Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

My current GAME Plan, which, according to Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), stands for Goals, Action, Monitor, and Evaluate, in order to meet the ISTE NETS-Teacher standards of ensuring that "Students engage in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources," and that I "Communicate relevant information and ideas to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and resources" (ISTE, 2009), is as follows:

G – Include one authentic and community centralized problem solving project in my classroom per year. Projects, discussions, and analysis will be posted on a classroom blog; create a page within the class blog that provides information to parents about curriculum, homework, and upcoming events and celebrations.

A – Work with my technology director to set up a classroom blog and email accounts that students can use to be contributors to the blog; Utilize online websites for students to research possible solutions to their community based problem; Use multimedia presentations on the blog to present possible solutions and community member interviews.

M – Analyze and assess levels of local community involvement between myself, my students, and the neighborhood community; monitoring blog comments and questions, and getting feedback from parents, who are active contributors and members of our class blog, about the information posted regarding homework, important information, and student celebrations.

E – Using student artifacts and discussions as well as community and public feedback to evaluate the success of the community problem-based learning project, via the class blog; using blog feedback from parents to adjust parent information content.

As I am monitoring my GAME plan, I find that there is a great deal that is dependent upon technology. I have begun what I can see will be an arduous process to gain the necessary technology needed to seamlessly integrate technology into problem-based learning and improving communications with parents. The district, and specifically the building I teach in, is facing a budget crisis. Technology equipment has not been consistently addressed in my building, and the student population is one of a very low household income. I have contacted the district technology director about my GAME Plan, and have asked for his help and support in the creation of a classroom blog that my students can be active contributors to. In order for this to take place, the district will have to create email addresses for each student in my classroom. This is a request that is taken on a case by case basis, based on the learning that is intended. I have not yet heard if my request will be granted. If my students cannot be active participants in the blog, I will certainly have to adjust and modify my GAME Plan. In my quest to locate the technology needed for this type of technology integration, I have found that I do have several of the important resources available to me. I have a district issued laptop that I can use to monitor the blog, and post information easily. During the school day, I can also allow students to use this computer to complete research, blog work, or multimedia projects through Power Point, Keynote, iPhoto, or Audacity. I also have two internet connected computers in my classroom that students can use to complete online research, as well as word processing or blog responses. These classroom computers are working well, but are well outdated, and do not have many multimedia capabilities. I have also asked the district technology director for assistance in locating grant monies, through the district or outside sources, to acquire a set of classroom laptops, an LCD projector, a digital camera, and a Flip video camera. The greatest worry I have is about acquiring the classroom computers. This is the greatest expense for the technology I am seeking. If this is not plausible, then I can adjust my GAME Plan so that I have one to two rotating multimedia computers available for student project creation. The blog work can be completed with the current computer technology in the classroom, and in the building. At this particular point, I don't feel that my GAME Plan need to be modified as of yet, since I still do not have enough information regarding my questions of equipment availability. I am prepared, however, to modify the plan so that I can still implement these changes in my classroom and communications with parents.

The questions that I am beginning to have are related to my student technology use, and the availability of the technology outside of the school environment. How skilled are my students at utilizing web browsers, blog software, word processing and presentation software, or multimedia software? How much access to the internet do my students have available to them at home? If they do not have access at home, would parents be willing to take students to the public library to complete work at home? If work cannot be completed at home, then how do I provide access to the project work and blog work during the school day, without disrupting the learning that needs to take place during the rest of the day? How do I ensure during the day that my students who receive extra services and are pulled from my classroom get the same opportunity to participate in the project? If I find that many of my students do not have access to internet access at home, then is communicating with parents through a classroom blog appropriate and efficient? How could I modify my goals and action to improve my skills at communicating with parents through the use of technology, if a blog does not make sense for my parents?

As always, any suggestions you might have would be greatly appreciated.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/85494010@N00/47434836

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Brainstorming and creating an outline for Goals, Action, Monitoring, and Evaluation (GAME) as Presented by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) is a big first step in integrating technology effectively in a classroom content lesson. Without an understanding of the resources and information needed to implement and carry out this plan, the plan itself cannot be put into action, and students will not benefit from its use.

