The GAME plan philosophy, steams from the idea of establishing a goal, taking action on that particular goal, monitoring progress and evaluating the goal and its' effectiveness (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Over the past several weeks, I have focused on establishing two goals. They are as follows: incorporating blogs and wikis when appropriate in my physical education class and creating a classroom website to be used as a communication device between myself, parents and my students. Despite the short week, I have taken a few steps, recommended by Dr. Katherine Cennamo, to demonstrate my ability to be a self-directed learner by planning, monitoring and evaluating my GAME plan (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).
As a result of my efforts this week, I have been able to meet with my technology teacher to explore scheduling and availability in terms of using the computer lab. We have established a rough outline of the times in which my fifth graders will be able to use to the computer lab, outside of their physical education classes to respond to specific questions and open-ended response assessments. As we learned in this week's resources, open-ended responses take little time to create and are widely effective in terms of allowing students to express their thinking in a creative manner (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I have also started to experiment with Microsoft FrontPage in terms of creating my own classroom website. I have found this process to be quite simple to use and have enjoyed using the various tools and options. As Dr. Peggy Ertmer states, four important attributes of teachers that effectively integrate technology are: knowledge, confidence, beliefs and supportive culture (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). I am continuing to focus on all four of these attributes and allowing them to drive me toward succeeding in my GAME plan.
As of now, I do not feel that I need to modify my GAME plan. I continue to look for new and improved ways to make my GAME plan more beneficial to my students. I have learned a tremendous amount by completing my Walden resources, as well as by conversing with my fellow colleagues. My classmates have given me several suggestions and helpful hints that have guided me in the right direction over the past few weeks. I look forward to hearing from more of my peers this week as to how I can continue to push forward to motivate myself to finish my website and blog inquiries.
References:
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: Author.
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Rachael -
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your about the progress that you have been making with regard to your GAME plan! Meeting with the technology coordinator is an important first step. This will allow you to see what, if anything, will need to be changed or modified in your GAME plan due to scheduling or availability issues.
In addition, I have to say that agree with your statement that open-ended response format questions do allow the students to express themselves and to think creatively. One thing that I have been working on in my teaching as of late is my questioning skills. I find that I do not ask enough open-ended questions during class discussions, and that if I do, I tend to rush the discussion along instead of allowing the proper wait time so that the students can respond with understanding and confidence. This is especially true with my students having special needs or that have an IEP. I have found that it is working.
May I suggest to you to try this? I realize that you are a PE teacher, but I think it could work. The next time that you are explaining the directions for a new game, or how to score in bowling, give it a try. Ask an open-ended question, and then wait painfully long for a response. Be sure to tell the students BEFORE you ask the question that you will wait for to call on someone with their hand up, but only after everyone has really thought about the question.
Let me know when and if you try this - and what happens!
Heather,
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic that you mentioned proper wait time in your response. Today I was teaching a lesson and I could tell that I was getting behind with time. Instead of allowing proper wait time, i rushed the students through the question and answer piece and as a result was not happy at all with their assessment results. I have a hard time with proper wait time. I think some of my problems may be attributed to the fact that I see my students once a week for 50 minutes. This makes it difficult at times to complete the objective when various students are struggling with the skill. I will definitely consider your suggestions and certainly appreciate your openness and honesty. I do enjoy my lessons much more when I am able to provide adequate wait time for response. I love hearing my student's respond to different questions and find that their creativity is enhanced through this method. I will continue to work on this and make an effort to improve my skills with this method.