Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Monitoring My GAME Plan



As I continue to work on my game plan, I must admit that things are running quite smoothly.  I have been slowly moving forward with the creation of the technology PLC in my district.  I may have to slow down my timetable for a countywide PLC as the process of getting permission and gaining the technology access that is needed has taken much longer than I had anticipated. 
As I work on Standard three, Indicator two I have not had to modify my plan at all.  My students are doing a nice job as they learn to find credible resources.  We have only done one exercise or lesson and then they worked individually after that.  I will check all of their references when the projects are turned in to assess their level of understanding.  As discussed in this week’s learning resources this type of assessment will be based off of the problem-based assessment (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  The authentic research that these students have been doing on the Presidential candidates mirrors the type of active citizenship outlined in the NYS Grade 12 curriculum and in real life.
This process has certainly reminded me that I am never too old to improve my teaching.  I have also become increasingly aware of how talented my students are in the use of creativity and technology.  The profiles that I am receiving are not only accurate, but contain elements of humor, sarcasm and art.  I often get bogged down in numbers and who is passing but with this process my viewpoint shifted and I really began to see my students as brilliant individuals capable of amazing things.
The biggest question that has arisen over the course of these GAME Plans has to do with my districts administration.  We have such tight constraints on our technology that I feel in some ways we are doing our students a disservice.  They are not able to interact with blogs or wikis.  I just feel that we can protect our students and we should, but I feel that my administration fails to see the benefits of technology.  I feel like creating an open mind in my district in terms of technology usage could be my next GAME plan!  For all of you who stop by my post in the next 24 hours, Happy Thanksgiving!

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.

2 comments:

  1. The last part of your blog was very interesting to read and I believe in some aspects we are " doing our students a disservice", in the technology department. With so much knowledge to be gained from using technology in our classrooms, students are only receiving a crash course for beginners on how to properly incorporate the information into future success. In an article based on technology Knight Ridder Tribune 2009 states: Requiring all high school students to complete an online course. Providing a computer for every teacher and a presentation workstation for every classroom and library. Ensuring one computer for every three high school students and one for every five elementary and middle school students. And hiring more computer and network technicians to support the additional computers. These are all benefits and very much needed to generate an increase in our learners success for the 21st century.

    In the year of our technology: Report on status and future of PCs in state classrooms computes. (2006, Jun 04). Knight Ridder Tribune Business News.

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  2. That sounds wonderful! In a struggling economy where teachers are being cut every year, where does this boost come from? My state, nor my Federal government has the means.

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