Developing Your Personal G.A.M.E. Plan

Developing Your Personal G.A.M.E. Plan

As an art teacher my first priority is giving my students the awareness of knowing that art is all around them, that they can be creative with their hands and brains, innovative, and finding out then acknowledging that humans have been making art for thousands of years.  I want to use technology as an aid in helping me accomplish this goal for my students.  A way that I can do this is by using the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) which were developed by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).  Also, a G.A.M.E. plan according to my course text Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach involves setting Goals, determining a course of Action to take, finding an effective means of Monitoring my progress, and Evaluating my progress and finding ways to extend my learning (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  By adding these two new ways of learning to my classroom I am hoping to accomplish a more pleasurable learning experience for my students that will lead them into remembering what they learned in my classroom and to use those experiences in their future endeavors.  

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

d. Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environment (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

Goals:

I will set the goal of having students use a weblog to use in the art room to communicate found information and share their personal artwork for others to view. To do this I will create my art room blog for students to look at and experience the world of blogging.  I will make it a weekly assignment not only for students, but for myself as a teacher and model to use this technology in my classroom.     

Action:

I will be able to reach this goal by acting on it by working with the computer teacher in the building for students and me to understand the ways in which we can accomplish these goals and implement the action. As stated in the course text I need to determine “what content information do my students need, what instructional strategy will I use and what resources do my students need?” (Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P., 2009).  The content my students will be working with is art history; students will be using blogs to write and express their creativeness, and to find information students will be using search engines to finds resources.  

Monitor:

One way I can monitor is by using formative assessments.  Formative assessments for students help students monitor learning and are not always used for just teacher purposes (Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P., 2009).  Rubrics are another way for students to see what they are to do for their learning and expatiations of the assignment. 

Evaluate and Extend:

For this the best practice is self-reflection and student reflection.  According to the text evaluation is the key to determining how successful instruction has been as well as which resources and methods will most likely be successful in the future (Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P., 2009).

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: Teachers understand local and global societal issues and responsibilities in an evolving digital culture and exhibit legal and ethical behavior in their professional practices.

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 (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

Goals:

I want to work with others in my building to establish, advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of technology for teachers and students.  A lot of times students want to copy and paste materials for their own use, but as teachers we need to practice and teach our students the proper ways to use online materials if we want that goal to become reality.

Action:

By working with the school English teacher and computer teacher along with all teachers to make sure that students are clear on ethical ways of using technology integrating technology effectively requires knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and a supportive culture and if these four ideas can be established the action of maintaining digital citizenship and responsibility will be well on its way (Laureate Education, 2009).

Monitor:

To monitor these types of policies, technological skills and requirements teachers and students both need to be aware of respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources.  Guidelines need to given to students about appropriate materials and restrictions when using the work of others. Citation guidelines need to be shown and taught that way students know responsibilities.  If students are not sure if something is questionable they should not be afraid to ask. 

Evaluate and Extend:

To evaluate my progress of this goal I need to stay on top of the latest trends in technology and ways that I can teach and learn to help students know what is safe and ethical in the use of technology while working with my colleagues and administrators to complete this task.  This indicator is one that can become hard to evaluate because some opinions of others differ in each case. 

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. 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/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Enriching content area learning experiences with technology: part 1. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com.