GAME Plan Update

GAME Plan Update

When creating a GAME plan it is important to take steps to implement that plan (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010). Honestly, I have had some difficulties taking steps to implement both of my GAME plans. First of all, these past two weeks have been report card weeks. I just sent students’ mid-year report cards home today. Also, I have been planning outdoor school. This has taken at least 40 hours of my time in the last three weeks since we will be gone most of next week to camp. Yes, these are excuses, but this is the reality of an educator. We often spend many hours outside our workday to do the work we need to do. Alas, I have yet to discover how to clone myself and thus my GAME plan has been neglected.

At this point I began using a Wiki, https://skyline502.wikispaces.com/, for my school building. I have hit a few snags in this process. The first snag is that I have timed starting a Wiki during a time where all of my coworkers are only focused on report cards. Thus, out of the 30 plus staff members I invited to the Wiki, only six have joined. Those who have joined have not had a chance to explore the wiki yet. Also, a few staff members have had issues creating accounts and logging into the wiki. I am still trying to figure out how to fix some of these issues. I have learned how to format and adjust the wiki and to create new pages. I am excited about the potential the wiki holds and look forward to learning more and continuing with my wiki GAME plan.

As for my second GAME plan of Google forms, I have not worked a great deal with this yet. However, today in computer lab, I worked with several students on using Google Presentation. Together we figured out how to do a presentation simultaneously by sharing the presentation with partnerships. I think from this experience, I would like to adjust my GAME plan to include learning how to use all of the Google Document options better. I intend to use Atomic Learning to figure out how to best use these tools. I also still want to find videos and create my own online learning on these tools.

Overall, I have obtained new information and skills on both wikis and Google Documents. I still have a huge learning curve and look forward to explore both of these digital tools more and follow through with my GAME plan.

-Jill

References-

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Making my GAME plan work!

Making my GAME plan work!

According to Dr. John Ross, technology provides a way to reach more students with a variety of needs, talents and backgrounds (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). As a teacher, my primary purpose is to better meet the needs of my students. In my previous post, I listed two technology goals I wanted to work on to help me reach more students.

My first goal was to better utilize Google Forms to promote student reflection. To learn how to better use Google Forms, I need to do many things. The first thing I need to do is experiment with forms. At this point in time, I have made a survey for my technology club students, but have yet to implement this into my classroom. I also want to use my Atomic learning account to watch a tutorial on how to use Google Forms. Since I am in the middle of report cards, I have yet been able to do this. Once I have figured out how to successfully use these forms, I need to research practical and academic usages. I intend to use Google Forms to help me analyze student feedback to better meet the needs of all of my students.

My second goal was to use a wiki to promote collaboration with students, coworkers and parents.  Communication is important to me as an educator. Currently in my school district, we are focused on promoting positive student talk where students have time to process and learn from each other. I believe that a wiki could be a great way to promote student talk using technology. I also think a wiki is an excellent way to facilitate collaboration among colleagues. Currently, I am planning outdoor school with four staff members. I am constantly sending emails to communicate all of the details that go into science camp. I wish at the beginning of this process we had used a wiki. This would be a great way to have facilitated important discussions without having to take too much time.  In my school building, we are going through many changes. The biggest change is that my building may be closed by the school district. This has left a lot of miscommunication and rumors. To promote positive communication in my building, I just began a school wikispaces account https://skyline502.wikispaces.com/ . After explore wikispaces, I was able to get a wiki started. I still need to watch help videos and find ideas on how to successful implement a wiki with my students. However, I think this is a good start to my goal of using wikis to promote collaboration.

I am excited about these goals and looking forward to learning more and making these technology tools common in my instructional and professional practices.

-Jill

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Meeting students’ needs with technology, part 1. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

The ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Teachers

The ISTE NETS and Performance Indicators for Teachers

The main reason why I decided to work on integration of technology in the classroom for my master’s program was because I knew I had a lot of growth opportunity in that area. I often feel as if I tiptoe into the technology realm, but never really fully immerse myself into fully integrating technology into my classroom. Also, one of our primary goals as a district is promoting student talk and collaboration. Since this is a goal I am currently working on in all areas of my classroom, I wanted to focus on these goals to better meet the NETS indicators.

The goals I want to focus on are:

Goal #1-

NETS 1.            

Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes (ISTE, 2012).

GAME goal-

G (goal)- I want to learn how to better utilize Google Forms to promote student reflection.

            A (action)- To learn how to use Google Forms, I will:

·      I go through Atomic Learning to see if there any instructional guides on Google Forms

·       I will look for tutorials on YouTube and other websites.

·      I will practice and create a weekly reflection form for students.

            M (monitor)- To monitor my learning, I will:

·      Check to see if forms actually work, but creating simple forms initially

o   I will adjust my forms as I practice forms

o   I will ask a focus group of students to give feedback about format and give suggestions of any changes.

            E (evaluate)- To evaluate my learning, I will:

·       I will have students evaluate form and analyze their feedback on forms

·       I will then incorporate forms into other content areas and part of the curriculum.

·       I will write a reflection and keep notes through the process to help me evaluate my learning.

Goal #2-

NETS 3.            

Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success

and innovation.

GAME goal-

G (goal) I want to use a wiki to promote collaboration with students, coworkers and parents.

            A (action) To learn how to use wikis, I will:

·       Research different wiki sites available.

·       Practice using these sites to determine which would work for me.

·       Use Atomic Learning to develop skills to using wikis.

·       Do research on how to best use wikis in the classroom.

            M (monitor) To monitor my learning, I will:

·       Do a test wiki with grade level coworkers to experiment with wikis and see how it can promote collaboration and communication.

·       Start with a fun basic wiki about students’ thoughts and feelings about going to outdoor school camp. Invite parents to join conversation as well.

·       Create an assignment for students to collaborate wikis on a research project on ancient worlds.

            E (evaluate) To evaluate my learning, I will:

·       I will have students evaluate wikis and analyze their feedback on Google Form.

·       I will then incorporate wiki into other content areas and part of the curriculum.

·       I will write a reflection and keep notes through the process to help me evaluate my learning.

References-

ISTE (2012, March 6). The ISTE NETS and performance indicators for teachers. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx