GAME Plan Continued…
Posted on: November 25, 2009
- Are you finding the information and resources you need?
Yes and no. While I am coming up with new ideas to integrate more technology in the classroom, I am running into many roadblocks. Most of these roadblocks are a result of internet filter at school. I have voiced my complaints with this problem before but it continues to get worse and even more frustrating. I really want to use VoiceThread and it is blocked. I want to show a video of something and the websites are blocked. I want to play a German song, blocked. German online newspaper? Online radio station? German blogs? Blocked, blocked, blocked. I have found a way around the YouTube block. I can download and save the video on my home computer and email it to myself so I can open it at school so I can share it with my students. So integrating more technology using the internet is turning out to be a lot of trouble.
- Do you need to modify your action plan?
Modifying the plan is probably something that needs to be done, but I am not sure how. I can continue to have students make their own Power Point presentations and attempt to find web resources online that are not blocked, but this is not incredibly exciting. I need to find more methods of technology that I can use, but I am not exactly sure where to start. Suggestions?
- What have you learned so far?
I have learned that something that should be moderately easy to do is actually much more difficult to accomplish. I am not sure why certain websites are blocked, especially when I am learning in this program how great these resources are for education.
- What new questions have arisen?
The main question I have is where do I go from here? Because I have already integrated some technology in the classroom, what new technologies should I try to incorporate from here? What do I do if I discover the technology cannot be used at school? And I am still unsure of what new technologies I should try.
I suppose this is a very negative post. For what it is worth, I do enjoy using the technology that I am already currently using in my classroom, but I am looking forward to using more and it seems like such a distant dream at the moment. Hopefully it will get easier and I will be able to post something more positive in the near future.
And thank you in advance to any of my classmates who have any new ideas for me to try!
4 Responses to "GAME Plan Continued…"
November 29, 2009 at 7:38 am
Hi Stephanie,
It saddens me to read how much you’re struggling with your GAME plan. I just find it ridiculous how something like VoiceThread could be blocked. I think the people in charge of that sort of thing just do a blanket block of whatever they feel like without even knowing what they’re blocking. Your case is especially troubling because you’re doing something very similar to what I’m doing and I wanted so badly to see you succeed.
Is there any way you can… I don’t know, maybe submit the website you’re going to use so that they are unblocked? What I mean is maybe submit a list to whoever’s in charge, describing what you’re doing and what each website is for, and maybe for once they’ll actually visit the website and really understand… I don’t know, I don’t have those issues so far, but who knows down the road, right? I don’t even want to think about it.
I wish you all the best, and my suggestion is that you keep at it, you have formulated a wonderful plan and the people in charge would be foolish not to allow you to carry it out.
November 30, 2009 at 1:08 am
Kevin and Cesar,
Thank you so much for your comments. There is a way for me to get websites unblocked, but it is just a bit of a pain to do it. I have to submit a proposal and then wait for it to be approved, which takes a few weeks. And in addition to that, they re-block the websites after a while so if I want to use VoiceThread again in the future, there is a good chance it will be blocked again and I will have to do everything over again.
I am being a bit of a Debbie Downer, but it gets frustrating to have to jump through all the hoops.
Thanks for your support and I hope you both had a great Thanksgiving holiday!
November 30, 2009 at 6:58 am
That does stink and I wish it could have been easier for you. I don’t blame you for not wanting to start something if you knowingly will have to do it over again from scratch. Good luck!!!
Frau's Blog 
November 26, 2009 at 5:51 am
First off, you just reminded me that I need to get it together. I jumbled my responses with the questions that were asked and sprinkled it with some rambling. Quite simply, thank you for organizing your responses and utilizing effective spacing.
I am no expert at all with integrating technology, but I am not sure if you should be looking for MORE technology to create. Should you work on making improvements to what has already been incorporated or integrate and expose students to all of the technology possible? I wish I knew the answer and share it with you, but unfortunately, I am a disappointment.
I love your statement about what is so easy to do has become very difficult to learn. I am completely on the same page with that.
Here’s my suggestion or input; contact your librarian or media specialist and inquire about possible options for bypassing the filter. Our school also has ridiculous filters placed in our servers and shelter students from the wonderful internet. We have a librarian that prefers to be called a media specialist. I told her about a lesson that we were doing that required students to find videos and crop together a small collage online and post to our class blog. Almost every student had difficulty doing this in our school computer lab (filled with computers running windows 95 and 98) because most of the useful videos were posted to Youtube, and therefore, OUTLAWED by the school’s online sheriff. She told me that she could assign me a user id and password that I could enter anytime a filter blocked a site and it would grant me access to any site of my choosing for any amount of time I so desired. I have never had a problem since and have shared my information with teachers that have experienced such problems. Go to your person that controls some aspect of technology in your building and they should be able to help you out.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING,
Kevin