Runninghead:REFLECTION FOR TECHNOLOGY STANDARD II

Reflection for Technology Standard II: Planning, Designing Learning Environments and Experiences Walker B. Wellborn Lamar University

REFLECTION FOR TECHNOLOGY STANDARD II Reflection for Technology Standard II: Planning, Designing Learning Environments and Experiences Self-Assessment In planning and modeling effective technologies for student learning for teachers to use the key operative action is to shift from conventional instruction to a reformed instruction. Reformed instruction includes student activities that use more student-centered and inquiry-based learning groups. Changes in group activity and structure are in which students explore, interact with teacher who is more a facilitator, perform individualized and multidisplinary work, work collaboratively, work together with others of varied learning levels and help each other, practice advanced skills, and are assessed on performance instead of facts (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 38).

Bonham Elementary classes from kindergarten, fourth, and fifth grades were requested to produce various uses of picture, sound, and words to present to the final PTA meeting of the year and the annual district showcase of school technologies. Both requests would help the school reach achieve an initiative for the districts continuous improvement in academic achievement and prepare all students for success in college and workforce readiness goals in Bonhams Campus Improvement Plan (AISD, 2011, para. 6-7). Deciding to facilitate the Bonham teachers to build both projects in a multimedia technology in turn developed a learning process that would use the students higher order cognitive-thinking skills (Clark, 2007, para. 11). The teachers found the students soon become engaged when they could use their imaginations with multimedia because they would be able to build meaningful digital story presentations from their own writings, voices, personal pictures, illustrations, and actions. Learner as a Learner Various group dynamics according to the reformed approaches to instruction were facilitated in the collaborative effort for the Bonham Elementary kindergarten classes to demonstrate to the parents and other community partners various class activities in A Day in the Life of a Kindergartner. A multimedia piece was useful to help the kindergarten teachers show the students diverse talents and abilities in

REFLECTION FOR TECHNOLOGY STANDARD II

reading activities, narrating the short daily stories they practiced writing, making music in class singing or playing musical instruments, and getting their daily physical exercise. In the next year Bonhams fourth and fifth grade students would collaborate in an even more complex fashion. The students would work in 21 groups composed of both grades. The fourth grade would write and the fifth grade would draw. Additionally the individuals of each group would work together with others of varied learning levels and help each other to write and illustrate pages using advanced techniques of technology made for publishing and drawing. Together the groups created and produced 21 digital How-To Stories demonstrating their combined critical thinking that instructed simple steps for the way to do a particular thing. Having many things to tell about a days work and many ways to tell how to do something provided opportunities for teachers to help students develop their own messages to a multimedia presentation. I was pleased at the varied stories and especially the effectiveness of the teachers who collaborated well together to use the technologies to help their students record, demonstrate, and present both projects (Williamson & Redish, 2009, p. 41). Lifelong Learning Skills I coordinated with the computer lab director and teachers to facilitate a production schedule and planned a learning strategy that managed to arrange five fourth grade classes and three fifth grade classes into 21 separate groups of four to five students each. These groups were able to collaboratively produce script, audio, and illustrations on 16 computer workstations in the Bonham Elementary computer lab. Coordinating the process with the many groups was tedious at first; often slow with repeating directions and getting all their attention at once. However, soon the students understood what they needed to do and helped each other to complete the writing and illustrating. Student-created multimedia projects such as the A Day in the Life of a Kindergartner or How-ToStories provide engaged student learning when students are able to make recordings, shoot original photography, write creative stories, and create digital artwork. Even natural artwork can be scanned into digital format and be used for elements in multimedia. Multimedia is a normal way for todays students to

REFLECTION FOR TECHNOLOGY STANDARD II express themselves. According to Edutopia (2002), students who do not take to learning by reading a textbook or listening to a lecture often jump at the chance to understand complex concepts by presenting finished products in the form of a film or a Web documentary or a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation (para. 5).

REFLECTION FOR TECHNOLOGY STANDARD II References Abilene Independent School District (AISD). (2011). District initiatives. AISD Bonham campus improvement plan. Retrieved at http://schools.abileneisd.org/Plans/20092010/2010_Bonham_Campus_Plan.pdf. Clark. D. (2007). Learning domains or Blooms taxonomy. A Big Dog, Little Dog and Knowledge Jump Production. Retrieved from http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html. Edutopia. (2002). Multimedia serves youths desire to express themselves. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/print/980. Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). ISTEs Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards: What Every K-12 Leader Should Know and Be Able to Do. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education, pp. 33-55.