GAME Plan (Application 4)

In my GAME plan I focus on teaching students the necessity of technology.  I feel that I need to continue to develop my ideas on how implement that technology.  As of now, I have used technology in hopes of increasing motivation and engagement rather than also increasing higher order thinking.  Another change that I would like to make towards my GAME plan is to include integrating technology in the assessment part of my classroom.  I want the technology to help with “monitoring and evaluating the academic progress of students” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 163).  I want to use technology in every unit to assess my students, whether it is a formative assessment or a summative assessment. 

The resources that have been given every week have helped me to find more ideas on how to implement technology.  I have also been doing some brain storming on how I could integrate technology through various presentations and projects.  I have also been provided many ways to score these types of assessments.  Using rubrics seems to be the most beneficial for the students because it shows the “different levels of quality” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 155). 

PowerSchool will be beneficial for me to individualize my instruction, as it summarizes all of my students’ data that is collected on a daily basis.   As a teacher, it is important to remember that “early identification and reporting of student difficulties can lead to identifying helpful interventions before the problems become insurmountable” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 158). 

One point of discussion that really sparked my interest this week was my use of technology as it relates to higher order thinking.  A lot of my ideas have been for lower level thinking, such as playing math games to get a lot of practice.  Every time I teach a lesson or assess my students, I want to ask myself if the students were able to use higher order thinking.

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.

Jenna Enevoldsen

Monitoring my GAME Plan (Application 3)

In order to carry out my game plan, there are a lot of resources that will be very beneficial to my students’ learning.  My classes have introduced me to a lot of new resources, but I will also need to attend various workshops to increase my knowledge.  The resources this week helped me to realize the importance of setting goals for the students and that more emphasis should be put reaching the goal rather than how it was attained.  This is where the use of technology allows teachers to be “flexible” with their teaching to individual students (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). 

To accomplish my goal, technology will be utilized to help address all learners.  The first part is a classroom website that allows communication through a blog, posted homework, as well as websites that provide practice problems.  The next resource is to become familiar with the on-line edition of my textbook, which provides an electronic format of the text in addition to a virtual instructor that will teach lessons.  These are everyday uses of technology that can be very convenient for the students.  Then, as a teacher, I will install the textbook question bank on the computers in my room.  This will allow students to get extra help or to complete their homework on the computer.  As a classroom lecture, I will utilize a smart board and projector to present PowerPoint presentations to the class.  The students will also need these tools for the project they will be assigned.  One of my classmates also suggested that students can keep track of their grades in Excel, so Excel will need to be available on my computers.  In addition, on the web many movies, computer generated manipulatives, and other teaching aides, all of which will require a computer or computers and a smart board. 

Through workshops and talking with peers through blogs or in person, I need to find ideas that will keep technology at the center of implementing different learning strategies.  There are many technology tools that I have already learned about but have never tested in the classroom.  Prior to implementation, I need to do a lot of research and become familiar with all of the programs.  To make technology a greater focus in my classroom I plan to “utilize instructional strategies that allow individual students greater access to active learning” (p. 123).   

I have taken the necessary steps and developed classroom website where homework is posted and students can read and respond to my blog, although the blog feature does not get used very often.  There were a few times I had my students play games on the computers in order to polish their skills through repetition, but this does not happen enough.  I have also had my students complete a PowerPoint presentation on a unit out of their book.  The students did all of the research on the internet to prepare themselves to present a unit to the class.  This is a recent project and the two classes are almost finished. 

When integrating technology to show students how important it can be for their learning, the possibilities are endless.  I am looking to gain more knowledge throughout the school year that will increase my ability to utilize technology in all of my lessons.   Hopefully my students will see the impact this technology has on their learning. 

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.

GAME Plan

While I have been taking classes on integrating technology in the classroom, I have strived to increase my level of technology being used inside the classroom.  Through my findings I have also realized the importance of how the technology is being presented.  I have established a “GAME” plan for myself to increase my teaching ability (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  The two indicators I want to focus on from the NETS-T are #2 a and b. 

My goal for the indicator #2 a and b is to teach students the advantage technology has on their learning.  I want students to go to a computer to further their learning rather than always asking the teacher for the answers or immediate help.  I want my students to go to technology to assess how much they have learned in the current unit.  I want my students to utilize technology if they do not understand the way a book, peer, or teacher is teaching a lesson. 

My action plan to meet these goals is to incorporate technology in multiple ways, such as “individual use,” “small groups” and “whole groups.” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 88-92) Technology needs to be used in everyday lecture lessons for either homework, motivation, or as a manipulative.  Throughout the year, I will also have my students complete at least one big project that is done using the web, Microsoft word, and PowerPoint.  This project teaches the students many skills that are needed for research, evaluation, and then using the information correctly.  It also shows them how useful and accessible information is on a computer.  My last plan of action is to engage in at least one professional development seminar to increase my knowledge on the use of technology.  I would like to find a workshop that focuses on how to integrate technology in the classroom in an effective way.

To monitor my progress, I will continually evaluate my students’ grades to see what lessons the students did not understand.  With that knowledge I will be able to use technology in different ways to change a lesson if the students did not understand it the first time.  Also, to monitor my progress, I will keep a journal that I will write in every day to discuss what went well with the technology and what could be improved.  With that feedback in writing, I will be able to make adjustments, which will also be recorded.  Through this journal, I plan to “go beyond a simple description of what happened to consider why it happened, how it is connected to other events, and what adjustments should be made to subsequent actions based on this understanding.” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 11) 

Evaluating my work and progress will begin with reviewing my journal to see how changes were made during the year and if they increased my students’ interest in the use of technology.  I will also evaluate the projects my classes created to see how much creative thought my students demonstrated.  Through that process, I will compare the unique aspects each project and the methods I used to present the material.  If I find one class that had more projects that inspired creative thinking, I will have to reflect on the procedure I used for that project. 

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.