Well on this quest of meeting my technology goals I have been fortunate an abundance of resources. From the CAST conference I met a lot of educators, vendors, and administrators who offered 100 percent support toward my education endeavors.
At this point I do not feel the need to modify my GAME plan as of yet, however I have more information then one can process at a time.
So far I've learned about two wonderful sites to use in my classroom, They are www.edmodo.com and www.thatquiz.org. Edmodo brings social networking into your classroom with a way of posting assignments and blogging with classmates. ThatQuiz is an excellent site for creating formative assessments utilizing online access or you have the option of printing the assessment out. The one big question I have as an educator is when and how do you spiral all of the information together? How do you know when you're on information overload? Some of us are perfectionist who have no problem attaining goals, however we evaluate progress in tiny tedious steps :-)

Tools needed to complete GAME Plan

First I will need a computer with internet access, attend the CAST conference, and dialogue with colleagues about strategies they are using in order to be successful. There isn't any additional information needed, however I did attend the CAST conference and learned a lot from other colleagues from around the state of Texas. I was given a lot of useful sites like www.blabbster.com to incorporate into future lesson plans.

I have also been searching the internet and talking to other colleagues about there internet usage policies in their districts and how these policies are transferred to the student and parent. I'm currently waiting on some additional information from different teacher from multiple districts. Lets see how this turns out :-)

G.A.M.E. Plan

Goal
III. TEACHING, LEARNING, AND THE CURRICULUM Teachers implement curriculum plans that include methods and strategies for applying technology to maximize student learning. Teachers: C. apply technology to develop students’ higher
order skills and creativity

Action:
Integrate technology into my science curriculum by searching the internet and dialoguing with other teachers via blogs or chat rooms. Attend Cast 2010 Science in the city conference in order to continue my professional development in the area of science. The Cast conference is a professional development program offered for curriculum enhancement. Monitor other teachers who utilize technology in their curriculum in order to gain new ideas and implement new strategies.

Monitor:
In order to monitor this goal I will have to create a task check list and review my accomplishments on a weekly basis.


Evaluate:
Implement the strategies learned via professional development and outside sources with in the classroom. Have my students submit evaluation forms about the technology used and inform the teacher if the technology was beneficial to their creativity.



Goal:
VI. SOCIAL, ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND HUMAN ISSUES Teachers understand the social, ethical, legal, and human issues surrounding the use of technology in PK–12 schools and apply that understanding in practice. Teachers: A. model and teach legal and ethical practice related to technology use.


Action:
Teach students the ABC’s of internet safety as outlined in our district policies. Model different websites as examples of what isn’t and what is within the perimeters of district policy. Have students take an assessment over policy rules and objectives. Place policy contracts in student file

Monitor:
Give students several websites to visit. Students will evaluate each site to assure it is with in district policy. Have students explain why or why not the site is valid for education.

Evaluate:
Give students a quiz over the ABC of internet safety and district policies.

Reflection

My personal theory on learning hasn't changed during this course. I'm very flexible and love to differentiate between learning skills. Constructionism and multiple intelligences are my main focus when teaching 7th grade science.

One immediate change I am going to implement is Voice Thread. This program is very productive and can be facilitated in a variety of functions. I plan on using with a lot of project based learning and assessments of content.

Two long-term changes or goals I would like to implement are; 1. utilize technology more in my lessons. This can be achieved by using modern technology and view teacher blogs in order to share ideas. 2. Figure out a way to bring low performers up to grade level using technology. This can be achieved by staying up to date with the latest documented strategies that have their base in Neurology.

Sixth Grade Graduation

Sixth Grade Graduation

Voice Thread 6th grade class

Cooperative Learning

Social learning is defined, when students are actively engaged in constructing artifacts and conversing with others. With that in mind, the strategies I explored this week focus on cooperative learning. When students work in cooperative groups they make sense of, or construct meaning for, new knowledge by interacting with others (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000). I like the example of using multimedia in a researched based assignment. Assigning each student within the focused group a formal role provides group responsibility in order to achieve their objective. This type of project will allow students to socialize and begin to focus on cooperating in order to learn.