Week 8 Reflection - GAME plan wrap-up

As yet another class comes to a close, and I’m one semester away from finally completing the Integrating Technology into the Classroom Master’s degree program, it’s time to reflect upon the experiences of this class. The class, Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas, delved deeper into this degree program’s focus and enabled me to consider practical technology applications to my daily instruction.

These past few weeks, I have concentrated on two goals for improving my technology integration competence and strategies. Each of these goals were part of a GAME plan, wherein after I set my goals, I considered the actions I would need to take in order to successfully meet these goals. Throughout the next several weeks, I monitored my progress, taking into consideration the fact that the goals would not be able to be completed since I am not currently in school due to summer break. The GAME plan kept my actions focused and with constant monitoring for what more can be done on a week to week basis. The final piece of the GAME plan is the evaluation, and while I cannot evaluate the completion of my goals yet, I can reflect upon the actions taken to this point and how they will impact not only the steps I take later, but my immediate instructional practices as well.

My first goal focused on my desire to engage in professional growth and leadership. By joining the school and district technology committees, my voice in the development of technology integration techniques will be more prominent than years prior where I stood back and waited for technology to come to me. Along the way I learned many of my school’s apprehensions about certain learning resources and have begun, with classmate help, to form an argument that might persuade the district to reconsider its stance with certain tools. To truly persuade, however, I will have to show how these tools would benefit the students, meaning that my current instructional practices may have to involve examples where certain resources would improve student retention of skills. This will be an ongoing process throughout the school year, and will probably hit many obstacles that I will have to decide if they are worth working around. I need to keep in mind that change doesn’t come quickly and without a sometimes significant degree of resistance.

My second goal focused on designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments for my students. I decided to center my attention on developing my application of the Promethean Board into my daily instructional practices. Throughout this GAME plan process, I took time to learn many more strategies, resources, and functions available to use with the board, and as a result, my teaching methods will be immediately impacted. I know there is much more I can learn in using the Promethean Board but will have to wait until the school year starts to receive one-on-one training and assistance from someone who knows more than I do. This class, both in text resources and classmate input, has given me many resources to use with the Promethean Board, especially opportunities for students to use the board for a variety of learning experiences. Again the GAME plan kept my actions focused and continued to raise questions about what more can be done until the school year begins. This GAME plan will continue to guide me toward an understanding of more resources and applications of the Promethean Board, thus enabling me to design and develop the learning experiences my students would benefit from most.

The practical application of the GAME plan to my instructional practices was most evident with the unit plan we developed. It has stretched my means of technology use from a local level to a global level, showing many communication and collaboration tools that I can use with already conceived units. Unfortunately, I know this format will not be accepted by my district for lesson plans, but students will be able to use this from quarter to quarter, or really whenever the mood strikes us that goal setting and organized follow-through should take place. I look forward to seeing the benefits of this acronym-based process with my students this coming school year, since students in elementary school seem to more pleasantly retain and apply processes that involve acronyms, such as Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally. In any case, the goals I have set and the actions I have taken and will continue to take will be monitored until I feel my GAME plan has been successfully completed, at which time new GAME plans will allow me for more professional and personal growth in my career.