Week 8 Reflection

After I took a look at the GAME plan I developed and followed throughout this course, I realized that I was able to accomplish most of the goals I set for myself for the new school year. My two goals were to: engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources and to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning and creative processes. What I realized from the GAME plan that I developed is that I learned how to become a self-directed learner because of the four phases of the GAME plan. As Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) have stated, the GAME plan helps individuals “think about and take steps to direct [their] learning process, specifically while learning about technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum” (p. 3). The GAME plan I created really helped me stay accountable for the goals I set and “as [I] set goals, take action, monitor [my] learning, and evaluate [my] progress, [I] take control of [my] own learning process” (Cennamo et al., 2009, p. 7). Although most of my goals were met using the GAME plan, I am still waiting to hear back from my principal about getting an interactive whiteboard, since this was part of my goal in my GAME plan. I finally emailed him, and have not heard back. Once the school year starts, I will speak with him in person.

Because I participated in developing my own GAME plan, I was able to learn a plethora of new information as a result of following my plan. I not only learned a lot of information dealing with implementing technology into the content areas, but I also learned a lot about how the GAME plan can be used with my students as well to help them become better self-directed learners. Since teachers are now creating lessons and curriculum to help prepare students for jobs that are not even created yet, it only makes sense to use the GAME plan in instruction so students practice becoming better self-directed learners.

This course allowed me to discover and try out many different technology tools used to help students learn content through technology integration. Because of this course, I have a few immediate adjustments I will incorporate for the next school year. I have decided to set up class wiki pages, and to have students do a problem-based learning activity each year. I am starting small and then will create problem-based learning lessons for each quarter. I will have students upload digital projects onto their wiki pages such as digital stories and URL’s to other projects done online. Students will also experiment with creating voicethreads and starting their own blog for reflecting in both English and Spanish. I have already written one unit plan thanks to this course that I will be ready to implement into my classroom the second month of school. I am excited about what I have learned and I cannot wait to integrate the new technology I have discovered in this course into my classroom! I think my students will be so happy and motivated to learn!

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