Week 7: NETS-T + NETS-S = GAME Plan Reflection

As week 7 wraps-up, it is time to visit my GAME Plan and reflect upon my progress. This week I will also have the opportunity to connect the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers to its counterpart, the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) and Performance Indicators for Students.


Take a moment to think about the GAME plan process and the progress you have made over the last several weeks toward meeting the goals you established for learning about technology and technology resources. 


Over the course of this class, I have been exploring different ways to both educate myself and others in the use of social networking, or as Vicki Davis calls them, "educational networking tools," Twitter and Diigo and share my findings with my classmates. Although I tried to make the information I have found applicable and user-friendly to other teachers, it is unclear whether or not my wiki, "Technology in Action Learning Tools," (http://technology-in-action-learning-tools.wikispaces.com/) has been useful to people in my learning community (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). 


I realize that I am at fault for perpetually posting my blog entries late. Whether or not my learning community was commenting on my blog and/or wiki, I should have been more diligent in posting my weekly blogs on time. I wish I would have been able to work more with my learning group in helping them apply Twitter and/or Diigo to lessons that they hope to implement in their classrooms. It would have been wonderful to collaborate and brainstorm with other teachers regarding the usage of these tools in a school with limited resources or accessibility to technology.


Reviewing my goals for my GAME Plan I am not sure if I failed at meeting the goals I set for myself or if I succeeded in ways that I do not realize at this point. Once the school year starts and I begin implementing and using some of the learning/teaching tools I have been working with in my GAME Plan, I will have a better handle on my "success" or "needs improvement" on each of my goals. I have listed my GAME Plan goals and I have included the steps I have taken to help me reach these goals in order to see if I am on the right path.

• Model Digital-Age Work and Learning 
• demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situation
• Created a wiki explaining both Twitter and Diigo
• Supported the information shared with material from class resources
• Explained and modeled ways that these learning/teaching tools can be applied in the classroom in a  practical manner
• collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success 
• Addressed issues mentioned by classmates such as security, student privacy etc. to insure the students safety when using these tools
•  An on-going conversation about the uses of Twitter, Diigo, and other educational networking tools is currently going on with another of my classmates
•  communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats
• Through the creation of my wiki, I presented information that was clear, accurate, and applicable to the classroom
• Presented several ideas and modeled these suggestions to my classmates through screen captures, video-clips, etc. 

• Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

• participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning 
• Participated in on-going conversations with classmates via my blog when questions or comments were made
• Commented and asked questions on the blogs of the learning community members in my group
• Read articles and explored links that appeared on Twitter and educator websites and shared the information with my group members 
• exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others
•  Actively shared ideas that can be integrated across different curriculum areas and/or used to form professional learning communities
• Suggested different ways to encourage educational networking as both a learning and a teaching tool
• Opened a line of communication for my learning community to discuss and/or ask questions about technology that directly related to the learning that is/was taking place throughout this course (The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers, 2008).

Based on my experience with the GAME plan process and the NETS-T, how might I use the GAME plan process with my students to help them develop proficiency in the NETS-S? 
There are some key components of the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) and Performance Indicators for Students that align with the standards that I have been exploring while working with the NETS-T throughout my game plan. Words and phrases which appear in both sets of standards include: 

• collaboration
• "apply existing knowledge"
• communicate
•  "develop cultural understanding"
• "advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use"
• "transfer current knowledge" (The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) and Performance Indicators for Student, 2007).

While the teaching standards state "to model" the students' standards asks that the students learn through both observing the modeling process and putting into practice the NETS-S skills. By comparing these two sets of standards, I have a better understanding of how to help my students be successful in developing proficiency in the NETS-S through the implementation of the GAME Plan model.


If I were to have my students apply the GAME Plan model to their learning, I would definitely make it a point to stress the importance of collaboration, communication, participation, and reflection. Although it should be a given that students would need to collaborate and participate with the members of their groups, I have found that unless there is some sort of accountability piece (formative and/or summative) involved within the assessment process, an individual's non participation may l hinder other students' progress (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).


