GAME Plan Update - Week 4 EDUC 6713

My first goal was to “Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.”  - ISTE Standard 1B (ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Teachers, 2008). 

I have been exploring ways to facilitate a connection between our 2^nd/3^rd grade students and some 3^rd graders in Spain.  After attempting to use news media to find relevant real world issues in their country, I decided to change my strategy because I was not acquiring the information I needed.  I learned, by spending time researching online news in Spain, that their news media is just as “sensationalized” as ours.  This means that everything is presented as urgent, detrimental, and shocking, when in reality it may or may not affect the average person in such a dramatic way.  Because of this, I am modifying my action plan to reach out to the teachers and students in Spain and ask them to tell us about real world problems in their country.  I feel that this will give a more realistic picture of which real world problems are of concern to the average citizen.

I have reached out to the teachers at my school with an action plan for our students.  I suggested that we have our students create two eBooks to teach the Spanish students about our country and our town.  I am waiting to see what the teachers’ response will be.  Since it is “testing season” and there are only 15 more teaching days before the big state test, I am unsure whether they will feel able to commit time to this project right now.  We may need to wait a few weeks to actually implement it.  I will respect their guidance on what is best for their classes.

My second goal was to “Develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress” - ISTE Standard 2B (ISTE, et al). 

At first, I focused on how I would prepare for doing this in the future, with a classroom of my own.  However, I do not have plans to have my own classroom within the next couple of years, so I began to think about my position as Technology Integration Specialist, and how I could help the teachers in my district to develop their learning environments for this purpose.  I wrote a three blog posts about creating a digital infrastructure – only one of which has been published as of today.  The other two are scheduled to post within the next two weeks.  A high percentage of my coworkers are subscribed to my blog, and I believe this will at least expose them to these ideas.  While doing this, I researched each of our teachers' official webpages and discovered several who were already providing a digital platform for their students.  Before my research, I was not aware of how some of our teachers were utilizing online space for student content creation.  

My reflection has been about what message I would like to offer to our staff about the “why” behind 21^st Century Learning.  This has created some new questions in my mind.  As I explore the use of technology in the classroom, I continuously revise my own “why”.  This journey is something I want to begin sharing with the other teachers in my district.  How does 21^st Century Learning interact with standards-based education?  How do we balance the need for high test scores, the need to cover the curriculum, and these ideas about self-regulated, exploratory learning?  What does this look like practically, every day, for real teachers?

I am progressing slowly but surely toward my goals.  I know I am truly learning because each goal presents questions, and as I strive to answer my questions I develop new questions.  My learning grows in many directions and I am excited to continue on this journey.

References:

ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) and Performance Indicators for Teachers. (2008, January 1). Retrieved March 11, 2015.