Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress - Week 3

I began the process of carrying out my game plan for teaching students digital social etiquette and applying learning to real world problems by developing a plan incorporating technology and beginning the implementation process. My first developmental goal of teaching a small group of students digital social etiquette began by planning some activities that would give them information about this subject, discussing some student and teacher created etiquette ideas, using media to reinforce the learning, and creating practice scenarios on how students should behave online.  Through the Netiquette Guidelines website  I was able to come up with some ideas on topics that should be included in our group discussion for what netiquette is and what it entails such as; using computer courtesy, being sensitive and constructive with wording and key functions, language use, thinking before posting, keeping personal information private, respecting copyright laws, and the issue of cyber bullying. Through discussion and examples of these items my small group and I created a “Rules of the Road” list on what we deemed important for digital social etiquette and turned it into a contract for all of us to sign.  We then watched a YouTube video on social netiquette and safety at YouTube Netiquette.  The next time we meet we will work on online use scenarios to see how well the students are applying the new knowledge and skills.  Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009a) explain that when students set their own goals, manage their learning, and assess progress it leads to engaging, enriching learning experiences.  Through this goal setting I hope to provide my students with ownership of their learning helping it become more meaningful.

The second developmental goal I began to work on for incorporating learning into real world problems started off in the planning, researching, and discussion phase.  With the same small group previously mentioned I decided to have a whole a group discussion of what real world issues were important to them.  Through this discussion we formed focused inquiry questions so that they could do some research on their topics to see if what they were interested in was indeed the topic they would proceed with for this unit.  Provided guidelines and focused questioning helps students independently learn and accomplish tasks (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009b).  Through these strategies I hoped to give my students the tools they needed to move forward.  After the research process we came back together as a group and discussed the topics and information they had found.  Originally I thought this would be a project where students would choose their own topic for their activities and final product, but after much talking they came up with the idea that they would be more effective in their efforts if they worked on a common goal through the same topic.  The students were mostly interested in our environment so they decided to choose something that they could not just do a presentation product on, but actually get out there and physically make a contribution to, through recycling.  I was really excited about this because our school has a limited recycling program and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get the school involved, along with meeting 4^th and 5^th grade content standards.  In planning at this stage I decided I would like my students to do more research on the topic and organize their ideas through concept mapping software.  From there the students can share their newly found information to the group so that everyone can use it for their final product, with cited sources of course.  In the final products students will have the choice of creating a short movie, a power point, or a voicethread where they can share the environmental concerns and the importance to recycling.  Some of the extension activities I have planned are; students sharing their presentations to each class at the beginning of the school year to help prompt participation in individual classroom recycling, doing a recycling hands on activity where students make new paper out of old paper, and create a proposal of what the school could potentially use the money received from recycling for.

In both of my developmental goals I have done most of the planning, and have implemented the initial plans.  I hope to use the mentioned activities to guide instruction and check for student understanding and application.  Through the ideas of my students I feel will guide this process and make it more memorable for them.

References

Internet at Suite 101. Top 10 etiquette guidelines. Retrieved from

             http://www.suite101.com/content/netiquette-guidelines-a26615%20on%20July%206, 2011

YouTube. Social Media for kids at Mott Hall Bridges Academy. Retrieved from

            http://www.com/watch?v=z7MX6xIHd8E on July 5, 2001.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P, (2009a). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

            use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed). Belmont, Ca:

            Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P, (2009b). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

            use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed). Belmont, Ca:

            Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.