The first of my GAME plan goals was to implement the explicit teaching of safe and ethical practices in all my classes. The information I need to achieve this goal was covered in our previous course. The QUEST strategy for teaching safe and ethical practices is spelled out in the course material provided and I am very much looking forward to trying it with my students on a regular basis.
Aside from these resources, I will also need to begin writing curriculum and lesson plans that include this new information. Since, I do not teach within a National System I feel that there is easily time in our syllabus to include this. Obviously I will not know how successful or effectively it will be until I have had a chance to reflect and evaluate the lessons.
Discussions with colleagues will have to wait until school starts again. I imagine that most of the teachers will be interested in what I am saying but will naturally look to me and my class trialling the lessons before making any changes in their own classroom.
My second goal involves staying up-to-date with current developments and I believe that I have been doing this through my learning network. Similarly to my first goal, I have many ideas about implementing technology into my lessons next year and this is also why I was motivated to ask for a change of grade level for next academic year. I have very much enjoyed teaching first graders but I felt that I could integrate and extend my delivery of technology much more with older students.
At this point, I do not feel that I need to modify my action plan. Kaladia has kindly offered me some food for thought. Her main question was how would I go about getting colleagues to collaborate with technology integration. In fact, I do not believe that my goal is to have colleagues collaborate on projects. Since I am not the technology co-ordinator I have the space to create my own personal goals. I do hope that some of the other teachers might be inspired or at least show an interest in what I am trying to achieve.
Over the course of many weeks on the Master’s Course, I have learned a great deal with regards to the difference between technology teaching and technology integration. Mainly I have learned that there is room for both, although I do believe that the integration part can often lead to the former as the students practice using software and become more familiar with different technology applications.
I am reassured to know that integrating technology is an enormously valuable tool for 21st century learning and not just a fad.
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Hi!
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by your hope that your work might inspire other teachers...especially with integrating technology into classroom curriculum. I know that during this time of the year, I am much more willing to check out new curriculum & technology--maybe spread the word to some of your colleagues now about your ideas so that they might start doing a little research now--before the school year gets into full swing and many teachers feel overwhelmed by focusing on standards. Maybe just email a couple of teachers so they can kind of mull around ideas while their brains are not as preoccupied. Even just inspiring other educators to surf the web for new strategies and materials is definitely a step in the right direction. I agree that integrating technology is NOT a fad and hopefully your inspiration will catch fire in a few other teachers on your campus!