In an effort to make change my GAME plan from a plan to a reality, I have already acquired an important resource. That resource is my vice principal and her assistance and enthusiasm. To be honest, she misses the classroom, so she is pretty excited about participating in the planning of this plan. Unfortunately, the acquisition of the second resource, hardware, has momentarily stumped me. Right now, our school is conducting school-wide MAPs (measure of academic progress) testing. As students take this test on the computer, our one computer lab will be unavailable for the next three weeks. As soon as this is done, the 8th grade social studies classes will have the computer lab for a minimum of two weeks to finish up their classroom based assessments or CBAs which are a state-mandated assessment. Since the computer lab is unavailable for the next month to a month and a half, it is not surprising that our one lap-top cart is in pretty high demand during this time period. While having our computers booked to this extent is somewhat unusual, it is not at all unusual for there to only be limited availability. Scheduling the computer lab around testing and other teacher’s projects is possibly going to be one of the biggest challenges of my GAME plan. Quite simply, it will be difficult to incorporate technology into my lessons on a regular basis when there is such limited technology availability at my school. It won’t be impossible, just challenging.
Other sources I will have to use are my colleagues. I need ideas, lots and lots of ideas. Simply trying to come up with technology strategies that I have never tried before and implementing at least one a month is somewhat intimidating. Beyond that, the strategy has to fit with what I am teaching at that time. I am new to my school’s seventh grade team and therefore, did not participate in the development of our current curriculum. Everything is new to me, and although I have some leeway, I am expected to be teaching the same skills at approximately the same time as the other seventh grade teachers. Because different technology strategies work better with different subject areas, the more ideas or strategies I have the better. So, with this in mind, our next history chapter is on the Oregon Trail. If anyone has ideas for incorporating technology with this subject area, I would love to hear about them. As I said before; the more ideas the better.
Dan,
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize with you on the lack of technology resources. Last semester I had only 2 student computers in my classroom, which I supplemented with my personal laptop and my desk pc. Unfortunately, the computer lab at our school was being used for classes and it was December before we even had a computer cart (2 were purchased for the English department and testing). What I did was to "schedule" computer time within my classroom by groups. Luckily, now I have access to the computer carts and at the moment very few are using them for student activities, so I am lucky in that respect. However, as time passes and I am more successful at getting others to use technology, I know I will be competing for cart use, but I would see that as a positive stage.
As for the Oregon Trail project, have your students role play being pioneers or indians. Then, instead of writing out memoirs you might have them e-mail each other or even blog about their "Oregon Trail" experiences. I love role play ideas because it puts the student at the center and provides numerous avenues for using technology.
Thanks for the input. My students always enjoy role playing, and if they are able to demonstrate their learning through email or blogging, or anything to do with technology for that matter, they enjoy it even more.
ReplyDeleteDan I enjoyed reading your blog post. It seems like you are very excited to b implementing your GAME plan. The fact that you have your Vice Principal backing your plan up and helping out is very encouraging.
ReplyDeleteI understand your furstration with the limited technology in your building. Do you have an interwrite board or smartboard in your classroom? I know that you can develop lesson plans that will allow your students to interact with the board using it as a larning tool for them, allowing them to be bengaged and interactive with the lessons.
Also, do your students have any access outside of the classroom to the internet? I encourage my students to go to the public library to get their assignmments done ...as well as doing them at home if they have access at home. I usually push assignment due dates out a week or so, if it seems that the students are having a hard time gaining access outside of the classroom.
Keep pushing forward and be patient, there are so many things out of our control...our focus needs to remain on the things we can control and improve.
Nice post!