Reflective
Essay
I
consider the GAME plan to be a life plan.
We all have daily goals, take action steps to achieve them, and
continually monitor and evaluate our progress.
When applying this plan to the classroom, teachers continue to learn and
commit to professional growth. Cennamo,
Ross, and Ertmer (2009) stated, “The GAME plan enables you to customize your
approach to learning tasks, to develop relevant skills that are important to
you, and prepares for lifelong learning” (p.4).
As
I reflect on my action steps for my GAME plan, I would add online resources. I
relied too much on resources inside of my school and need to expand to include
online tutorials and educational blogs. In addition, my school district is
developing teacher based teams this year and will provide weekly time as part
of the school day. This meeting time
will be an excellent opportunity to set goals, take action steps, monitor, and
evaluate as a team.
The GAME plan will play a
significant role in my classroom. I will
continue to use this plan to develop instructional practices. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) stated, “As
a reflective learner, you will think about what has been effective in the past,
but also continually monitor and evaluate what is effective for you now” (p.
11). Next, I will introduce the GAME plan to my students to facilitate their
learning. This process fits perfectly
with problem-based learning because students become “active participants in
setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing
their own progress” (International Society for Technology in Education, [ISTE],
2007).
For this upcoming school year, I
will continue to be self-directed and
proactive in my knowledge of technology. Now that I have used blogging and conducted
a mini-lesson with a small group of students, I need to reflect to decide how I
want to incorporate it into my classroom.
Right now, I see its benefits as a tool to extend discussions, and
increase student interactions with content and each other. Pitler, Hubbell, and Kuhn (2012) stated,
blogs are “especially suited for collaborative writing and project-based
learning” (p. 51), and this is the direction I foresee for my classroom. Next, I will incorporate digital storytelling
into the study of The Odyssey during
the first quarter and then evaluate and monitor what I can do to improve. Digital storytelling is conducive to higher
levels of engagement and allows students to build problem-solving and critical
and creative thinking skills while meeting many of the ISTE standards.
The GAME plan will continue to play
a part when setting educational and technology goals. The plan is a natural reflective process and
a life-long skill that can be used in any situation.
References
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. (2007). National education standards for students (NETS-T).
Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-S_PDF.pdf
Pitler,
H., Hubbell, E., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using technology with classroom
instruction that works, 2nd ed. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
No comments:
Post a Comment