STEP 1: My original GAME plan set out to accomplish the following standards from the International Society for Technology in Education.
Design & Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments:
2b) develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
2d) provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
Engage in Professional Growth & Leadership:
5c) evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
While I wasn't able to fully complete all of these goals, I was able to begin the process of drawing up ideas and researching to find out more ways to approach and teach with these specific goals in mind.
STEP 2: While carrying out my GAME plan and researching I did learn of a website for P.E. teachers called www.peuniverse.com. This is a great tool for Physical Education teachers to use to share ideas with other teachers and to incorporate technology into the classroom. This site related directly to one of my class projects that I thought of, which was to have students record themselves acting out appropriate and inappropriate school behaviors that could then be made into a voicethread or imovie to be used at the beginning of the upcoming school year to go over playground/ classroom rules and procedures.
STEP 3: Taking this class has helped me to realize that the learning process is a group effort. Through the use of technology and collaboration, students can express their thoughts and feelings on subject matter and they can learn. I have learned that I need to collaborate more with my colleagues so that I can provide my students with more opportunities and experiences that they would not have had in the past. I plan to make an immediate adjustment to the amount of group projects I give my students throughout the course of the year. My hope is to give at least one per quarter.
David Chiarella
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Using the GAME Plan Process with Students
After reading the National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) and comparing them to the technology standards for teachers I've found that many of the standards are currently being addressed at all grade levels in my school district. When I started teaching in my school's district a few years back, technology became a class at the elementary level and was added in as a related arts/ specials class. To be quite honest, that was one of the main reasons why I decided to get my masters in integrating technology into the classroom, because I saw that my school district was moving in that direction and I knew how important it was for me to stay on the cutting edge of things.
As I looked at the National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) I found that I could use the GAME plan process with my students to help them develop proficiency in Communication and Collaboration, and Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. I feel that I can easily address these two areas because my class environment lends well to social activities. I already have students set goals in the beginning of the year, take action to achieve those goals throughout the year, monitor their progress, and evaluate and extend their learning through the help of a program called fitnessgram. My hope for the future is that I could use this method of teaching more frequently throughout the school year to better prepare my students for their next level of education.
David Chiarella
As I looked at the National Education Standards for Students (NETS-S) I found that I could use the GAME plan process with my students to help them develop proficiency in Communication and Collaboration, and Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making. I feel that I can easily address these two areas because my class environment lends well to social activities. I already have students set goals in the beginning of the year, take action to achieve those goals throughout the year, monitor their progress, and evaluate and extend their learning through the help of a program called fitnessgram. My hope for the future is that I could use this method of teaching more frequently throughout the school year to better prepare my students for their next level of education.
David Chiarella
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Revising My GAME Plan
Below are the three NETS-T goals that I originally set out to accomplish in my original GAME Plan.
Design & Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments:
2b) develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
2d) provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
Engage in Professional Growth & Leadership:
5c) evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
Over the past couple of weeks I have learned to think a little more outside of the box. Technology is not a tool that I need to use in my classroom and it can sometimes be very difficult to incorporate it into my classroom, but with a little bit of brainstorming I've been able to think of multiple ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. Something that has helped me over the past few weeks has been setting aside time to brainstorm or research ideas. This has helped to open my eyes to new activities and new ways of doing things.
What goals are you still working toward?
I believe that I am still working toward all of my goals because I feel that I can still learn more ways to teach my content to my students. I am, however, furthest behind on finding formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and using data to inform learning and teaching. I haven't searched much for different rubrics and I'd like to explore this goal a little more before jumping into anything.
Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?
After having discussions with fellow classmates and creating a Problem Based Learning Lessons, I'd like to focus more on nutrition in my class. To me, this would fall under engaging students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources (NETS-T, 1b). With the childhood obesity rates as high as they currently are, this would make for a great topic for students to explore, and I feel that there is tons of current information out there on this topic.
What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?
To improve my learning, and to achieve the new learning goal that I set for myself I'd like to use a more collaborative and student-centered approach so that my students can take more control of their own learning. In the past I've found it somewhat difficult to give my students lots of control because I teach so many students and I don't see them as consistantly as some other teachers. I think that if I can set-up activities that help guide my students in the right direction that I might actually keep my students more engaged in learning they are currently.
Reference:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
Design & Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments:
2b) develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
2d) provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
Engage in Professional Growth & Leadership:
5c) evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
Over the past couple of weeks I have learned to think a little more outside of the box. Technology is not a tool that I need to use in my classroom and it can sometimes be very difficult to incorporate it into my classroom, but with a little bit of brainstorming I've been able to think of multiple ways to incorporate technology into my classroom. Something that has helped me over the past few weeks has been setting aside time to brainstorm or research ideas. This has helped to open my eyes to new activities and new ways of doing things.
What goals are you still working toward?
I believe that I am still working toward all of my goals because I feel that I can still learn more ways to teach my content to my students. I am, however, furthest behind on finding formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and using data to inform learning and teaching. I haven't searched much for different rubrics and I'd like to explore this goal a little more before jumping into anything.
