GAME Plan for Actions

Dr. Patricia Alexander (Laurate Education, 2010 ) states that the characteristics, actions, and beliefs of teachers can be directly related to learning. I believe this to be true. I am still a learner and I believe that students should see me learning alongside with them. Recently, I created a GAME plan to help me continue being a leaner. Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) advise that a GAME plan is a way for a self- directed learner to respond to the continuous technological changes. Responding to these changes will make me a better teacher and prepare my students for twenty first century skills. The Partnership for Twenty First Century Skills report that students will be required to communicate, collaborate, and think critically in the future workforce. My job as an educator is to model and prepare my students for this. My GAME plan will help me meet these goals.

My first goal is to be a leader in the process of integrating technology into our curriculum with ipads. The actions I am taking to meet these this goal are as follows. Underneath the numbered goals will be my current action to meet the goal.

  1. Earn my master's degree in the integration of technology in the classroom. I will use the knowledge I am gaining about technology in my class as well as share this with my colleagues.

A. I am in the process of earning my master's degree. I have been "stealing" numerous ideas from my peers about current technology uses. My graduate work has also taught me about the complexities of teaching students how to use the internet as a tool. This past week I used a lesson I created from my last class to teach students how that not all resources on the internet are accurate.

2. Attend seminars and/or webinars on teaching with the use of ipads. Then prepare a presentation for teachers at one of our monthly teacher meetings.

A. I have not been attended a seminar or webinar. I have found a seminar in November that would be very helpful in setting up the ipads, finding resourceful applications, and learning the basic functions of the ipads. I am hoping there is enough money for my school to send me.

B. I have not planned to teach at our monthly meeting in October. The ipads are still not ready for to be distributed.  Do you possibly know of any free webinars?

3. View and contribute to blogs about the integration of technology in the classroom and the best apps to use for students in fourth grade. I will incorporate these apps and practices into our daily routines.

 A.I have spoken with colleagues from my school about apps they have found to be used in their class. I have recently found a few applications that I have found will be useful in my class. Prensky (2008) states that technology should not be incorporated just to be incorporated. We are implementing the imovie app next week.

B. I have contributed to the blogs of my peers through my classes. I follow three other blogs sites about technology, but I have not found new blog sites to follow. Do you follow any blogs that deal with integrating technology that may be helpful?

  The second goal is to utilize the social networking site of edmodo to collaborate with students, parents, and other teachers to improve my classroom practices. The actions I am taking to meet these goals are as follows. I will list the goal and then tell you my actions to meet those goals.

  1. Set up a class site on edmodo. Teach students and parents how to use this site as a classroom tool.

A. I have an edmodo site set up with all of my students currently participating in the site. Students have taken polls, responded to literary questions, and added pictures. I have set up a monthly electronic calendar to keep parents and students informed I wanted to have a student page and an separate parent page. I believe this is a technical error on my part. I need to either contact the help desk through the site or speak with a colleague who also utilizes the site. My students are excited about the site.

2. Join learning communities that are available on the site.

A. I have not added learning communities to my page as I have intended to do. This will allow me to connect to with other teachers in fourth grade. This would require me to ask to be added to different communities. I have not taken the time to do this yet. It will be very valuable to me and my instruction.

3. Post assignments that must be completed through the site itself. This will allow parents and other members who have our classroom code to view and participate in our learning.

A. My students have not had graded assignments through this site yet. For this, I will need to be certain that the students who do not have internet access have the time needed in my class to complete the assignment. One way this will be easier is when we have greater access to technology like the ipads that will be added to our rooms. I am thinking I will begin this by setting groups up according to the students' reading groups. There we would be able to talk about the specifics of the books we are reading.

  I recognize that I still have work to do to attain my GAME plan. I will continue working to achieve these goals for the benefit of myself and creating a classroom where students are active rather than passive. All students want to learn. I must find the best way to benefit my students in their learning process. Technology seems to be that tool.

  References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). 2011. DVD 1: Designing Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. Teaching and Learning. Baltimore, Maryland. Dr. Patricia Alexander.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/storage/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf Prensky, M. (2008).

Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45. Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.

Creating A GAME Plan to Meet Technology Standards

 

Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) suggest that all teachers should develop a GAME plan. This consists of setting goals, taking action to achieve those goals, monitoring your progress, and evaluating or extending your growth towards attaining the goals. I have developed a GAME plan as a way of meeting ISTE NETS-T standards. Setting these goals will promote my own self-directed lifelong learning as well as help me promote self-directed learning in my students.

 

The first standard I would like to address is standard 5 indicator A.

Standard 5:  Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership: Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources.

 Indicator A. Participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning

 

My goal is to be a leader at our school as we begin to integrate a new technology for the teachers and students with the addition of ipads.  The ipads are in the process of being set up so that each class will have a total of ten available and each teacher will have their own ipad to be used for teaching. 

Actions to complete this goal are:

1. Earn my master's degree in the integration of technology in the classroom.  I will use the knowledge I am gaining about technology in my class as well as share this with my colleagues.

2.  Attend seminars and/or webinars on teaching with the use of ipads.  Then prepare a presentation for teachers at one of our monthly teacher meetings. 

3.  View and contribute to blogs about the integration of technology in the classroom and the best apps to use for students in fourth grade.  I will incorporate these apps and practices into our daily routines. 

I will monitor my growth and progress by setting up a timeline for the actions I have developed.  I will earn my master's degree in February.  I will use the resources I have learned to help fellow teachers throughout the integration process.  I will teach at a teacher's meeting by the first of the year.  I will view and contribute to blogs as an ongoing action.  I will incorporate new apps for classroom use throughout the school year.  I will only incorporate those that will be beneficial to our classroom structure.  Prensky (2008)  states that technology should not be incorporated just to be incorporated.  I agree with this statement.  Students need to see how technology can be useful in their learning not just shown that it is there to be used. 

I will evaluate my own progress at the end of the this 2012-2013 school year. I will ask myself if I was successful in adding technology as a tool for learning.  I will ask myself if my peers seek me out as a leader in our new technologies.   I will take time to reflect upon whether or not I have been successful in being a leader to teachers in my school.

The second standard I would like to address is standard 3 indicator B.

Standard 3: Model digital age work and learning: Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.

Indicator B: Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation.

 

My goal is utilize the social networking site of edmodo to collaborate with students, parents, and other teachers to improve my classroom practices.

 

Actions to attain this goal are:

 

1.  Set up a class site on edmodo. Teach students and parents how to use this site as a classroom tool. 

 

2.  Join learning communities that are available on the site.

 

3.  Post assignments that must be completed through the site itself.  This will allow parents and other members who have our classroom code to view and participate in our learning. 

 

I will monitor my own progress by setting dates to have met each goal.  I have set up an edmodo site.  The students have not been added. I will do that this week.  In the next three weeks, I will teach parents and students how to use the site.  I will join learning communities over the course of the next few months.  I will begin posting assignments to the site by November. 

 

I will evaluate my progress by asking parents if they feel our site is useful to keeping them informed.  I will ask students how they feel their learning is enhanced by edmodo.  I will document how often I use or steal ideas from the communities I have joined on edmodo. 

 

The GAME plans for each goal will help me be more confident with technology in my classroom and promote my proficiency.  This will not only enhance the teaching of my studnets, but also my own self-directed learning. 

 

 

References

 

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.
Retrieved from the Academic Search Complete database.