Reflection Final Blog Post

Looking over the past eight weeks of this course in integrating technology across the content areas, I am proud of what I have accomplished. I chose one technology standard that focused on me and one that focused on the students. Focusing on myself, I decided to become a leader in technology integration within my classroom and those of others. Since it is the end of the school year, I did not accomplish as much towards this goal. I intend to revisit my GAME plan from day one of next school year and continue through the process: Monitor, Evaluate, Extend. For my students, I set a goal to develop technology enriched learning environments. Focusing on this standard has benefited my students. By adding elements of technology to my lessons, I have witnessed more interest and motivation in my students. I plan to institute many of the new technologies from this course into my lessons for next year.

By following a GAME plan, I have learned how to more clearly focus on improving my teaching with technology. I have become more systematic in setting goals and reaching them. An immediate change to my instructional practice is to teach the GAME plan process to my students. This is an approach to self-directed learning that will benefit them for their lifetime.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

Encouraging our students to become self-directed learners is important to their success as a student, but will also be important as they become a contributing member of society. “Self-directed, metacognitive learners engage in three key processes: planning, monitoring, and evaluating their learning activities” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). To help students work towards this status, I believe it would be beneficial to explain the GAME plan and its benefits for learning.

Students would need help in setting goals. Setting goals for math need not be so broad as, mastering the seventh grade math curriculum, but rather mastering a concept they struggle with, or setting a grade average to attain. Setting goals for developing proficiency in technology may not seem necessary to the digital natives, but they do have room to grow, especially in the standards of Research and Information Fluency, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making and Digital Citizenship (The ISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS•S)and Performance Indicators for Students, 2007).

It will be important to allow time in class for students to carry out the other steps in the plan. This could be done in the form of a blog, just as we have done over the course of this class. Activities and tasks that allow the students to accomplish their technology goals must also be provided in class, as well as modeling the behavior myself.

References:

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

National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Revising My GAME Plan

Revising My GAME Plan

In evaluating my GAME plan and how to take my next steps forward, I realize I have gained so much already. I have investigated resources from my colleagues, which have provided me with technology enriched lessons. I plan to continue this quest and provide more opportunities for students to manage their own learning next year. I realize I cannot change everything at once, so I have taken some pressure off of myself to overhaul my classroom. As many of my colleagues have noted, baby steps are perfectly fine.

I will continue to be an advocate for technology in the classroom. This becomes more challenging as budgets are cut and programs lose funding. I believe if I model a technology infused classroom, others will become intrigued and encouraged to do the same in their classes. This may be all I can do on a school level. For myself, I have already looked into attending the ITSE Conference this summer. My school district has a presenter attending and what a wonderful way for me to support him while learning the latest strategies for teaching with technology. My biggest problem would be which workshops to attend.

The start of a new school year is a perfect time to revise, evaluate and carry out a new GAME plan, so I will continue to monitor my progress and look for great accomplishments with my students and colleagues next year!