Carrying Out my GAME Plan

To carry out my first goal of adapting or creating lessons that contain “digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008), I will need computers. I wish my school district, like my husband’s school district, had laptops available for students to use. If my classroom was equipped with laptops, I would be able to incorporate a lot more technology into my lessons. Students could use the laptops to write essays instead of doing it on paper, and when they went back to peer-edit and revise, less work would be required because the essay would be saved in a Word document. We could create electronic portfolios instead of the boxed ones we currently have, and students could easily publish their work to a blog or wiki. Students could also easily access websites we were exploring in class, take on-line quizzes, and each student could participate in interactive review games. I am currently limited in how I adapt my lessons because of the technology that is available. I have, however, been using the SMART board more in class which enables students to have more chances to interact with it, but I am limited to one students at a time.

For my second goal, “contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community” (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008), I will need the assistance of my administrators as they are the ones who plan the workshops we attend in school each year. They usually ask for input and comments from the faculty, so I can inform them that more workshops focusing on technology and content specific ideas would greatly benefit the teachers. I am currently taking this class, so that is helping me to reach my goal of improving and growing as a teacher. Each week I am learning new information and forming ideas that I can use in my classroom if not now then in the near future. I am setting and reflecting on goals I have created for myself as a teacher which is also helping me become an effective educator. And lastly, I am always reading and researching new ideas on the computer for improving my lesson plans. By doing this, I am demonstrating my ability to grow as an educator as I am not doing the same lesson year after year.
With that being said, I feel I am off to a good start on reaching my goals set last week.

-Lauren Cogan
6-7 language arts

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