Monitoring your GAME Plann Progress

Progress report on GAME plan:

Cap 1: Are you finding information and resources you need?

The students were able to investigate the earthquake and tsunami in Japan through the Internet and the news networks e.g. CNN and BBC. I took a television in the classroom for the students to watch the coverage of the Japan disaster. The took notes on questions such as: What effects did the Tsunami had of the lives of the people of Japan? What effects did the Tsunami had on the natural environment of Japan? They were also encourages to record the observations and feeling about the disaster.

Cap 2: Do you need to modify your plan?

I need to develop a class project around the topic. This will give students more direction and something to work towards. I will use the ideas discussed this week on problem - based learning.

Cap 3: What have you learned so far?

I have learned that learning can be very meaningful when real-world issues are used to develop the content goals. This is obvious from the level and type of questions that the students ask. When I listen to them talk outside of class they are discussing the issues. Normally this does not happen very often. Technology is a very powerful tool to bring the learning a live for students.

Cap 4: What new questions have arisen?

The most important question for me at this time is, how will I further guide my students to use this new understanding to inform decisions on the threat of tsunami on our local environment?

I know this is a huge responsibility for children at this age, but may be I could limit it to the school and their home/community.

Carrying Out GAME Plan

To execute my GAME plan effectively, I will need the follow resources, at least four laptop computers with internet access and microphone, projector and screen, digital camera, CD /cassette player. In addition, I will need the support of the IT technician to ensure that the IT resources are in place or time can be made available for my students to use the computer lab for some of our classes.

I will also need to compile a list of websites that contains the information that I need as well as a number of software that contains the processing tools that I will guide the students to use.

So far I have selected the content area that I will use for this activity. Nature Disasters is a very important topic in the Geography curriculum and with the frequency of major global disasters, authentic data is readily available. I have commence discussions with the IT department for the use of the IT labs for some of the classes in this unit. I have also started to use my laptop and other technological devices to model creative and innovative approach as I teach my classes. The students are liking my new approach.

Developing my Personal Game Plan

The two subject areas that I teach, Social Studies and Geography require constant engagement in real-world issues and phenomenons. The students are often required to to engage in research in a wide variety of topics and issues. These disciplines also provide many opportunities for students to put forward creative ideas for solving real problems on national and global levels. For these reasons the performance indicators (NETS-T) that I found most comfortable implementing are discussed below, along with suitable game plans for their implementation:

Game Plan 1

Goal: Teacher engages students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources.


Action: Use a variety of technological resources to stimulate students interest in real world issues and problems. Use inquiry-based strategies to guide investigation into content areas. Additionally, guide students to implement the use of technological resources to demonstrate understanding of content materials.


Monitor: Ongoing assessment of students' work through students' personal notes, online portfolios and artifacts, through standard grading and feedback. Ongoing assessment of students' progress in developing technological skills.

Evaluation: Provide individual and whole class feedback and guidance in content and technological skills development . Provide opportunities for students to share, comment and revise their work.

Game Plan 2

Goal: Teacher promotes, supports, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness.

Action: Create the learning environment that enables students to construct new ideas and products that are useful and innovative. Guide students to use technological resources to create new theories, new products and new solution to problems (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

Monitor: Ongoing assessment of students thinking and progress through monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of their thoughts and actions (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

Ongoing assessment of students progress in using technological resources to support their creative thinking and new ideas development.

Evaluation : Provide individual and whole class feedback and guidance on the value and worth of their ideas . Provide opportunities for students to share their impression on the value of their new ideas and products. Additionally, provide opportunities for students to give their feedback on the teacher's effectiveness in creating an effective learning environment that support creative thinking.

Reference:

Cennama, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standard-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved (March 10, 2011) from http://iste.org/