Reflections

The GAME plan really is a guide to developing self-directed learners (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). By putting the GAME plan into practice as I developed skills and confidence in incorporating digital tools into my lessons and helped my students become digital citizens, I better recognize the benefits of using the plan and now feel comfortable using it with my students. To guide my students on a path of becoming self-directed learners, it helps to have structure in place; the GAME plan can be that structure. As the focus is on the process, the GAME plan can be used to support any goal students may have once they learn how to use it (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). It can help turn goals into realities with actions, monitoring and evaluations to support the goals.

For my own GAME plan, one of my goals was to integrate technology to support student learning of content in a meaningful way. I have since discovered numerous ways to use technology tools to support content. It is easy to set goals, but the GAME plan provided the roadmap for me to integrate tools such as podcasts, PowerPoints, and streaming clips to support my students’ learning of content. The monitoring and evaluation steps encouraged reflection on which tools were most effective for each lesson. One of the most significant things I have learned is to first identify the content objective and then select the technology tool that will support student learning of the content (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). This ensures that the content is the focus and the technology tools provide the learning experiences or assessments.

As I used the GAME plan to create a classroom of digital citizens I realized that my students knew very little about their responsibilities with digital resources. Through the pre-assessment I created as part of the action step, I discovered my students needed to develop skills in two areas: citing resources and making information their own. Both of these will be ongoing areas to work on. As I monitored their progress, I realized they needed awareness, tools to use to support them such as websites like http://citationmachine.net/, graphic organizers to assist in organizing the research information and modeling from me.

My biggest “aha” moment centered on online social and learning networks. This is the area where I will make the most significant adjustment to support student learning with technology. After recognizing the way the discussion boards have positively affected my learning, and studying the variety of ways they can be integrated, I realized it is time to have my students engage in this kind of activity. I plan to start with an online discussion board. I like the idea that Vicki Davis brings to light that everyone has a chance to participate (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). The students who shine in traditional class discussions often are confident answering orally, strong auditory learners, and fast processers. The format of the online discussion board levels the playing field and gives each student the time and opportunity to participate in a meaningful way. The asynchronous format will enable all of my students to engage in discussion, even if they attend the resource program on different days and have never met (Laureate Education Inc. 2009). Students will be able to clarify and extend their learning and take their thinking about the content information to a deeper level through the discussions. I plan to use the GAME plan to bring this new goal to reality.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Cennamo, K.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.

Using the GAME Plan With Students

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has outlined standards, National Education Technology Standards (NETS) for students as well as teachers. The standards for teachers highlight the experiences, models, and supports teachers need to provide for students to meet their standards. These student standards are:

Creativity and Innovation

Communication and Collaboration

Research and Information Fluency

Critical Thinking, Problem Solving and Decision Making

Digital Citizenship

Technical Operations and Concepts

(ISTE, 2007).

Without a plan in place, it could be hit or miss whether students meet these standards. The GAME Plan would provide the structure and support for meeting these standards.

Goal Setting: My students need to know what is expected of them (developing skills to meet these standards) in order to know what goals to set. The first part of our goal setting activities would include sharing the standards with them, communicating where they need to “go” so they can set a path to reach their “destination.” We would then create a KWHL chart to identify what they are already able to do, what they need to learn, and how they will do this. Goal setting encourages self-directed learning as students make plans for their learning (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). As these are life skills and will take time to develop, students will be encouraged to plan short and long-term goals.

Creating an Action Plan: This is the natural next step, as students identify what they need and want to learn, they have to figure out how they can make this happen. Their action plan brings their goals to reality. This is the H in the KWHL chart – how will they make this happen? I would show students examples of the digital tools we will use to meet the goals. Using a concept map we can make a graphical representation of what the standards look like in practice using the descriptors and including the tools we will use in the process. As a class, we will create a chart illustrating which standards are addressed by digital tools such as blogs, voice threads, and digital storytelling.

