GAME Plan Reflection Post

Reflection Blog Post

Learning to use technology and then applying what you have learned into the classroom is something that a teacher must constantly do throughout their professional career (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This statement holds true as teachers in order to best teach their students, must constantly be honing their own technological skills and expanding their teaching repertoire with the goal of connecting to every student in the classroom. Throughout this course we have been immersed into new material and new ways to use technology, learning a variety of new strategies useful to the classroom teacher. These strategies have provided ideas for individualized lessons and the customization of content area instruction allowing us to accommodate the needs of an increasingly diverse population of students that are entering our classroom today. This final assignment is broken into two parts, with the first looking at our work throughout our GAME plan, identifying what we have learned and taken from the course. The second part of this assignment identifies any immediate changes that I will make in the classroom as a result of my new skill set.

One of the biggest gains from this course came in the form of my own personal GAME plan. This plan provided me with specific guidelines to reach my goals where before I often relied on vague ideas and strategies accompanied with a little luck to reach my end goal. Using the GAME plan I found allowed me to first identify my goal, something I often did, but then took it a step farther finding then best possible to reach my goals and ensuring my actions stayed in line with where I eventually wanted to go within a specific period of time (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Basically, the GAME plan took an informal process that I often struggled with before this course and made it more formal allowing me to focus my attention on constructing activities to reach my goals. With the process being clearly outlined I was able to stay on task throughout the entire process monitoring my work as I worked and finally evaluating what I did and where I needed to go to expand my work. This process proved invaluable and will be something I continue to use in my own work and also something that I will pass onto my students, allowing them a more active role in their own learning.

I also learned that using a GAME plan will allow me to take difficult goals and work at them slowly yet efficiently in order to make them a reality. Often when goals are hard even the most diligent professional may find them tedious to implement. This plan allows four steps to be used in order to make the entire process more manageable with a focus on each specific step during the course of the work (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). This I feel is one of the greatest strengths of a GAME plan and something I will pass on to my students during my class. In global studies, the work is often seen as boring and difficult for many students. Using the GAME plan with my own students, particularly when they are working on a longer project with allow them to break the material and work down into sections, reducing stress and creating a stronger end product. I found that even though this plan may seem time consuming and difficult at first glance, the benefits greatly outweigh the time it takes to use and learn the strategy. My hopes are that this benefit will transfer into the classroom setting without much difficulty to assist the learning process and the amount of information the students are able to glean from the material.

Another strong take away throughout my GAME plan was the discovery of many different tools that can be useful in my classroom. Through my work and actions to reach my identified goals in my GAME plan I found is that there are many different online resources that are available to assist me in bringing authentic learning experiences into my classroom (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). The first thing I found was there are a multitude of different websites that have multimedia images, audio and video clips available for the students and the teacher. This information engages the students in a way that simply reading or listening to text will not do. I also, found many different websites that allow for online interactions with other students and experts allowing students to collaborate with others breaking down the limitations of the classroom walls. Students are much more eager to learn the material when they are able to find the information on their own and discuss their findings with others, both inside and outside of the classroom. My work on the GAME plan allowed me the opportunity to find these resources and to identify ideas for their usage in the classroom, hopefully bringing a larger amount of excitement and engagement into my content based instruction.

Finally, I found that many of my lessons did not need to be completely revised in order to accommodate a form of useful technology. This made changing my classroom lessons much easier as the technology itself took center stage but was much less intrusive that I initially thought it would be. I found that using technology in my lessons often “fit” and the students were much more engaged in the work when they saw images and movies or could manipulate the material using a computer (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). These tools that are available in my classroom have made the classroom setting a more conducive place to learn for students who were raised with this technology and expect its usage in the classroom. Simply put, my classroom now matches my students more closely allowing my instruction to reach more of my students thus improving their knowledge of my content material.

The second part of my reflection focused on the immediate changes I will bring into my classroom using the material learned in this course. Throughout this course I have made note of many different ideas and strategies that I found that I feel will be useful in allowing my students to learn global studies. However, I feel that overall the best plan is to bring changes into the classroom slowly as to not overwhelm the students by changing my entire instruction. I believe if I bring different forms of technology into the classroom with a “less is more” approach, at least initially, and then build upon the new skills the students learned I will be able to provide students with the skills they need without completely disrupting the flow of the classroom. With this in mind I have identified five different areas in which I will focus my attention throughout the year.

