Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

An integral part of the GAME plan is the actions taken to achieve goals that have been developed.  In order to put my plans in action, I must evaluate resources that would be necessary to make that possible.  As I continue to strengthen my skills, I must take a look at the progress that is being made toward achieving my goal. My GAME plans are developed from indicators in the NETS-T. 

Facilitating and Inspiring Student Learning and Creativity
One action plan is to find real world issues in the area of science. In order to do this, I will use the internet to research various issues within the state or around the world. There are experts on specific topics that can be found through this research that I can communicate with to find more information. Communication with colleagues, or classmates, will open the door for sharing resources and ideas. Through communication in the previous blogs, I have been introduced to some strong resources that I can further explore. Another piece of this action plan is enabling students to make personal connections to their learning.  Speaking to the students, and members of the community, will provide a basis for what students want to know and the background of the community they live in. I will be exploring different ways for students to collaborate and communicate online. I currently have a personal website that lists assignments for the week and any upcoming projects. I have an e-mail address that is accessible for all students and their parents. I have created wikis in the past, but I am currently working to create a classroom blog that can be used for each class that I teach.

Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership
My action plan is to develop a technology committee in my school that not only includes teachers that share ideas, but students who share what and how they would like to learn using technology. The main resource for this action is teachers. I must find a way to get teachers more involved when it comes to sharing their ideas with each other. Vicki Davis said that if a teacher teaches a technology skill in one classroom, then another teacher should not have to teach that skill again (Laureate Education, 2010). Although I do somewhat believe this to be true, I also think that teachers should be more willing to try to implement programs that others have taught into their own curriculum. This would not only benefit the students in perfecting their skills, but improve the instructional strategies and technology implementation in the classroom. Information from students may be a little more difficult to obtain, but I could get a large amount of input by creating a survey for students using survey monkey online.  I was previously a member of a tech committee in our school, but there was not a detailed list of objectives for the group and it fizzled. I have already been in contact with a colleague to brainstorm ideas on how we can make this type of committee useful for the school.

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program six: Meeting Students’ Needs With Technology, Part 2 [Webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

8 comments:

  1. I like your idea of using real world applications within your Science classroom. One website that may be beneficial to your students is http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/.
    This website presents articles geared for kids relating to “interesting” Science topics. I am a Language Arts teacher, but had to teach one Social Studies class last year. The similar site Social Studies News for Kids was a very handy resource. The students used the website to find current events that interested them, wrote a response to it, and presented it to the class. You could have your students look for articles associated to different types of Science and post their response on your up and coming blog. The reason I liked this site was because the articles are written in student friendly language. Many times in Science and Social Studies, the verbiage of the information is what deters them from reading. Good luck in starting your blogging site!

    Emily Williams

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  2. Jennifer to Emily,
    Thank you for sharing the website. It looks like there are a lot of great articles available. This will not only help when looking for real-world issues, but I can use this site for enrichment activities in the classroom. I teach high school students, but the language is still difficult for them to understand. This site will help with the understanding and give them a base from which to research further.

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  3. Jennifer,

    I love that you are looking to explore real world science issues in your classroom all while looking for collaboration from community member, parents,and colleagues. Perhaps it would be fun to give your students a choice of real world science explorations. Then your students could vote or discuss which would be the most interesting a best option to explore as a class. I think that such an activity would promote creative thinking in your classroom and you would be able to easily update your blog with the students' choices.

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  4. Jennifer,

    I have a suggested website for you to check out since you wanted to learn others ways for your students to communicate. It's: http://primarypad.com/ This online resources allows several users to review a document and make comments and changes at once, all from different locations.

    Kuuipo

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  5. Jennifer,
    I like the point you make that learning about technology should come from colleagues and students. Too often, teachers discredit students as learning resources. If the goal is for them to be extra motivated to learn using technology, shouldn't they have some stock in what tools are being used? I also admire your driver to create a learning community within your school. This will give you the opportunity to discuss what is working and what is not in your school. I hope you are successful in creating this community and you are able to get share. Good Luck.

    Nick

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  6. Jennifer,
    I noticed that in your first goal you are looking into current events that you could work through with your students. I'm not sure where you live, but do you have any museums near you? Where I live in North Carolina, we have a Science Museum located in the city. In the past I have called the museum and asked to speak to an expert in plant life, or an expert in adaptations. I have usually had great luck finding someone from the museum agree to speak to the class! It is great for the students to hear from someone who is very knowledgeable of the topic. Good luck with accomplishing your goals! -Nellie Murison

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  7. Jennifer,
    I hate when committees with good intentions fizzle. It is disappointing. I feel that in this day and age, the students can teach the teachers a great deal in learning more about the technology, so it is a great idea to include them in your committee. I know that if we had some students on our committee for the 1-1 laptops we issued, there wouldn't have been nearly as many issues and some of the students might have gotten a better idea as to what decision making processes went into some of the planning and such.

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  8. Jennifer have you considered collaborating ith some of your summer classmates who may offer you some additional insight as well as your students who I also believe are a great resource to incorporate into your collaborative goals. Some of us who have science as our expertise may be able to get you started with an idea or two to begin the upcoming school year. Also as mentione by Nellie, I think museums can also add to this lesson, if you are not lcated near a museum then I would contact them to see if they have any software or an interactive CD-Rom you can use in your classroom to help you.

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