Monitoring the GAME plan: As students use digital tools to address their standards and meet their goals, they need a way to track their progress. Students could use individual charts based on their goals using the wording from the standards’ descriptors. When students’ actions relate to one of their goals they could put a check next to the goal. This would give them a sense of accomplishment and provide a visual reminder of the goals they are working towards. Learning log entries could be used to reflect on their successes and challenges. Class discussions could address any revisions needed to the GAME plan.

Evaluating the Plan: How well did the plan work? This is the time to come back to the KWHL chart and review where we started (W – what do we already know) and where we are now (L – what have we learned). As our ultimate goal is self-directed learners, this is the perfect point to set new goals to continue to develop skills to meet the NETS-S as part of a new plan using experiences from the first GAME plan as a guide.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.

National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007_Standards.pdf

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Carolyn Doyle

Revising My GAME Plan

It’s time to examine my plan and determine if there are areas that need to be revised to best meet my goals. By stepping back and reviewing the standards I selected to focus on and revisiting the others I can refine my plan.

What have I learned so far that I can apply in my instructional practice?

This week’s learning resources, especially the DVD chapters on Social Networking and Online Collaboration send home the idea that the benefits I have experienced through the discussion board postings would also extend my students’ learning (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). I need to investigate how to establish a discussion blog for my students.

What goals am I still working towards?

After reviewing the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) the two indicators that I chose to become more confident and proficient with are

Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments Indicator a: design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity

and

Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility Indicator a: advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources (ISTE, 2008).

I feel both goals I selected will be ongoing, I can’t forsee checking the box and being “finished” with either. This GAME plan will encourage reflection and revision as I continue to monitor my progress and my students’ as I introduce new tools and model and develop traits of good digital citizenship.

Based on NETS-T, what new learning goal will I set for myself?

The new learning from this class, especially this week brings me to revisit Standard 1 and add that to my GAME plan. This Standard, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity addresses integrating both collaborative tools and problem solving experiences in learning activities. I can see that the standards can be interrelated and Standard 1 will correspond well to the other two in my plan. The lesson plans I am currently developing on problem-based learning and collaborative tools fit right with this standard.

What learning approaches will I try next time to improve my learning?

Beyond this class I will continue to collaborate with teammates and colleagues, I have found learning from and with them to be an extremely beneficial experience. I also realize collaboration can be extended beyond the walls of my school through blogs and online collaboration sites with other teachers. Now that I am aware of online tutorials I will continue to take advantage of participating in those to continually discover new digital tools to use.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.

Carolyn Doyle

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

As I am well into my GAME Plan, it’s time to evaluate my progress of integrating technology that will enhance student learning experiences (Laureate Education Inc., 2009) and teaching my students to become digital citizens.

How effective are my actions in helping me meet my goals?

My actions included reviewing lessons to determine if integrating technology tools would enhance and enrich the learning of my students and if so, selecting technology tools that would be most effective. I adapted a recent lesson on the effect of wind currents on ocean currents into a PowerPoint presentation, using several print resources and adding images and videos to enhance student understanding. This lesson was content heavy and this technology tool provided me the opportunity to present the information in a variety of ways, tapping into students’ differing learning styles. The podcasts created for previous week’s lessons have enabled students to follow along in their reading and re-listen to the content as much as possible.

The pre-assessment on citing sources and plagiarism has determined the mini lessons my students need in order to become solid digital citizens. I have discovered talking about how I create a product, the Ocean Currents PowerPoint, for example, brings citations and the importance of using your own words to the forefront and has increased awareness. This is only a start, but it is progress.

What have I learned so far that I can apply in my instructional practice?

I am in the process of creating my first digital storytelling product using Windows Moviemaker. I participated in an online tutorial last week to learn the basics of this technology tool and then spent time working through the various features. My product will have its debut at my family night later in the month. It will give students and families an opportunity to experience a creative problem solving activity students took part in. Through the tutorial and my experience creating this product I feel comfortable introducing this tool to my students.

