GAME Plan Progress

So far, I am pleased with my progress in carrying each of the goals in my GAME Plan. Although it’s an interesting time of the year to be working towards goals, since the school year is winding down, I still believe I am making positive steps toward achieving my goals. My goals are:

1)      Develop more personalized learning activities to address the needs and interests of various types of learners.

2)      Use technology more effectively to communicate with parents and students next school year.

At my last grade-level department meeting, I introduced the idea of developing more personalized learning activities for various types of learners throughout the school year next year. We discussed possible ideas for activities that might be appropriate for various units, and also agreed to bring any books we might have with helpful ideas to our next meeting. I feel that the best way to approach introducing more personalized learning activities is to tackle one unit at a time. It is overwhelming for me to think about how to differentiate for every single unit throughout the school year, but if I make it a goal to only differentiate for my unit on Ancient India, for example, that seems to be a more manageable and attainable goal.

I am very eager to begin work on my goal of using technology to communicate more effectively with parents and students. My team for next year is scheduled to meet within the next couple of weeks to begin working on our team goals. I have already let my colleagues know that further use of technology for communication is one of my goals. Many of my other team members are proponents of technology use as well, and they are eager to pursue this goal along with me. So far, I have spoken with other teachers who have websites or communicate with parents through e-mail newsletters to garner some feedback. Hearing what they like and also what they might do differently in the future has been helpful to me so far. Just like my first goal, though, I feel I need to approach one thing at a time. I may become overwhelmed if I try to communicate with parents and/or students via both a website and e-mail newsletters. Therefore, my plan for now is to focus on creating a website. Once I feel comfortable with that, then I can move forward and explore other ways of communicating with parents and students using technology.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

In order to properly carry out my GAME Plan, I decided to analyze each of my goals separately and determine what resources and information I will need to be successful. My first goal is to develop more personalized learning activities to address the needs and interests of various types of learners. My immediate thought is that I will need more time. There never seems to be enough time in the day to accomplish all that needs to be done, and while I cannot magically create more time, I can work to utilize the time allotted for my department meetings to help accomplish this goal. Going along with this, I will also need the feedback and input of my colleagues. Working together, I know we can achieve success in developing more diverse learning activities. Finally, I will utilize books that my colleagues and I have which focus on differentiation. I will also use the internet to research lessons and ideas. So far, I have discussed this goal with my grade level department team. They are enthusiastic about it as well, and to me, that is a very positive first step. This year, our major goal was to create common assessments for each unit. We have accomplished that goal and are now looking to diversify our learning activities for next year.

My second goal is to use technology more effectively to communicate with parents and students next school year. The resources I will need are similar to those necessary for my first goal. I will need the support of my colleagues, as I would like for this to be something our team works on together. I am very excited about the possibility of creating a team website. I have not yet had the opportunity to discuss this at length with my team for next year, however, because I will be on a new team next year and we have not met together yet. Additionally, I will need to find the best possible website to host our team website. I have begun to do some research and have ideas, but am not quite sure what would work best. One thing I have considered is a wiki, but I would like to garner feedback from others who have experience with a team or classroom website to see which ones seem to work best. Finally, I will need time to work with my team on creating this website. We have already scheduled a professional development work day for the week after school lets out to accomplish this and other goals we have. Overall, I am excited about both of my goals and feel that they are realistic. I am looking forward to following through with them and watching things come together throughout the next school year.

My Technology GAME Plan

After reviewing the International Society for Technology in Education’s standards for teachers, I felt that while I regularly utilize technology in my classroom and incorporate it into my lessons, there are certainly areas I would like to improve on. The two indicators I would like to strengthen my proficiency in are 2c (customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources) and 3c (communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats). Developing a GAME plan will help me take steps to direct my own learning process about technology (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). The following are my GAME plans to improve on the two indicators mentioned above:

Indicator 2c GAME Plan:

• Goal: Develop more personalized learning activities to address the needs and interests of various types of learners.
• Action: Collaborate with my grade level department team to develop varied learning activities for the units we cover in social studies throughout the year; continue my research on differentiated instruction and how this can be applied to technology.
• Montior: Ask students for feedback after implementing lessons designed to fit their learning style; discuss activities with my grade level department team and reflect on positivites and negatives of lessons.
• Evaluate: Self-reflect after each lesson and make notes of what worked well and what might need improvement; discuss with my grade level department team.

Indicator 3c GAME Plan:

• Goal: Use technology more effectively to communicate with parents and students next school year.
• Action: Create a classroom website to list assignments, provide enrichment activities, provide access to handouts and helpful information, etc.; collaborate with my team of teachers to develop a team website to further communicate with parents and students.
• Monitor: Survey students and parents to determine accessibility and helpfulness of website.
• Evaluate: After seeking feedback, determine if changes need to be made to make communication more beneficial. If so, develop a plan to implement changes and improve success of website as a tool for communication.

Resources:

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