Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

When I first started this whole GAME plan I think I put more on my plate then my stomach could hold. I had big ideas but I don't think I thought of what could really happen in the time given to complete the goals. Now with a bit of rethinking and reworking of the goals I had put in place I can realistically make things happen.

One of my goals for standard 1b “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” (ISTE, 2008) was to develop my own WebQuest from scratch. I know that could do this but just not in the time frame given. After doing research on other WebQuests that are already out there I felt that there are some great WebQuest that I can pick from to get started. I have learned that there are some great things already out there for teachers to use. I often want to do all my lessons and units on my own but I now leaning that there are is great stuff already out there for teachers to use.

As for standard 5c “evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning” (ISTE, 2008). This one has kind of been a thorn in my side. I have been working very hard to find tools and resources that support student learning. I have found many helpful tools and look forward to using them in the up coming school year. The hard part of this standard is the reflecting and sharing of what I have found. It is kind of scary because I have found that many teachers don't even know the basics of what I have found. This makes things very difficult when wanting to share the new stuff. I have had many teachers say I don't even know the first thing about technology. So now I see that this standards goals need to be adjusted to start at the very beginning.

All of this said I just need to keep working at the goals I have in place for my GAME Plan and things will start to fall into place.


Allison :)


ISTE, Initials. (2008). The Iste national educational technology standards (nets•t) and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved from iste@iste.org, www.iste.org.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The GAME Plan-Part 3

The goals of my game plan take time and effort to implement. I have spent some time researching different WebQuests that will fit for my classroom. I have found many useful tools from other people's WebQuests that I will be able to use in the one that I hope to create. I took the additional steps of registering the computer labs so that my students are able to have computer access to complete the WebQuests.

I have noticed that students need more attention during the first half of the school year versus the second half. So I am trying to figure out where the time will come to train first and second quarter students.

Putting standard 5C into practice has given me the greatest difficulty thus far. With it being summer break, contacting my colleagues is another challenge. I think this standard will have to be tackled during the school year. My hope is that by March staff development I will be able to have all necessary aspects in place.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

GAME Plan Part 2

Part 2 to this GAME plan is going to take time and much effort for it to actually happen. To be able to complete standard 1b “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” (ISTE, 2008) of my GAME plan I will need for each student to have access to a computer and internet. I will need for my Web Quest to be fully developed and make sure that all links would be student appropriate. I would also like to complete the web quest to make sure that it is do able for my students. It would allow me to work out any kinks that the web quest may have. So far I have gathered the websites that I would like to use. I have also developed the questions that I would like students to answer.

For standard 5c “evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning” (ISTE, 2008) I will need to gather the information that would be beneficial for teachers to know. I would also need to set up the time for the teachers to be educated. Lastly, I will need to develop the survey that the educators will fill out. This is the hardest goal to work on at the moment. With all the other things going on I find it hard to sit down to get going on this.

I am willing to take any suggestions that will help me in the completion of my Game Plan.

References

ISTE, Initials. (2008). The Iste national educational technology standards (nets•t) and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved from iste@iste.org, www.iste.org.

Thursday, July 8, 2010

The GAME Plan

Over the course of my teaching career I have set many goals. During the school year I have taken great pride in achieving the goals I had set. An area that I am now focused on improving is using technology to enrich my students learning environment. A way that plan to make this happen is by using “The Game Plan” explained in the book “Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use a Standards-Based Approach” by Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer. I will also be choosing two NETS*T standards that I would like to improve on.

The first standard I will be improving is 1b “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” (ISTE, 2008). The second standard will be 5c “evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning” (ISTE, 2008).

The “GAME Plan” starts with setting a Goal. My goal for 1b would be to find ways to use this standard in my content area. For 5c my goal would be to be more diligent in finding research on emerging and existing tools that can benefit my students in the classroom.

The next step in the “GAME Plan” is to tell what Action I will be taking to ensure that I achieve the goals I have set. For NETS*T standard 1b I will develop a Web Quest that will have students exploring the fast food that we Americans eat. The main goal will be for students to find a healthy meal at a popular fast food chain.
As for standard 5c I will work with my districts staff development team to ensure that all teachers are afford the opportunity to explore and learn about

Once I have set the Action part of my “GAME Plan” into affect I would then move into the Monitoring stage. A way that I would monitor standard 1c would be by conferencing with each student as they completed their Web Quest. By seeing how each student is doing I am able to help them with the technology and guide them in the learning process. For standard 5c I would ask other teachers to take part of a survey on the staff development courses that were offered on emerging technologies. By developing a survey I will be able to tell what is helping teachers.

The final part of my “GAME Plan” would be to Evaluate and Extend. I would blog my findings for both standards. This would help me and other teachers. I will be able to get feed back from others which would aid me in changing what didn’t work and what did.


As a teacher I take great pride in improving my teaching. By taking the time to use and implement the GAME Plan I am insuring that progress will take place. I look forward to hearing your responses.





References


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.


ISTE, Initials. (2008). The Iste national educational technology standards (nets•t) and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved from iste@iste.org, www.iste.org.