What do I still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

There are so many options for student collaboration using technology tools. Although I have used blogs such as this one and a wiki for collaboration and see the benefits, I have yet to incorporate any of these into my learning activities for my students. I need to build a bridge from what I know about using them to teaching my students to use them so they can reap the benefits. My questions center around effective management strategies for using these in my classroom.

How will I adjust my plan?

After reviewing my initial plan, I don’t see any adjustments needed, but I do see the importance of continually reflecting on my progress so that progress is made. Throughout the past few weeks I have integrated streaming videos, podcasts, and PowerPoint presentations into my lessons on Oceanography. The movie I made will enhance my family night event and keep families informed about the kinds of learning activities their children take part in. Students will begin their own culminating activity for our oceanography unit and at that point, I will introduce mini lessons for notetaking and citations to develop skills needed for my students to be good digital citizens.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

My GAME plan is developed and now that I am working through it, I need to monitor my plan and progress by answering several questions. So, how am I doing?

Am I finding the information and resources I need?
Fortunately, none of the resources or information I need to fulfill my plan successfully are difficult for me to acquire or access. I have the technology tools available that I need and great resources from both the internet and colleagues.

Do I need to modify my action plan?
I am realizing that to teach my students to be good digital citizens I need to teach them more than just citing the resources they are using. That will become a habit for them as long as I continue to remind and require them to do it and provide suggestions and tools to make it efficient for them. The larger issue is that some of my students struggle with making the information their own. I think I need to teach some mini lessons on note taking; providing modeling and introducing graphic organizers to help them organize the information as they find it. Citing sources is imperative to being a good digital citizen, but so is putting the information into their own words.

What have I learned so far?
This week’s new learning centers around digital storytelling. I have reviewed some examples created by colleagues and students and I plan to take an online tutorial tomorrow to begin creating my own. I have been photographing my students at work and plan to create a digital story to be shared at an upcoming Family Night in my classroom. I am hoping my first digital story can be used as an example to introduce this tool to my students. I will evaluate the tutorial after I participate to see if this technology resource will be an effective learning tool for my students (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009).

What new questions have arisen?
I have learned that there are images and sounds that are available to be used openly and others that are copyrighted. In the spirit of being a good digital citizen I want to learn more about how to identify the ones that are available to be used openly. If I can identify some sources these would be perfect for my students to use as a library to enhance their products.

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.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Now that I have developed my GAME plan for teaching my students to be better digital citizens and to increase my use of technology tools in learning activities I need to identify the resources and additional information I need to make my GAME plan a reality (ISTE, 2008). Additionally, I need to assess my progress in my newly created GAME plan.

Resources: The resources I will need to carry out my plan include creating the pre and post assessments on concepts related to digital citizenship like citing sources and plagiarism. The data from the pre-assessment will guide my mini lessons to develop these skills. I plan to bookmark my division’s Appropriate Use Policy and the Code of Behavior so students can review this information from the primary sources. I plan to introduce students to
http://citationmachine.net/ and show them how to use this tool to cite sources using the division’s adopted format; MLA. The main resources I will use to incorporate technology tools into my lessons are the curriculum, my lesson plans, and my school’s technology resource teacher. Using backwards design, I will identify what I want students to be able to do and then I will select tools with suggestions from the technology resource teacher to support that.

I would like to become more proficient in several of the technology tools including web page design and digital storytelling. I will start by using tutorial programs and then seek additional clarification from the technology resource teacher at my school. I have found several possible tutorials I plan to try. If they are effective, they may be possible resources for my students as well. As Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) explain, “You can actually use technology to learn more about technology” (p. 10).

http://www.tech4learning.com/webblender/training

http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/classrooms/Classroom_Presentations_and_Lesson_Plans.htm

Additional Information: To remain up to date about possible technology tools to incorporate and ways to incorporate them I will continue attending my school’s Professional Learning Network on Using Technology for Differentiation. I will search for Internet resources to incorporate into my lessons as well.

