Jim Portik

As I look back at this course and entire program as a whole, one thing has really stood out to me as the most important lesson and that is to be able to adapt and change with the times.  My goal going forward is to take the tools I have been using like Moodle, VoiceThreads, and Podcasts and make them stronger.  I also want to be more of a resource to other teachers and take away the fear of changing methods.  I also want to take newer programs like Sloodle and see if they truly fit my classroom the way I think it should.  I think my desire to try new things in the classroom has become stronger as I see and hear from my fellow teachers in this program.  I think by communicating with other teachers outside of my bubble I have become more confident to try to be an agent of change in my district.  Overall, the experiences I have had in this program have made me a stronger teacher and I’m excited to use these new skills starting this new school year.

Here’s my Moodle Presentation!

This course has given us all a lot to think about in terms of differentiated instruction and universal design learning, but the one thing it’s give me is confidence to attempt to use these methods more in my classroom.  It also reaffirmed some of the methods I have been using and my use of technology in my classroom.  Also it reminded me that “centers” aren’t a period of the day to just have students working on different things, but a time to really prescribe materials for students who need help in different areas. 

My goals have changed a little since the beginning of this course.  My district basically mandated using DI in our classrooms, but didn’t give much of a reason why.  It was just a general overview and a lot of scenarios that seemed unrealistic.  Now after reading what my classmates are doing, have done, and want to try I feel that DI is more manageable and exciting.  I liked being about to read what my classmates wrote about the tools they were finding and am really impressed by how so many tools can be used at different levels.  My group did a wonderful job of sharing and continuing to search for new tools. 

I see using a social networking site as a new way of having “study buddies” for my students.  I know at least 12 of my third graders last year were on facebook, so why not use another more controllable site like ning to help them with their homework or allow them to share things they find like we did in class.  A lot of times I do a lot of the same things I do in Walden courses with my students and am really impressed by how they can interact much like we do, but on their level. 

Overall, I want to continue to push my students with new tools and technologies, while giving them whatever they need to achieve the most they can each year.  Next year will have some challenges that were different than this year and being able to be more flexible and willing to give up control will help me meet their challenges head on.

The GAME plan progress has helped me realize where my strengths are and what areas I need to improve.  During this course I have really worked hard on making my building stronger with the help of technology.  There have been challenges in getting teachers to try new technology tools and methods, but its has provided me with the opportunity to share some of the things I’ve learned and to see how others use some of the same tools I have been working with. 

Next school year will be an even more challenging one as we are going through renovations and the chances to use technology might lessen.  A lot of teachers will be moving to an old school across the street or a trailer.   Even the teachers that stay at our school will have issues with construction.  My hope for next year is to still be able to use the technology from this year to engage my students and give them the 21st century skills they need.  If we don’t have Internet access, it could make things more difficult, but it would push me to use our computers in different ways. 

The good thing from the changes is that when renivations are finished we will all have the same technology tools as opposed to having to share tools like response clickers and projectors.  It should make it easier for me to reach out to other teachers and give them support in using the new tools.  I think the process of going through the changes will be interesting and difficult, but the end result should be well worth it. 

Next year will definitely call for me to adjust and try harder to meet my students needs in all areas, but having going though the experience of making GAME plans should help quite a bit.

I think the process of using a game plan to evaluate my own progress has helped me understand where I was as a teacher, where I am now, and where I want to go.  I know there is a lot of progress to be made in exposing my students to using more technology, but I am willing to keep taking chances and trying new things.I want my kids  to set goals for themselves and constantly reset those goals as they acheive them or realize there needs to be an adjustment.  My goal for my students is to have them push each other and help each other become more familar with technology.  I want them to own their learning and help their peers become just as strong with a technology tool as they are.  It is a lot like how I wanted to push my collegues to use more technology and become a resource for them, I want my students to become resources for each other.

I hope that as I get my new group of students next year that I will be stronger in using the tools I have available to me and also that all the work I have done with other teachers will translate to the kids having more technology skills than this year’s class.  This will continue to challenge me as a teacher to challenge them and give them even more tools and meet more standards for technology. Ultimately, I would love to see each years class take a step forward than a step backward in the area of technology, but I realize I need to be prepared for just about anything, just like our regular content.

When I look at what I’ve been able to accomplish this school year in terms of getting more of my collegues using technology I am two things: pleased and encouraged.  I do, however, feel that I have a lot more work to do to make an impact in my building.  I think most of the teachers I have worked with are past the phase of thinking our tools are just fancy toys and make our jobs easier.  Now my goal is to create more resources for our staff like Turning Point assessments.  I want to do this to enourage more teachers to see the value and to create more time for them to actually teach. I know my third grade team has benefited from what I have made for our grade level, but I want to go beyond the grade level because in all honesty our building needs to help each other across grade levels to make more progress.  So for right now I am going to continue to sharpen my skills with the tools that we have and listen to what other teachers need to be stronger in the area of technology.  To add any more goals to this plan I think would make it overwhelming at this point. 

