As a teacher of almost 17 years I have seen things come and go, but there is one thing that has remained constant and that is the importance of technology in the classroom. As I begin to develop my personal GAME plan, it is important for me to evaluate areas in which I want to grow as a professional in order for my students to benefit. “Evaluating the effectiveness of your instruction is a critical component of the GAME plan for student learning” (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009, p. 86). To be effective in the classroom, I must be able to identify areas that I need improvement and be willing to do whatever it takes to become better.
As I reflected over the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T), I was able to choose two indicators that I would love to become more proficient in. The standard I will target is 2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments and the indicators I feel I need to strengthen are as follow:
a. design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote students learning and creativity.
b. 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.
Even though I am fortunate to have a full range of technology at my fingertips in the classroom, I have a difficult task when wanting to incorporate meaningful activities into the curriculum because of the lack of access from my district. This has been a problem for many of the teachers who would like to use more technology in the classrooms and our district has trouble understanding the importance of their use. In order for my students to be able to experience the full advantage of technology, I must be able to convince my district personnel that students will reap the rewards of having access to particular technological educational resources.
Goal: My goal is to incorporate many of the 21st Century learning skills into my classroom in order for my students to gain the knowledge they are expected to learning utilizing real-world experience through the use of technology.
Action: I will research many different 21st Century resources that would be beneficial to my students and develop lessons where they could utilize real-world experiences that could empower them into becoming self-directed learners. In order to implement these skills, I must first be able to convince my district personnel that my students will gain an engaging and meaningful learning experience.
Monitor: I will be able to monitor my progress by first keeping a reflective journal. Over the years, I have learned that being able to reflect has allowed me to grow as a teacher and allowed me to make adjustments where needed. I will also use the responses from my district personnel as well as my colleagues as way to monitor my growth as a teacher.
Evaluate: After communicating and collaborating with my district personnel and colleagues, I will be able to determine whether or not the goal I have set needs to be revised. Being able to receive feedback from my learning communities will allow me to make adjustments in order to allow me to grow as a professional and my students as future citizens.
References:
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.
We have the same problem in our county that you do. We keep hearing about all these great resources and websites and then when we go to use them; the sites are blocked. It's frustrating... I hope you are able to work it out. If you have a lot of fellow teachers who would like to use the same sites though, that makes it a lot easier to get permission. My team has emailed our technicians all at once and the result has been so much faster than by ourselves. Good luck with your GOAL! I hope you are able to meet and succeed it.
ReplyDeleteAmanda
It will be interesting to see how your district reacts to your suggestions and what they will require from you in order to buy into making a significant change. In my own experience, my school district has required relatively extensive scientific data and record keeping the definitively proves that the "thing", whatever it is, really works. I would suggest keeping as many accurate records as possible in order to ensure that you have concrete evidence when you decide to make your case.
ReplyDeleteMy district as well blocks most sites, but we also have the option to submit the site for approval. Once the blocked screen appears there is also a link to log in with our district ID to submit a request for approval. Once a site is approved, it is listed on a share drive on our network for others to access as well. The shared drive has folders set up by grade level to help find appropriate grade level sites efficently.
ReplyDeleteMichelle
Providing a real life experience for your students will prove to be very beneficial. One way to bring places to your students is through Google Earth. This will allow you to take a virtual tour of exciting places such as the Greek Coleseuim in Rome, Italy.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal note, I understand your frustrations of not having access to certain websites; however, as a parent of a child who was cyber bullied, I now understand the roles schools must play to prevent this. For example, www.animasher.com is a very neat site that allows the user to create virtual videos and add voice, music, or sounds. The downside of this site is that a new user can choose any username and create any technology about someone, even very mean things. I am not saying all students would do this or that all sites are like this one, but I do believe it would be very difficult to control or manage to make sure our students are safe.
It is very frustrating when I learn about all the new ideas and resources that are available for use in our classroom and not being able to use them because they have been blocked by my district. Even though my district is very fortunate with different types of technology, I feel they are lagging behind in the 21st Century skills. Hopefully, with the support of my colleagues and by providing research information, my district will realize the importance of these sources and allow access to them. They need to realize in order to prepare our students for this unknown future; we must be able to provide them with the rich resources that are out there for them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your advice and support.
Kim Jordan