My Personal GAME Plan

                NETS-T, the indicators with which teachers should be proficient, were developed and defined by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE, 2012).  These standards reflect the competencies that teachers should be employing on a regular basis in both their classrooms and as a part of their personal professional development.  They are 21st century skills that teachers should be incorporating into instruction to prepare their students for educational opportunities now and into the future.

                Since personal reflection and introspection are practices that should be a part of every educator’s habits, I have reflected on the list of indicators on the NETS-T list.  In order to gain more personal confidence with some of these skills, I have selected two indicators on which to focus.  I chose these areas because I see them as being areas in which I am lacking in practice.  By targeting these goals, I hope to gain the reassurance that if I tried a similar activity in my classroom, that it would be successful.

                The first indicator of focus is identified as 2b. The objective reads as follows: 

                2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

                                b. Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable students to

                                     pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in   

                                     setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and
                                     
                                     assessing their own progress.

                This objective is one in which I feel I have only partially demonstrated in my classroom.  While there are laptop computer work stations set up throughout the room, my students are not usually free to explore and address their individual interests.  I have found that with many time constraints, the students are allowed much computer access, but usually with a specifically assigned goal.  I need to allow my students more opportunities to search for or research topics of their personal interest.

                In order to improve my confidence in this area, I have developed a plan.  This plan is called my GAME plan.  A GAME plan is a methodical approach for addressing a topic (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  It involves the steps of setting Goals, taking Action to meet those goals, Monitoring progress toward the achievement of those goals, and Evaluating whether the goals were successfully met, altering and adjusting the plan as needed.  The GAME plan for my first objective is as follows:

G:  My goal is to purposely structure more time in my class in which students will be given an opportunity to visit the laptop stations to engage in research on a topic of their choosing.

A:  The actions required on my part are the inclusion of this prescribed time in my lesson plans, the explanation of the plan to the students, and a reminder of the rules for computer use (i.e. Acceptable Use Policy, school handbook).

M:  Monitoring of the progress toward meeting this goal of scheduling the time will be evidenced by the actual lesson plan and a log of the time that students actually had on the computers in this capacity.

E:  Evaluation of the effectiveness of this endeavor will be determine by comparing  the amount of time that was planned for students to use the computers with the log of the actual amounts of time the students were engaged in their personal searches.  If the times are falling short, they will need to be adjusted.

                The second indicator of focus is identified as 4d. The objective reads as follows:

                4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

                                d. Develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness

 

                                     by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using

 

                                     digital age communication and  collaboration tools

                Reflecting on this objective, I do engage in discussions and professional development opportunities with my colleagues face to face and online, but I fall short in connecting with students of other localities or cultures using digital age communication or collaboration tools.  In fact, I do not engage my own students digitally very often.  I monitor the work they are doing and communicate with them face to face, but rarely do we communicate electronically.  This is an area in which I need to expand and perfect.  The GAME plan for this objective is a follows:

G:  My goal is to communicate with my students digitally at least once a week.

A:  The actions required from me are to purposely plan opportunities for this interaction—be it through a wiki, a reflective journal, or through an approved email program (all other venues are prohibited at my school.) 

M: Monitoring my progress toward this goal would be evidenced through the description of the activity in my lesson plans and the actual archives of the conversations.

E:   The way in which this plan would be evaluated for success would be to determine if the communications occurred weekly.  If the frequency goal was not met, the reasons for the lack of conversation would be determined—only valid reasons would be accepted (i.e. lack of technology access due to them being used for state assessments.)

                While these are just two ideas I had for self-improvement in these technology indicators, I would love to hear what the rest of you have to suggest. 

 

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. (2012). NETS for Teachers. Retrieved March 13, 2013, from

                http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers