My GAME Plan

Technology, I feel, is the most important tool for educators to be successful with what the future has to bring.  In order to become even more familiar with technology I must first become for familiar and comfortable with the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T).  I have been around technology for the majority of my life, from our family's first computer and America Online when I was just in elementary school, to my beginning keyboarding class in ninth grade to learning how to use and create Wikispaces for my students in my graduate courses.  Learning more about what is taking up a vast part of my life is only the most beneficial thing I can do for not only myself, but for the students that I work with each and every day.

The standards and indicators that I still lack confidence in are:

2d. "Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching," (ISTE, 2008).

4c.  "Promote and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information," (ISTE, 2008).

Now that I have determined the two main standards that I do not feel I have mastered, I must develop a "GAME Plan, " (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p.3).

First I will set my Goals:  

With standard 2d, I feel that I have a hard time with a variety of assessments that could be used at once.  I have mainly created one assessment and issued it to all students.  I know that all students are far from the same, but I have always found it hard to create more than one assessment to keep track of and to decide which student gets what assessment.  I've also stayed away from more than one, mainly due to the time constraints I feel at times and how long it would take me to grade, especially with twenty-three students.  The goal I would like to set for standard 2d is to find a way to create quick and not as complex assessments that I could use with all my students.  I would like to start small to see how it works and then build upon my results.

For standard 4c I feel that even though I teach fifth graders, I sometimes take their manners for granted.  A few times I have run into a problem where one does not know how to log into a program or cannot save a document, or will just constantly tap on the keys thinking that their problem will be fixed.  I feel that I should develop some type of routine or checklist for my students for each and every time they use a lap top or a class camera, or even when they use the Promethean board during a lesson or when they want to play on it during recess.

In order to meet my goals I must take Action:

In order to achieve my goal for standard 2d, I think the best subject to start with would be Writing.  With this subject, my students have more freedom with technology.  They all start with their rough draft on paper and then when they work on the final draft I can pick and choose or even have my students decide on what they would like to do.  This will be a good start for me to reach my goal because I can share the objective with the students and they will have to figure out on their own how they will present the outcome to me in their final product.

Standard 4c's action will be a little more simpler for me.  I think the best way to meet this goal is to create a rubric where the students can rate themselves on how they treated the technology equipment they were allowed to use.  I also think I should sit down with my class and have them create a list of rules or checks of things they must and should not do with the technology.  The list should include how to hold a lap top when walking to their seat, to the proper way to shut down the computer when they are done or how to fix the computer if it is freezing on them.  I feel the students will have a better buy in for the care of the technology if they know it is there rules and guidelines to follow.

To ensure that my goals are being met and the actions I've taken are working, I must Monitor the progress:

With standard 2d, I will set a check point day of the week for each student.  This will allow the student to chose the proper technology for their writing piece and for them to practice in their own time with it.  They will then know the date to present to me and this will then help me grade the student on their progress and how well they are using the technology.

The rubric and checklists used for standard 4c will be displayed on a poster in the classroom and I will type up a smaller version that students can have in their writing folders so they are able to refer back to it if they ever forget or want to make sure they are following the guide correctly.  I can quickly walk around the room and see which students are truly following them and which are not.

Finally, I have to Evaluate my plan and Extend my learning if possible.

I will evaluate the student's progress during the monitoring stage and if a student is in need of help or I notice that it is too simple or my students cannot grasp the independent activity then I need to go back and develop a new goal.  I will also need to reach out for my own support to possibly my mentor teacher or I could ask our Media Specialist for advice on ideas with technology and writing.

After my students present their work to the class or to myself, I will reflect with the student on their rubric.  I feel it is important for the student to talk and reflect with a teacher, because otherwise, the student will have no idea why they got a grade or why they aren't allowed to use a certain piece of equipment.  Students need to know what they did wrong in order to correct it and reviewing one at a time with my students will be the most beneficial thing I could do with new technology.

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.
January 16, 2013, from www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

ISTE. (2012). NETS for Teachers.International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved January 16, 2013, from www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers