Monitoring your GAME Plan progress

Reviewing my GAME plan has been a good reflection on where I’ve been, where I am, and what I need to do to carry out this plan. I have two goals that involve learning more about how to use technology and how to carry out a conducive learning environment towards those goals.

Goal 1: Develop a technology-enriched learning environment that enables all students to pursue individual curiosities and to become active participants in setting educational goals, managing learning, and assessing progress.

Since I first came up with this goal I have evaluated my learning environment and consider it to be an environment that allows students plenty of opportunities to accomplish goals and for students to take part in learning through both direct and explicit instruction. I have tried to focus more on talking through goals with my students. They understand the concept of working towards a goal, but I am not comfortable in individualizing goals with kindergartners. I feel like in kindergarten it is not how much they have to do individually, but what have I taught and shown them how to do. Are there any books out there that are specifically written for educators in managing a learning environment using technology?

Goal 2: Engagement within a PLC to learn about what new technology is out there and to educate colleagues.

I have checked about professional workshops to attend about technology and the earliest one is in January. Until then, I am working with my Technology Representative at my school discussing various technology tools that are available for use.

I do not plan on modifying my plan because it is an ongoing reflection and one that is to develop over time. Since doing this plan I have learned that technology is something that should be well thought out and given much thought. It’s important for a teacher to not isolate him/herself and to involve other colleagues in this professional learning community. I’ve also learned that teachers should set their own goals as well. A new question that I have is, whether there are resources out there pertaining towards managing a learning environment with technology and how a teacher is able to evaluate whether learning is taking place with that technology?

Carrying Out my GAME Plan

My GAME plan involves two learning goals: to be able to engage myself in professional development towards learning more about technology, and to develop a technology rich learning environment for my students by them being active participants. I have had a chance to start my plan but I have realized that it is a continuous process that will take me some time.

I have started to talk with my kindergarten team about some ways that they use technology and right now they are using various websites to help reinforce those concepts discussed and allowing students practice using the mouse and keyboard. Our school website recently changed so our Instructional Technology Rep asked us if we wanted to post any websites for parents to use and we gathered all of the websites that we have used and posted them on our site. This allows teachers, parents, and students access to these sites for drill and practice. My Instructional Technology Rep has been out of her office because of a family emergency but I want to ask her about starting a Professional Learning Network at my school about technology.

I will continue to seek out any professional development workshops to help answer some of my questions about technology, but for the most part, I will consult with my colleagues on these issues.

My GAME plan

Because technology is changing at a rapid pace, I think it is important to not only have goals in mind of how you could improve your plan, but also how you can take actions towards those goals. Dr. Kathrine Cennamo discussed the situation about how it’s important to learn about your teaching when learning new technology (Laureate, 2009). I have a few performance indicators that I would like to improve on.

Standard: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

Goal ~ My goal is to develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress within my classroom (http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf).

Actions ~ In order to achieve my goal I would need to evaluate my own classroom environment to see what changes I can make to what I currently apply in my own classroom. Once I identify what changes I want to make it would be to my benefit to find out from other colleagues what technology resources they do in their classrooms. By allowing these resources to be accessible to my students in a friendly manner, with lots of modeling on my part, students can choose to work at their own pace with the technology provided. We can talk about the parts of a computer and what each function allows us to do followed by how we can use this in our learning. With my kindergartners, goal setting is not an individual process but a process we accomplish together. I will verbally express what I hope that each child will learn with using the computer. With assessing my students, I can assess and have students assess themselves through summative assessments that I produce.

Monitor ~ I will monitor my progress through student participation and achievement. How well will my students be achieving their goals and will they master the concepts presented to them?

Evaluate ~ I will evaluate my actions in meeting my goals by gaining feedback from my students in their evaluation of the content presented. Did they enjoy the way that the lesson was presented? Did the students achieve their goals? If so, what can I do to help them extend that concept?

Standard: Engage in professional growth and leadership.

Goal ~ My goal is to become involved in a professional learning community about what new technology is out there and how to educate my colleagues about this technology.

Actions ~ In order to accomplish this goal I need to find professional learning community workshops to educate me about what the current technology available for educators are and how to become involved with online professional learning communities. I should also make my principal aware of my goal and asking her if I could facilitate some book studies on technology usage within the classroom.

Monitor ~ I will monitor my progress by evaluating how effective the workshops that I attended are and whether they fit my needs and whether I am reviewing skills that I already know or am learning something new. I should also go online and review some blogs on other teachers who use technology to see if I am on the right track or to get any new ideas.

Evaluate ~ I will evaluate my learning by asking whether I have learned something new that I could use with my students. If so, then by trying it and seeing that it works I will know that I succeeded.

Laureate Education Inc. (2009). “Enriching Learning Experiences with Technology.” Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education Inc.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf