Monitoring My GAME Plan

In order to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in addressing the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS.S) within my classroom I have developed a GAME Plan to support my proficiency in the standards.  “The GAME Plan requires that you think about and take steps to direct your learning process, specifically while learning about technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 3).

Monitoring My Progress

“As you take action to achieve your learning goals, you’ll need to monitor whether you are making sufficient progress towards your goals and reflect on whether the strategies you have chosen are working” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 4).  In order to monitor my progress I will refer to my colleagues within our meetings, as well as reflect on my progress, by asking and journaling my responses in my blog to the following questions:

Am I finding the information I need from other resources?

What patterns are emerging from the User Agreements I have gathered from other districts?

What more information do I want?

Am I including my student’s voice in our work?

Am I including social issues in our User Agreement?

Is the User Agreement relevant?

Do I need to modify my action plan?

My blog journaling will be made available for public feedback, including my colleagues, parents within the district, my administrators, and my students.  A biweekly update will include a post of the current draft of the user agreement and presentation materials upon suggestion from my principal.

My Current Progress

            Currently, I have collected several user agreements from districts all across the world (thanks to my colleagues in China and Germany) and I have found that many of them are in worse shape than my own.  I have also gleaned  a few major points of interest that should be considered within the agreement, such as anti-cyber bullying initiatives, plagiarism outlines, and web etiquette.  I still have several more to read and analyze, but I am off to a great start!

            Next week I will begin the debates with my students on the user agreements and the aspects thereof.  They have been working in their English classes on debate development, research, and presentation.  Many of them have really become inspired by the task at hand and I am very eager to hear their perspectives and insight.

A Request for Resources

            Lastly, I would like to ask if anyone within this Walden learning community would like to send me a digital copy of their school district’s technology User Agreement I would be much obliged!  Additionally, any thoughts you have about the agreement and it’s function in your district or at your school would also be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance for your support!

Carrying Out my GAME Plan

In order to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in addressing the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS.S) within my classroom I have developed a GAME Plan to support my proficiency in the standards.  “The GAME Plan requires that you think about and take steps to direct your learning process, specifically while learning about technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 3).

            “After you’ve identified your learning goals, you need to take action to meet those goals” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 4).  In order to address both of my goals, I will be participating in my school’s board to revamp our Electronic Resources User Agreement and Policies.  The one provided by the district leaves much to be desired and collectively we have decided to modify the agreement to better address our expectations for students both at home and at school.  In order to rewrite the user agreement I will also be doing extensive research on other school district’s technology user agreements for inspiration and guidance.  I will be reaching out to my Walden colleagues with whom I have developed a good rapport with and then I will reach out on other educational blog sites I participate in.  After collecting the other district’s user agreements I will identify both the strengths and weaknesses of each of the user agreements.

            I will also use feedback from students to assist in writing the user agreement and to ensure that the students have ownership in the agreement.  At the close of this academic year, my students and I will be participating in a series of class discussions based on aspects of the user agreement(s) that both my students and I deem important aspects of what should or should not be included in the user agreement.  This debate will be a cross curricular activity supported by the students work in their English classes.

Resources

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

GAME Plan: ISTE NETS

               In order to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in addressing the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS.S) within my classroom I have developed a GAME Plan to support my proficiency in the standards.  “The GAME Plan requires that you think about and take steps to direct your learning process, specifically while learning about technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 3).

Set Goals

“In order to stay up-to-date with current and emerging technologies for teaching and learning, you will need to constantly assess your technology integration skills in order to identify the new knowledge and skills you need” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 4).  As the year comes to a close and class time is less restrictive to content standards after state standards assessments, I look forward to enriching my students learning experiences within the realm of technology.  My goals are foundationally based in specifically two of the ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Teachers:

“4.a. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices. Teachers will promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008, p.1).

“5.b. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers will exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008, p.1).

Take Action

“After you’ve identified your learning goals, you need to take action to meet tose goals” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 4).  In order to address both of my goals, I will be participating in my school’s board to revamp our Electronic Resources User Agreement and Policies.  The one provided by the district leaves much to be desired and collectively we have decided to modify the agreement to better address our expectations for students both at home and at school.  I will use feedback from students to assist in writing the user agreement and to ensure that the students have ownership in the agreement.  I will also be doing extensive research on other school district’s technology user agreements for inspiration and guidance.

Monitor

“As you take action to achieve your learning goals, you’ll need to monitor whether you are making siffiecient progress towards your goals and reflect on whether the strategies you have chosen are working” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 4).  In order to monitor my progress I will refer to my colleagues within our board meetings as well as reflect on my progress by asking:

Am I finding the information I need from other resources?

What patterns are emerging from the User Agreements I have gathered from other districts?

Am I including my student’s voice in our work?

Am I including social issues in our User Agreement?

Do I need to modify my action plan?

Evaluate and Extend

            “During the evaluate stage in self-directed learning, you’ll determine whether you met your goal and reflect on whether your approach worked or whether you should modify your strategies for the future” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 5).  In August I will be presenting our board’s new Electronic Resources User Agreement and Policies to both our school district and to our school site on our buy-back days.  Both presentations will model how teachers can present the User Agreement to their students in a meaningful and creative manner.  At this point in my GAME Plan I will again reflect on the experience and refer to my student’s progress as an understanding for how my work has really influenced their understanding of technology use.

Resources

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved May 8, 2011 from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

New Class!

Gearing up for EDUC-6713: Integrating Technology Across Content Areas!
Welcome new class mates to my blog space!