Current Progress: It has only been one week since I developed my GAME plan but I have made some progress. I not only added citations to a SmartBoard lesson I created but I pointed them out to my students and commented on ownership and the importance of citation.

I incorporated two technology tools into my lessons last week aside from the lesson on the SmartBoard. I used a podcast so students could hear content information on ocean currents as well as see the information written on paper. The first time students listened I encouraged them to just visualize the information and make pictures in their minds of what they were hearing. The second time, I encouraged students to follow along on their papers. This information was written at a higher grade level and the podcast provided appropriate scaffolding and extra support to my auditory learners. My students who need more processing time had the option of listening to the podcast additional times. I also used this as an opportunity to briefly show students how it was created.

I found a video clip from Discovery Streaming that provided background knowledge prior to a cooperative learning problem solving activity about building a bridge. This brief clip leveled the playing field for students who had not had a lot of prior experiences with structures and served as a review for my expert builder students.

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.
Classroom resources, presentation tips and lesson plans. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://presentationsoft.about.com/od/classrooms/Classroom_Presentations_and_Lesson_Plans.htm

Landmarks son of citation machine. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://citationmachine.net

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf

Webblender 2. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.tech4learning.com/webblender/training

GAME Plan

My GAME plan: This will be my guide to strengthening and gaining confidence in the areas I identified (Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer, 2009).

Goal Setting: After reviewing the National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) I identified two indicators that I would like to become more confident and proficient with.
Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments Indicator a: design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity

Standard 4: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility Indicator a: advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources

I selected “indicator a” from Standard 2 because I like that my growth in this area will directly impact and improve student learning and I felt “indicator a” from Standard 4 was a necessary area of growth as I integrate more technology into my lessons and student learning activities.

Actions: As one of my goals is to design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity, I will first review the content objectives and determine ways I can modify and revise the lessons to integrate technology that will enhance student learning experiences (Laureate Education Inc., 2009). This will ensure that the content remains at the forefront of student learning. The lesson planning process will be crucial to meeting this goal. As suggested by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) I will need to “explore the resources to determine what features align with instructional goals” (p. 105). I will determine how technology can best used to support the content objectives; as a tutor, a mindtool, or support for conversation (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I will also examine whether there are product options for students to demonstrate, personalize, and share their learning.
My second goal is to advocate, model, and teach safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of sources. To meet this goal I will need to teach by example, as I prepare learning resources for students I need to include appropriate citations. I also plan to use a combination of mini lessons on respecting ownership and citations with weaving these concepts through my lessons. I will integrate the use of graphic organizers into the research process. My hope is this will reduce the amount of direct resource copying my students do.

Monitoring my Progress: In order to monitor my progress for both of my goals, I will need to make my goals measurable. I plan to try to incorporate technology resources or tools into each of my oceanography lessons even if it is just providing non linguistic visuals to support learning. I also plan to track the number of different resources and tools I integrate to ensure that I use a variety. To monitor my goal of teaching my students ethical and respectful practices regarding technology and ownership, I plan to pre assess my students’ background knowledge on this subject and build mini lessons and lessons woven into the content study based on their needs identified in the pre assessment. I will incorporate citations and student wording into product rubrics to further encourage these practices in students and monitor how well my students are learning this.

Evaluating and Extending my Learning: I will evaluate how well I met my goals by reviewing my lesson plans and noting how often I integrated a technology tool or resource and how many different ways I used technology to enhance student learning. I will evaluate how well I modeled and taught my students to be responsible citizens concerning technology by administering a posttest to measure their growth (and mine) in this area compared to the pretest. To extend my learning and continue to develop my competency, confidence, and proficiency with these indicators I will engage in collaboration through this blog, discussion boards, and my school’s PLN on differentiation with technology. Additionally, as this class progresses I am sure I will learn about more technology resources and tools to support my development in these areas.

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore: Davis, V.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.