Shandra, Kayla: My Personal Game Plan
Week #2
1/10/2012
Indicators:
1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
d. model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with the students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual knowledge.
Goal: Work together with my students to learn new programs, technology, and strategies that can be useful in my classroom.
2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
c. Customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources.
Goal: Alter my lessons so that they best meet the needs of all my students and motivate my students.
My first goal was that I want to work together with my students to learn new programs, technology, and strategies that can be useful in my classroom. I feel that a lot of times I do not have enough time to learn new technology and programs that can be beneficial to my students. It is very hard for me to find time to learn new technology and programs and plan meaningful, engaging lessons. I am a bit of a control freak and get very anxious when I do not know exactly what will happen throughout the lesson. I want to take a step back and go into a lesson, admitting that I do not know a lot about the program, and tell the students “let’s work together to explore and brainstorm different, creative ways that this new program can be used in our classroom”. I would also challenge my students to find aspects of the program that may be “hidden” and only a really tech savvy person would be able to figure it out.
My second goal was to alter my lessons so that they best meet the needs of all my students and motivate my students. I do try to do this with my students, but unfortunately I am inconsistent or there is so much to get through during my lesson, that it gets pushed aside. I have to be honest, when I wrote this goal, I sat and thought how I can do this without creating even more work for myself, so that I do not get overwhelmed and quit. I thought about having my students do more group projects, where each student would be assigned a job. The job would be specific for each student’s needs. For example, for the students who are visual leaners, they can work on the graphics and visual aspects of the presentation. For my kinesthetic learners, they can concentrate on actually completing the hands-on activities etc. It is really about knowing the strengths of the students and letting them showcase their talent to their group and the rest of the class. I feel that this would serve as motivation for the students. Sevinc, Ozmen, and Yigit (2011) found that students in a science class were more motivated when they actively participated in a laboratory activity they were familiar with, because students felt more successful when they worked on something they knew how to do well. I feel that this applies to any activity that a student does. If the students are completing something they are good at and interested in, they will work harder because they have a higher chance of being successful.
I will monitor my progress by completing a deeper reflection at the end of the lesson. I will be making notes on how successful the lesson was and the level of motivation and engagement of my students during the lesson. I will reflect on each strategy after I use them and try different ones if I need to. I will also ask myself if any modifications will need to be made to my lessons and then make the appropriate adjustments (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).
After I monitor my progress, I will evaluate and extend my learning by looking at my reflections and observation notes. I may even look at my students’ grades to see if there was an increase or decrease. I will decide whether or not I reached my goals, or if there are any further modifications I may have to make. I will also ask myself “what will I do differently in the future?” (Cennamo, Ross, &Ertmer, p. 5). If I reached my goals and all the strategies worked, then I will do more research and continue using those strategies and any other that I come across in my research.
Kayla Shandra
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.
Sevinc, B., Ozmen, H., & Yigit, N. (2011). Investigation of primary students' motivation levels towards science learning. Science Education International, 22(3), 218-232.
Kayla,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your honesty when it comes to the goals you set for yourself. All too many times I have these big aspirations for lessons and units that I want to use with my students and then it is like there is too much on my plate and I make too many compromises to the lessons. This is in turn makes the lessons not as engaging or powerful as I wanted.
Reflection on the outcomes of your lessons and strategies is so important and often seems to be left out because teachers feel they never have enought time. I have been told to keep my notes and reflections right on my lesson plans and that way when I go back to look at my lesson the next time I can see exactly what went well and what did not. There is not way we can expect ourselves to remember how the lessons went each year and it is a lot easier to keep track of a lesson plan document on the computer than a journal or mess of sticky notes. You have a very well thought out GAME plan and it was very easy to understand.
Katie
Kayla,
ReplyDeleteI also have a hard time incorporating technology to meet the needs of all students. It requires a lot of research and planning on the teacher's part.
There is a website, called Renzuli that allows students to complete research projects based on their interests. A colleague mentioned that it does everything for you and teachers do not have to much work. This is something that I am looking into for my goals this week. It is kind of pricey, so hopefully your administration can help out. Good Luck in meeting your goals.
Lisa
Lisa,
DeleteI will take a look at that website. Thank you!
Kayla
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKayla,
ReplyDeleteIt is a challenge trying to incorporate technology into a lesson, especially when you are trying to meet the needs of every learning style of each student. It's also amazing how much a learning environment can change when technolgoy is addeed to the mix" (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009, p. 51). Using projects is a good idea. Giving each person in the group a specific task to meet their needs should make it fun for the student. Have you ever thought about assigning a task to a student where their second best skill can be put to work. For example, let's say Susan's is stronger at visual learning, but also is good at verbal learning. Would you change Susan's task up to something verbal so she can strengthen that skill?
Making deeper reflection notes are very helpful when it comes to the end of the year. I teach mathematics, which is a tested subject. When it get closer to EOG test time, I review my reflections and that helps me determine what I need to spend more time going over and what I can just review quickly. Your GAME plan looks really good. Good Luck!!
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.
Kayla,
ReplyDeleteTeachers are fairly lucky in my district because we have a one-to-one program where every teacher and student has their own laptop. In addition, our technology personnel trains staff every Tuesday during teachers’ prep period. This training is not mandatory, so teachers are free to attend if they want. This is a great opportunity for teachers to ask questions and learn different programs that they can use with their students. I wish you had something like this at your school – it would definitely help with your first goal. One thing that you have going for you is that is sounds like you are willing to take some risks and learn as you go. In this week’s video sources, Peggy Ertmer discusses the importance of being able to have enough confidence to allow students to explore new technologies while not having all the answers to students’ questions. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011a). This type of situation can help create an awesome learning experience for both the teacher and students because they will be collaborating in order learn new material – learning right along with one another! This will also help create a supportive culture when it comes to using and learning from new technologies in the classroom (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011a).
Trev
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences With Technology, Part 1. [Video webcast]. Baltimore, MD: Author.