Reflecting on GAME Plan week 8

This course has been a truly rewarding experience for me. I not only learned about a variety of wonderful technologies through weekly blogging with my fellow Walden classmates, but I also learned how to promote self-directed learning by creating my own GAME Plan (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). My unique GAME Plan quickly became my most valuable asset during this course because it forced me to set goals, take action for these goals, monitor my actions, and then evaluate what I had accomplished (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). As an educator, my major concern is that my students are learning the content, and this course has shown me how technology can be utilized effectively to help my students learn the content in new, fresh and exciting ways. There are four variables that educators should use to integrate technology into their content area: they should be somewhat technology-savvy, they must possess confidence, they must engage in solid beliefs about teaching and learning, and they must have a supportive culture -fellow colleagues who are supportive and will also take risks (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).


The GAME Plan that I developed was to “Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences” and to “Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility (International Society for Technology in Education, 2011). I did not accomplish all that I set out to, but I did learn a fair amount about digital storytelling through brainstorming with a fellow colleague about ways in which to utilize digital storytelling with my students, and by experimenting on my own with this great digital tool. I definitely have a long way to go before I feel completely comfortable with digital storytelling, but through this course I have also discovered that it is acceptable to experiment along with your students. During these past weeks I have come to the realization that “Language arts classrooms can be technology-rich environments if you help students understand that technology is an integral part of the classroom curriculum” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

One adjustment I have made in order to accomplish turning my classroom into a technology-rich environment was to offer my students my gmail account and have them email their homework to me. This may not sound like much, but I think by offering my students somewhere to “send” their homework rather than having to “bring” it in will help to alleviate problems such as students showing up with no homework in hand. Also, if they are out sick, they can still email their assignments to me. Another plus would be the fact that the homework would be readable, since much of the homework comes in hand-written and illegible. This small feat affords me the luxury of moving closer to a paperless classroom which is another goal I have intended for myself as an educator. Since the first part of my GAME Plan is to design and develop digital age learning experiences for my students, I have decided to utilize digital storytelling in the beginning of the year and have my students create a story about themselves and use this as an ice-breaker activity so they can introduce themselves to their fellow peers. I will make a point of experimenting with digital storytelling over the summer, and I will create my own introductory story to show my new students in September.

In regard to the second goal in my GAME Plan, promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility, I have made a point of working diligently with my librarian to uncover various videos about Internet safety and have viewed them to ensure they are age-appropriate. I have also received websites from a fellow classmate here at Walden, and this information came in extremely handy as well. I have already viewed one such website called Netsmartz, and it is a terrific website for students to view on Internet safety. My school librarian has also worked with my students by showing them how to log onto Noodletools and how to use this web tool so they can correctly cite sources and properly give credit where credit is due.

This course has helped me to think much deeper about different types of technologies and how these technologies can assist me in teaching my students the content in my English classroom. By taking baby steps, experimenting with specific technologies and brainstorming with colleagues, I have become more confident in implementing these technologies with my students. With the development of my own GAME Plan, I have learned to set specific goals, act on these goals, monitor and evaluate them so as to ascertain how to effectively reach all of the students in my diverse classroom.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2011). NETS for teachers 2008. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Enriching content area learning experiences with technology part one [Webcast]. Integrating technology across content area. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Promoting self-directed learning with technology. [DVD]. Integrating technology across the content area. Baltimore, MD: Author.