Reflections on My GAME Plan

As I review my goals for my GAME plan, I realize that they are just goals; they can be changed, altered and discarded. These past few weeks I have been able to accomplish some of what I set out to do. I was able to become more experienced in working with my wiki in order to communicate with my parents. I succeeded in taking more pictures of my students and uploading them onto the wiki. I was able to find some apps for the new iPads that our school has purchased. I was able to briefly work on an iPad but I feel that in order to teach a lesson using them, I will have to become more familiar with the apps and the iPad. (Maybe I’ll ask Santa Claus for an iPad for Christmas!)

Last week, I spent a great deal of time finding some new websites that I hope to be able to use. Artsonia.com looks very interesting and I can see that I could easily use it to display my student’s artwork. Arted20.ning.com will help me to continue to collaborate with other educators.

I think I’d like to establish a new goal for myself. I think it would be quite feasible and attainable to set a goal of finding 3 new websites a week. Because of a previous class with Walden, I have created an RSS reader account. I subscribe to several RSS feeds that are valuable sources of information. I just need to create a certain time during the week to look at these feeds and gather more websites that would help me in the classroom.

Revising My GAME Plan

This week has been a challenge for me. All sorts of things "cropped up" that I wasn't expecting. I wasn't able to accomplish all that I set out to do. Oh, well. I still have this week!

Again, I was unable to reserve the iPads for class use. However, I was able to practice on one of the iPads using the apps that I was able to get. That was a lot of fun. One of the apps is very much like the computer program, Pixie, that the students are already familiar with. I probably will use this app in my first lesson with the students.

A new learning goal that I would like to achieve is ongoing: that of applying technology and concepts. I see this as continuing to find and become proficient in websites and software programs that I can implement in my classroom. Just like finding some new websites like:

www.artsonia.com ( website devoted to displaying children's art work in a virtual museum)

globalartproject.org (website that pairs teachers/students with other teacher/students in another country to exchange art work)

www.glogster.com (website where users can create a poster or web page containing multimedia elements including text, audio, video, images, graphics drawings and data) There is a fee associated with this one.

www.arted20.ning.com ( a website created for art educators to collaborate)

I am really excited about finding these sites. With artsonia.com I can create a virtual museum for my students. Come to think about it, I could probably do the same thing with our class wiki, couldn't I? (I'll have to give this one more thought.) The ning will enable me to continue to collaborate with other educators once my Walden classes are finished. (I do hope to keep in touch with classmates from Walden, too)

So, to sum it up, my new learning goals are to continue finding more internet resources that I can either incorporate into my curriculum, enhance my curriculum or continue to learn from others and apply it to my classroom.

Evaluating My GAME Plan

How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?
In reviewing my GAME plan and what actions I took, I believe that I have been quite successful in meeting my goals. I have been able to locate quite a few apps on art and drawing that I can download to our iPods. I have been working with our IT department and have received approval for the apps that I have chosen. As for improving communication with my parents, I have been working on my wiki. I have uploaded new pictures of students working on projects and have added captions to the pictures.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
I have reserved the new iPods to be used in the classroom but have been unable to use them in a lesson. Since the iPods are new in our school, many other teachers have also been reserving them for their classes.
What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?
To continue with my goal of improving my wiki, I would like to learn more about embedding video clips and audio to the site. I also need to follow up with the other teachers in my school to make sure they have a link to my wiki on their parent communication pages so that more will know about it.
How will you adjust your plans to fit your current needs?
I realize that I will have to dedicate a specific time in my weekly schedule devoted solely to update my wiki. I have found that updating the wiki takes a bit more time than I anticipated.

Monitoring my GAME plan

This week I have been working on my GAME plan. I have researched iTunes for educational art apps in order to install them on the new iPods my school has recently acquired. I found several applications that I think will be appropriate. Before installing them, however, I will need to contact our IT department for approval and permission to purchase the apps. One set back that I have faced this week is that I can’t access iTunes at school and must do the research at home. (This week has been an unusually busy week).

My second goal, improving my wiki for communication with parents, has been easier to concentrate on. I have installed a counter in order to monitor how many visitors have accessed the site. I have also taken more pictures of my students as they work. I have not added them to the website, but intend to before the end of the week.

Are you finding the information and resources that you need? My IT department has been very helpful in regard to policy pertaining to publishing students’ pictures and not their names.
Do you need to modify your game plan? At this time, I feel that my GAME plan is attainable and I do not feel that any modifications are needed.
What have you learned so far? I have learned that including technology into my curriculum is easier than I once thought. Art is typically performance-based and project based learning. However, with the rapid changes in technology, students can apply their drawing skills in a new and exciting medium.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

Recently, our school was able to obtain three new iPads and a class set of iPod touch. I thought this would be a great chance to incorporate new technology into my lesson plans.

In my previous post, I created a new GAME plan to implement in my classroom. My goals for this GAME plan included developing and creating new learning experiences for my students using new technology and to improve communication to parents through my wikipage.

In order to be successful in my first goal, I will need to research respected websites for appropriate apps in which to install on the ipods/ipads. I will specifically look for apps that will enhance my curriculum such as drawing apps and puzzles featuring famous pieces of art. I believe that the use of these ipods/ipads will promote student learning and engagement. I am currently finding and installing these apps as well as becoming familiar with their programming.

My second goal is to improve my wiki in order to promote better communication with parents. During our Open House, many parents expressed that they would like to know about what activities the students were involved in the classroom. They wanted to know what projects were being worked on. I felt that by taking more pictures and adding audio would give the parents a better idea of our daily work. In order to showcase as many students as possible, I plan to keep a record of which students are featured on the wiki. I will also need to check with our technology department and review the procedures for putting pictures of students on the web.

As I started my journey in furthering my education, I realized that I needed to develop my skills in technology. I also wanted to help my students become successful citizens and to do that I would need to bring in 21st century technology skills into the curriculum. In order to achieve this goal, I need to develop a GAME Plan as described by Cennamo, Ross and Ertner (2009)as a self-directed learning plan that I will be able to set my own Goals, take Action to meet those goals, Monitor my progress toward reaching those goals and then, reflect or Evaluate the effectiveness of the learning process and learning outcomes. In order to identify the areas in which I need to improve, I referred to ISTE (the National Educational Technology Standards and Performance Indicators for Teachers. I chose tow areas in which I would like to focus and create a GAME plan for myself.


I. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.
Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the NETS•S.
A) Teachers design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.

GOALS
My goal is to develop learning experiences using new technology tools such as the ipod to promote student knowledge and creative thinking.

ACTION
I plan to explore new web applications that can be used in conjunction with my current curriculum to promote better comprehension of curriculum concepts.

MONITOR
In order to monitor myself and track the number of times I use the ipad, I will circle IPAD on my lesson plans.

EVALUATE
An evaluation of my lessons using the ipad will be to use a rubric to rate student comprehension of lesson, interest and activity.

II. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning

Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society.

D. Teachers communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.

GOALS
I would like to improve the communication tools that I already implement. I want to add audio and video clips to my wikipage.

ACTION
I will review and and become proficient in enbedding Animoto and Audacity into my wikipage. I will take pictures of two classes a week working on their projects and showcase them on the wiki.

MONITOR
As a form of monitoring my wiki, I will keep a record for ten weeks of which classes were featured on the wiki.

EVALUATE
I will ask parents for feedback to determine how often they looked at the wiki and whether they found the site to be informative and interesting.

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. (M. Staudt, & M. Stranz, Eds.) Mason, OH, USA: Cengage Learning.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf on May 12, 2010.
Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the Lights. Educational Leadership , 65 (6), 40-45.