Thursday, September 16, 2010

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

Goals:

In order to be a more self-directed and lifelong learner, I would like to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in the following two areas:

ISTE NETS-T

• Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

• Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

Action:

In order to engage in professional growth and leadership, I would like to take further action towards increasing my skills and knowledge in the area of integrating technology in the classroom. One way to accomplish this goal is to grow from the knowledge gained from my master’s degree education through Walden University. I will use the ideas gained from my course resources and the experiences shared from my colleagues to enhance my own learning experiences. I will also use the online resources from professional journals to increase my level of understanding with various technological tools and programs that can be useful to increase student learning.

According to Cennamo, et al. (2009), creative thinkers have the ability to “generate a large number of original ideas”. In order to motivate my students to become more creative thinkers, I will model creative and innovative thinking within my classroom. I hope that through my modeling, students will be able to reflect upon and demonstrate more creative thinking. Students will also use more technology to develop their creative thinking and reasoning skills. Finally, I plan to use more authentic instruction to facilitate creative thinking by providing more opportunities to have experimental, inductive and hands-on learning across content areas.

Monitor:

As a way to monitor my professional growth and leadership, Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) recommend I “find a product or performance that will demonstrate to myself and others that I have obtained my goal”. Therefore, I will monitor and reflect on my professional growth by creating a portfolio of the technology used with my students across various content areas. I plan to update my portfolio monthly with a description of the technology used within my classroom as well as the response and success technology had towards my students’ overall achievement and engagement towards learning.

In addition, I will use the same portfolio to monitor my goal with facilitating student creativity and learning. I hope that the technology used will also enhance students’ abilities to express their creativity and interests in learning.

Evaluation:

As a way to evaluate my portfolio, I will continuously reflect on how the use of technology in the classroom has helped increase both my professional growth and student learning. As a way to evaluate student achievement, I will compare my current students’ test scores and project outcomes to those of last year and see if there were any gains in overall student achievement. I will also ask my students to complete a survey in which they describe how, if at all, technology has influenced their learning and creativity throughout the school year.

Reference

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

6 comments:

  1. Jewel,
    Your GAME plan sounds like you put a lot of thought into it. I like that not only are you thinking about your kids you are thinking about how to better yourself. When you better yourself your students benifit as well.
    Brandy

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  2. Jewel,
    We are so fortunate to have access to technological resources through this course of study. I feel that this is such a great program to help us better prepare our students for the future. It is so important for us to model creativity for our students. They have to know that there is a variety of methods and ways of doing things. Keeping a portfolio on integrating technology in the classroom will be a great way to reflect on what ideas work and what changes need to be made.
    Angie

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  3. Hi Jewel, I am a fellow 2nd grade teacher although this year I have a combo..half first graders and half second graders. Just wanted to tell you I like the way you have set up your Game Plan. It's easy to read and looks like you definitely have your game plan on. I am looking forward to staying in touch with you and sharing insights. Thanks... Leann

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  4. Jewel,
    I posted a comment yesterday but it did not appear so I will try this again. You have a nicely developed GAME plan. I especially like the section that discusses collaborating with fellow colleagues about your successes and failures using technology in the classroom. We as teachers can learn from one another.

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  5. Hi Jewel,

    I agree with your idea of using a portfolio to monitor and manage your use of technology. I also like the way you plan to allow your students to complete a survey and comparing achievement to evaluate their use of technology. After reading your blog, I would like to use these same techniques. I think these are great ideas!

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  6. Thank you everyone for your support. Since everyone seems to have shared very similar comments, then I would like to post my reactions to your comments at one time. It sounds like you all agree that having a portfolio to monitor and to manage my use of technology in the classroom is a useful idea. I will definitely implement an electronic portfolio immediately so that I can monitor it throughout this school year and use it to help me grow in the future. As mentioned in my blog, I will also continue to use professional feedback, such as the ones your giving and from my colleagues at work to help me continue growing as an educator. Thanks again for all of your support and comments.

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