Monitoring My GAME Plan

     As we are rapidly approaching the end of the school year, the pressure and constraints of our rigid curriculum has lessened. For this reason, it has been unique timing for the implementation of my GAME.  Some of my peers have stated that beginning a project at would not be conducive to their plan. However, I have found this time of year to be a great starting block for implementing a new GAME plan. 

      As a fourth grade teacher, it is my job to prepare the students for fifth grade. Many of our fifth grade teachers use Glogster to implement technology into the classroom in a fun and collaborative way. This has provided a perfect transition point for me to begin teaching them how to work collaboratively in a web setting, while still being able to practice using blogs as a form of assessment. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) remind us that using open-ended assessment can be difficult at times due to their subjective nature (p. 145). This is why beginning my GAME plan towards the end of the year, when most of the concepts have been taught, is a perfect time. It has allowed me to experiment with creating blogs as a form of assessment without effecting their grade. Seeing as I have not had much practice with this, I have been able to see what elements of my instructions and lesson are weak and which are strong.  

      I have noticed that many students are internally motivated and enjoy the freedom of being able to choose which topic they would like to respond to. The issue that I have encountered, while trying to grade their responses, is the lack of content. Many students only comment on the post they enjoy with a simple response such as, I agree with you, or good idea. The most challenging aspect has been eliciting thought provoking questions or comments, much like how we are expected to respond to each other’s posts.  

     Once I have worked the kinks out of how to communicate to one another via the web, I can implement the second goal of my GAME plan to the next level and go local or global. Taking smaller, successful steps will help the students to perform better when it comes to posting their work on a local or even global level. I have found many different options that run throughout the year, making them feasible and flexible. 

     Exposing my students to a concept in which they will be expected to use in fifth grade, makes me feel successful as a fourth grade teacher. Imagine what I can do for the rising third graders as they will have seen this concept all year. One has to start small and work their way up, or frustration and anxiety creep up quite quickly.

Resources:

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.

An Action Plan for my GAME Plan

In brainstorming a list of resources that would help me to better prepare lessons that are designed to increase student participation in global and local learning communities, I found several useful sites. The best advice that I have heard or read about, suggests starting small. With this in mind, I will use one of the fifth grade teachers who is willing to participate in a cross-grade level communication activity. This will allow the student’s to become accustomed to the nature of sharing ideas, keeping a timeline, and proper blogging etiquette. The next stage would be to research appropriate local or even global collaboration projects that my students can participate in. In preforming a quick search, I found several resources that listed sites such as Geogames, Global School House, and many more. I also found many lesson suggestions for posting on Wikis or Glogster. The research process may be the most time consuming aspects to my GAME plan, but it is the most crucial. Learning from others trials and tribulations allows less experienced teachers to gain a wealth of knowledge that usually only comes with time. Unlike technological devices, when it comes to enriching student’s lives we do not have the time or freedom to haphazardly experiment and tinker with them until we figure it out.

My GAME Plan

Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) note that self-directed learners are better prepared to face the changes presented to us due to advancing technology or the ever changing needs of our students (p.7). This unavoidable truth helped me to see the importance of keeping with the times.  Creating a GAME plan sounded intimidating in the beginning. However, once I realized that I create a GAME plan for almost every lesson that I teach, applying this principle to other areas sounded like a much more manageable task.

In assessing the NET-S I chose to design a game plan on two different standards. The first standard pertains to engaging in professional growth and leadership and the second standard pertains to designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessment.

Goal = I would like to increase my students participation in local or global learning communities   to improve student learning through authentic experience and assessments.

Action = I plan to concentrate my efforts on learning about what collaboration programs are out there as well as their time lines and requirements for participation. Much of this information I can find by searching websites and reading and participating in education blogs.  I also plan to utilize my fellow coworkers to see if there is interest in creating a cross-grade level communication project or correspondence.  

Monitoring = Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) state “The key to effective reflection is the ability to go beyond simple description of what happened to consider why it happened “(p.11). In my GAME plan I plan on keeping a portfolio of student work so that I can look for growth.  I also plan to give a survey before and after so measure student moral on the subject area. As a good teaching practice, I also plan on taking observational notes about what I notice throughout the process.

Evaluate = Based on the data that I collect from the monitoring stage, I will decide what needs to be changed or tweaked for next time.  If they student are successful with this application, then I will look for new ways to incorporate it into other subject areas.  If the students are not utilizing the tool to its fullest, then I will look to see if I can make adjustments to the way the learning tool is presented or the effectiveness of the classroom management.  Many time it is not the technology that is ineffective, it’s the way in which it was present. Lack of planning and anticipating, allows for students to quickly fall off task.

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