowledge on a topic. For example, to introduce a unit on natural
disasters I could have students post their knowledge of volcanoes, earthquakes,
and tsunami’s on the wall and then make connections between them.
To
address the professional development goal I have, I want to survey the teachers
in my school (using www.surveymonkey.com)
to see that technology they are comfortable
using, what they want to know more about, and what they are willing to
try. It can be anonymous to make them
feel more comfortable answering, but I really want to see what types of staff
development can be brought in to help them and make their lessons
multi-sensory. Not just another time
wasting professional development session.
I have also started to connect to other computer teachers in the private
sector and hope to connect with public school to see what they do with technology
and what is expected from students when they enter and exit school.
With
all this being said, it is exhausting thinking about all of the options. Technology truly is a double edged
sword. In so many ways it helps us in
our everyday lives (i.e. cell phones, computers, Smart Boards). However, it is also growing at such a fast
pace that it is difficult to learn something, implement it, evaluate and
perfect it before it is obsolete. Does
anyone else feel this way?
Techteacjer914,
ReplyDeleteThere are so many resources out there available that it can become overwhelming when trying to see what works best where. I have wanted to do VoiceThreads with my classroom, but haven't decided to do it yet because of not having headphones and having everyone talking at the same time.
I was recently asked by a teacher at my school to provide her with technology that she can use heading into the end of school year. This class alone has given us wonderful websites that we can use. With that being said, our professional learning communities provide us with so many resources and they only keep growing and growing. If we can continue to make small steps we will still get to our goal, if just might take a bit longer. As long as we are incorporating technology in our learning strategy we still can adapt new technology and gain more resources in the process.
Nakeia
Hi Nakeia,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the words of encouragement. Of course now that I am on spring break from work I realize how overwhelmed I was towards the end of last week. I think by breaking into specific tasks and I have chosen three websites a week to look into and try and incorporate into my lessons it seems more manageable.
Melissa:
ReplyDeleteI absolutely can relate to your sentiments regarding feeling overwhelmed. I think to some extent it is one of the reasons many of us pursued a degree in technology. The pace at which technology is developing it is almost impossible to keep up both in terms of skills and in terms of resources. I have been frustrated numerous times, because I want to implement a lesson using a new form of technology, but have had to completely restructure the lesson simply because the resources were not available. I think too everyone has such varied information there really is no way to combine or synthesize all the data. I know when I have approached staff about different ideas or resources they may have used, I come away with more questions than answers. I think though no matter how overwhelmed or inundated with information we may become it is critical to not give up and retreat back into old practices.
Hi Jaime,
DeleteAbsolutely! We must power through all of the information and implement as much as we can. I find that when I concentrate on a few sites at a time it is easier to manage. Plus having a week off of school gives time to refresh and get excited about trying new things.
Melissa A.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI understand your feeling of being overwhelmed! Throughout the school year we have so much to worry about that it is difficult to find time to set and reach new goals. I think as long as we take baby steps towards these goals, they can be obtained. For your professional development goal, I would consider it successful that you are even beginning to look into it. I do not think you are expected to have attended any workshops or researched much yet. I think the fact that you are looking into it and are starting to find different different ways of bettering yourself as a teacher is great. Don't sign up for something just for the sake of doing it; sign up for something you are genuinely interested in! Keep up the good work. I hope you find your spring break relaxing!
Tanya
Melissa
ReplyDeleteThe fact that there are so many new resources available that might be implemented within the classroom comes at a great advantage to educators. In some cases several types of technology resources might be implemented so as to best serve the students needs. It can be overwhelming with so many types of technology available and not knowing for sure what will work with the students. The selection and use of simulations, games, or virtual environments for assessment should meet the same rigor for selecting any technology in your classroom and should appropriately match the needs of the content, your students, and the learning goals they are trying to meet (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). As long as the technology tools support classroom learning, and expectations and meet the criteria for student mastery in the subject area they can be a great resource.
Cennamo, K. Ross, J. & Ertmer, P (2009) Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate education) Inc.