In examining my GAME Plan (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009), I can see that there is certainly some crucial information that I need to know about my students. In order to meet both of my goals, I will need to know how much experience and skill my students have using specific technologies. How often do they use a computer? Can they type accurately and efficiently? How familiar are they with the use of a digital camera? Have they ever used a video camera? What type of experience do they have using presentation or podcasting software? Have they ever participated in a blog or a wiki? Do they even know what a blog or a wiki is? Have students been taught how to develop and form questions to real world problems? I will also need to know my districts policy and process for creating a classroom blog and wiki that my students can actively participate in. Additionally, I will need to know what technology is available for my students to use, and how I can acquire that technology in my classroom. Will I need to check it out? If so, how long can it stay in my classroom?

One I have gathered the information that I need in order to carry out my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009), I will then need to locate and acquire the technology resources that will help me to implement this plan. I will need consistent and reliable computer access for my students. I will also need a digital camera and/or video camera to help students complete the project task. Technology resource support, to support me through the steps of creating a student and parent friendly blog and wiki, that protects students while allowing them and their parents to access the site and utilize it to its greatest capacity, will be a crucial need in my quest to carry out my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009). I need community experts and organizations to come into my classroom, or collaborate with students through the internet, to discuss the city that we live in, its importance, history, and landmarks. I will also need collegial support in my effort to implement technology in this unit. I will need the support, cooperation, and collaboration of a partner teacher, living in Colorado. I will need parents to allow students to participate actively in this project, by helping students access the internet from home or from the local library. Most importantly, I will need to have videos and segments available for my students to view, for information and unit introduction.

Since writing my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009), I have been able to begin assessing my students' abilities to use technology. I have been able to ascertain that many of my students have previously participated in a classroom blog, and many are familiar with typing into a word processing document on the computer. Many students have not utilized digital video cameras or podcasting software, and many students are not familiar with presentation software, such as Power Point. I have been able to know, however, that students are accustomed to having an expert in a particular field join them in the classroom; to provide feedback and help them understand about their community and landmarks.

With the resources I can acquire, and the information I need, I feel confident that I will be able to begin carrying out my GAME Plan (Cennamo, et. al, 2009). This plan will positively affect the teaching that takes place in my classroom, and, ultimately, the learning of my students.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20674378@N00/528723863

GAME Plans for NETS-T Performance Indicators

Integrating technology effectively in the classroom requires knowledge, confidence, a belief in the important impact technology can have on student learning, and a supportive collegial community (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). These requirements are central to the ISTE NETS-T standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers (ISTE, 2009). One of the most difficult elements of these is confidence. As I have journeyed through the process of implementing technology into my classroom, I have become confident in several of the NETS-T standards. There are some, however, that I would like to become more proficient at and more confident in. To achieve that mark, I can utilize the steps indicated by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) in a GAME plan. GAME plans, according to Cennamo, et. al. (2009), allow for teachers and students to engage in organized self-directed learning. GAME Plans, which stand for Goals, Action, Monitoring, and Evaluation (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009), will enable me to customize how I approach my own learning, so that I can develop the skills necessarily to more effectively implement technology into my classroom.

One performance indicator that I would like to improve my confidence and proficiency in is NETS-T standard 1, performance indicator b. This particular indicator, which reads, "Students engage in exploring real world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources" (ISTE, 2009). To meet this performance indicator, I have set the goal to include one authentic and community centralized problem solving project in my classroom per year, the results of which will be posted to a class blog. To achieve this goal, I will brainstorm with the students about problems they encounter in the neighborhood every day. We will then spend time interviewing community members for thoughts on the topic. Ultimately, students will develop ideas and possible solutions to these problems within the community. The students will use the internet to access information about the problem, and students will create multi-media presentations. To monitor my progress toward this goal, I will assess my ability and frequency of creating connections within the local community of my school, and the initiation of problem based learning in real world situation. Student learning will be evaluated and extended through peer and public review of information posted to the blog site by the students.

Another performance indicator that I would like to feel more comfortable with is, "Communicate relevant information and ideas to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and resources" (ISTE, 2009). My goal is to create a page within my class blog that provides information to parents about curriculum, homework, and upcoming events and celebrations. The blog format would allow me to interact with parents easily through the site itself. To do this, I will need to work with district technology personnel to set up the blog. Once it is set up for student use, I will assign students the task of presenting the parent page to their parents. Then, I will have students encourage parents to follow or subscribe to the blog. They can even participate in the blog as a contributor. Monitoring the parent use and feedback of the blog page will help me to understand why types of information my parents are interested in hearing on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. This will help me evaluate the content of the page, and my approach to parents through the digital medium, and whether or not this approach works for a majority of my parents, since many do not have home internet access.

