Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Kids need to be more than proficient and integrating technology is a great way to provide was way for all students to blossom (Laureate Education, 2009). Last week I blogged about developing and strengthening my strategies for integrating technology into my afterschool programs through the use of a GAME plan. The three national Educational Standards for Teachers, NETS-T indicators that I chose to focus on are:

2a. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

3c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital media and formats.

5b. Exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others (2008). 

                  This week I have participated in a webinar called Engaging Families Using High and Low Tech Strategies with guest speaker Joe Mazza (Manhattan Strategy Group, 2015). This fantastic webinar was geared directly to afterschool programs and ways to develop and strengthen two-way communication between families and schools. Mazza recommended sending out quick parent surveys that asked families how they prefer to access program information. He explained that emails and newsletters are not the most effective ways of sharing exciting program news, reminders, and events. I have to agree. I send out dozens of emails a week to the tutors facilitating the afterschool programs and unless they respond I have no idea if they really read and benefited from the information. The same can be said for the family and staff newsletters. By sending out tweets families will have easy access to the day’s events from which to build conversations with their child (Manhattan Strategy Group, 2015). NETS-T 3c & 5b

                  Using a social media tool such as Twitter may provide an exciting and easily accessable way to communicate with parents and tutors. Another way that I would like to explore increasing communication between tutors in the larger program involves Voxer; a mobile messaging system for teams. “Voxer combines the power of live voice with text and photo sharing” (Voxer.com, 2015). In this large program the groups are spread out throughout the school and occasionally take field trips. Using a mobile messaging tool would help the lead teacher keep track of the groups and more quickly address issues. Our local techie has reported that Voxer takes up little data and will work on any smart phone. She has also agreed to test out Voxer with me so that I have a better understanding of this communication tool (Voxer.com, 2015). NETS-T 3c & 5b

                  During my most recent tutor training sessions this past week I shared my desire to utilize blogs in place of traditional paper journals. I am delighted to report that I have three sites that are interested in blogging with their students. All three of the sites have access to technology and I have created a class that will support up to 50 users for free with kidblog. I have been suggesting this tool for a few months and I am so thrilled that I have tutors on board. Our plan is to use one class for all three sites so that students can communicate with friends, teachers, and peers throughout the district. NETS-T 2a, 3c, & 5b.

                  Last week I set a goal for myself to create a few how-to videos for the tutors who may need additional training or have missed a training session. I am happy to report that creating, posting, and sharing my Jing screencasts was a success!!! I shared my creations with coworkers and they were pretty impressed with this new addition to the training tools. It has provided a great venue for differentiating learning activities so that tutors are provided with another way of accesses important information (Laureate Education, 2009). I think I will create another screencast showing how to create a screencast so that tutors have a tool for creating screencasts of their own. I think it would be amazing if I could get students on board to create videos for their tutors on how to integrate technology into the afterschool program so that they can teach their teachers and have an opportunity to showcase their own talents in the afterschool programs (Laureate Education, 2009).

Still to do:

·       Learn more about gcast through instructional videos and blog posts.

·       Become more fluent with kidblog and create instructional videos for tutors.

·       Become more confident and find out exactly what a # does in a twitter through                       instructional videos on  http://www.leadlearner.com/learntwitter/twitterbasics/

Got a minute and want to know more? Check out these sites.

Engaging Families Using High & Low Tech Strategies webinar: http://youtu.be/b34zC7uUmxU

Joe Mazza’s blog: Lead Learner http://www.leadlearner.com/

Voxer: Mobile messaging for teams http://www.voxer.com/

Any Meeting: free web conferencing https://www.anymeeting.com

Resources

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas: Meeting students' needs with technology, part 2. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Manhattan Strategy Group. (2015, January 21). Webinar: Engaging Families Using High & Low Tech Strategies. Retrieved from  http://youtu.be/b34zC7uUmxU

Voxer.com (2015). Retrieved from www.voxer.com