Establishing a GAME Plan for NETS-T

Common knowledge today is that, “once we let students (particularly in groups) take the lead on technology projects, that teachers tend to see more engagement and better results,” (Prensky, 2008). Certainly the same must be true of adults in the field of education. To enrich professional practice, the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•T) has established a set of performance indicators for teachers to aspire to. The standards provide opportunities for teachers to become active participants in learning how to use technology, and more importantly, how to use technology within their classroom to engage students. By setting goals, having a plan, monitoring progress, and engaging in reflection; we can create a technology rich environment and help to prepare our students for future tasks, jobs, and life situations, (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010).

My first goal will be to become more “proficient and confident in promoting and modeling digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and information,” (NETS-T, 2008). Indicator 4c can be accomplished by simply increasing the opportunities that my students have to use technology in school, and moving away from the idea that we must focus on mastering each skill, (Prensky, 2008). Simple willingness can increase confidence and allow for authentic and responsible learning to occur more frequently. I will need to model and scaffold the idea of proper etiquette and responsible social interactions related to technology use, and would like to develop class guidelines with each individual class that I engage. Lesson plans that help to clarify what proper use is and isn’t should be presented; while a teacher think-aloud, focusing on my own thoughts of how to use technology responsibly will support such lessons. To monitor the proper use of technology and insure that students are using the tools responsibly, I will log into Black Board on a weekly basis and verify that students have posted appropriate responses to the blog assignments that I will give and that they are conducting themselves in a respectful manner when responding to their classmates. Students who are not following our class guidelines will not only be deducted points for the assignment, but will also need to spend additional time with me to clarify what proper use is. As for the evaluation piece of this plan, I will provide formative assessments where students will have to identify proper use of technology and those situations that are not, as well as routine warm-ups exercises where students will have to create a response to my prompt and then share with the class what they might post. I will also require my students to engage in a classroom discussion that assesses how someone on the receiving end of misuse may be made to feel and evaluate their participation and responses. With each of these components in place, I have confidence that my students will become more comfortable with the use of technology as a classroom tool and that they will learn to conduct themselves in a scholarly manner while doing so.

Second, I am making a plan to focus on Indicator 5b and to “exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others,” (NETS-T, 2008). As the Planned Learning Community Leader of 8th grade science I will promote the idea that our group, take advantage of collaboration and know that for every subject we teach, there are people out there in the same position (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). I will encourage us to keep open lines of communication with neighboring middle schools and that we share our successes and failures so that we can all learn from them. Since I am fortunate enough to work with a Department Chair in Science who shares my view of technology infusion and is motivated to encourage and help develop such practices; we will apply for and attempt to furnish each student that we teach, with their own laptop for classroom use. Our focus and philosophy of the integration of technology will continue to be communicated to our administration and further supported by resource teachers in the school and parents within the community. A scaffolded approach to helping other teachers in our PLC can be used incorporating the idea that I or my Department Chair can come to teach a class period in their room and that by observing our process/lesson, that they can develop their own confidence and repertoire of technology skills. By revisiting the focus topic or lesson that we are addressing each week in our PLC meetings, I can monitor the level of technology infusion and share in the decision making process of what we should modify and what we found success with. By working as a group and evaluating ourselves, we will be able to take risks and clearly see the motivation and engagement that we all desire for all students in our classroom.


References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2008). Program three. Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part One [Motion picture]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Author.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.