Game Plan- App2

As an educator in the Twenty-first Century, I feel it is imperative to teach my students that they have a responsibility to be respectful of beliefs and opinions of all others. I believe it is important to teach them it is alright not to agree with everyone all the time but respect the choices and stances that they take. Students need to learn that actions have consequences and that these consequences may be life altering. I think that I discuss this in my class but not as effectively and as globally as I should. When reviewing the NETS-T's I find this relates to number 4: Promoting and Modeling Digital Citizenship and Responsibility. I feel I need to work on Part D: Developing and modeling cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using
digital-age communication and collaboration tools. I don't feel I have used technology to do this. My school does not have much diversity and I feel I need to use web-cam's and other Web 2.0 tools to aid me in this venture.

Another problem I found when looking over the NETS-T was with number 5. Engaging in Professional Growth and Leadership- Part a: participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning. I feel that the learning communities that I belong to should be expanded. I believe my connections here at Walden have helped me dramatically but I need to reach further than that. The unknown makes me a bit uneasy but I must step out of my comfort zone for my student's.

Goals- Since this school year is drawing to a close, I hope to set up a web cast with biology class in another school by November of next year. This will allow me to make more connections professionally and also allow my students to learn about the students in a different school who may be different from them.

Actions- I will start the exploration process beginning with the connections I have right now. My librarian and other colleges, have children and former teachers around the world who may help me on this adventure.

Monitor- I am going to set my self my time table and also work this into the minutes of our department meetings. This way the department can keep tabs on my progress and call me to task if need be.

Evaluate & Extend- Utilizing my students feed back will be the best way to evaluate my progress. I hope that the technical aspects work first and foremost. However, I want my students to learn that all just because a student is in a different state or type of school they have similar responsibilities that they have. I also want them to see that the opinions that they have may or may not be similar to the ones of others. After the initial web cast, I hope to have them quarterly. This way the students can have debates on what we are learning, the best way to learn specific topics, and maybe utilize cross curricular connections with an English class to have the students write business letters to them.

Resource
http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf