How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals? I've turned to a commonly known site, Brain Pop to help my 4th graders begin to understand digital citizenship and safety. This site offers easy to comprehend information in these areas and offers fun summarizing activities.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice? I'm still in the process of learning to take more time with having students practice using technology effectively than simply using it as a tool to search for unnecessary information. I desire for them to be aware that the Internet is a resource just like a magazine, an encyclopedia, a book, etc. Plus, that it can only be effective for instruction when utilized correctly. This will take some time as students practice digital citizenship activities before they can connect with students of other communities.
What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen? I still must learn rules and regulations regarding my students' Internet usage. I am at a place of concern as to what I can and cannot teach them when it comes to Internet products, and how they can legally access what they need to produce outcomes. Is there a site I can go to that explains this in layman's terms? Something I can print off and keep with my lesson plans?
How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs? In adjusting the plan to fit current needs, I will begin with scaffolding the activities to fit students' learning needs. Not all of our students come to us with an understanding of what the Internet is and frequently they do not have it in their homes. Therefore, they require scaffolds to reach higher levels of understanding and performance than would be possible without them (Ertmer & Simons, 2006).

Ertmer, P., & Simons, K. (Spring 2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting the efforts of K-12 teachers. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1), 40-54.

GAME plan revision:

1. Resources I need: online discussions with other educators who've taught this and were successful; additional courses on digital citizenship; keeping up-to-date with revisions to Internet laws, regulations, etc.
2. Modify the action plan: Focus on teaching digital citizenship at this time. Students need to understand and practice Internet "manners" before they can reach out and learn from other communities and cultures.
3. What have I learned so far? I'm learning not to rush into this. The prospect of knowing what students can learn from using the Internet is exciting, but can be overwhelming. I need to thoroughly understand digital citizenship before I can effectively teach it. This would include students being aware of those websites that are bias and/or bogus. Additionally, they need to know how to properly cite Internet sources they use for reports; plus verify author, date, and information authenticity.
4. Do I have new questions? Is there a reliable website on digital citizenship? What is appropriate for 4th graders to know? How much should they know right now?

Intended Learning Strategy for my GAME plan:

• will vary according to specific outcomes being obtained

Resources needed to carry out the plan:

• sustained cultural awareness, effective Internet service, experts in the field, time to implement, additional courses, funding
• additional information needed:
• students' family and cultural backgrounds
• Steps obtained thus far:
• attending technology and cultural awareness courses through Walden University
• collaborating with other educators

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility: d: develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools.

5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership: a: participate in local and global communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning.

Goals: attend additional professional learning courses to improve modeling digital citizenship and responsibility; collaborate with colleagues in house and through the web for communication resources with other communities and cultures; set time aside for practice and application before presenting this to my students. Internet safety for students is crucial; therefore, a major goal is to be sure students have the necessary tools to navigate safely on the web. Along with this, students must understand that the information on the web isn't their's and they will know how to give credit to sources on the Internet.

Action: The information I will need to meet these goals are cultural awareness for other teachers and students of differing geographies around the globe. Further, effective instruction and guidance provided by a digital communication specialist in the above areas is essential for my learning in this field. Also, I plan to search the Internet for valid resources of specific content related to my state's curriculum standards.

Monitor: I would like to monitor these goals through the use of blogging with colleagues and taking personal notes along the way. Also, I would like to begin this process with a small activity to determine its outcome-perhaps engage in communicating with an online source such as epals.com.

Evaluate and extend: to determine if I have met these goals, if the initial activity of communicating with epals is effective, I will transfer to a specific technological strategy focusing on content area. For this to be successful, small steps must be taken before I can plan a larger, more involved project.

Many of the other standards I observed from NETS-S offered technological instruction indicators that I would like to begin now, such as designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments. However, I chose the two above because I believe they offer background specifics for utilizing the Internet and the reasons for its application. So often, students have selfish motives for gathering information from the web, and they need to understand how to give credit for this information, understand how other students learn through technology, and how we can learn so much from each other through our combined efforts.

Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Mason, OH. Cengage Learning.

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