Blog 2 Week 3: Carrying Out My GAME Plan

This week I have continued to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in my chosen standards for integrating technology into my world history instruction as well as creating classes to teach my peers technology skills to implement in their classrooms.

What resources will you need to carry out your plan (video, reading, experts or colleagues, etc)?
In order to be successful in both areas of my GAME Plan, I need plenty of resources. To redesign lesson plans that incorporate technology, I need access to technology. Unfortunately, my school has below average access to technology. I only have one computer in my room that is hooked up to a tv. In order to use one of 3 computer labs available on my campus of 3,000 students, I have to reserve them well in advance. Luckily, for 2 of my classes, I can make arrangements with an English teacher to switch classrooms so I can use the computers in his classroom, but I still have to make arrangements well in advance. Since I am limited to computers as my technology resource, I just have to figure out how to incorporate computers. I can’t require that my students use computers outside of the school day since many of them do not have computers and of those who do, not all of them have internet access. I will be able to use my own lesson plans in order to teach my World History PLC group specifically how to integrate technology into their lesson plans. I will utilize the expertise of experts in the field who will be presenting at the two conferences I will be attending this year in order to add to the lessons I will be presenting to my peers.

What additional information do you need?
Realistically, the main thing I need is find a grant to get more technology in my classroom. Usually grants want you to explain how you would use the technology, so if I design lessons to use certain pieces of technology, I can use them to apply for a grant. For now, I would also need to include how to complete the lessons without that additional technology. For teaching the classes, the additional information I need is what type of technology classes my peers at the high school want to participate in.

What steps have you been able to take so far?
So far, I have been able to examine the lessons coming up in the next few chapters and figure out which ones would be most conducive to incorporating technology. I am slowly planning out how much time my students will need in the computer lab and planning on when they would need this access. Once I have figured out when they need to access the computer lab, I can make arrangements with the English teacher to switch classrooms for the week. As part of the Technology Team, I have suggested that we survey our peers to find out what they want to know. That is supposed to take place at our next staff meeting.