Carrying Out My GAME Plan

After reviewing my GAME plan, I think my biggest issue in carrying it out at this point is that it is summer and I need students in order to accomplish my goals completely! That being said, there are still steps I can take at this point to help prepare myself for reaching my goals when school begins again. After all, actively reaching my goals is more about being mentally active than physically active, as pointed out by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), so I have been able to really begin to think about what I already know, want to know, and how I will learn about the resources and information I will need to meet my goals (Cennamo et al., 2009).

My first goal is to model proper and acceptable computer and internet use by creating a set of technology guidelines and rules with my students in order to develop strong ethics in the use of computers in school. To accomplish this, the first resource I must utilize is my school’s acceptable use policy and technology plan. I must also contact my technology director to discuss the district’s expectations, as well as contact my colleagues, in both my school and in others, to discuss rules already developed in other classrooms and schools. Additional information I would hope to find is how other teachers deal with developing ethics and safe practices. I would also need additional information regarding my state’s standards in this area. So far, I have contacted my district’s technology director and I have accessed the acceptable use policy. My next step is to examine the policy and develop some kid-friendly terminology for helping to better explain expectations. I also plan to examine the technology curriculum for my grade level and begin to outline when, how, and with what tools I might teach the rules and expectations to my students.

My second goal is to choose 1-2 real world issues that are relevant to my kindergarten students to research over the course of the school year with the use of the internet and online collaboration projects. Again, my district’s technology director would be one of the first resources I would contact, in addition to my colleagues. Because I’m not familiar with many online collaboration projects designed for young students, I would need to acquire more information on this topic. I would also need information on starting this type of project, in the event that we cannot find a project related to our chosen issue(s) and would like to start our own. Because I hope to spend my time working on this goal during the school year with my students, I have only begun thinking about this project and have not taken any steps toward reaching the goal. However, my next step is to research internet-based collaborative projects and speak with colleagues about projects they may have been involved in.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integrations for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.