Using GAME Plans with Students

I have a Digital Story Telling Issue before I discuss how to use GAME plans with students:
My PBL lesson is formed around persuasive writing. I can see how social networking can be a part of this, but am having trouble seeing digital story telling fitting in. My students are researching a problem in the school or community. I am grouping them based on similar issues and using wikis for them to share information and discuss potential arguments. My school will not allow me to use an outside wiki that community members could access to join in the discussion, so I am encouraging my students to contact community members via email. When the students write their essays, I am having them out together persuasive presentations for a panel made up of school and community leaders. Could this part be digital story telling? It is not really a "story".

GAME Plans for students:
So many of my students have difficulty problem solving. Sometimes, some of them just want someone to give them an easy answer. Others want to do more with their learning, but do not have an organized plan of attack. Teaching them the process of a GAME Plan could be quite useful. For projects, I could start students out with a GAME plan outline. Under "action", they can fill in the tools they will use to achieve their goals. The tools will be different forms of technology.

Using Collaboration and Problem-Based Learning

As I think about my goals for technology use, I think I am successfully meeting my goal to use digital tools to collaborate with colleagues. I need to extend this to help my students do the same thing. I am limited by my school's policies, though. In a staff meeting, we were recently told that we are not allowed to have students post on wikis, blogs, or any other web sites that are not directly run by our school. It was infuriating to think how much we are limiting our students with this parochial attitude. So, the only collaboration I can have my students do is with each other. My school does have a Moodle that is a district wiki. I will have my different periods use it to collaborate with each other. That way, they at least are working with potentially 126 students, rather than just the 27 in the individual class periods.

As far as my problem-based learning goal, here in northeast Ohio, the snow has brought us to a standstill. Hopefully, next week, my students will begin researching the problems for their persuasive essays.

GAME Plan - Using PBL to Engage Learners

As I continue in my quest to engage students in real world issues, I am discovering that I am having trouble finding the issue that relates to English standards. My persuasive writing idea does not focus on one issue. I want to the students to choose a topic that interests them rather than assigning a problem to them. I think that is a better way to get them engaged. Any topic can be used to teach them writing strategies for persuasion which is the content standard we are working on.

I have fallen short in acting toward this goal so far. I need to refocus and read more about PBL specifically. In the article Jumping the PBL Implementation Hurdle: Supporting the Efforts of K-12 Teachers by Ertmer and Simons, the authors suggest watching an experienced teacher use the PBL strategy. That is my next step. Does anyone know of some good web sites with video of this?

Ertmer, P., & Simons, K. (Spring 2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting the efforts of K-12 teachers. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1), 40–54. Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=ijpbl.

GAME Plan for Technology Standards, Continued

I have just started a unit with my sophomores themed around civic responsibilities. We read a short story based on a real natural disaster. It is about a village that was destroyed in an avalanche. One girl was found buried in mud up to her neck. The rescuers were unable to pull her out, and she died after 48 hours. In the fictional story, a reporter puts down his microphone and camera to try to save her. He spends 3 days with her, finally accepting that he can't save her but doesn't leave her side, so she doesn't die alone. This unit includes 2 persuasive articles advocating a need for protection of good Samaritan acts in our country.

This unit directly relates to my goal to engage students in exploring real-world issues. I would like any suggestions about how to make the issues as relevant as I can to my students. I did show some pictures of Haiti, Hurricane Katrina, and other recent natural disasters while we listened to part of the story as an introduction to the unit. Later, they will write persuasive letters on current topics important to them. Just brainstorming here: Would a threaded discussion on issues be a good way to help them see a variety of viewpoints? What web sites exist that have discussions on current controversial issues? Maybe I need to find blogs to access. I could group the students from all 5 of my classes into same topic groups and have them contribute to a wiki discussion with each other to help them develop arguments for their letters.

How to Meet the Technology Standards

As I consider how to reach my technology goals, I need to make them more concrete and less abstract. The second step to do that is to figure out what resources and information I need. The first step is to identify what I already do, like using a KWL chart.

I already collaborate and communicate using digital tools. I email daily with colleagues, parents, and students to help my students with their learning needs. I also maintain a web page through my school's web site. My page has information on major projects and PDF files of class notes related to the projects, as well as a link to an online version of our textbook.

To further my development in this area, I need to add other educational blogs and sites to my RSS reader and keep up to date with reading them.

My second goal is to engage students in exploring real-world issues. A resource I can use for this is my school's librarian. She is very helpful and can guide me in finding other resources. I plan to have my students write persuasive essays on current issues. The essays will be sent, electronically or via post office, to real audiences. I will need to access local news to help students find topics.

Meeting Technology Standards

I have been using technology in my classroom for several years. It really does engage students more than "traditional" approaches, and considering the proliferation of technology in our world, it is a necessary tool.
The two technology standards for teachers I want to improve my proficiency in are to "Model Digital-Age Work and Learning" and "Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity" (ISTE, 2010).
I am going to chart out my GAME plan for these goals:

I. Goals
A. To collaborate and communicate using digital tools
B. To engage students in exploring real-world issues

II. Actions
A. I will work with the technology specialists in my building to use my school's web page efficiently.
B. I will continue taking professional development classes beyond my master's degree.
C. I will collaborate with colleagues, at my school and abroad through the internet, to identify real-world issues that will lend themselves to English content standards.
1. One assignment I am looking at is a persuasive essay in which I will give the students freedom to chose a current issue in the school or community. They will research the issue and write a persuasive letter to a specific audience about the topic. The letters will actually be sent.

III. Monitoring
A. I will keep an archive of digital work I engage students in.
B. I will reach out to my professional learning community for feedback.

IV. Evaluate and Extend
A. I will apply what I learn now to new technologies as they arise.



I feel my plan for evaluating and extending is weak. If anyone reading this has ideas for how I can improve, please share.

Reference
The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. (n.d.). International Society for Technology in Education | Home. Retrieved January 14, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

A Reflection on Information Literacy

In the Walden course, Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry, that I am finishing this week, I have learned a number of useful tips for using the internet more efficiently. The most striking thing I learned is that, although my high school students are well practiced in using the internet, several do not know how to sift through sites to find specific information effectively. They rush through the inquiry process. Many do not take the time to look at the excerpts that come up with search results. Instead, they click on the first result expecting it to give them everything they need. When they do find a site with promising information, they often do not realize it because they do not take the time to look through the site. I do not think my students lack the needed literacy skills; they lack desire to put forth effort into the work.

There are a few students who really do not know how to complete an effective search. The literacy I see as the most deficient is being able to come up with good research questions and key words to use. I used the category flowcharts in Eagleton and Dobler’s (2007) book Reading the Web with my students, and the charts really helped them.

This course has helped me become more aware of the exact literacy needs for doing research on the internet. In the past, I have not spent time teaching questioning and key word techniques. I have assumed that high school students already have these skills. They have been able to produce end products for research projects in the past. This year, as I went through the questioning process with the students, I realized that several of them were weak in this area. It is a literacy I need to reinforce, not ignore.

A goal I want to pursue is to teach my students more about how to evaluate the information they are deluged with everyday, so they do not just blindly accept everything they see. I will guide students through techniques such as “REAL” for evaluating information. I am going to keep up to date in my reading of current strategies for information literacy. Many of the resources from my Walden courses have proven enlightening. Referring back to them from time to time will also help me be a better teacher.

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the Web: Strategies for Internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.