Week 3 Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Using indicators from the NETS-T, I created two GAME plans to increase my proficiency and confidence.  After creating my GAME plan, I considered what resources and materials I would need to accomplish my goals.

Goal: To model and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology.

To accomplish my first goal, I look forward to using the website: http://webwisekids.org.  This site offers teachers various resources related to cyber safety.  It actually provides an internet safety kit that students can complete to learn more about being safe and legal online.  I also will look at other materials located online that could be beneficial.  On our class website, I will provide my students with links to websites that have images they can use legally.  Some examples of these websites are: SURWEB, Pics4Learning.com, and the digital collection from the Library of Congress (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  Furthermore, I will familiarize myself with Creative Commons and the fair use policy to ensure that I am following the rules too (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  I have already begun to make changes in my instructional materials.  I am reviewing them to ensure I have cited my sources and am using legal images.  Digital resources can easily be reviewed and revised which is want I want to show my students (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).

Goal: To participate in a local learning community to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.

There are three primary resources I will need to accomplish the above task.  The first resource is students.  They need to be involved in sharing their ideas on how they want to be taught (Prensky, 2008).  In addition, teachers are needed to listen to ideas and change how they integrate the technology into their classroom.  Teachers need to utilize each other and work together on selecting the best practices to use in the classroom relying on student input (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  Educators also need to be willing to observe changes in their classroom and collect data to share.  The final resource involves technology itself.  My district already has SmartBoards, promethean responders, document cameras, and computers and laptops.  However, the students on the committee may share additional devices or software that need to be acquired.  This will require the district to look at its financial resources to determine if some of these items can be purchased even if it is just for a pilot program in specific classrooms.  To accomplish my goal above, I have asked my technology committee leader if it would be possible to have students join us for a committee meeting.  He suggested only community leaders and parents to be invited for now.  Therefore, I have decided to focus on interviewing students at my school site to receive their input.

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.

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

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program 12:  Safe and ethical practices [DVD]. Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program 1: Promoting self-directed learning with technology [DVD]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.