The third step in the process of a GAME plan is monitoring the progress of the plan and your actions to reach your goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). When I first established my goals I stated that I would review my progress at the end of each week to ensure that I was staying on task and implement the strategies that I need to become successful. Although I review my GAME plan each week I still feel as though I am a bit overwhelmed with all of the information and still appear to be in the initial stages of implementation. Although I know I am working towards my overall goals, I feel as if there has been little tangible progress made in my GAME plan that I can show to my colleagues. I think I may keep a copy of my plan with me when I am looking at my lessons to ensure I am staying on task and making smart changes that will benefit my students.
Overall, I have been fairly successful in find the resources I need to make my GAME plan a reality and finding time to bring my resources into the classroom. I have been scouring the Internet, utilizing professional journals and asking other professionals to find possible ideas for integrating technology into my lessons. I have gained many great ideas that I hope to modify to make them useful in my classroom including multimedia learning journals and lessons that incorporate digital cameras into the classroom. Among the websites I have found for suggestions on lessons as well as video and audio clips are:
http://www.pbs.org/teachers/
http://www.uen.org/general_learner/multimedia_resources.shtml
http://www.teachersdomain.org/collection/k12/socst/
www.americanrhetoric.com
http://www.teach-nology.com/ideas/technology/
Secondly, I have realized that my initial hope of modifying lessons to create minimal work when integrating technology is much more difficult than I initially thought. Some lessons can be changed easily but others need to be completely revised starting from scratch. This causes another issue, that of time to redo the lessons to make them worthwhile for use in the classroom. I usually look at all of my lessons for the unit and change only those where technology, particularly multimedia can be implemented easily and where it makes sense in the lessons. As described in our resources, not all lessons need to incorporate technology, particularly if it doesn’t make sense to change the lesson when the students are understanding the material (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This part of my GAME plan may need to be modified to allow for a more narrow approach focusing on fewer lessons to hopefully gain more results than I feel I am gaining currently.
However, one part of my GAME plan that I have successful in implementing is adding lessons that teach in a real world fashion to my classroom. I seek to use the Internet and the Smartboard to bring current events in the world news directly into the classroom and assign work based upon how the topics we are learning connect directly to the student’s lives. I have also begun using more lessons that allow the students a more hands on approach to their learning by allowing them to choose their own topic and conduct their own research, displaying their findings to the rest of the class. However, this was something that had begun before this class and as such I have had more time to work out the kinks in this part of my continuing GAME plan.
I have also begun interviewing students informally regarding the use of technology in the classroom to work on the assessment portion of my plan (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This is done via a survey where the students are asked what they liked about the lesson, if they thought the technology was worthwhile and what they would do differently. So far the results have been interesting with mostly positive feedback on the lessons. However, there is a small group of the student’s population that does not seem to like the use of these tools for lessons. This raises the question of why these students are not finding these tools to be helpful and what can be done differently. At this point I need to examine this group of students further to examine whether different tools can be utilized to close the gap between the instruction and the students themselves. I have also collected data from the last two lessons that I hope to compare to data before this technology was implemented. This should provide a glimpse of whether the technology is closely matched to the learning objectives and my teaching methods (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). This data will once again allow me to make any necessary changes to bring more students into my lessons.
When reflecting on my work to date, I know I am on the right track but there is still much work to be done. At this point I feel like I need to keep on the path I am headed but plan my next steps carefully as to not deviate from my end goals.
Lastly, on a completely different note, I want to throw out a thought for a lesson that I have been playing with for some time. This lesson could either be for my current Global Studies class (which may be difficult to implement) or for a US history honors class that I have next year. I want to use a GPS system in my classroom to construct a sort of treasure hunt centered around a main theme in history. The teacher could either provide the coordinates for items to find and have the students find them, examine what they mean and create a multimedia project on their findings or the students could create the treasure hunt and pass it on to other members of the class to find. This would engage the students fully into the material and allow them to actively participate in their learning. However, there are some complications that arise in this lesson. The first is the amount of time needed for this lesson to be constructed and be implemented. The time is significant but the learning experience if done correctly could be remembered for a lifetime. Secondly, although many people have a GPS system, not everyone has access to this technology. I would need to ensure that someone in the group had the technology available for use and pair members carefully. Lastly, I will need to gain the permission of the school system and parents to send the students outside the confines of the school itself to gain information. At this point this lesson is still up in the air with much planning to do. However, I think it is possible and could be a wonderful experience if done correctly.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts both on my GAME plan and also on my lesson.
