Developing a Personal GAME Plan (6713- Week 2)

There are many areas that I work on being successful in integrating technology into education, however, due to the fact that technology is constantly changing and the work load that being an educator brings sometimes leaves important skills and strategies for development by the way side.  One of the NETS-T (2008) components that I feel I would benefit from is promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility by promoting and modeling digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information.  Another skill I would like to work on is facilitating and inspiring students learning and creativity by engaging students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.  Developing a GAME plan strategy mirrors Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer’s (2009) ideas of putting effort into generating ideas and forming courses of action to bring those ideas into fruition.

            The GAME plan I would like to implement for promoting and modeling digital etiquette would begin with setting a goal of finding out through discussion what my students know about digital etiquette so I can build upon that knowledge and create activities that help students better understand the importance of being responsible, social, digital citizens.  Through action I will discuss what social etiquette means based on our discussions, and begin practicing simulations where students are presented with a etiquette problem or scenario and have to share what their actions or reactions would be in that context.  To monitor student progress I will have them take turns in partners posting responses, some designed by me, to challenge their partner’s etiquette skills.  I will at that point be able to read their responses and see if I need to modify the lesson or proceed with the evaluation process.  In evaluation and extension efforts I will individually give students posed problems of etiquette situations to see if they are applying the new skills and evaluate if I need to re-teach using different strategies. 

            Creating goals for engaging students in real world issues and solving authentic problems would begin by presenting students with some of these issues present today and opening discussions of what students think are some important issues to them. Students will then be able to sign of for a group with an issue that is important to them. Cennamo (2009) shares the importance of personalizing student learning through choices, freedom, and creativity so they develop their best work. The action component would include student groups researching using a KWHL chart to get a better understanding of their real world problem. Student groups will then be able to form a plan of how they will present their information, what they will do to better the problem; write letters to those involved, start a donation collection, community service, or engaging in assistance efforts through communications, just to name a few.  Students will be able to choose their groups course of action.  I will monitor student progress by having group interviews to see if they are on track, and suggest ideas, or pose questions to lead them to where they might be most successful.  This is also a good opportunity as a whole class for the groups to share with the class what issue they are working on, where they are in the process, and what their plan of action is.  Through this discussion and sharing students will be able to borrow ideas they find beneficial, ask other groups questions, and provide suggestions.  The evaluation process for this plan will be through the observations of group discussions, interviews, and final products produced.  These artifacts will help to in the evaluation process by helping me reflect on their learning process and make modifications for the next time we deal with real world issues and authentic problems.

References

International Society for Technology in Education, (2008). National education standards

            for teachers. (NETS-T). Retrieved from

            http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx on

            July 1, 2011.

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer).  (2009).  Integrating technology across

            the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.