Focusing on gaining confidence and proficiency in these performance indicators is a beginning step to more fully implement technology and 21^st century skills into my classroom. Those skills can only help to enhance the learning of my students, and empower them to learn more as self-directed learners.

Resources:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences With Technology, Part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28387282@N08/3866773151

Reflection

Throughout this course, I have had several revelations regarding the importance of 21^st century skills. The first of many was the stark difference between traditional literacies, and new literacy skills. These new literacy skills require students to develop higher level thinking, questioning, and evaluation skills. They incorporate not only reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills, but also information skills, technical and media skills, and cooperative group skills. These new literacies foster encourage students to recognize what information is known and what is unknown, fostering a need and ability to seek out missing information, which is an important skill that traditional literacy skills do not address (Jukes & Macdonald, 2007).

My greatest revelation throughout this course, however, has been the importance of guiding students in the creation of meaningful, viable, and researchable questions, during the inquiry process. Giving students a question to answer is not enough to satisfy and teach students new literacy skills. The questions students develop have to be questions that students don't already know the answer to, questions that are researchable, defensible, and whose finding can be presented to others. These have to be questions that stimulate further questioning and continued learning, even after students have completed the inquiry process and their final projects (Eagleton & Dobler, 2007; Thornburg, 2004). This process of developing these types of questions has to be explicitly taught, modeled and practiced by students prior to initiating the research and inquiry process. Without the ability to ask deeper, more meaningful questions, students will not grow, learn, and develop through the inquiry process.

The full understanding of the steps and skills needed for students to complete an inquiry project in my classroom will have a tremendous impact upon my teaching in the future. I now know that prior to beginning an inquiry project, I must plan enough time within the unit to teach students to develop essential questions, search the internet effectively, evaluate sources efficiently, synthesize the information they gather, and finally create an artifact utilizing a multimedia or technology tool, while simultaneously focusing on the content information and standards. This will require me to plan for these units much more diligently, so as to have the resources and time available to effectively teach the concepts alongside the content learning that the inquiry project will provide students.

As I move forward in my teaching, I have one professional development goal that will greatly impact my teaching, my technology skills, and the learning of my students. I would like to develop a collaborative with another classroom of students. This will not only give my students an opportunity to see how students elsewhere in the country think and view certain topics, but it will also give them an audience for projects and partners with whom to collaborate and learn. It would teach students the true Web 2.0 skills they will need for the future: participation, collaboration, and distribution (Knobel & Wilber, 2009). To accomplish this, I will need to work with a classroom teacher in another part of the country. Since I recently moved from Colorado to Illinois, I am still very connected to many of my colleagues in Colorado, most of whom are also striving to create a 21^st century classroom with collaborative and technology infused experiences for their students. I will need to find a colleague who would be interested in forming this collaboration, and maintaining it throughout the year. I would also need to create a classroom blog and wiki, through which my students and the collaborating class can communicate and respond to each other's common topics. The development of both of those sites will require me to work with district personnel to create email addresses for my students, so that they may be able to utilize these tools. It will also require me to make computer technology readily available to my students, on a daily basis. Most likely, I will need to seek out a grant to secure enough computer technology, 15 machines or more, to allow students active participation in the blog and wiki, as we collaborate with another class on learning projects. Once the technology has been secured and the partnership has been formed, I will need to diligently plan for ample time throughout the day to communicate with the collaborating class about the learning we are all doing. I will need to stay in close contact with the collaborating teacher, in order to organize time schedules and plan collaborative projects between the classes.

While this goal of forming a collaborative distance relationship with another classroom could be time consuming and difficult to arrange, with regards to technology, it will be well worth the effort. I believe it will provide my students with a multitude of collaborative, social and technological experiences that will have a great impact on student learning and success.

Resources:

Eagleton, M. B., & Dobler, E. (2007). Reading the web: Strategies for internet inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Knobel, M., & Wilber, D. (2009, March). Let's talk 2.0. Educational Leadership, 66(6), 20–24.

Jukes, I. (2007). 21^st century fluency skills: Attributes of a 21^st century learner. Located at http://www.committedsardine.com/handouts/twca.pdf.

Thornburg, D. (2004). Inquiry: The art of helping students ask good questions. (Executive Briefing No. 402). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/inquiry.pdf

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12622247@N02/2370861203