Once again, the first indicator I am working on is 2b: “Teachers develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.” I have said that my action will include a better understanding of my students’ diverse learning styles, which will help me to provide opportunities for them to practice with a variety of technology tools and skills, pinpointing the ones that they feel confident in using. In order to carry out my GAME plan for this indicator, I will need to access information from previous years’ summative assessments and behavior logs. I will also need a plan for implementing formative assessments throughout the year. Additionally, I will need to have access to, and follow, students IEPs and 504-plans to ensure special needs of students are being met. Ahead of time, I will need to ensure that I am comfortable using Wikis, Blogs, and Discussion Boards, and that they are set up and ready to go when I want to use them. Additional resources I am interested in trying in order to develop a technology-enriched learning environment is polling software and personal response clickers.
The second indicator I am working on is 4a: “Teachers advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.” I have said that the action I will take to achieve this goal is to develop and implement an introductory lesson on What the Web is, how to use it, and how to be smart about it. I would like for the lesson to include computer basics, Internet basics, how to search the Web, and how to use information found on the Web. Additionally, I feel that I need to go further to inform students of the legal issues of the Web and how to be safe about using and posting on the Web. In order to carry out my GAME plan for this indicator, I first need to ensure that I am fully aware of the legal issues of the Web, and work with my School-Based Technology Specialist (SBTS) in order to develop a lesson plan to use with students. I plan to use my SBTS as a resource not only in the planning stages, but to have them in my classes, assisting with the delivery of the lesson as well. I need to access such resources as ethical and acceptable use policies and ensure that my students (and their parents) also have access to them. I will also need to ensure that I have access to, and feel confident in, using the technology platform that will be used to deliver the lesson, as well as the student technology (laptops or desktop computers) for students to practice with during the lesson.
If anyone can make suggestions on information and resources I have overlooked, please leave comments! Thanks!!
References:
National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
Posts
Great job - It sounds like you have a great start with your game plan! Using your technology specialist involved with the process isa great idea. I am sure that he or she can certainly help you along the way in whatever way you may need. I am doing the same thing, although, I am not having my technology specialists attend my classses. Ithink that is a great idea, that way he/she knows exactly what is going on and can give some extra individual help as needed to the students.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work!
Thanks for the encouraging words! Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteHi Holly, I am also interested in integrating personal response clickers and polling as a means to assess general understanding through formative assessments as working through a lesson or project. I have yet to spend a lot of time looking at what is available, but if you find some good resources, please feel free to pass them along. I have been doing general polling the "old fashioned way" with "fist to fives" and confidence levels that students give me anonymously. I think the most difficult part of having personal response clickers will be how to keep the data and how to respond quickly to student need. I anticipate involving student in the process of re-explaing or explaining differently as student understanding decreases. The web will be a great resource to teaching content a different way so it will be accessible for all students if the data demonstrates misunderstanding or significant differences among students. Thanks for your ideas and good luck on your GAME plan.
ReplyDeleteThomas H.
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteMy school uses TurningPoint Personal Response System...if you have a PowerPoint, you can turn it into a TurningPoint and students can respond personally. They really enjoy it, but I have not used it in awhile. I plan to use it more this year! I was one of the first to use them when they were brand new to our school, so we were still working out the kinks with saving them...apparently it is much easier to save the data now!