Time
has been my largest struggle in Pursuing my GAME plan. As I have mentioned in previous posts, working full time, being a husband/father
full time, in grade school full time, and mix in holiday weekend and the end of
a school year there is literally no free time in my day. As much as I want to pursue my GAME plan and
use the resources that I have found I simply cannot see where it will all
fit. Can anyone else relate to
this? I think I need to apply what one
of the teachers from the week 1 resources suggested (Laureate Education,
n.d.) and set aside 15 minutes of my
work day to read blogs or experiment with apps.
If it is structured into my day I will have more accountability in
actually using the resources that I have found.
At this
time I do not need to make any major modifications to my GAME plan. I believe that I have good goals in place it
is more of a matter of disciplining me to more actively pursue them. As my school year winds down there will be
more time available to pursue my GAME plan goals.
In my pursuit of getting more
involved in what my district is doing with technology I have come to find that
the districts technology committee has disbanded due to lack of
participation. After speaking with my
districts technology director I informed her that in spite of there not being a
technology committee any more that I would like to be involved as best I
can. She was pretty receptive and
excited by my offer. I have also learned
that there are plenty of opportunities to receive professional development in
my area.
As I am
looking for ways to integrate more technology into my teaching and trying to be
better prepared, one of the questions that I am wrestling with is
equitability. I am unsure if all my
students have the same access or comfort level with technology than
others. How can I accommodate this? What if the technology is a hindrance for
some students? Should they be punished
or held accountable for not being able to adequately use certain types of
technology? When I have more time,
hopefully I will be able to dive deeper into these questions.
References
Laureate Education, Inc.
(Executive Producer). (n.d.). Integrating technology across the content
areas: Promoting self-directed learning with technology. Baltimore, MD:
Author.
David,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you addressed the issue of time in your blog post this week. I completely agree and can relate to what you are experiencing in terms of not having enough time to accomplish what you want to. I’m positive that almost every other teacher feels the same way. I do think that building time into your daily or even weekly routine would significantly help create more opportunities for this professional growth. Maybe that is something that you could set up with another teacher so that you have someone to collaborate with on it. I know that whenever I have something actually scheduled with another person I am way more likely to follow through because I am accountable to someone other than myself. You could start small and try like fifteen minutes or half an hour once a week at a specific time.
In terms of your question about equitability, I think technology is just like anything else in the fact that students ability levels will range. I always try and keep in mind that equitable doesn’t necessarily mean equal. So some of your students will need quite a bit more support than others. But maybe you can set it up so that, instead of that responsibility falling totally on you, some of your students can support and help one another.
Anyway don’t get discouraged! I think you are definitely on the right track and, even if it’s just small little changes, you sound like you are constantly striving to improve your teaching.
Lindsay
Hi David,
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to what you said in your post this week. Finding the time to pursue the NETS-T goals we set out to or even other goals is difficult. You really do have to make an effort to build time into an already busy schedule. I am currently juggling much of the same things you are and understand the struggle. I found picking a certain time each day to work on my professional development has been helpful. I arrive early to school and usually take the first 15 minutes at work, while I'm eating my breakfast at my desk, to read new blogs or magazines I subscribe to. I have found that first thing in the morning works best because I am not trying to deal with too many other things. I am there before most of my colleagues so it is quiet and I am not interrupted by anyone. I would definitely recommend planning a section of time each day to dedicate to your goal. Best of luck!
Marissa