Monitoring my GAME plan progress

Monitoring my GAME plan progress

Goal 1: Have a technology-rich classroom. I want to be able to incorporate technology where it best fits the curriculum needs.

Goal 2: I want to reach all students (with the help of technology).

Goal 3: Create a student-centered atmosphere in my classroom, giving them 21^st century skills to learn and use.

What have I learned? 

Tim Best (Laureate Education, Inc., 2012) said you cannot force technology. I now know this is true. I need to let it happen naturally. I need to not make everything such a big deal. I need to start small and add more when I am comfortable and ready. Each day this week I have incorporated a small piece of technology. 

On Monday my students worked on their vocabulary words for the week. They worked in pairs- they each had two words. Using Microsoft Word they wrote the definition, an original sentence, and found a picture to represent their word. They shared their work to the class so everyone could see and hear how those words are used correctly. Each word was represented by 3 different groups, so the students heard and saw it multiple times in order to make many connections. On Tuesday my fifth graders worked through two different interactive sites in order to learn more about the Underground Railroad.  After they had visited the sites, they reflected on the information they learned and wrote an answer to an open-ended response question. Today, the fourth graders played a review game from Harcourt (2012) that corresponded with their first unit in their social studies text. Small steps, do not force.

Are you finding the information and resources you need?

 I am ready to start incorporating blogs with my students next week. I have set each student up with a blog and I have finished my Acceptable Use Policy. So yes, I am on the right track for this part of the goal. I do need to continue to gather more resources on ideas on how to best implement technology into my classroom. I need to continue searching out the best possible tools.

Do you need to modify your action plan? 

Yes, I need to be more specific in my steps. The only clear point I made was that I would start blogging. The rest of my goals were too generic. There is no focus, no specific action plan; I felt like I was getting nothing accomplished. So I am working on setting more specific goals.

To go along with finding information and resources; every Saturday I am dedicating one hour to my lesson plans looking to see where technology would fit. I then use the internet and my textbooks from class to find the specifics. The goal is to try and implement technology at least 5 times a week.

After blogging has been started and the students have the opportunity to use it for awhile, I will pick another tool to focus on implementing.

After this week’s resources from my Walden University class I also want to begin implementing some different types of assessment using technology. I want to focus on performance and project-based assessments. Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) describe these as tools that can allow my students to be 21^st century learners and used higher critical thinking skills. 

What new questions have arisen?

My question that has arisen: Where do you look for ideas on projects and technology implementation? Do you have a favorite website or source?

Renee Scott

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.

Harcourt School Publishers (2012).  “The Learning Site”. .  Retrieved from http://www.harcourtschool.com/ss1/index_na.html.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2012). Enriching content area Learning experiences with technology, part 1 [DVD]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.