Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

I believe that I have all of the tools necessary to implement my GAME plan into my classroom. I have nearly all of the technology tools that I want to instruct with. I have a classroom set of text-capable Clickers. I have the easy-to-use software where I can have the students demonstrate their knowledge of the content through many different forms. The only thing I am missing that I would love to have in my classroom would be a Smartboard. As of right now, I believe that I may be receiving one over the summer which would allow me the ability to put it to good use when school starts back up in the fall.

I have learned quite a few things over the course of this program and one of the main things is that technology should not be used as a novelty in the classroom. It should have a clear and precise purpose. Dr. John Ross mentions this and I truly believe that just because a school is equipped with the most up to date forms of technology does not mean that the teachers are using it correctly. I believe that I use technology in the correct way. I want to model to my students that technology is not only used for stealing music and movies or talking to your friends online. It can be a place of limit-less opportunities. For those students who do not have access to computers or the internet, I want to open their eyes to opportunities that can present themselves with the use of technology.

The questions I would ask to my fellow colleagues would be: How is your GAME plan coming along? Have you found it difficult to start implementing it into your daily lessons and classroom activities? Is it easier to reach your goals if you teach primary or secondary level students?

I typed in "technology" into the Google bar and then clicked "Images" and this was the first picture to show up. Thought I would share that with you all

Carrying Out My Personal GAME Plan

To review, my two goals that I chose are:

1. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

2. Promote and Modeling Digital Citizenship Responsibly

The resources that I will need in order to assist me carry out these goals are going to be information and data that shows just how crucial the ability to use technology as second nature is going to be for my students. I need to make sure they realize that their Basic Computer Skills is suppose to help them become more secure with computers and how they operate. The tools that I will need in order to "Model Digital-Age Work and Learning" are going to be access to the internet and a data projector which I already have in my classroom. I am in the process of taking a class that will allow me the option to have an interactive white board placed in my room. These white boards give teachers many more options to have the kids becoming interactive with the material than simple data projectors can. I am also able to use Clickers that allow for immediate responses from the students to check for understanding. These are not forms of technology that I wish to have...I currently can possess all of these different technologies and implement by the beginning of next year!

Promoting and modeling digital citizenship is important for teachers who deal with teenagers on a daily basis like myself. I just read a report done by the Pew Research Center on teenagers and cell phones ( http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1572/teens-cell-phones-text-messages) that states nearly 3/4 teens own a cell phone. It is out responsibility as their educators to make sure they realize how important it is to use these devices in a safe manor. Texting and talking while driving is so dangerous that many states have passed laws to make it illegal to do so. Also, sending out illegal material through cell phones and computers is a recurring part of our everyday lives. To make available information on incidents that are happening around the nation of teenagers much like the ones I have in my classroom, I can make these illegal acts seem more real to them. I guess what I would need from my fellow colleagues in this program would be of information on what they are doing technology-wise in their classrooms and how they implement it with their students. Also, I would like to know if their schools teach digital citizenship to their students? If so, does it work and how do they go about portraying that information to their students?

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

While I still consider myself a "newer" teacher as I finish up my third year of teaching, there are still many parts of my teaching that I want to fix and make more engaging for the students. I pride myself on being a strong advocate for integrating technology into the classroom and making it available to my students, but I know that I could be doing a better job of actually implementing technology into my everyday classroom. The two indicators from the NETS-T standards that I would personally like to strengthen my confidence in are :
1. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

2. Promote and Modeling Digital Citizenship Responsibly.

In order for me to put these two standards into place I need to create a GAME plan that will give me the steps I need to take in order to make this a reality.

Goals

1. My goals for strengthening these two standards are to become more understanding of the different forms of technology available to educators and students in the classroom. There is a large market for technology tools that are designed specifically for the school setting. If I can model new forms of technology in my classroom to my students, than they will understand that this is a part of their future as a student and also as a working adult.

2. Most teenagers do not understand the dangers of capturing sensitive material on their cell phones or computers. Students take pictures and videos that are considered illegal in the United States everyday and do not know that what they are doing is considered a criminal act. Also, the ease at which forms of media (television shows, feature-length films and music) can be pirated off the internet and used for personal use or profit is a form of theft. People do these illegal acts all of the time and do not think they can get into trouble by doing it. I can teach my students the facts about these topics and move them to change their digital behaviors than I can hopefully prevent them from getting into trouble with the law.

Actions

1. By introducing new forms of educational technology into the classroom and making computers, internet, Clickers and different software programs a part of my classroom, students will begin to become very familiar with it. If I only choose to implement technology on a rare occasion than the students will not begin to have a strong understanding of computers the internet, etc.

2. By showing my students the consequences of using technology for illegal activities they will be able to see for themselves what could happen to them if they participate in unlawful acts through the use of technology. I believe that by showing them to faces of people just like them who have been caught doing illegal acts through the internet will make it a reality to them the stealing movies and music and sending illegal images or video of themselves through their cell phones or email can actually get them into some real trouble.

Monitor

1. By having my students create projects or presentations through the use of
2. Since I cannot actually monitor my students email, cell phone usage, Facebook or Myspace pages, I will have to count on their honesty when talking to them about their online behavior. I would have them create a blog or some other of online writing format where they can write about their actions online. Maybe keep a log entry of where they spend their time surfing the web and what type of activities they do online. I would trust that they are telling the truth and other students of my could help hold one another accountable.