GAME Plan with Students

The NETS standards for students are a good compliment to the teachers’ standards. In fact, most of the standards are isomers of each other. For example, teachers are to demonstrate good ethical use of technology. Students are to demonstrate that they use technology in an appropriate way. Upon closer inspection, most of the standards work in this way. Based on some of the work done in the Walden courses, I could see myself doing a similar style of assignment with my students. I would introduce my students to all of the standards and discuss each one with them. As they year progressed, I would ask them to use a GAME plan in implementing the standards as they went through different technology assignments during the school year. These GAME plans could be uploaded into their ePearl portfolios to show that they have been thinking about and using the NETS standards in their work.


As I look at the standards, these are the many of the things I ask my students to do on a regular basis. These standards are very closely related to my provincial technology curriculum (http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/show_me/continuum.html). One of the toughest areas for my students in using technology is the aspect of safe, legal, and responsible use of technology. Sometimes my students forget that most of the technology they use at school is not their own. In some cases, students tend to use copyright material without permission. Other times students purposefully try to access inappropriate web sites by getting around divisional blocks. Although these incidents are low, they do happen. Here is where my teaching and examples of proper use of technology can be a guide for my students. However, if students are more aware of standards they are to work toward, this can serve as incentive for achievement. I teach middle years, and at this age, students love contests with structure. If they are to begin setting goals, taking action, monitoring, and evaluating their work towards their goal, they can start telling you and showing you that they have used technology in a proper and ethical way. It is the "look what I did" mentality.

GAME plans can be multifaceted and have uses in many applications in our everyday lives and in our professions. The NETS-T and NETS-S are only two examples where GAME plans can be implemented. Teachers are told to be reflective practitioners. When teachers use GAME plans it becomes a systematic way to be reflective. There is a focus and purpose. If students have a purpose and focus for their assignments, learning and projects become more meaningful.

References:

Literacy with ICTAcross the Curriculum; A Developmental Continuum located at http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/tech/lict/show_me/continuum.html

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.blogger.com/goog_1849475459
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) located at http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Student_2007_EN.sflb.ashx