Week 8 Reflection

As this class comes to an end, I am reflecting on my GAME plan. As the new year begins, I plan to continue focusing on Internet safety. As I mentioned before, each of my 8th grade students has access to a laptop for use at school and at home. While this provides great educational opportunities, it also presents a few problems. Our school has struggled during the process of making sure that each student has proof of insurance before taking their computer home. While this does not sound like much, the paperwork can be quite a hassle. Also, each teacher must check at the end of the school day to make sure that students without insurance have returned their computers to the cart. The reason we have to be so strict on this policy relates to the number of broken computers and parents who would not or could not pay to fix them. It is unfortunate that not all students can take their computers home. Because of this, the learning experience is extended for only a portion of our students.

Since many of our students are able to take their computers home, we do need to have a technology management plan in place for students who misuse the technology. We have had a few students loose computer privileges due to accessing inappropriate material or intimidating or bullying other students. This can be very difficult to monitor. For this reason, as teachers we must teach our students about internet safety and responsibility. This is a daunting task, one that I will continue to focus on with my students.