1. Where would you rate yourself in each area?
I chose to look at the Language Arts lessons. I would rate myself as follows:
Active: I would place myself at Adoption. I have students interacting with our Smartboard and practicing skills on the desktops and laptops to reinforce what we cover together in class.
Collaborative: I would place myself at an Entry level. We collaborate as a class and in small groups, but have not made it to the point of utilizing technology for this.
Constructive: I would place myself at Adoption. I have my students create presentations to share with the class during our literacy groups. However, we are just scratching the surface.
Authentic: I would place myself at an Entry level. I do not have students engaging in online discussions. They do complete some assignments online, but I have not made it a requirement for them to submit them to me. We have tried it, but still can not do this successfully. We are successful in completing assessments online and submitting them.
Goal Directed: I would place myself at the Adoption level (emerging). I have used programs such as Inspiration to create webs, but do not do this regularly. Time constraints are holding me back.
2. Where do you think you could reasonably be at the end of the next grading period?
I would like to say I would take steps to place myself in the next level for each characteristic, however with the limited time available to complete everyday tasks, I don’t see this happening. I struggle to find time to plan, complete required grading, and preparing lessons to present. Trying to teach my students the basics in addition to the technology skills required for me to get to the next step seems daunting. With the new standards and tasks presently required of us to create units and assessments, my “spare time” is nonexistent.
3. What steps will you need to take in order to make the growth happen?
In order to see growth I need to choose one area and plan one lesson with more technology integration. I will need to continue to utilize that piece of technology with my students in a variety of content areas so they can become increasingly familiar with it. For example I placed myself at Adoption for the Active category. My next step could be to search websites that create an interactive environment for students to work on practicing skills from lessons. I could also place a Smartboard lesson into my reading rotations. I use the Smartboard a lot for whole group instruction and to practice skills together, however I am always directing the instruction. I could allow my students to work cooperatively together and experiment with a variety of lessons created for the skills we cover in class without me right there to guide the instruction.