I’ve learned a lot about how technology can be perceived by teachers and realized that it could also be perceived the same way by the parents of my students or the students themselves.  I see the need to have a meeting with the parents of my students and explain our technology and my methods to give them a firmer understanding of the software and what their students are learning.  I think by doing this that my parents will be more supportive and help their students more because they themselves understand the programs.  Hopefully this new direction will provide positive results.

This week I am prompted to ask the following questions.

I have taken a little different approach with my goal of becoming a leader in my building in regards to technology.  I have both ends of the specrum, with some teachers being very interested and others avoiding it like it’s the plague.  For the short term, I am working with the very eager to get them more resources and do my best to show them how to use the technology we have in our district.  I am hoping by doing this I will give those teachers what they need and then they can use the new skills and teach them to other people on their grade level.  I realized that I don’t need to be the one demonstrating everything and that I needed to work a little smarter in the process.  Also I hope by adjusting like this that more tenative users will seek out my help if they see other people using the technology. 

I have learned a lot of tricks to programs that I didn’t know about while working with some of our teachers and also found it refreshing to see how tools like our response clickers and Moodle can used in ways that I haven’t thought of yet.  Everyone that I have worked with has come up with some of their own ideas and methods for how these tools can be used and it makes things much more interesting to have a conversation about what the tools can do rather than just telling people what I do. 

My biggest question still goes unanswered though.  I want to know how to get people to come out of their comfort level and invest time in learning our technology resources.  How to get everyone on board is still a major puzzle for me.

I am starting to see that this plan is going to be quite a task.  My goal of becoming a leader in the area of technology and empowering colleagues to venture out and try new things is have some ups and downs.  I am not having trouble being a resource for other teachers, but am getting little feed back about what they are doing in regards to using technology.  I think at this stage I am going to give more than receive and that is perfectly fine as it helps all of our students, but it’s a little disheartening to see that our building doesn’t use much technology. 

I am learning that younger teachers are more willing to try technology and that veteran teachers in my building feel that I am more or less trying to reinvent the wheel and that their methods work fine, so why change them?  I have a tremedous amount of respect for our veteran teachers, but again it’s difficult to try to lead when most are not interested.

I think my new questions are: How do you motivate teachers to use technology? What methods would benefit our district the most? Should I just focus on the teachers that are willing to try new methods?

I keep going back and worth on what the correct answer to all those questions could be.  I feel that technology can make our lives easier in data collection, grading, and planning for lesson.  That would give teachers the most precious asset we all lack and that’s time, so is that my selling point?  Any suggestions or similar situations would be very helpful!

When I started to think of ways to help my collegues use more technology and for myself to become a leader in that area, I realized that this wasn’t going to be an easy task.  The main resource I am going to use is Moodle because its program that most of the staff has had at least some training on.  I think starting here will be a good way to ease some people into using more technology by simply modeling how to do certain activities like forums and wiki’s.  It will also be a nice way to share ideas and post documents so that people can print them out for their classes.  I think one the biggest problems I will face is that people in my building get competitive and want credit for what they contribute and by openingly sharing things, I will be going against the grain a little bit.  My hope is that people are responsive to it and also share some things that they have learned and maybe technology that I wasn’t aware of.  I have started the process by making a forum on my Moodle page asking them what they would like to do more of in the class and then answering with suggestions about how  to use technology that we already have in our district.  So far the results have been kind of mixed, but at least it’s a start.

After reading the NETS-T standards two really jumped out at me.  I am in a unique situation where I have been given a lot of technology in a building where there is a fair amount of apprehension about using technology.  I want to help develop the use of technology and be a leader in my district in that area.  So when I saw Engage Professional Growth and Leadership as a standard I immediately started of ways I could do that or ways that I am currently doing that.  I have been using the program Moodle a lot in my classroom and have been trying to model to collegues how to use it without making it overly complicated.  I have also been creating tests for our reading series that can be taken using Turning Point software and remote response systems.  My goal there is to make it easier for others to try using the remotes and make their grading workload a little lighter. 

The other standard that really interests me is Modeling Digital Age Work and Learning.  I want my students to understand that I am constantly trying to find new ways to teach/learn and that when I find something that I really like that I don’t want them to miss out on it.  For example, I have really taken to using VoiceThread and shown my third graders how to use the program and am amazed by how far they have came in creating them in just a short amount of time.  I continue to try to develop their skills in other areas like creating presentations online with Open Office, but it has required a lot of modeling for sure. 

Overall I see the importance of all the standards, but these are the two that I’m currently working on the hardest.