Randy
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program Seven: Assessing
Student Learning with Technology.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD
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Hi Randy,
ReplyDeleteThank you once again for sharing such a thoughtful and thorough post. Regarding the lesson plan idea that you are contemplating, my grade just completed a similar project using classroom sets of iTouchs. The project had a Math/Social Studies focus and the students were assigned to different streets around our town. On a couple of walking trips they collected data such as pictures, times, etc...back in class they did research on their street - history, repurposed spaces, commerce, etc. In Math, they created timed tours based on all their artifacts. I think the initial plan was to utilize GPS coordinates, but unfortunately I'm not sure how that worked for them.
Creating a treasure hunt is a fantastic idea that I'm sure your students would greatly enjoy. I wonder if they can use their cell phones and cameras as tools?
In my classroom, I'm back to my old cellphone tricks...owe me homework? Signed progress report? You must take my picture and set it as your screen saver until your work is passed in! Not 100% effective, but even if a student goes through the trouble of taking it OFF their phone, at least they have to stop and remember their homework for a minute...a minute they wouldn't have even had without technology. I even emailed a mom today to tell her and ask that she check her son's phone to make sure my pic was still set as the home screen...insert evil laugh. ;)
Between your GAME plan goals, active research and new ideas blossoming in your head, you definitely are committed to technology integration; YOU are a creative thinker!
Best,
Melissa
Randy,
ReplyDeleteI have really been enjoying following your blog and your GAME plan during this course. You have some great ideas. I believe that history/social studies is so very related to English/language arts and I find your ideas quite inspiring. I think you have gotten off to a great start here so far. I would say you are going in the right direction. Just keep at it. I know I am not by any means the technology guru, but as the one who seems to be trying to bring my lessons and my class to technologically up-to-date before anyone else I teach with, I will confess I find myself doing the same thing. I scour publications, journals, the web, and the lessons of other teachers for ideas, methods, and just plain inspiration. I’m so going to benefit from reading your posts every week.
In the mean time, I think the treasure hunt can be doable. You may have to look for who has access to such devices. However, don’t just think about the Garmin and TomTom type devices. Smart phones have the same abilities. As an iPhone user, I know there are many apps that allow for such GPS functions. And those same apps have versions for other smart phones. Surely your students aren’t that different form mine. While many of my students only have basic phones, there are always several who have smart phones. You could probably find enough in one class to form several groups. Also, I don’t know a lot about it, but you might want to look into geocaching. I’ve never done any geocaching, but I have several friends on facebook who do and frequently talk about it. I didn’t really know what they were talking about, so I looked it up to see just what it is. When you mentioned a treasure hunt with GPS, I immediately thought about geocaching. Just a thought.
Keep it up, you’re doing great.
Randy,
ReplyDeleteI loved reading your post for this week. It was extremely thorough and thought provoking, and it seems like you have some great ideas for your classroom.
I would not worry too much about the small group of students that does not seem to like the addition of technology into your class. From my experience, there are always going to be a few students who will never like anything that you do simply because you are a teacher. That small group of students probably hate going to school and there is little you can do to satisfy them. Concentrate your energy on the students who do seem to like the technology and perhaps those other students will eventually fall into place.
Also, I would be hesitant about having your students work off campus. It can easily provide too much of an opportunity for students to not complete work and using their time ineffectively. I have conducted lessons in which students film a short screenplay they have written for an assignment, but when they go around or off campus to shoot the films, some of the students use it as an excuse to ditch for part of the block. However, I guess it would also depend upon your student population. I teach mostly at-risk students in a semi-urban setting so most of my students have had negative experiences with school. You know your student base better than anybody, so perhaps they can leave the school grounds if you have some restrictions in place they must abide by.
Anyway, keep up the great work you seem to be placing into your GAME plan. I am sure it will definitely pay off for you and your students.