GAME Plan Progress: Week 4

So far in my GAME plan, I am learning that certain aspects are more challenging than I expected.  I am still doing fine with the incorporation of technology for students to use in at least one lesson per month.  So, perhaps I need to do more with my lessons, like use digital tools three times per month, and one of those lessons should involve students using the computer lab to do some sort of mathematical research.  I have realized that there is so much technology available to use in my classes that simply setting a goal of incorporating it once each month is too simple for what is available to me.

The second portion of my plan is where I am struggling: to improve my professional development in the area of mathematics related educational technology.  It is not necessarily that I am not able to find materials to research on the Internet.  My greatest challenge is occurring in the area of self-discipline to manage time for conducting research.  With my current stage of life, pregnant wife and mother, I have a personal goal to be home by 4:30 everyday to be with my family, and I typically leave my schoolwork at school.  If I am not able to complete by the time I leave, I tackle it the next day.  My original plan was to write a 40-minute time slot for researching in my daily lesson planner, so that I would have a physical reminder to do it.  However, most of the times I have attempted to dig into the Internet to research, a colleague needs helps, or a parent calls for me, or a student needs extra help with math.  I cannot realistically seem to be able to take time while at school to look into anything effectively.  This has brought me to the conclusion that I need to do the research at home, when all distractions are left behind and in bed for the night.  I think my initial plan is to conduct one hour of research during the first week of each month.  Next week is the first week of December, so that is my first opportunity to apply my revised plan!  

I know that addressing my issue will still be a struggle for me because I prefer to spend time with my family when I am home.  But, that being said, I am also in a career field that requires growth and comprehension of tools available to use in my classroom.  My students are entering a workforce that requires digital knowledge and problem-solving capabilities.  If I am to teach them in the best way possible, I need to continue my own education.

GAME Plan Progress

My initial GAME plan was to incorporate more technology in my lessons by fulfilling a goal of at least one lesson per month that requires students to use digital tools. My second goal was to develop more professionally by researching more informational pieces about how to use technology effectively in the classroom.

So far, I have already had a lesson that allowed my students to utilize the technology available to them to help build their math skills. They had an entire class period in the computer lab to find age-appropriate and useful websites that can help them this year in their Algebra 1 course. I was monitoring students during the session, and the school filter was set so I did not have to worry about mature content popping up.

I have addressed my second goal by looking up blogs and informational websites related to mathematics and technology for grades four to nine. I already had several saved in my Google Reader account, but have been neglecting them for many months now. One piece of information I would love is a list of websites from a credible source that provide news and research findings about different types of technology used in the classroom, particularly middle school mathematics classrooms. I have the hardest time sifting through all the sites for classroom technology and mathematics to find ones that contain everything I want. Maybe my standards are too high!

GAME Plan

First of all, the acronym GAME in game plan stands for setting goals, taking action, monitoring, and evaluating/extending (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). After looking at the NETS-T standards for teachers, I feel that I need to strengthen my confidence in the following areas: my ability to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments; and to engage in professional growth and leadership.

My game plan for building my proficiency in these areas has several parts. My goal is to incorporate more digital tools in my teaching, to maximize my students’ learning and to take more part in current research and practices in the technology area. In order to achieve those goals, I plan to develop lessons that include students using some form of technology at least once each month. The technology could range from researching on computers to creating their own wikis/blogs. I also plan to take time each week for at least forty minutes to view educational research websites and news pages that provide information about current and upcoming digital opportunities for the classroom. I plan to maintain and monitor my progress in both goals by actually writing the time and specified lesson in my calendar, so it is actually planned in my schedule. It is my hope that the visual reminder will keep me aware of my goals. Finally, I will evaluate and extend my learning by interacting with other teachers and online community members who have similar technology interests as me. I also plan to include informational websites in my RSS feed, so that I can easily keep up with news and updates.

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 Teachers (NETS-T) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf