As I have been working to accomplish my G.A.M.E.
plan, I have realized that it has helped me to grow as an educator. By creating
my game plan I have streamlined my growth and given myself a path to becoming
an educator that continues to grow in a well thought manner and is not
professionally developed in a piece-mail fashion. It has helped me to focus my
own learning so that I am selecting things to learn based in a plan that can be
reflected upon to maximize my growth. This
growth can be seen in the practices activities I design and use to help students
grow.
Initially, it is
important to highlight what I learned from following my plan. The first
standard I planned on trying to improve on is NETS-1c. This standard calls for me to facilitate and
inspire student learning and creativity by promoting reflection using
collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding
and thinking, planning and creative processes. ("NETS for Teachers," n.d.) As I have been
working toward meeting this standard, I have learned about multiple tools such
as wikis, collaboration sites like Wiggio, Edmodo and discussion board online
software to have the students. On researching this I have found multiple
websites that list a buffet of great tools that I can use. I have also learned
to use a few tools in this course to help me meet this standard. Digital
storytelling is a great way to have the students reflect on their work and
behavior. I definitely plan to have my students
use multiple digital tools to reflect on their learning. The second standard I
panned on trying to improve on is NETS-5b. This standard calls for me to engage
in professional growth and leadership by sharing and demonstrating my vision
for technology integration, to participate in shared decision making and
community building and to develop the leadership and technology skills of
others. ("NETS for Teachers," n.d.) This is something I have focused
on this summer in preparation for my upcoming school year. As I looked to improve on this standard I have
joined the Freshmen Kick Off committee and volunteered to teach a breakout
session on using the collaboration site wiggio.com in the classroom. Because of
this course and the previous Walden course, I have a department head that is
seething for me to share my knowledge of technology integration as well as the QUEST
online inquiry model. I will continue to volunteer to share my know how with my
colleagues and will keep searching for places where I can involve myself in
building a strong community within our building and district.
The G.A.M.E plan not only can be used to improve my teaching, the students
can use it to help them to focus their learning. If our goal is to create self
directed learners, the G.A.M.E. plan is a great way to help them do so. Self-directed
learners go through three key processes: planning, monitoring, and evaluating
their learning activities. (Cennamo,
Ross, & Ertmer, 2009) When the G.A.M.E. plan is followed, students are
doing just what self-directed learners do. The way I would use it would be as a
way to plan out what they will do to accomplish their problem based learning unit.
They will create one as a group and for themselves, based on what their role
and tasks are. This will be a great way for them to develop a plan; it will
help to keep them on track and will help them to reflect on their process.
When it comes to my teaching practices, this course has given me the
confidence and the tools to incorporate technology into my curriculum. I have
already planned to use a few of the tools and concepts that I have used. First
I am having each of my students create individual blogs to reflect on their
learning process. They will use these multiple times throughout each week. Another thing that I plan on using with my students
is problem-based learning. We are going to start with a local problem that the
students can get passionate about. I have set out fourteen class periods in the
first trimester for the first PBL unit. They will be using the G.A.M.E. plan to
plan and reflect on the process. A final thing I plan on using is digital
storytelling. I have a web-quest planned for mid October. The students will be
creating digital stories to share their learning and to tell a narrative about the
Revolutionary war. These are just a few things I plan on using in just the
first trimester. I am sure that I will use most of the tools I have worked with
in this course at some point during the coming year. I am excited to implement
and share my success with my colleagues. I hope that through my successes my
colleagues will be inspired to try to incorporate these methods into their own pedagogy.
References:
Cennamo, K.,
Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Intergration for Meaningful
Classroom Use:A Standards Based Approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
NETS for Teachers. (n.d.). NETS for Teachers. Retrieved August 18,
2013, from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers
No comments:
Post a Comment