Reflecting on My GAME Plan

Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) define a GAME Plan as an ongoing process where we take control of our own learning process. As a result, we become self-directed learners who are able to respond to the rapid technological changes that inevitably will occur during our professional careers. For my GAME Plan I chose two goals that met the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Any Game Plan focuses on ways to achieve these goals, monitor the progress, and extend learning. Both the indicators I chose fall under the standard “Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity.” One goal was to learn more about promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes. My second goal was to model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

When focusing on my first goal, it is apparent that students have many options available to them with regard to reflection via collaboration. As part of the action of my GAME Plan, I will use the technique of digital storytelling, which I just learned, with my students to promote reflection. Students create their stories using images they’ve downloaded or created themselves. Afterwards, they reflect the experience and the insight gained. They can use a wiki to post their comments about their classmates’ projects and use the feedback given to them as part of their reflection. The important aspect is that students have a choice in the various stages of the process. Another technique that would assist students with reflection is online collaboration. This is implemented in a lesson I have already developed with another Walden cohort member. We will implement this at the beginning of next school year. My students will collaborate online with students in inner city Denver to compare their thoughts and insights on various curricula such as the book “The Outsiders” (Hinton, 1968). I am confident in this technique and look forward to beginning the online project with her school.

Many adjustments will be made in my curriculum as a result of this course. For example, I have already changed the 8th grade final project. In the past, they have created a traditional portfolio with their papers from all of junior high plus a reflection piece. Now they will create an eportfolio which will be available to an audience broader than just the teacher. They will post their reflection “My Progress as a Writer” on their blog instead of within their eportfolio. Their future 9th grade English teacher has agreed that she will take a look at pieces of the eportfolios and make comments on them. Knowing this, I am hoping they will be motivated to increase their standard in order to impress their future teacher.

Another adjustment related to technology is the development of a class web site. On this web site I will post assignments so absent students may download them at home. This will drastically cut down on the confusion at school while putting more of the accountability on the student and the parents. In addition, the web site will help those students who are struggling to understand the material. They will be able to go over the information using podcasts and videos at home to master concepts better. Finally, students will be able to post their presentations and other student work on the web site. This will enable them to display their work to their parents. In turn, I am hoping this web site will increase parent/teacher communication.

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.