Towards Self-Directed Learning and Creative Problem Solving

My GAME plan consisted of getting my students comfortable recording themselves using digital technology to promote enhanced learning and performances in American Sign Language (ASL). These recording would also serve as a reflective tool for self-evaluation. To accomplish this goal, I had decided to address the first standard of the National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) and two of its indicators.

For my goal, I wanted my students to work together in groups to define Deaf culture. I also wanted them to have a chance to collaborate with deaf students from a residential school enabling them to experience Deaf culture firsthand. As a final project, I wanted my students to create a visual story of what they had learned from this research and experience.

For my actions, I created a unit lesson plan for Deaf Culture. I began with a lesson plan for Problem Based Learning, continued with a lesson plan involving social networking, and finished with a lesson plan using digital storytelling.

Monitoring consists of using class blogs and wikis, along with checklists or rubrics for students to keep themselves on track. Evaluations will be made using rubrics.

As I proceeded with my GAME plan, I noticed that I even though I started with only one standard of the NETS-T, with the addition of each lesson, more standards were being addressed. The GAME plan is not only a valuable tool for the teacher, but for the students as well. By teaching students to use the GAME plan, they will become better organized in their working habits and develop 21st century working skills.

As a result of this course, I will be teaching my students how to use the GAME plan. I will also adjust my lessons to incorporate more social networking and digital story telling!

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

It saddens me to know that I will not be going back to work this September. As the start of the school year approaches, I sit here and contemplate my GAME plan and how beneficial it would be to teach the GAME plan to students to help them develop proficiency in the NETS-S.

As students learn to set goals for themselves, they will be using skills in critical thinking, decision making, communication, and collaboration.

As they decide on what actions to take to meet these goals, they will be using skills in creativity, innovation, communication, collaboration, digital citizenship, and technology operations and concepts.

When students are monitoring their progress, they will be using skills in all of the above areas as well as problem solving, research and information fluency.
And as students evaluate and reflect on their work, they will again be using skills in critical thinking and communication.

Therefore, teaching students to use the GAME plan ensures that they will be meeting all the standards of the NETS-S.

GAME Plan Week 6

My original goals for my GAME plan were 1.) to promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes, and 2.) to model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

This week we have learned about social networking sites and how they can be used to enhance student learning as well as to motivate and engage students in learning content. These sites are wonderful online collaboration tools for students to utilize for communicating with their peers, experts, teachers, and a variety of other people. These sites will certainly help me with my goals.
I have not started setting new goals, nor have I extended the goals that I already have. I have been busy searching for teaching positions in my content area. This is my first time on unemployment and it is a humbling experience. It is also a lot of work!!!!!!

GAME PLAN Week Five

This is week five of our GAME PLAN. As we continue to work on our plans, I am struggling to make sense of problem-based learning and how I can apply it to my content. If I am understanding it correctly, PBL is addressing complex problems and working in small groups to negotiate solutions in a collaborative manner. It also seems to me that PBL is geared mainly to math, science, or community issues. My problem is coming up with a complex problem for the students to solve. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Monitoring My GAME Plan

I have recently found a web site that has a lot of information on using technology in the classroom. The site is called Classroom 2.0 and is located at http://www.classroom20.com/. I had been looking for information on wix and weebly when I came across this web page for teachers. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Also, weebly is free software that you can use to create a classroom website & blog, accept homework assignments online, keep parents up to date, and manage your students’ accounts. I am interested in using this for my students as part of my GAME plan. If any of you have used this, please let me know if you like it.

Continuing My GAME Plan

In order to carry out my GAME plan, I will need to have digital recording equipment, computers, and possibly a projector. I will also need to create a wiki and a blog for our class with the collaboration of the class itself. Down the road, I hope to be able to extend our recordings to iPods and cell phones, but, let’s not get carried away!! I need to focus on the immediate use of the recordings!

I will also need to promote support from parents, administrators, and colleagues. I need to search the internet to find new and exciting ideas for students to use in their video activities. I would also like to find a teacher who uses blogs and wikis in my area so I could observe the ways in which they have been used.

As of yet, I have not taken any steps towards my plan. I have been searching for a job, doing homework, and packing to go to Miami to see my youngest daughter, whom I have not seen in a year.

Developing a Personal Game Plan

Enriching content area learning experiences was the topic of this week’s class. We talked about how we would revise an old lesson to incorporate technology and “turn on the lights” for our students. Now we are looking at the National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) and determining which two indicators we would like to strengthen our confidence in.

The first standard of the NETS-T is Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity. Teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments. The two indicators that I have chosen to work on are:
c. teachers promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.
d. teachers model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.

I would accomplish this by using the GAME plan.

GOAL: My goal is to get my students comfortable using video recordings of themselves to promote enhanced learning and performances, as well as a reflective tool for them to use for self-evaluation.

ACTION: I will introduce students to video recording at the beginning of the year. At first, they can “play” with the camera to record themselves practicing new vocabulary. As they progress and become more comfortable using this tool, we will record storytelling, dialogues, and role-playing activities.

MONITOR: to monitor this, I will use a class wiki or blog for students to post comments about their progress. We will also create rubrics to evaluate how well they are doing.

EVALUATE: As we complete each assignment, students will be given an evaluation rubric to assess the effectiveness of using digital tools to enable them to plan, monitor, and improve their work. They can also post reflective comments on their blogs as to improvements that could be made for the next assignment. I would also like to collaborate with other teachers to get feedback on how to improve this technique.