I am still focusing on the standards listed:

"Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity." I focused on the indicator that states that I will "promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

"Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." The chosen indicator that I would participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

For my first standard, I have incoporated technology with a new lesson plan this week in the area of Writing. During our Writing Workshop time, our class was working on a descriptive writing piece. In order to incorporate technology and the students creativity, I took my students to the computer lab where they typed a descriptive writing piece about a monster. There use of details allowed them to then use the Paint Program to design their monster based on their description. Once they were finished, they then switched their descriptions with a partner and again, used the Paint Program to recreate their partners monsters. The students then gave a presentation to compare and constrast their monster image. The students really enjoyed this activity and they were able to be creative not only in their writing, but also visually.

With my second standard that I have been working towards to meet my GAME plan, I have been engaging in professional growth through meetings with my Instructional Technology Facilitator. These meetings have been taken place once a week for 30 minutes to discuss the lab time used and how technology can be integrated into my lessons. I think it is important to talk with peers in order to continue to grow and learn as a teacher so that I can better assist my students.

My question for the upcoming week is "How will our schools new website software effect my existing website?" Our class website is something that I use daily to interact with my students parents. I want to make sure that I am able to still use it effectively. I am hoping to get this question answered the next time I speak with our schools Instructional Technology Facilitator.

I feel that I am making progress in meeting my GAME plan goals. Through new lesson ideas to promote creativity through while incorporating technology and meeting with the technology facilitator, I am learning that I am growing as a professional and hopefully will be helpful to others.

Elizabeth Brindley

EDUC-6712I-3 Supporting Information Literacy and Online Inquiry in the Classroom Instructor: Jen Xu
You can view my screencast at http://www.screencast.com/t/NTM4Yjk2ZWI

Week 4 Continuing My GAME Plan

The standards that I am continuing to gather information on are:

• Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. I focused on the indicator that states that I will "promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

• "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." The chosen indicator that I would participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

I feel as if I am trying to focus many of my lessons on creativity and incorporating technology into more of my lessons so that I am finding my students creating a deeper level of thought. As I continue my search and focus on this indicator, I realize that I would like to set up a blog for my classroom. With this blog, I would like to utilize it mostly for my reading groups. With this done, I will be able to post questions for my students to answer. They would also be able to have discussion with their peers and participate in a book talk. I think that this would allow my students to collaborate successfully with one another while also having them work with technological skills. I am in the process of discussing how this can happen with my technology teacher.

These particular questions come to mind when thinking about this process:

1. Will I need to have each of my students create a blog account?

2. How often will I have them post?

3. What will my rubric look like for these discussions?

4. With having only 4 computers in my classroom, will I have to set aside time in the computer lab for my students to access their blog?

5. How will my groups look like and how often will I change them?

I know that there will be a lot to think about when setting this plan up, but I am really excited about it.

As far as my second indicator with learning more technology skills for my students as their teacher, I have been apart of a lot of collaboration with my peers. I have also been around to other classrooms in my building in hopes that I learn new ideas. I feel that it is important for me to continue my professional growth. I know I can always learn new teaching strategies and ideas. I have also talked with my technology teacher about workshops to attend as well. With it being close to the end of the year and with state assessments approaching, I have found it difficult to find a workshop that I can attend. I know I will have to spend more time in this area and even gather information from workshops that I have attended in the past to help my GAME plan. If I am having a hard time feeling like I am reaching this professional development goal, then I may have to come up with a different way of reaching this plan.

It is important for me to continue learning so that my students can benefit from what they learn.

Elizabeth Brindley

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

As I continue to learn more about the NETS-T standards and formulate these indicators into my GAME plan, I reflect on the standards that I have looked more closely at.

• For the first standard, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, I focused on the indicator that states that I will "promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

• The second standard chosen, was to "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership." The chosen indicator that I would participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008).

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Resources to carry out GAME plan...