Based on the NETS-T, what new learning goals will you set for yourself?
After having discussions with fellow classmates and creating a Problem Based Learning Lessons, I'd like to focus more on nutrition in my class. To me, this would fall under engaging students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources (NETS-T, 1b). With the childhood obesity rates as high as they currently are, this would make for a great topic for students to explore, and I feel that there is tons of current information out there on this topic.
What learning approaches will you try next time to improve your learning?
To improve my learning, and to achieve the new learning goal that I set for myself I'd like to use a more collaborative and student-centered approach so that my students can take more control of their own learning. In the past I've found it somewhat difficult to give my students lots of control because I teach so many students and I don't see them as consistantly as some other teachers. I think that if I can set-up activities that help guide my students in the right direction that I might actually keep my students more engaged in learning they are currently.
Reference:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Evaluating My GAME Plan Cont'd
Below I have listed my original GAME Plan that was submitted at the beginning of this course.
Design & Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments:
b) develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
d) provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
Engage in Professional Growth & Leadership:
c) evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
Goals:
1. To engage students in more self directed activities with a student-centered approach, while enhancing their learning through the use of technology.
2. To provide students with a variety of assessments that align with technology standards that can later help to enhance my ability to teach.
3. To consitantly reflect and adapt with the everchanging digital tools and resources that support student learning so that my students and I can benefit from those technology tools.
In my last blog, I explained how I'm currently trying to make the activities I teach more self-directed and I have continued to do that throughout my dance and rhythms unit with the Jigsaw Dance Approach. Because I only see my students twice a week and this dance approach takes a little longer to complete, I haven't finished teaching it. As far as providing students with a variety of assessments is concerned, I haven't fully developed this part of my plan. While I do have plenty of ideas, I will need to spring into action with them in the coming months. I do, however, feel that I'm spending more time searching for new ideas and activities for use in the classroom. I've recently become fond of a site called http://www.peuniverse.com/ and I've enjoyed it so much that I have started to post comments on discussion boards and blogs.
As I look ahead to future units I know that I can easily implement a more student-centered and technology driven approach to learning as our fitnessgram fitness testing approaches. Since this is the second time my students will have done this unit in the school year, I'd like for them to be able to take a look back at their goals that they set at the beginning of the year and look at their fall scores so that they can try and beat those scores. Then we can enter their scores into the computer and analyze their scores and try to explain why some scores declined or improved. I have many other ideas that I can try to implement this year too.
I am a firm believer of being a lifelong learner, so I know that there is always something that I can learn. One thing that I can learn for the near future is how to create a movie through imovie so that I can create a beginning of the year video for my students on classroom procedures, rules, and safety. I think that I've created a plan that is flexible, however, I think I need to focus in on one project and follow through with it before getting ahead of myself and trying to move onto the next project. I really need to set aside a time where I can reflect on the effectiveness of the activities I'm doing in my classroom. I'm thinking that I might even need a journal to keep all of my ideas organized until I can put them into action.
Reference:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
Design & Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences & Assessments:
b) develop technology-enriched learning environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing their own learning, and assessing their own progress.
d) provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
Engage in Professional Growth & Leadership:
c) evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
Goals:
1. To engage students in more self directed activities with a student-centered approach, while enhancing their learning through the use of technology.
2. To provide students with a variety of assessments that align with technology standards that can later help to enhance my ability to teach.
3. To consitantly reflect and adapt with the everchanging digital tools and resources that support student learning so that my students and I can benefit from those technology tools.
In my last blog, I explained how I'm currently trying to make the activities I teach more self-directed and I have continued to do that throughout my dance and rhythms unit with the Jigsaw Dance Approach. Because I only see my students twice a week and this dance approach takes a little longer to complete, I haven't finished teaching it. As far as providing students with a variety of assessments is concerned, I haven't fully developed this part of my plan. While I do have plenty of ideas, I will need to spring into action with them in the coming months. I do, however, feel that I'm spending more time searching for new ideas and activities for use in the classroom. I've recently become fond of a site called http://www.peuniverse.com/ and I've enjoyed it so much that I have started to post comments on discussion boards and blogs.
As I look ahead to future units I know that I can easily implement a more student-centered and technology driven approach to learning as our fitnessgram fitness testing approaches. Since this is the second time my students will have done this unit in the school year, I'd like for them to be able to take a look back at their goals that they set at the beginning of the year and look at their fall scores so that they can try and beat those scores. Then we can enter their scores into the computer and analyze their scores and try to explain why some scores declined or improved. I have many other ideas that I can try to implement this year too.
I am a firm believer of being a lifelong learner, so I know that there is always something that I can learn. One thing that I can learn for the near future is how to create a movie through imovie so that I can create a beginning of the year video for my students on classroom procedures, rules, and safety. I think that I've created a plan that is flexible, however, I think I need to focus in on one project and follow through with it before getting ahead of myself and trying to move onto the next project. I really need to set aside a time where I can reflect on the effectiveness of the activities I'm doing in my classroom. I'm thinking that I might even need a journal to keep all of my ideas organized until I can put them into action.
Reference:
International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.
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