Developing My Personal GAME Plan

        Learning to teach and to teach with technology are lifelong journeys, and as a lifelong learner, much of the teacher's learning will be self-directed and the teacher is responsible of that process (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 1). Exploring the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) from the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), I found out I need more proficiency in two particular standards. I will present the GAME plan I have designed to improve in these standards, which is composed of four steps: set Goals, take Action to meet those goals, Monitor progress toward achieving goals, and Evaluate if the goals were achieved and Extend the learning to new situations (Cennamo et al, 2009, p. 3). 

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ISTE Standards:

3(a): “Teachers demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations” (ISTE, 2008).

3(d): “Teachers model and facilitate effective use of current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use information resources to support research and learning.

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        Even that I am good with technology, there are a lot of tools I am barely learning to use recently, and much more I still do not know about. My GAME plan is designed to learn more tools I can use to include in my instructional planning with my students. At the same time, I will need to be able to present it to students properly for their use.

GOALS:

• To master individually the technological tools I know already, applying different ways to use it in the classroom.
• To learn new technological tools and its applications in the classroom.
• To model and facilitate their use to students appropriately.

ACTION:

• Beginning the week, I will choose a particular tool to practice the features it provides and creating a particular short project to explore its possibilities.
• I will use no less than three one-hour sessions using that particular tool.
• The goals will be done a week alternating each, one week to master a known tool, and one week to learn a new tool.
• Every time I use a particular tool with my students, I will dedicate a lesson to show them the proper use of that technology and allow them the opportunity to explore it before using it for their work.

MONITOR:

• I will auto-evaluate at the end of the week about the use of each tool to help me monitor what I have learned so far and what I will need to learn.
• I will observe my students' reactions with the chosen tool and their comfort using that particular tool.

EVALUATE AND EXTEND:

• I will auto-evaluate at the end of the week about the use of each tool and write a journal about my experience with the particular tool, the features I learned, and how can I use the tool in the classroom.
• I will prepare index cards of each tool to summarize this information to have it accessible for future use, filing them in alphabetical order for easy access.
• The students will write a journal about the tool they had the opportunity to explore about and give an idea of how they would have liked to have this tool introduced for the first time to apply it in future lessons about that same technology.

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        I would love to know more ideas that could improve my GAME plan to become more proficient and confident using technology with students. As teachers, having colleagues willing to take risks and support the technology usage helps to face the challenges this implies (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). For this reason, I will appreciate your contributions.

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.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences With Technology, Part 1. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1341773_1%26url%3D