Developing My Personal Game Plan

There is one thing about being a teacher that I have always loved and that is the fact that I can constantly improve upon a lesson.  Over the last 18 years, there have been many times that I have been excited about the results of a lesson because not only did my students learn, but they were engaged and having fun in the process.  There were also times that I trudged home trying to figure out where I went wrong and how I could improve my teaching.  This is a natural process for me, because I am constantly trying to improve on my teaching practice.  Setting goals for improvement and reflecting upon the results is part of what a self-directed learner does and this is what teachers do all of the time, but I also want my students to get this worked up over their learning.  One of the ways to get students engaged in their own learning is to incorporate the use of technology.  According to Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009), technology is a “powerful resource for engaging students in authentic experiences, typically increasing motivation and their learning,” (p. 51).  I am going to use the GAME plan recommended by Cennamo et al (2009) to direct my own learning process (p. 3).  The first step is to set goals.  The question is what goals should I set for implementing technology into my teaching practice, especially when the district where I teach does not offer a lot of professional development?  The ISTE National Education Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers provide a framework for teachers to design and implement lessons that engage students with technology (ISTE, 2008).  I have chosen to set goals for strengthening my confidence and proficiency in three of the performance indicators in the NETS-T.

I have chosen to focus on ISTE Standard 2.a, 2.b, and 3.b, which are to “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity, 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, and to communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats ” (ISTE, 2008). 

In order to meet proficiency 2a, I will explore technology that I can use in my classroom.  I am confident in my ability to use new tools and am already proficient with Power Point, Voice Thread, Blogs, and Edmodo, however, I have a delicious account full of other resources that I haven’t begun to explore.  Proficiency 2b concerns providing a technology-enriched environment and my goal will be to familiarize myself with what my school district already has available to teachers and students in terms of technology.  We have media center access and can sign up for either computers or a limited number of wireless laptop carts; however, I am not versed in what software programs are available or what digital tools are available.  We have a school filter which may not let my students access some tools.  Finally, my goal to meet Proficiency 3b will be to create a website, a wiki or a blog for my classes where I can communicate with students, parents, and peer about what is going on in my department. 

The second step of the GAME plan, is to take action to meet my goals.  In order to achieve my first goal, I will need to look at my curriculum and choose where I could use technology to enhance the content.  Then I will access my delicious account to look over resources.  I have not done a stupendous job of organizing my bookmarks and they have changed the format, however, as I peruse what I have, I will take the time to update the tags so that they are better categorized.  I don’t want to feel overwhelmed, so I will select three or four tools that could be used with my students.  Next, I will become familiar with the tools that I have selected and try them out in the classroom.  When supporting students’ use of technology, it is important that the teacher is skilled in using the technology and that it is used appropriately to support the content and standards (Cennamo et al, 2009, p. 96).  My second goal is to familiarize myself with what the school has to offer to teachers and students in terms of technology.  The action I have already taken is to join the high school technology team whose purpose is to make recommendations for school policy on technology use as the school goes wireless.   The team consists of content area teachers and the media specialist, all of whom already use technology in their classrooms and are interested in supporting teachers and students as we determine best practice for using personal devices such as kindles and cellphones to enhance classroom practice.  My final goal is to create a website, wiki, or blog in order to communicate with my students, their parents, and my peers about my department.  This will require several steps.  First, I will investigate what other teachers or school websites are doing and what they look like.  Using a checklist for rating each site will allow me to summarize my preferences for layout and design as I begin my own design and make my final decision about what forum to use.  Then, I will plan the content and create a storyboard so that I can plan navigation as suggested by Cennamo et al (2009, p. 63).  Finally, I will develop my website, wiki, or blog and make it available to my audience.    

Monitoring and evaluating are the last two steps of the GAME plan.  Monitoring and evaluating require time to reflect on whether progress is being made and whether goals are actually achieved.  The most appealing tool for monitoring would be to keep a reflection journal for recording my thoughts as I progress toward my goals and process whether the strategies I have selected are working toward accomplishing those goals.  This would provide ample opportunity to modify the strategies I am using so that I can be successful.  In addition to a reflection journal, as I explore technology and integrate some new tools into my classroom, I can use student feedback as a way to monitor and measure my progress toward my first goal.  I will use that feedback to evaluate whether the tools I have chosen to implement in class were useful and determine if I need to explore further options.  Discussions with the technology team and progress made toward the smooth implementation of school-wide wireless will be a way to monitor progress toward my second goal.  The discussions will not be enough, however, I will need to engage in conversations with students, teachers, and parents as we establish policies that enable students to use their own technology and engage in their own learning (Prensky, 2008).  The evaluation process for this goal will be ongoing as our school adapts to change and teachers begin to allow students to become self-directed learners.  The conversation will be ongoing as well, since it would be important to engage all those involved as we run into problems.  Lastly, implementing a blog is a natural way to reflect on experiences and provide a place for colleagues or peers to respond and this would provide a way to monitor progress on my third goal as well as be one of the action steps (Cennamo et al, 2009, 75).  A blog is one of the easiest things to set up for the purpose of communication and I could use the blog to monitor my progress as I examine teacher wikis and websites and evaluate my discoveries for the purpose of developing my own.

Setting goals for improvement and reflecting upon the results is what teachers do all of the time.  Teachers are natural self-directed learners as they learn about new ways to implement technology and improve classroom practice.  Using the GAME plan provides the opportunity to set specific goals, take action, monitor progress, and evaluate and extend learning.  It is the perfect tool for teachers and self-directed learners to check in with themselves on their own learning.

References:

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

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

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2