This week I am furthering my GAME plan by identifying necessary resources and information. That way I can begin my action steps and start to monitor my progress toward the goals I set last week.
Goal #1:
Indicator 3d-teachers “model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
Resources Needed: Computer time for students to practice effective use of digital research tools. Examples of websites that show different aspects of domain names, links, content, and other pieces needed for evaluation practice. If anyone has examples of good websites for evaluation, please let me know!
Information Needed: I plan to read November’s Web Literacy for Educators again (2008). As I read it I will pay attention to suggested teaching tips for implementing the REAL strategy with students. This includes websites for evaluation practice. I will also consult with my colleagues to see if any of them have taught evaluation strategies. If so, I will try to incorporate those strategies into my instruction.
Steps Taken: I have already begun to model evaluation of websites when we are using the internet on the IWB. In particular I have already shown how to look for the author and date in order to determine if the information on the website is trustworthy. I plan to continue this and add in more evaluation strategies, such how to read the URL, during whole class instruction. This is an easy step to take while I work on the two sections mentioned above.
Goal #2:
Indicator 5a-I will “participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).
Resources Needed: Update of Easiteach software (should be arriving soon according to my tech director). List of others in my district who have Hitachi Starboard.
Information Needed: I need to read the manual and help guides available at the Starboard website. While at the site I will also check to see if there is a community of Starboard users there. I also need to connect with the people on the list who have the Starboard to see if they are interested in creating a community to share resources.
Steps Taken: I have printed out a Quickguide to the Starboard that I need to read and ordered the new software update. These steps will make it easier to begin sharing with my learning communities once I have started to join them.
Thanks for reading more about my GAME plan. I am open to any suggestions or questions you have for next steps. Hopefully, I can get the resources and information by this time next week so that I can start taking solid action toward reaching the NETS indicators I chose.
International Society of Technology in Education. (2008). NETS for Teachers. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousands Oaks: Corwin Press.
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9 years ago
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI am unsure of what grade level you teach, but I have used several websites in the past to teach evaluation of websites.
One website through 21st Century Information Fluency (http://21cif.com/tools/evaluate/) allows students to type in the website they need to evaluate and then runs them through a series of questions to ask themselves as the go through the website.
Another great site I found on Discovery Education, Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators (http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/eval.html) lists a multitude of different sites for educators and students. Finding this site was like finding a treasure chest for me because the range of information provided was invaluable. It even has websites for students to practice their evaluation skills on (many are not legitimate such as Feline Reactions to Bearded Men)to determine whether or not the information they encounter is reliable. My students had a great time with these particular sites.
Hope this information is helpful. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Trina
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteDo you have access to a SMART board or projector. I have found that by being able to project what I have on my screen and "think outload" what my thoughts are while they are looking at the site really helps them to understand what it is that I look for and what they should be looking for. Don't be discouraged if the students make comments or keep telling you they've evaluated websites before. More often than not, they think they know what they are doing but really don't. I've done the "tree octopus" site with my students and it's amazing how many do not realize that the story isn't real.
Christy
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI think you are on the right track with the purchase of the software for your second goal! Fortunately, you are lucky enough to have a district that can afford to make such a purchase. I think you have a great action plan for your goal. My only suggestion would be to have a back up. Find a resource that can be accessed online (preferably for free) in case anything goes wrong with the software.
For your first goal I would suggest that you reach out to other educators. It may be useful to see if what other teachers are using and their reflections as well. Although trial and error can be useful, especially for deciding what will work in your classroom, it might be a good way to see what has worked for other teachers before trying it out yourself.
You seem extremely comfortable and confident with technology it is difficult to provide you with any suggestions! I hope the software you ordered is useful to you!
Thanks for the suggestions and advice!
ReplyDeleteTrina,
I look forward to trying Kathy Schrock's materials on evaluating websites. I have used her site for other instructional purposes and found it very useful. Thanks for the recommendations!
cchiapet,
I just received an IWB because of a grant I was awarded and have found it to be an amazing tool. I especially enjoy the ability to annotate my desktop. I will have to use it to demonstrate a think aloud as you recommended of the tree octopus site. My students will really enjoy that because the tree octopus supposedly lives in our backyards. (I'm from the Olympic peninsula in Washington.)
Francesca,
Luckily, the software update is free to anyone who has the Hitachi Starboard. So, even if it doesn't work I will just continuing using the old stuff. Thank you for the reminder to utilize the experience of colleagues. Sometimes it is easy to overlook that when there is so little time in the day. I wish I had more time to collaborate!
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteOf all the textbooks we have had throughout this Master's program, I have found November’s "Web Literacy for Educators" to be the most helpful and practical. The worksheets contained in the book offer great practice for students as they are learn how to apply the REAL strategy for evaluating online resources. The book made me realize how important teaching these skills are to success in Web-based research. Because of the huge amount of information available to students, we need to help them learn how to efficiently find the most useful and most valid resources to help guide their research.
-Jennifer