The GAME Plan model can be implemented in many ways within a classroom, but here I would like to concentrate on using the GAME Plan in conjunction with a self-directed learning project example. If a teacher were to choose content information, decide what section of NETS-S may work well in learning/teaching this type of information, and then have the students utilize the GAME Plan model when planing research or inquiry based learning he/she would be achieving three goals within one unit. For example, students that are assigned a project that deals with the historical investigation of the Watergate Scandal, may be asked to focus on the skills in NETS-S standard "4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making, Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources" (The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) and Performance Indicators for Student, 2007).


Once the students have been given the assignment and made aware of the skills that they will need to focus on, they can then go about creating a GAME Plan to help them succeed in meeting their goals, beginning an investigation on the happenings of the Nixon Administration. The investigative process uses skills including creative thinking, problem-solving, reflection, and a plethora of other 21st century skills . The GAME Plan lends itself to this type of self-directed learning process because it systematically walks the students through the steps of creating a plan, deciding what actions to take, monitoring one's progress, evaluating the outcomes of specific choices, and then moving the plan forward and/or revising one's ideas. All of these skills are key components of not only the GAME Plan, but also historical investigation (Cennamo et al., 2009). Thus, the students are using the GAME Plan as a framework to learn the content information while putting into practice and strengthening the skills within the NETS-S.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). [Motion picture]. Social Networking and Online Collaboration Tools. Baltimore: Author.

The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-S) and Performance Indicators for Students [Electronic version]. (2007). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved August 15, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm


The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) and Performance Indicators for Teachers [Electronic version]. (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved July 8, 2010, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

No Child Left Behind, the achievement gap grows. Will there be a No American Left Behind as the international learning gap grows?

As I mentioned in my discussion post for this week, this week the school district I teach in will be having an in-service about the “Partnership for 21st Century Skills” (P21), core curriculum, and rigor and relevance. From my understanding after today’s professional development time will be spent on discussing standardized assessments, implementation of P21,and restructuring existing units to meet both P21 and the “Iowa Core Curriculum.” Presently, Iowa is the only state that does not have state standards/benchmarks created for statewide implementation. Iowa has been the only state across the U.S. that has never had state standards, the state government has always allowed districts to create and implement standards/benchmarks on a district-by-district basis.

The above information relates to some of the information I was looking at on the P21 web site. When I looked at the page for the state of Iowa, the Iowa Department of Education speaks of the Iowa Core Curriculum, P21, and 2007. The interesting thing is (as I understand it), the Iowa Core Curriculum was approved by the governor for implementation within the last year. In addition, the Iowa Core Curriculum has not been completed, let alone introduced to all the school districts across Iowa. Interesting isn’t it?

To see information on P21 and the state of Iowa the link is: http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=148&Itemid=237

To see Iowa's Core Curriculum: “Iowa Core Curriculum” information: http://corecurriculum.iowa.gov/

With the unknown core curriculum coming into the inter-workings of education in Iowa there are also problems that have arisen in relationship to No Child Left Behind. With this law comes “Districts in Need of Assistance” (DINA). The district I teacher in is on this list. With DINA comes numbers and reasons why competencies are important.

Questions that go unanswered:
What competencies?
Why are these competencies important?
Should teachers know these “competencies,” because at the moment there has not been a clear concise definition for the “competencies,” that are being discussed.

To recap, there are numerous acronyms, standard assessment is key, and acquiring the skills needed to be a skilled, informed, complex communicator may or may not be included in the undefined competencies. This is the issue, concrete examples of how new methods, theories, skills, etc. are wonderful but only if teachers understand why and how this will help students be successful. This is the never-ending circle (much like a hamster wheel) that teachers face when discussing P21, rigor and relevance, and core curriculum.

In the school district that I teach in there have many hours spent on Rigor and Relevance (R4) and as the year goes on many hours will be spent on Iowa Core Curriculum and P21. Although it may not sound like a support P21, I do, it because a never-ending struggle to be able to put any of the P21 and/or R4 into practice when the state government and the district have yet to give us the core standards let alone the tools for implementation of the unknown skills we are to teach.

Another unnerving part about the condition of school districts across the U.S. is, that are so many countries lapping the United States in the P21 skills, the education gap, as well as, the technological gap almost seem cavernous at this point. Today when a couple of people where speaking of P21 in a meeting he/she was referring to P21 skills that our students would need...WOULD NEED?! WE NEED THEM NOW! WE SHOULD HAVE THEM IN PLACE NOW!

Our students continue to be left behind by other students around the world. P21 is not something to begin planning for, it is happening NOW!