The first change I will bring into the classroom is allowing the students to guide their own learning more often, rather than having the students always follow the teachers lead and instruction. This will allow the students to not only work through the content but also to “think about thinking”, taking a more active role in the learning process (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.3). I can provide the students with the tools and the topic and then see what the students can do with the information creating various projects to show their learning. As in the real world and the workplace, a topic or problem is provided and the workers are asked to work collaboratively to find a practical solution to the problem, without the guidance of their supervisor. My global studies classroom is the perfect place for students to research information on real world topics using online resources, the same way the students find information when they are at home and also in the future. These are skills that I can have an immediate effect upon my students and the classroom. This will result in real learning that will make a tremendous impact on the students and stay with them throughout their lives.

The second change I will make is to bring digital storytelling into my classroom immediately, most likely during the next unit. Digital storytelling allows the students to take the information they have learned and deepen their understanding by reflecting, presenting and communicating the information to others, often in the form of a multimedia video (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This strategy could help the students expand their writing skills as well providing an opportunity for them to share their knowledge with an audience outside of the specific classroom in which it was created. I like the idea of having students research a topic finding useful information, create a skit, find images to fit their material and finally create and present a strong example of a multimedia project (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010d). Our school is fortunate in that the students already have the available tools in my classroom and all we have to do is utilize them to help the students learn my content. I would like to have the students take a current event that is making the news today and then interview others outside of the classroom to help identify their opinions about a specific topic. I feel this is a strategy that will allow students to really dig into the material allowing them a chance to show what they have learned while learning real world skills such as collaboration, research and analytical skills all within a guided classroom environment.

Also, I have already begun to bring more project based assessments into the classroom helping students to immerse themselves into the content completely. These assessments allow students to take what they have learned and demonstrate their learning in a real world setting, similar to the kind they will experienced after school (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010c). Right now the students are learning about different ways they are able to affect our government in comparison to the lack of freedoms experienced by people in other countries. The students are to take a right that we are provided in our constitution and then find examples of areas that do not share the same privilege, then discussing the importance of the freedom. So far the students have been eager to participate in the project and the time immediately after Christmas break should yield some strong results. In the future I would also like to look at more situational dilemmas and community issues making the information more realistic to the students and allowing for greater interaction (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I feel the greatest benefit of this strategy is allowing the students to look at real world issues with a critical eye, identifying and the underlying problems and creating solutions from their work.

Another strategy I will employ immediately is rather simple yet will yield great benefits to my instruction. I will explore new technology and new opportunities myself in order to bring new ideas fully into my classroom (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010a). The information I learn can be provided to my students allowing them to continue to strengthen their own skills and expand their own learning. This can be taken a step farther with the teacher working closely with the students throughout their work, allowing both parties to learn from each other helping to establish a classroom of mutual respect and learning. I feel that I will begin to take more chances and bring new ideas in to classroom using the Internet, professional journals, my colleagues as well as the students as places to gain ideas and information that will become the building blocks of a great classroom setting.

Finally, I will explore the use of wikis more in my classroom and utilize this tool to help my students collaborate on a variety of topics. I plan to use this strategy allowing the students to work as a group on a teacher selected topic bouncing their ideas back and forth to one another in search of a realistic solution or answer (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Group work allows many more opportunities for deeper level instruction while still allowing for the creativity and diverse skills that students bring to the group as individuals (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010b). This will allow my content work to continue when the students are outside the classroom and over any given length of time. The beauty of this technology is that students do not have to be together to work on their project completing the work during times when their creativity and ideas are the strongest. I feel using this technology will be invaluable in teaching my students and providing them with the opportunities they need to take the material beyond the boundaries of the classroom where much of the learning in today’s world takes place.

When I recall the last eight weeks I find that this course has been greatly beneficial to my professional growth. This course has allowed me to experience first hand the construction, implementation and assessment that goes into creating solid technology based lessons that go beyond the basic use of PowerPoint or movies, a necessity in a 21st century classroom. This class has shown me that students when working together can guide their own learning as long as there is support available from an engaged teacher. Through this course I have found that technology is key to student success and many students respond differently when provided with different outlets for learning in the form of multimedia and online collaboration. Overall, my work through this class has opened my eyes to the opportunities that await my students when technology is used in a meaningful way, integrated seamlessly into the classroom instruction.

