View my screencast that summarizes my PLP by clicking on the following link (I apologize for my voice, I haven't been able to shake a cold for a few weeks now...): Screencast
Joe Buffa
Professional
Learning Plan
11/1/12
Another MAET course has gone by
and I am finally able to look back and reflect on what I have
learned
so far. There has been a lot going on in my life lately and most days I feel
like I was overloaded. That said I still had very similar goals for this course
as I did for my CEP-810 course (see document below- Google Drive, Blog/RSS
Feeder, & 1 Technology per semester).
Of those goals below, I think I
succeeded in implementing Google Drive into my classroom. I made the effort to
work on it with my WPP project and that kept me in line with meeting this goal.
I actually expanded the use of this technology beyond my one Media Log project
and it has been going very well. I also have been successful in learning one
new technology to use in the classroom per semester (thanks to the MAET
program). What I have failed to do is to incorporate blogging and the RSS feeder
feature in my classroom. I tried it early on and it just did not fit very well
into what I was trying to do. Really the reason behind this is that my school
uses Blackboard (system very much like Angel) and I can post items/discussion
forums there for students to access which really makes the blog and RSS feeder
redundant.
Keeping all of that in mind, I still
think that my main goal is to fully submerge myself and my class into Google
Drive. I have already had several students thank me for introducing it to them
because they thought ahead and uploaded a document to Google Drive, so when
they lost their flash drive they still were able to turn in their assignment. Although
the back-up feature is very appealing, the productivity I have seen from group
projects when they use Google Drive is even more promising to me. Therefore, I
feel that I need to keep finding ways to incorporate Google Drive into my
curriculum and begin expanding it beyond my World History students (a.k.a my
guinea pigs).
The question becomes how to continue
to find new inventive ways to incorporate Google Drive into my curriculum. One
possibility that I have been thinking about is using Google Drive to enhance
student vocabulary. My school is really pressing Marzano’s vocabulary strategy
in all classrooms and so far I feel that it has helped student retention of the
meaning of key terms. However, students do tend to dislike creating visuals on
their own for each word (something that Marzano suggests). I envision creating
a running vocabulary Google Doc in which students will be asked to create their
own definitions and search for images related to the word to include in the
document. Students will then be able to look at the document or download the
document whenever they want. I hope to begin implementing this in all classes
by the start of next semester (beginning after winter break).
I do have other technological goals
in mind however I want to make sure that I at least accomplish this one by the
end of the school year. So far the MAET program has exposed me to a number of
wonderful possibilities to enhance my classroom. I have been working on using a
number of technologies to flip my classroom so that I can spend more time
having discussions and activities in class versus always lecturing. Right now
Blackboard is helping me accomplish this along with creating mini StAIR
resources and Webquests for students to tackle.
All-in-all my growth with technology
has been steady and on-going. There is room for improvement, but I am confident
that it is not a result of any sort of glaring skill deficit I have, but rather
inexperience with the new technologies that I am trying. What I have found thus
far is that the more I work with the programs I am using the more proficient I
become with them, and consequently I find better ways of how to include them in
my curriculum.
Joe Buffa
Personal Growth Plan
CEP 810
1/20/12
My Personal Growth Plan
#1 – Using technology to make a
difference in education
Goal – Use Google Docs and RSS
feeders to improve upon my “media log” project.
One of the
reasons why I decided to pursue the MAET program was because of the new Common
Core Standards that have rolled out for Michigan. Embedded within those
standards is the expectation that teachers and students will utilize technology
in the classroom in a more meaningful and engaging way. Although I feel like I
utilize technology in the classroom a lot more than some of my colleagues,
there is always room for growth.
In my
classroom I can already find use for the information that I have acquired in
session one. A major assignment that I have my students do in every course is a
“media log.” It is an ongoing assignment that lasts an entire marking period
and the goals are the following:
1.
Students will learn how to summarize
and critique other’s writing.
2.
Students will explore current news
headlines.
3.
Students will demonstrate their
knowledge of course material by discovering the relevance and connection
between what was taught in class and the current news headlines that they find.
For the
past three years that I have done this assignment I have had issues where
students find articles that were published over ten years ago, or their printer
died, or they lost their flash drive, etc. Next time I give this assignment I
will show my students how to use the RSS feeder for sites like NPR.org so that
they can be assured that the story is current. I will also require them to save
all of their work through Google Docs, that way the concerns of crashing
computers, lost flash drives, or broken printers are eliminated. This will not
only lower their stress level, but mine as well.
Eventually
I can see this assignment evolving into a class blog page opportunity where
students can share the stories they find with their peers and will be able to
make comments on those stories. Right now I am the one facilitating the current
issue discussions, but by taking this assignment one step further to a blog
page, they will become the gatekeepers of knowledge. This is how I foresee
technology making an immediate difference in my classroom, and when my
principal asks me what I have done with the Common Core Standards, I can point
to this new and improved technology piece.
#2 – Increasing your skill in using
technology
Goal – Become proficient enough in
at least one technological piece introduced per session, and find a way to use
it in the classroom.
Again,
with the new Common Core Standards it is more pressing that I become familiar
with what technology is available and how to use it. Some of the technology
that I currently use in the classroom includes:
1.
ELMO Document Camera
2.
Digital projector (allows me to display
anything that is on my computer)
3.
DVD/VCR player
4.
Laptops for students (we have laptop
carts that we can wheel into the classroom)
**this list does not include all of
the various programs that I use and/or have the students use to create
projects/presentations**
That said I try to learn at least
one new technology a semester that can help improve my teaching abilities. Last
semester I learned how to use the web based cartoon creation program
Go-Animate. I decided that I would utilize it in Civics when we discussed how a
bill becomes a law. I showed them the famous School House Rock video, “I’m Just
a Bill,” showed them the Go-Animate website, and told them to create their own
cartoon that explained how a bill became a law. It turned out to be an awesome
project that they really enjoyed.
I
want to bring more of the wow factor into my classroom but in order to do so I
need to become more familiar with the different technologies that are out
there. I already discussed in my previous response how I plan on using what I
have learned so far in the classroom. My goal is to continue to learn so that I
can find ways to make learning more interesting for my students. I plan on
exploring all of the different pieces that are discussed in each session and
will practice at least one of them. Once I feel comfortable enough with the
various technological pieces shared in this course, I will begin to brainstorm
different ways that I can make them succeed in my classroom. After all, there
really is no point to me earning this degree if I never use what I learn.
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