Posts
Carrying out My
GAME Plan
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In last
week’s blog post, I developed a GAME plan for two areas of need that I feel
would improve my teaching as well as student learning. Having the plan in place
has helped me look forward to evaluating the effective needs of the goals and
actions, but it has been difficult to implement the goals since I am on
sabbatical. However, I have been able to review my GAME design to determine
what else I need to do to implement the plan.
Goal #1:
To utilize
technology to track student progress on summative assessments to help students
pinpoint
areas of mastery and improvement.
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NETS-T: 2d. Provide students with multiple and varied
formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology
standards, and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching (ISTE, 2008).
Resources Needed:
- Google Docs accounts for all of my
students (as well as myself)
- Computer access for all students when
completing writing activities
- Meet with Middle School technology
coordinator to answer questions below
Additional Information Needed:
- Is there a better online tool that can be
used to track progress (other than a Google Spreadsheet)? I need to research
other online “gradebook” tools to see if there is a better solution to using
Google Spreadsheet. Things I need to consider are accessibility (can students
obtain access), price (preferably FREE), ease of use, and functions of the
gradebook.
- Parent access – how can we make this
accessible for parents to review progress? Or, do we want parents to have
access to this information? Discuss these questions at a department meeting
with special education colleagues to determine parent access.
Steps Taken Thus Far:
- Revised rubric to identify specific skills
that students will need to master
- A Google Doc template was created for the
paragraph rubric so students can access the rubric online and insert it into
their final papers to submit to teacher.
- “Paragraph Writing Grade Log” was created
on a Google Spreadsheet so students can track their scores on each subcategory
of the rubric
Goal #2:
To model
appropriate use of citing references on the Internet, and hold students
accountable for using text, graphics, videos, and other media from the Internet
by adding a “Citing References” section to their assignment rubrics.
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NETS-T: 4a. Advocate, model, and
teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology,
including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate
documentation of sources (ISTE,
2008).
Resources Needed:
- Various rubrics that contain criteria for
evaluating the effectiveness of citing resources/references for
papers/projects.
- Meet with colleagues to discuss and
determine criteria for rubric.
- Meet with school librarian to create a
lesson about citing information while conducting research/inquiry projects.
Additional Information Needed:
- What is the proper procedure for students
to request to use a graphic or other media file in their presentations?
- Is there a district procedure for doing
this?
Steps Taken Thus Far:
- Reviewed Pennsylvania Department of
Education (2014) Common Core standards to determine content standard addressed.
o
CC.1.4.8.W:
Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using
search terms effectively; assess the credibility and accuracy of each source;
and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding
plagiarism and following a standard format for citation (p. 25).
When reviewing
this plan, the steps I have taken so far, and my additional
resources/information, is there anything I am missing for my plan? Does anyone
have any suggestions? Thanks for your feedback!
References
International Society for Technology in
Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T).
Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers
Pennsylvania Department of Education. (2014,
March 1). Academic standards for English language arts. Retrieved from http://static.pdesas.org/content/documents/PA%20Core%20Standards%20ELA%206-12%20March%202014.pdf
Image References
Image 1, Game Plan: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUZk_1iRm3BGlNhoZrPf68wni4ZtxiKLhon1UD4cx2kw75qEc4gMPMSwA2XbRGR-M0_ICCW6Z6K3CyvV4OiWMKOFNN5CMu4Q2R5yG-BTOTwHW7eAKBH7nijxLFnu6dxQSXR_aVaC5zhJw/s1600/coach_clipart.jpg
Image 2, Spreadsheet: http://png-1.findicons.com/files/icons/1055/aqua_gloss/128/spreadsheet.png
Image 3, Computer: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9qMx_ond1qDb5SVwAnMzZlKXoyfPDUVZBPQO0-CSebeurjHvh_qKLCC8Fq1zyqq45-nnICTtBwqrfwh9hcGgP6rpCIcgVYPJlzuSlX1xuE7XUvlXfRMaBrpp72x27nPOdrHQ3GTNd67cR/s320/computer_ethics.JPG
I think you would benefit from a resource like Edmodo or another LMS to replace Google Docs. Google Docs are free, but I found the clunky. The LMS's now have easy tracking systems with parent portals so you don't have to constantly update parents.
ReplyDeleteHi Mandy!
ReplyDeleteFor your first goal, I recommend a gradebook suite called Mastery Connect. It is free and online and would be easy for you to set up outside of a school or district gradebook. I know most schools use PowerSchool or ProgressBook. MC uses a neat program called GradeCam, which is like a newer more customizable version of a scantron. You print out the bubble sheets and simply "scan" the answers using a document camera or embedded computer camera. Pretty cool! Also check out Schoology as an alternative to Edmodo!
For your second goal, I would recommend searching or using rubistar.4teachers.org for your rubrics. It is easy to use and sometimes you can find a rubric that matches your needs. You might find some resources on Mastery Connect too! Finally, I would recommend doing a search for MLA documentation lessons. Easybib and Knightcite are helpful resources, but students need to know the basics of citations. I liken it to math skills. At a certain point, we should put a calculator in their hands, but not until they have mastery over the basics and understand what and why they are doing it!
Good luck!
-Tom
Tyler and Thomas,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the feedback about gradebooks and other online resources. I will certainly check them out to see if they can benefit me and my students in any way. The only concern I have is sometimes I think it gets to be too much - too many resources, too many web sites, too many usernames/passwords. Our school district already uses PowerSchool. I could use that to track students' progress for their rubric category scores so parents could see it, but then students would not have control of entering their grades and tracking progress to look for trends.
Rubistar is great and I have used it to make rubrics in the past!
Thanks for your feedback,
Mandy