Randy
HS Social Studies

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). (2010a). Program One: Promoting
self-directed learning with technology. Integrating technology across the
content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program Three: Enriching
content area learning experiences with technology: part one.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010c). Program Eight: Spotlight
on Technology: Problem-Based Learning, Part 1. Integrating technology across
the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010d). Program Twelve: Spotlight
on Technology: Digital Storytelling, Part 1.
Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD

Providing Students with a GAME plan

When I began comparing the student’s standards with the teacher’s standards I noticed they were similar in many regards with the teacher’s standards providing ways to teach students the necessary material. The teaching standards look at ways to gain the skills and then transfer them into the classroom while the student’s standards focus more on gaining the skills to prepare them for success in the classroom and after school (National Education Standards for Students, 2007). The overall topics are the same and I feel can be accommodated with minimal issues in class by carefully constructing lessons to use technology in a meaningful way. The teacher can help define the student’s actions to reach their goals and construct lessons providing the opportunity for new learning in through the scope of technology to take place.

I think if I was to use the GAME plan process in my classroom I would use a process very similar to one that I used in this class. I would describe how a GAME plan is used and to what ends we would use the plan. As I teach tenth grade students I feel for the most part that they will be able to handle their own plan and be able to work through their plan in the course of a year. I would present this strategy to the students at the beginning of the year or semester allowing them to formulate their own personal plan with the assistance of the teacher expanding upon their technology skills throughout the course of the year. One of the strengths of the GAME plan is it allows each individual to chose their own goals, define their actions to reach the goals while routinely monitoring and evaluating their progress (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). This would allow the students to work at their own pace and review back to their GAME plan as they are working on projects during class. Similar to what we did in class, I would go over the standards for students and allow them to pick one or two standards to focus on in the GAME plan. This will help keep the students from becoming too overwhelmed throughout their work. I will allow the student to chose what they feel is the best method of establishing the GAME plan but will guide them along the way and will continue to remind them during projects to include a section about their plan. What I foresee is the students writing a two to three sentence paragraph in each project or when they use technology explaining what they have learned and how they will continue to proceed in the future. This will help keep them on track towards their goals.

Lastly, I would also like to bring the student’s parents into the activities. This will be a much stronger GAME plan if the students have support both at school and at home. These are the skills that the students need to use to be successful in the future, providing the students with an opportunity to use these skills in a guided environment will do much to help students learn the content and the technology itself. Overall, I feel that if the students are provided with a way to increase their knowledge in a self guided environment they are more likely to work harder and understand why their work is important. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on providing students with a GAME plan.

Randy

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S). (2007). retrieved December 12, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

Revising My GAME Plan

Throughout this class the use of a GAME plan has defined our actions and our classroom learning. So far I have created the GAME plan while putting it into action, refining and evaluating my work along the way. This post looks at the possibility of refining my GAME plan and changing my goals in preparation for a new direction and thus a new plan.

I would say that one of the main things I have learned is there is a definite need to have a solid, well established GAME plan in order to reach your established goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). When I began looking at my goals I thought my GAME plan would easily allow me to reach them successfully in a few weeks. I have found however, that my initial GAME plan may have been too broad as it did not seem to define exactly where I wanted to go. I knew that I wanted to include technology in the form of multimedia and primary sources but did not initially know where to start. Overall, I feel that I needed to put more thought into my GAME plan specifically with how I wanted to accomplish my goals. When I use this strategy again, I feel I will spend more time on this section which in turn may help me to reach my goals easier.

Also, I have found ways that the Internet can be of use in my classroom. I have always used this tool but in a very basic format, often bringing movies and photos into my lessons. It seems that in the past I have neglected opportunities to bring different ways of teaching and manipulating the material that can be accomplished by using the school computers and the Internet. I have found that bringing the students into a virtual fieldtrip is an easy way to accommodate technology usage into my classroom while using my lessons as a starting point for my work (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). For me this has been successful with bringing the students into the material. I found success with this method by creating a Podcast that played along with photos and movies clips to display information about the time of the black plague. This is a fairly interesting topic to begin with, but the photos and sounds really brought the information to life.

Upon further reflection, at this point I really do not want to set new learning goals but rather I will extend the goals that I have already begun to use in my class. I have begun to look at ways that technology can be used in my classroom and would like to continue in this direction, pushing the boundary of what is actually possible given my current classroom situation. I feel as though I have only begun to scratch the surface, identifying ways to use multimedia found on the Internet to enrich the learning experience. I have found excellent websites that provide primary sources in the form of audio clips, videos and pictures and would like to use these in more of my lessons to augment what the students are reading in their books and finding on their own. Once I feel that I have reached this specific goal I will then expand my examination of this topic, creating a new GAME plan to accommodate my goals. As we know the last step of the GAME plan is to evaluate and expand your progress with your goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Although I am at this point, I still feel there is much work to be done before I can move onto a new topic.

