Our textbook, Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use, describes the acronym G.A.M.E. as a set of four steps that individuals can take for self directed learning (Cennamo). I will share my own personal G.A.M.E. plan to strengthen my confidence in two indicators from the NETS-T.
G- Set Goals-
Goal #1- I would like to meet to strengthen my confidence in ISTE standard of facilitating and inspiring student learning. Specifically, promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students' conceptual understanding and thinking, planning and creative process. I would like to use online collaborative tools at least once a month in my classroom so that this takes place at least 5 times during the duration of the school year.
Goal #2- I also would like to strengthen my confidence in the ISTE standard of designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments. Specifically, customizing and personalizing learning activities to address students' diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources. I would like to have a project or activity at least once a month that gives students choices for how to complete the assignment so that it is personalized to their own learning style. Meeting this goal would let this type of learning experience happen at least 5 times with the duration of the school year.
A- Take Actions to meet those goals-
#1 At the beginning of the week I will look at the lessons I have planned and try to find ways that tools like blogs, wikis, and voice threads can be incorporated to let students collaborate and reflect. I will also connect with the other 4th grade teacher's in my building to see if they are interested in collaborating using these tools for upcoming projects.
#2 I will look at all upcoming lesson plans that all ready integrate digital and multimedia tools and see what other digital and multimedia tools can be added so that students have a choice in how they would like to complete the assignment.
M- Monitor progress towards achieving goal-
To monitor my progress I will have a chart that has goal #1 and #2 and a box for each month that is left in the school year. Every two weeks I will check this chart to mark if I have met this goal or if I still need to adapt a lesson plan or assignment to make it happen. If it is half way through the month and I still haven't met the goal of including these indicators once a month than this chart will let me know that I need to re-evaluate the next couple weeks to make sure that I can include these adaptations to meet my goals.
E- Evaluate whether the goals were achieved and Extend your learning to new situations-
At the end of the month on the chart I have organized to check progress I will have the name of each month and a place to write what I did and a score from 1-10 of how it went. By having this chart and details about how each month went I will be able to see if my goals were achieved and also if they went well enough that I would want to do them again next year. If I gave myself a low score on some projects when the school year is over or before next year begins I can look into changes I could make to have these assignments go better.
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Jason, you seem to have a clear understanding of your goals and how you will accomplish them. My 2 goals are the same as yours. Like yourself, I want to utilize collaborative tools to facilitate student learning. I think VoiceThread is a collaborative tool that can be easily incorporated into the classroom. It is relatively easy to use.
ReplyDeleteHi Jason,
ReplyDeleteYou have mentioned in your post that you are interested in integrating a monthly project activity into your lesson plan. I have also learned that you hold TESL credentials and; therefore, I would like to share with you project ideas I have introduced to my EFL English I students this semester. Please refer to the list shown at the end of this message. All of the activities can be addressed through tools such as blog, wikis, voicethreads, podcasts and even the “traditional” Powerpoint presentations. My students will be presenting their work on the last week of November. This is something that I enjoy and look forward to.
Miriam
English I Touchtone
Suggested Projects:
Option 1: The Family of...
a) Choose an influencing person in the world today, i.e. the president of a country, an outstanding sports figure, a community leader a politician. etc.
b) Draw up his / her family three to include three generations (grandparents to children). Make sure you include brothers and sisters, that is, uncles and aunts to their children. All in the family chart will be in relation to the person we choose.
c) Students in the team will explain why they chose this person in particular, a brief description of his activities plus the members in his / her family.
Option 2: A day in the life of:
a) Write up ten questions you would ask an outstanding member of our community; for example, a member of the football, soccer, volleyball, etc., team. a committee representative... to find out how he / she spends a given day. Describe his/her regular activities.
b) Interview with the person you choose and write a summary his/her answers. Try to find out how he/she manages with his school subjects plus his extra activities.
c) Write an article and present it to the class.
The article should include: Why you chose this person in particular, how the interview went and what the questions and answers were.
Option 3 Free time in Queretaro
a) Find out what places a student of our school visits on his free time. List about three as minimum.
b) Find information about these places and write them up in a form of report. In your report you must include, attractions, average prices, location, and a description of the place.
c) Bring this information to the class and recommend the one you liked the most.
Option 4. Food around the world:
a) Make a list of the most characteristic food ingredients in all five continents.
b) Present specific menus to the class. For instance a common ingredient in Asian plates is “ginger” mention famous dishes.
c) Explain how weather and agriculture influence the food they serve in all five continents.
Option 5. Invite classmates to visit a famous place.
a) Describe the most exciting place visited by some of the members of the team.
b) Find out cost of hotels and places to visit there.
c) Bring this information to the class and try to persuade them to visit.
e) Describe an experience in the suggested places.
Option 6. Fashion trends
a) Find out what was fashionable in the 70’s, 80’s and now.
b) Describe how clothes have changed en the recent years.
c) Bring examples of the most fashionable clothes among students.
Diana,
ReplyDeleteI definitely like VoiceThread and I have used it once in my class this year, but I see a lot of potential for more projects in the future.
Miriam,
Thank you for sharing these projects. I like how they are all connected to the real world in some way so the information is useful as a bonus to the English learning and practice. I also like that there are several options. Although I teach in a mainstream elementary classroom having options like this is really something I'm striving for with my 2nd goal so this is exactly the type of thing I am hoping to open up to my students.
Looking forward to communicating further with both of you in the upcoming weeks.
Jason Henne