In order to further develop my own learning and competence in regard to integrating digital learning tools into the classroom, I have developed a GAME plan. After reviewing the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers published by the International Society for Technology in Education (2008), I have targeted two indicators that I would like to tackle. These are: (1) design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity (Indicator 2a); and (2) communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats (Indicator 3c). In short, I want to feel confident incorporating digital tools in my classroom and be fully prepared to create and maintain my own website.
Goals
I already have some knowledge on these topics, for example, I am familiar with and have some experience using blogs, wikis, and podcasts to enhance student learning. I have even made a feeble attempt to create my own classroom blog to (theoretically) communicate with students and parents. However, my bits of knowledge and experience have yet to add up to a confident and fully-informed whole. If indeed I meet my goals, I will have chosen several learning experiences in my existing curriculum which are a good match for incorporating digital tools, and I will have planned my follow-through (in the longer term, of course, I will actually carry out my plans!). I will also have accumulated enough knowledge, resources, and confidence, and will have determined my intended audience, goals and content, to be ready and able to design, develop, and go online with my own web site.
Action
In order to meet my goals, there are some resources and information that I need. I plan to find out exactly what digital resources are available for my students to use at school and exactly how I can access them by talking with my colleagues (it is not always immediately transparent what we have, who can use it, and how to go about getting one’s hands on it). By exploring existing teacher websites and blogs, tapping into the knowledge of more experienced teachers, and accessing resources at websites like Classroom 2.0 and Edublogs, I also intend to find out what the best way is to publish student work in various digital formats so that it can be viewed read, or listened to by our school community. Similarly, I intend to determine what website services would best meet my needs, and what concerns I need to be aware of in order to assure student safety when publishing their work. By exploring other teachers’ websites and considering my own teaching situation, I also need to plan the audience, goals, and content of my own future website.
Monitor
To monitor my progress, I will consider the questions posed by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009): (1) “Am I finding the information I need?” (2) “What patterns are emerging from the information sources?” (3) “Do I need to modify my action plan” (p. 4). By regularly reflecting on my progress, I hope to maintain my focus, make any necessary adjustments, and move steadily toward fulfilling my goals.
Evaluate & Extend
As my action plan wraps-up, I will evaluate my learning to determine if I have met my goals. If I have not, I will reflect on the actions I took, as well as the goals themselves, to try to understand why I fell short. By reflecting on my GAME plan – what worked well and what was less effective, I will be able to inform future learning experiences.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
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As I read your outstanding ambitious GAME plan, a few things come to mind. You mentioned that you would like to “tap into the knowledge of more experienced teachers.” Is there a colleague in your building or district in who could help you meet your goals? In other words, can you find a resource next door who has the expertise you need? This person might be a wonderful help to gain more direction and insight while creating your website. Do you have a webmaster at your school? I frequently consult with our webmaster and he has agreed to help me publish student work and videos on my personal teacher website and the school website.
ReplyDeleteMy first attempt to create a teacher website last year did not work so well. This one was through Scholastic. Because I tried to do it on my own, and probably did not devote enough time to investigate how to effectively use it, it became too overwhelming. Unfortunately, I lost interest and did not maintain it.
This year, I decided to ask our school webmaster for help. He gave me the insight and support I needed to make a simple, manageable website for this year. So, for what it is worth, seek a user friendly that will be able to expand with your needs. I plan on gleaning ideas from you as you go to improve upon my own website. Thanks for your post!
Rachel Odland
As I read your outstanding, ambitious GAME plan, a few things come to mind. You mentioned that you would like to “tap into the knowledge of more experienced teachers.” Is there a colleague in your building or district in who could help you meet your goals? In other words, can you find a resource next door who has the expertise you need? This person might be a wonderful help to gain more direction and insight while creating your website. As I have found, it is very time consuming finding and evaluating the wide variety of websites out there.
Do you have a webmaster at your school? I frequently consult with our webmaster and he has agreed to help me publish student work and videos on my teacher website as well as our school website.
Hopefully, you can gain something valuable from my mistakes with my first teacher website. To say the least, this did not go well. My first mistake is I did not take the time to research possible websites. The one I decided to do was through Scholastic, because it appeared to be the most straight forward and easiest at the time to find. Second, I created my account before studying whether or not it would meet my short term and long term needs. Goals were not established in my mind before creating it. I did not have a clear direction of how I wanted to use it. Therefore, I should have been more intentional about what I wanted to use it for in the long term. Since not enough time was devoted to investigate how to effectively use it, and I did not have a clear purpose, it did not seem worth while. In addition, I tried to do it on my own. Soon, it became too overwhelming. Unfortunately, I lost interest and did not maintain it.
This year, I decided to ask our school webmaster for help. He gave me the insight and support I needed to make a simple, manageable website for this year. So, for what it is worth, seek a user friendly that will be able to expand with your needs. I plan on gleaning ideas from you as you go to improve upon my own website.
Thanks for your post!
Rachel Odland
Hi Tsenala,
ReplyDeleteI noticed that one of your proposed actions is to find the best way for you to digitally post student work so that it is more easily accessible to your entire school community. Last year, the 10th graders at my school worked on a cross-curricular unit entitled "Fear and Freedom", in which their final products were propaganda posters that each of the students digitally designed. In order to share the hard work and impressive final products with the rest of the school community, we created an online gallery which anyone could reach form our schools website in order to see all of the propaganda posters. This was a really easy way to share the work that our students were doing with teachers, parents, other students and community members. The gallery still lives on the school website, and the students are really proud to show off their work. Creating this website was really very easy, and if this is something that would interest you in doing in your own school, your best resource would be to seek out the help of the "technology guru" in your school (mine would be our library-media specialist) and find out what kind of help they can offer you. Good luck in carrying out your GAME plan!
-Jenine
Unfortunately I do not have many colleagues in my school who I can turn to for help, though one or two come to mind who could certainly give some good advice from time to time. Unfortunately we don't have any kind of Guru, and our Website is quite dull, with no links to teacher pages or student work. No, the colleagues I was thinking of were other teachers from far and wide, just like Rachel and Jenine: teachers who are engaged in bringing technology for learning to life in their classrooms. Though none of us are experts, we all have some experience, and by putting this experience together, I hope we can become all the wiser. Rachel, thank you for sharing your mistakes and what you have learned from them. This is the most valuable kind of knowledge we can give each other. Jenine, thank you for the inspiration with your description of your virtual gallery - it really got me thinking...
ReplyDeleteOur school is in the process of revamping its Website. I intend to become part of that process by letting the administration know of my ambitions, and (hopefully) working together with them to find a good platform that would facilitate teacher sites and the publishing of student work. Thanks for your comments!