Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

In Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use, Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009) state, “As you take action to achieve your learning goals, you’ll need to monitor whether you are making sufficient progress toward your goals and reflect on whether the strategies you have chosen are working.” My GAME plan includes collaborating with others using digital tools and resources and teaching students to be safe when using technology.

In teaching my students to collaborate with other using digital tools and resources, I am implementing www.globalschoolnet.org into the classroom. I am very impressed by this website and am confident that this will help my students to collaborate with others. In searching through this site, I have found online exhibitions, an interactive game to teach geography, and even a program that allows students to write articles for the whole world to see. This website gets teachers and students involved in developing all content areas. It also teaches students to be effective citizens and to understand other cultures. One question that I do have is what policy my school district has in participating in a program such as this. Parents would also have to give permission for students to showcase their work and collaborate with others on the web.

In teaching my students how to be safe when using technology, I plan on researching rubrics and checklists that would assist my students. In my research, I am amazed at how much is out there as resources. One site, http://21cif.com/tools/evaluate/ ,explains the steps of evaluating websites and leads students step by step through the process. This is just one of many sites that I have found. In teaching my students how to evaluate websites, I need to talk to others and find out how I can keep my fourth graders engaged in this process.

References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom
Use. Ohio: Cengage Learning.

Carrying Out Your GAME Plan

My first goal is to learn how to collaborate with others using digital tools and resources. The site www.globalschoolnet.org is designed to connect students with others around the world. What a great way to learn about other cultures and world issues! In order to carry out this plan, I would need to read more about this program. I will also talk to other colleagues that have used this and how to go about implementing this into my classroom. The fact that I am getting my masters in integrating technology in the classroom allows me to collaborate with other teachers on this topic in the hopes that they have used this program in the past. In researching this website, it is essential to check the reliability of the site and its references. So far, in viewing this site, it looks like a way to enable my students to collaborate with others. World projects and international challenges are just some of what is featured through this site.

My second goal is to learn how to properly teach my students to be safe when using technology and make sure that the information is coming from a reliable source. In Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use, Cennamo, K., Ross, J., and Ertmer, P. (2009) state, “In evaluating resources, it’s useful to answer the standard questions of who, what, when, why, and how.” In teaching my students how to evaluate websites by using these standard questions, my plan is to find rubrics and checklists that will help them through this process. To do this, I must research and speak to other educators that have worked with their students on this same skill. Often as educators, we expect our students to find answers to questions on the internet without teaching them the correct steps to take. In teaching my students this evaluation process, it is important for me to determine how much practice, if any, they have had in doing this.

References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Ohio: Cengage Learning.

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

In examining the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T), I have identified two goals that will help me build my confidence and skills in teaching technology. First, I want to gain the knowledge needed to collaborate with others using digital tools and resources. It will be great to teach my students how to collaborate with each other as well as with students from other parts of the country. In order to achieve this goal, I plan on becoming familiar with The Global Schoolnet. In Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use, Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer P. (2009) explain that this site is an “example of using the computer to connect students from around the world to explore community, cultural, and scientific issues that prepare them for the workforce and help them to become responsible and literate global citizens”. As I apply my knowledge to the classroom, I will reflect on how this will benefit my students. It is important for me to look at the benefits, how my students are learning, and ways that I could improve in this area. As my students and I integrate this into the classroom, I will add this to my portfolio. This will allow me to make changes in the future and look back on this for future tasks.

Another goal that will further develop my technology skills is learning how to properly teach my students to be safe when using technology and make sure that the information is coming from a reliable source. My students need to be aware of the copyright and whether it is an appropriate source of information. The action that I will take to meet my goal is researching available checklists and rubrics that will be helpful in teaching my students to evaluate websites. I will place my students in groups as they use these checklists/rubrics to evaluate a variety of websites. As I monitor their progress, I will reflect on how this is working and what changes need to be made. My students will also reflect. I evaluate this plan through the rubrics and student feedback.

References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Ohio: Cengage Learning.