I want to continue to promote creativity in my classroom. For my students to keep learning, I need to keep learning. In order to do so, I need to use resources that can benefit both me and my students. As far as learning more ways of incorporating creativity in my classroom through the use of technology, it is important for me to look more closely at the second standard, which is to engage in professional growth. By attending and participating in workshops, I will be able to improve the use of technology for my students. It is important for me to create lesson plans and activities that allow students to grow in these areas. By visiting other classrooms and discussing ideas with fellow teachers, I am able to see what type of technology they too are using in their classrooms to promote creativity and a deeper level of thinking.

Additional information...

I need to continue to learn more about how I can continue to go to workshops that will allow me to reach my goals and GAME plan as a teacher. I would also like to see what technological tools I can use in my classroom whether we have the tool, like a document camera, at school or if it is something that I can write a grant for. I would also like to continue my knowledge on sites like delicious and other web pages that can benefit my students to gain valid information off the Internet. I want my students to be challenged and become creative learners. It is important for them to use technology, but use it in a safe way.

Steps taken so far...

I have used the knowledge of our media specialist and technology teacher, to find out more ways of incorporating the use of technology with my students. Collaborating with your peers is a great way to keep learning. Sharing knowledge and individual skills with other teachers can benefit the situation and teaching styles in many ways.

Elizabeth

Resources

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

My Personal GAME Plan

As I reflect on the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) I am soon realize that I feel confident with the indicators set for teachers. After looking at all the standards, I would have to say that I feel pretty comfortable Facilitating and Inspiring Student Learning and Creativity. I think of myself as a creative person and someone who likes to generate those ideas with my students. I like to use creativity in my lessons because I have found that my students seem to be more engaged in the topic. With using creativity in the classroom, you are able to pull from and incorporate lots of different tools for the students to use.

When having to narrow down an indicator, I found that I was closely linked to being able to "promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). I feel that I have a good handle on the use of technology that I incorporate into my classroom. My students have completed Power Points, Podcasts, Voice Threads and are also using the computer daily for research, writers workshop, and online skills practice. Though this year, I have seen my students feeling more comfortable with using these tools as well. I feel that with this knowledge I can "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" (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008). For example, I have created profiles on an online site, Study Island, for my students. With this program, my students are able to access their accounts and work on skills that they need to practice. Not only can I monitor their work, but they too can see their progress.

When students are able to set goals for themselves, take actions for those goals, monitor their progress effectively and evaluate their outcome, they are able to follow the GAME plan. I think that it is important for not only the teacher to follow this plan, but for students to understand and follow through with it as well. I think this idea gives a sense of ownership to students.

With every teacher, there is always room to improve ones ability and learn more. As a teacher, I know that it is important to continue learning. Looking at the standards, I know that I am a true believer of collaborating with peers and setting ideas out there. However, I am one to do as I am told and not necessary lead. This year, I have been put more into leading roles. I know that I am more than comfortable and confident in these roles. I wish however that when looking at the standard that refers to "Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership" through the use of technology, that I was able to show off what my students have been working on to not only the other teachers, but through our community. I know that with the indicator that states that I "participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning", I know I could be doing more of that. (International Society for Technology in Education, 2008) As a teacher that knows it is important to keep learning, I know that it is important to continue the use of technology in the classroom with new skills and ideas. I also know that if I could become more of a leader in this area, I would be able to achieve the indicator that states that I"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 know that there are many teachers in the building that do not feel as comfortable using technology in their classroom as much as I do. I think if I were to make "modeling these tools" my GAME plan, I would be able to set my goal of reaching out to these teachers and starting them on simple projects of using technology in the classroom. With that, I could take action by helping these teachers incorporate a technological tool in their classroom, by showing them how easy these tools can be (especially for students). I think once these teachers are shown how to use these tools, they would too feel more comfortable. I then would make a plan for how the teacher and myself would monitor the progress. We would look at not only the skills of the teacher, but the skills of our learners. How are the tools being used? Is this strategy effective? How often are we incorporating technology in our classroom? After that, we would evaluate how the lessons were going. Are our students learning in a way that is beneficial to them? How have their grades been effected by incorporating these tools? How is the level of comfortability in both students and teachers?

LIke I mentioned before, every teacher can find a way to improve their teaching style. There is always room to continue learning. With this in mind, both teacher and student will be engaged during the learning process.

Elizabeth

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