Developing My Personal GAME Plan!

 

Technology is constantly changing our world, and teachers must be equipped with teaching practices to prepare students for their features. As educators, we have the responsibility not only to teach content knowledge but also to implement technology that will solidify the content and engage our students.  The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) provides five National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T):

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
2. Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
3. Model Digital Age Work and Learning
4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Deep down, I know that I could better serve my students if I were to provide more authentic learning opportunities where students have a choice in their processes and products. By doing this, I need to be more confident in designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments (NETS-T, 2008). Educators are constantly preparing new instructional strategies and finding ways to effectively integrate them into the content.  I also would like to gain more confidence in engaging in professional growth and leadership (NETS-T, 2008).

That being stated, Dr. Katherine Cennamo recommends making a GAME plan to to use a guide through the process (Laureate Education Inc, 2009). My professional GAME plan is as follows:

G: Set Goals-

·         Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments

·         Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

                         

A: Take Action-

I will begin with blogs, which will provide the opportunity to strengthen my professional growth and leadership.   I have already taken the step in the right direction of improving by professional growth by subscribing to different educational blogs in my RSS feeder.  Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer (2009) discuss different types of communication that can be done through blogs.  By having this blog your reading now and an account with Edmodo, which Edmodo allows me to be part of different teaching communities that relate to my topics of interest.  For example, I am part of a technology community, which allows me to read different informational blogs to expand my knowledge.  By adding different educational blogs to my feeder, it provides a beneficial experience. These blogging experiences provide me the opportunity to be exposed on different information from teachers all over the world, and the opportunities can range from leadership conferences, reading skill building, technology courses and several others.  Having a blog, such as Edmodo also provides professional development classes in which I can sign up for online and earn a certificate.   I would also like to sign up for 1-2 seminars on training on a few different technology tools.  By reading different blogs and taking seminars I will become more proficient in the digital age and assessments and be more confident in designing and developing experiences and assessments that implement technology.  The leadership area is where I feel I could build more confidence in myself.  The knowledge that I am learning, I would like to share with my other colleagues.  I feel that by contributing what I am learning with my school, not only will I benefit by my colleagues as well, which will guide them and hopefully help them find ways to develop a more engaging classroom.  I would also like to invite my colleagues to my room, so I can demonstrate how I maintain and use the Edmodo classroom blog with my students for collaboration, reflection, and for my own professional growth, so I can help other teachers integrate this into their classroom.

M: Monitor Progress-

          I will monitor progress though contributions of blogs.  I will keep a reflection journal to monitor what I have learned from different readings and what reflect on the experiences from teaching colleagues to use EDMODO.  What I learn about technology tools, I will try to design a creative lesson and assessment and implement it with my students.  I feel this will help me build my confidence.  My reflection blog will allow me to note what is working, what is not working, and make revisions if needed.  I will monitor myself and pose questions, such as what technology do I need to work on now, and set times during the week to check blogs, pose questions and comments to enhance my learning.

E: Evaluation Actions and Process-

          I will evaluate my progress routinely by looking at the blogs effectiveness, and the seminars that I take.  I will evaluate what was successful and what I feel could change so I can become more proficient in designing lessons and assessments for my students.

Overall, the GAME process allowed me to tackle the steps on how I can strengthen my goals that I feel weak in, so I can build my confidence and integrate new technology into content areas that will benefit student learning, and my colleges.  I have already begun my GAME plan.

 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.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009).Enriching Content Area Learning.  Experiences with Technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.