Carrying Out Your GAME Plan

     In order to enrich my experience in life as an educator, I decided last time that I was going to focus on two standards that the International Society for Technology in Education set forth for teachers.  The first goal that I decided to work on is standard 4.A, 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 (ISTE, 2014).  

     I have determined that I will need some additional resources to be able to complete this goal  I have found a great website called https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/, that helps with the proper citation formats.  This site has information on how to cite with APA and MLA, which is important as both are used in classrooms.  MLA, I have noticed is mostly used in upper elementary, middle school and high schools, while APA is mostly done in the colleges and universities.  This website will be great to refer students back to when they have a questions on how to properly cite the sources that they have found.  

     Another resource that I plan on using is Prezi.  I found a presentation on the site that is about the safe, legal and ethical use of digital information and technology.  The link to site is https://prezi.com/tl5zk8mhybyr/the-safe-legal-and-ethical-use-of-digital-information-and-technology/.  Looking at this presentation, I know that I will be able to use it in the classroom, to present the information to the students.  It will be a different way to present the information to the students, that should also help them to be able to be more engaged in what they are learning.  

     The first step that I have taken to accomplish this goal, is to review the acceptable use policy for the Internet.  By reviewing the policy, I am making sure that what I will be teaching coincides with what the district says is safe and not safe to do on the internet.  Each student is required to sign a copy of the policy and to keep a copy of it.  The students and I have reviewed the policy together to discuss what they understand about it or don’t understand about it.  By reviewing the policy together, I will be able to begin the Prezi presentation to the students, which will help further their knowledge about internet safety.  

     The second standard that I chose was 1.C, promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning and creative processes (ISTE, 2014).  This is the goal that I am most excited about working on, as I am a firm believer in creativity and I have been discovering how much fun it can be to use collaborative tools in the classroom.  

     The first resource that I have decided that I will be needing to accomplish this goal is to use a wiki.  A wiki is a piece of software that will allow the users to create, edit, and link webpages quickly (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  There are tons of sites out there that host wiki’s and I think that it would be beneficial to set up a classroom wiki.  The wiki would be used for the students to work together on projects with each other.  I think that the wiki will be a great resource to add to the classroom, and I’m looking forward to using it.  

     The second resource that I would like to use is a Voice thread   I made one in the past for a class that I was taking, I had a lot of fun working on it.  It can be another great collaborative tool for the students to use.  They can make a presentation, then do a recording about that presentation.  It will be a fun way for the students to work together and present a project to the class, plus it will also let the students to be creative as well.  

     I have taken the first step to accomplish this goal by having the students take an interest survey.  The survey will let me know what the students interests are, which will help me incorporate those interests in the classroom.  By having the students’ interests in the classroom, I am hoping to have them more engaged and willing to work together on projects.  It is important to me  that the students are able to work collaboratively on a project, while they are using their talents to make the project creative.  I really feel that this survey will help me understand the students better, and help me help them to be more creative with their work.

     In conclusion, I feel that that GAME plan is coming along nicely.  I still have a long ways to go before I can say that I have accomplished the goal that I have set forth.  I am okay with it taking time to accomplish the goals, as I want to ensure that I have all the tools necessary to help me along with this journey.  This is going to be an interesting journey and at times I anticipate that it can be overwhelming.  

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P.  (2009).  Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use.  Mason, Ohio: Cengage Learning

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  (2014).  ISTE Standards for Teacher Resources.  Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-teachers