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