In the past, teaching resources were limited with books, board and marker. Today, we can use projectors, smart-boards, internet, audio-visual equipments and electronic resources to teach. Nobody knows what type of teaching resources will be available in the future. Given the continuous changes to the technology and teaching resources, it is a professional necessity for everybody to follow and learn new technology to stay up to date. For teachers, digital age not only changes the education technology but also the standards and characteristics of high performing effective teachers. For instance, teachers must provide a learning environment that takes students beyond the walls of their classrooms and into a world of endless opportunities (ISTE,2011a). Therefore, everybody must develop self-directed learning skills and be ready to learn and improve themselves in terms of knowledge and skills continuously. In other words, everybody must know how to plan, evaluate and monitor their actions to become self-directed learner. (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).
GAME plan is an effective self-directed learning strategy that people can use to learn new things themselves. In this plan, learner must design and set GOAL with considering what they know and what they want to learn. Later, learner must take ACTION and use various strategies, methods and resources to achieve the goal. Additionally, learner must MONITOR his/her progress while achieving the goal. Finally, learner must EVALUATE and reflect upon the process to determine if the goal was met and EXTEND the goal (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).
After reading National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) (ISTE, 2011b), I acknowledged that I need to improve myself in terms of using technology effectively in class. I am good at facilitating experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in face-to-face environments. However, I do not use virtual environments. Additionally, I figured out that I am poor in promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility. Finally, I found out that I am not engaged in global learning communities and I am not evaluating and reflect on current research and professional practice in physics teaching area.
To become a high performing teacher, I am going to furnish myself with two of the NETS-T standards. Of course, I will use GAME strategy to achieve my goals and acquire mentioned skills.
My first GAME plan will help me to meet the NETS-T Standard 4c: 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;
Goal: I am going to follow and read articles frequently from 5 different websites that publish articles about current research about physics, using educational technology or new teaching strategies.
Action: I will search the internet and locate mentioned websites. Additionally, I will evaluate the reliability and freshness of publications. Finally, I will sign up for membership or to websites’ rss feeds if possible.
Monitor: I will monitor my progress with evaluating the quality of websites that I located and the frequency of my visits. Moreover, I will note down and check the number of articles that I read about each area.
Evaluate/Extend: I will evaluate the efficiency of following websites. Did I waste time with reading articles or did I learn new strategies and technology tools that I can use in my teaching. According to the result of my evaluation, I will either continue to follow websites or locate another one.
I am going to follow another GAME plan to meet the NETS – T Standard- 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.
Goal: I will learn and teach my students how to use digital portfolios. Additionally, I will learn how to use digital portfolios to assess my students.
Action: I am going to find and read tutorials and guidelines about digital portfolios. I will also locate websites that students can create and manage digital portfolios free of charge. Additionally, I will check the technology resources that I, school and students have to evaluate the possibility of using digital portfolios to assess students. Finally, I will develop a tutorial that students can use to understand and manage their portfolios
Monitor: I will monitor my progress and understanding about digital portfolios. I will also monitor the progress of students. I will spend around 15 minutes two or three times per week to compare my goal and progress.
Evaluate and Extend: I will evaluate my knowledge about digital portfolios. I will compare my findings with my goal. If it is possible to use digital portfolios as an assessment tool, I will start using them. If I find out that there are obstacles such as technical difficulties, I will try to identify them and solve them.
I am sure that setting goals for myself will encourage me to improve my self. It is very exciting to become self-directed learner and learn new things myself. There will be times when I might get discouraged or frustrated, but having this GAME plan will motivate and keep me focused on the big pictures which is to become a high performing teacher and offer the best learning environment and strategies to my students
References
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.
ISTE. (2011a). Standards for global learning in the digital age (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards.aspx
ISTE. (2011b). The ISTE NETS and performance indicators for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers.aspx
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Program Three: Enriching Content Area Learning Experiences with Technology, Part 1. [DVD]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.
8 comments:
Two excellent goals! I like how one focuses on personal improvement for yourself, and another to improve the learning of your students. I think digital portfolios are an excellent way for students to keep track of their progress and look back at their work. It can serve as an great tool for assessment as well since it is easy to look back on the students work for improvements, etc. Your GAME plans are well thought-out from start to finish and your evaluation techniques ensure your goal is being met.
Zulfi, your GAME plans are well informed, it is true that in the past, teachers complained of scarce resources, these days, now where to hide, and there is no excuse that will be acceptable, vast resources are at our disposal, we can get any resources we want just at the click of the mouse, it now behooves us to make effective use of the resources we have and extend our classroom outside the four walls of our room, and turn it to twenty four seven and anywhere anytime learning opportunity for our students. I also have a similar plan with you, to engage in global learning communities. One of the best ways to do this is to consciously search for opportunities around us and connect with experts in our areas of interest. Good luck in your action plan.
Yemi Adegbite
I agree that your choice of indicators and the GAME plan you have designed for yourself is clearly defined and important for the success of your students. In my classroom, even at elementary school, I have begun to use the GAME plan with my students accompanied with the KWL chart. Instead of just reporting to the students what we will learn, I ask the students to collaboratively develop a GAME plan for our topic. We then return to it after we have completed the lesson to see how closely each student followed their game plan. I was thinking that this might be an excellent way for you students to take the lead in their use of portfolios to document their learning.
Zulfi, you have some excellent GAME plans. I was wondering however, have you thought about doing this with a PLC (professional learning community)? I think the ideas you have presented would be more successful if done with a group, especially the reading of, and application of the five articles. I have found that by working on things with others keeps me motivated, on schedule, and often, they may see something I did not when reading the article.
- Aaron Austin
Aaron,
Like you mentioned, discussing new educational technology and developments in physics area in PLC would be great. However, we do not have PLC in our school. Maybe I can start a PLC and encourage other teachers to join. Thanks for the idea.
Zulfi
Vicki,
I like the idea of collaboratively developing a GAME plan to teach curriculum together with students. This will definitely engae and motivate students. I will give it a try soon.
Hi.
Hi. I, too, like the use of digital portfolios. I plan to set up a free webpage for my own portfolio of student work. I am really excited to read about your plans to set up a tutorial for your students to learn how to create digital portfolios to be used in your class. I envisioned a screencast. What are your plans on how to set that up?
Thanks for sharing.
-Heather Davis
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