Lastly, I think that in the future I will not be as hesitant to try new methods of teaching and learning in my classroom. I often approach new methods carefully examining each minute detail before and during implementation both in my classroom and in my own work. Although this is an excellent trait to have and beneficial in many cases, it seems to hinder my success as I often change and implement strategies in a minimal way as to not destroy what is working in the classroom. I feel that if I am able to really dig into the material without fear of failure I can really begin to benefit my students and provide even stronger lessons than I am already completing. The few lessons I have completely redone have worked successfully and have built my confidence to trying new methods of instruction in the classroom. I think at this point I really need to continue to add new strategies and take chances that may pay off exponentially for my students.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

The final step in a GAME plan is evaluating the progress you made towards your goals. This step looks at the actions you have done to accomplish your goals, your success to date and looks for areas to improve and expand your work (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Overall, I think I have established a solid GAME plan and have been working successfully towards its implementation.

Through the last four weeks I have examined many different sources and tried a few of the more solid activities in my classroom. I have found resources in the form of my peers and also from the Internet that have brought the material more fully into my classroom using multimedia, newspapers and even blog sites to offer different material via technology. As I identified in my GAME plan I wanted to use the technology that I have available in my classroom and have been using my Smartboard regularly to augment my lessons with photos and videos found online and also to bring current events directly into the classroom. I have also brought the students into the computer lab to research topics of interest and find information on a teacher established topic rather than teaching the students from their textbook in the classroom. This has brought the students directly into the material and provided a sense of realism and personal connection to the classroom providing a much needed link for global studies.

These new strategies have been implemented fairly successfully in my classroom and through the majority have shown to be useful in bringing students more fully into the content. Although it has only been a few weeks, students seem to be more eager to come to the classroom and to learn the content, all while gaining necessary skills for life outside of the school system. I have also collected data from quizzes and informal interviews showing where my greatest gains are when bringing technology into the classroom as well as showing some areas of need. I believe that continued collection of data and comparison between assignments and methods will yield data showing exactly where the strategies can be of use and which students find them the most useful (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

I have learned that using a GAME plan is much more precise than I initially thought and the activities take a great deal of consideration before actually reaching the classroom. Each activity and assessment must look at the students themselves, the material being taught and the time allotted for the topic. The teacher must ensure that the technology matches the content or it becomes just another distraction in the classroom rather than a tool for student success (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Technology though readily available must make sense when it is used or it is not any different than the strategies already being used in the classroom. This has become more and more evident as I continue to add more technology to my classroom.

I have found that some strategies are more effective than others with certain students and are more conducive to my teaching style than others. Some of my students like researching and presenting information while others simply like answering online questions or posting to a blog. Personally, I like bringing video and audio clips into my lessons to explain a concept or strengthen an idea, keeping the concepts as simple as possible when teaching my students. I have also found that many of my lessons can simply be modified to include some form of technology in a useful and reasonable fashion although a few others need to be completely revised to use a form of technology. These are the lessons that I usually examine more closely to identify if technology is really a benefit for the students or a distraction from the content.

However, I think there is still some room for growth in my GAME plan and in my classroom itself. My progress so far has been a good start towards a classroom where technology is common place and has shown me that students often respond better when technology is used. In the future, I want to provide students with each a specific topic in history to research, the students will be able to research the topic and then teach the information to the rest of the class. I think this lesson will fully engage the students and allow for some creativity in the classroom. Also, I plan to continue to build and refine my “treasure hunt” idea for use in the classroom. Although my original plan called for use of a GPS system, I may use either cell phones or digital cameras instead to help the students learn a topic of either the teacher’s or the student’s choice.

Overall, I think my GAME plan is for the most part usable in its current form and provides a solid basis for my future work. At this point I need to continue to work technology in its many forms into my classroom starting with my current technology and expanding to include Blogs, Wikis and multimedia projects. This continued growth also means I will need more resources and more time to implement my GAME plan as changes are not immediate but rather take place over time. The more I grow in my knowledge the more eager I am to bring technology into my lessons to help my students grow as well. Changing my methodologies and strategies in the classroom has provided me with a new look into my content and also the best way to teach my students. Through careful consideration of my content and technology I can continue to grow as a learner and as a professional while my students reap the benefits of my knowledge.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful
classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.