Tuesday, January 10, 2012

My GAME Plan for NETS-T

         As far as my GAME plan goes for increasing my confidence and proficiency in a few indicators in the NETS-T I have found that many of the indicators where I am lacking have to do with professional development. This makes sense to me for two reasons. First, I have not had a lot of time for professional development outside the normal work hours of teaching because I have been taking master’s classes since February 2011. The second reason is that I do not teach nor live near a big school district that can offer many technological professional development workshops. The nearest school districts big enough to offer valuable workshops is either two or four hours away and our district does not have the budget to send teacher’s across the state. The indicators that I find myself struggling with the most are part of the “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership category".
"Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources". "Teachers:

a.
participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.
b.
exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others. 
c.
evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.”
                                             International Society for Technology in Education. (2007)


         As far as my goals go for each of these indicators I want to make sure that when I have completed my master’s classes I go back to some of my favorite integrating technology in the classroom blogs and follow them so that I can stay up to date with what other teachers are doing. It seems like when I have been in these classes and have been asked to visit blogs or explore other technology programs I get very little time to discover them until I am being asked to move on to another strategy or program. It is a little overwhelming, so that is why I plan on researching various technological tools like virtual field trips, blogs and wikis to help my students this year.  When it comes to exhibiting leadership and helping the technology skills of others I want to share the results of my inquiry research project with my school staff so that they may learn new skills to use in the classroom. My third goal goes along with professional development and staying up to date with new research that is out there on technology and its’ uses in the classroom. If I am not able to travel to professional development workshops then I would like to use my own time to read articles about new technologies and how I could incorporate them into my classroom.  

        I plan on monitoring my progress by keeping a checklist on my computer screen that reminds me constantly while I am on the computer to search for new technologies and strategies to help me in my classroom. It will also remind me to check my blog and add to my blog so that I do not lose followers. The checklist will also include topics I am interested in learning more about and possible dates of professional development opportunities nearer to my area.
         One of the best ways for me to learn and really retain information is to repeat it. I plan on evaluating and extending my learning by posting the new information I gather on technology and other sources that help my teaching on my personal blog. I will encourage friends of mine in my district, along with the teachers in my building to follow my blog so that they may learn a quick tip or two. By posting it on my blog I have repeated the information and made it even clearer in my own head. It is also a great way for me to keep track of my learning by always having a copy of it on the Internet. Sometimes it is impossible to meet up and discuss issues we are having in our classrooms and ask for help from our peers, but by having my information, both successes and struggles, I can not only help my peers, but hopefully also help them with some of their issues.
Reference 

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). National Educational Technology
Standards for Students. Retrieved on January 10, 2012 from the International Society for Technology in Education website:





6 comments:

  1. I think your idea to use your blog to keep track of your learning is an excellent one. That way, your blog will function basically as a portfolio. As Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer (2009) say, a portfolio can be an invaluable way to reflect on your own professional learning. I think that by using a blog as a portfolio, you have the added benefit of being able to easily share that learning with others.

    Have you thought about specifics for how you will document and reflect on your learning? Will you make links to web tools you learn, or post video of your class using a new technology, or reflections on professional development you attend? Or a combination of those?

    I’m looking forward to reading your blog!

    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

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    Replies
    1. Hi Katie,
      Technology certainly can be overwhelming! I always feel like I am behind. One tool to help me organize the various websites I visit, either for professional development or for classroom activities, is Diigo.
      http://www.diigo.com/index
      Have you tried social bookmarking? I am new to it, but it seems like a great way to organize all of those great resources we explore in our Master's courses. Like Melissa said, this would be a great way of documenting your learning tools. At the end of the year, you could review your resource bookmarks and reflect to consider how many you have explored.
      I would also suggest attending online professional development activities since there are not many options near you. I have experienced two websititutes through my favorite social network, Jim Burke's English Companion Ning:
      http://englishcompanion.ning.com/
      Hope that helps!
      Kate

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    2. Kate,

      Thanks so much for sharing your resource! Online professional development sounds like a great tool for not only me, but others in my district as well. I have not tried social bookmarking yet and I am excited to see what this new tool has to offer me as I continue on my inquiry research project path.
      Thanks, Katie

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  2. Ms. Poole,

    I am envisioning my blog as sort of an online portfolio so that when I want to add information or research or look over the notes throughout my project it is all in one place. It will be helpful to include websites, books, articles and other sources I have found useful right in my blog posts so that they are not only accessible to me, but also to the followers of my blog.

    Katie

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  3. Maggie to Katie
    First, you are exactly right about reading about what other educators are doing! I’ve discovered three new things I can use in my classroom this week – all from my colleagues in this class. So, I agree with your commitment to read and keep up with what others are doing. Second, I had heard about StumbleUpon but had forgotten all about it. Your blog reminded me, and I’m going to start using it again. Students do love it! Having lots of options is important to student success (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).
    You bring up a very good point about professional development and getting the money to pay for it. There seems to be no money for anything these days, but somehow I have been able to finagle money to attend at least two conferences this year and a possible third. I don’t know if I was in the right place at the right time, just lucky or what, but I feel, as you do, that workshops and conferences inspire and encourage teachers. We are often forced to attend district professional development that is rather useless, and this does not build morale or inspire in any way. I hope that you are able to attend at least some online professional development. I noticed that TCEA (Texas Computer Education Association) is streaming their convention workshops on line and the cost is significantly less than actually attending the convention (Texas Computer Education Association). Perhaps there is something similar you would be interested in.
    Thanks!
    Maggie


    References
    Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). [Webcast]. Meeting students needs with technology, Part 1. Baltimore: Author.

    Texas Computer Education Association. (2012). www.tcea2012.org.

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  4. Hi Katie,

    I agree about reading and keeping up with what others are doing. We are all learners, despite which side of the classroom we are on. This will help to evalute and extend our GAME plans as we can discuss our conclusions with eachother and determine our next steps(Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).

    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


    Melissa

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