Creating a specific, evolving plan has many benefits for teachers and students. I learned so much from reflecting each week on my progress towards my goals. Without the requirement to make steps in implementing my game plan, I would not have analyzed and modified my plan as intensely. Teachers have so many duties that often actual goal plans can be put in the never-ending to-do pile.
As teachers, we must create opportunities for our students to experience real goal creation. Teaching students the GAME plan will get students to set goals, create an action plan, monitor progress, evaluate and extend their goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Knowing the growth that I made because of a specific plan, I would like to have my sixth graders create GAME plans at the beginning of the school year. By the end of the school year, students will see so much growth as they continue to meet their GAME plan goals. Before we begin creating goals, I will have students identify what needs they have “in order to identify your [their] learning goals” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 7). Students will then read the NETS-S standards on the Website for the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). The goals for students are supported by the goals for teachers (NETS-S, 2007). Students will each pick two goals, along with an indicator for each, for the first semester. On Kidspiration or Pixie, students will make a visual representation of their goals and the steps they will need to achieve their goals. Each step in the GAME plan will be clearly identified with titles. As students progress in their technological skills, I will most likely have students blog about their second semester goals after they reflect upon their first semester progress. I believe these activities will help students gain proficiency toward their NETS-S goals.
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.
National Education Standards for Students. (2008) Retrieved August 9, 2010. Website:http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf
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Do you think that GAME plans need to be self-directed like Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer suggest or do you think they can be done collaboratively? If you think they can be done collaboratively, would you be willing to allow students who share the same goals to work together on them or to create a GAME plan together?
ReplyDeleteTonia
Hi Tianna,
ReplyDeleteI am in favor of any lesson that invovles "strengthening students' visual literacy" (Laureate, 2009). Being a social studies teacher, it is so imporant for students to be able to learn from maps, pictures, and videos. History is not simple written, if fact, for most of history there was no writing. Much of what can be learned is through visual images.
James