The GAME plan is one of the points I will take with me into my own teaching as a guide for development of a unit plan. My instruction should be affected as I take this new approach to planning with me. I believe it helped me in making important connections between the technology standards and content standards throughout a lesson. It is not that I was not including assignments that did both, but rather it makes me aware of these connections and allows me to be more efficient in my usage of technology to meet standards. I believe another benefit from the GAME plan in the layout that addresses technology needs as our school moves towards being more technology friendly through a recently passed bond.
While I have done a significant amount of digital storytelling and some amount of problem-based learning, I will now attempt to place a greater emphasis on social networking and collaboration through technology. This is definitely a technology weakness for me and this course has made me much more comfortable with these types of technologies. While I have also gained ideas in other areas with regards to technology usage, this is an area that is foreign to me which I can now involve my students in.
The GAME plan process will be tweaked to fit my needs in planning larger, over-reaching units. I will need to adjust it to fit the different challenges that arise. I like it as a place to plan and after a lesson completion notes can be made for further adjustments. With constantly changing standards and emphasis, it is nice to have an organizational and planning strategy. It is also a great way to intentionally mesh 21st century skills with content area standards and technology use.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
GAME Plan Progress
As I progress in attempting to connect curriculum to real-world applications I believe one place in world history this can occur is the teaching of genocide throughout world history. I decided this the other day as so many students are familiar with the Holocaust or more recent genocides in Rwanda or Darfur but few if any were familiar with the Armenian genocide which precluded all of the aforementioned events.
The question that has arisen most recently is how do I want students to approach the project. What I came up with is possibly a comparison of the events taking place in the later stages of the Ottoman Empire (Armenian Genocide) to one of the other more familiar. I also believe I am going to remove the Holocaust as an option and instead have them focus on one of the more recent African genocides. I believe this combines curricular concepts, with historical events and more recent, almost current events.
The largest struggle is working through the fact that some of these internet sources are blocked and finding ways to enable students to get the best, most accurate information. It is also important to work with students on finding a way to recognize and avoid bias in their findings. I am getting closer to having a list of resources they can access that I believe will help them become informed of the events in a way that is informational.
The question that has arisen most recently is how do I want students to approach the project. What I came up with is possibly a comparison of the events taking place in the later stages of the Ottoman Empire (Armenian Genocide) to one of the other more familiar. I also believe I am going to remove the Holocaust as an option and instead have them focus on one of the more recent African genocides. I believe this combines curricular concepts, with historical events and more recent, almost current events.
The largest struggle is working through the fact that some of these internet sources are blocked and finding ways to enable students to get the best, most accurate information. It is also important to work with students on finding a way to recognize and avoid bias in their findings. I am getting closer to having a list of resources they can access that I believe will help them become informed of the events in a way that is informational.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Preparing for the GAME Plan
The technology necessary to carry out the GAME plan includes computers or a similar device and also access to the internet. The students will need access to information about real world topics of the current time as well as information about historical events in order to make relevant connections. The students will also need access to word processing and presentation programs. This should allow them to locate necessary information and create practical means for sharing or displaying their information.
As this project will involve the students making connections to current real world issues it will be imperative for me to gain an understanding of student interests. This will allow me to aid them in finding a real world topic on which to base their project. It will also be helpful to know the level of skill the students have in the area of technology. This determination would allow for the difficulty with which the project can be designed. However, if a self-paced learning environment is created it should allow for success no matter the level of technological expertise. trying to set technology requirements may hinder or limit the students ability to produce quality work and find relevant information. As the instructor I would like this knowledge to avoid slowing or limiting the progress of my students.
I have begin to look at the areas of study in my curriculum and places where students could make relevant, interesting connections to the real world they see today. Knowing that students are not usually well connected to current events I have begun to look for ways to help them make scholarly connections. I have also begun to look at units of curriculum which can be used to incorporate these types of connections.
As this project will involve the students making connections to current real world issues it will be imperative for me to gain an understanding of student interests. This will allow me to aid them in finding a real world topic on which to base their project. It will also be helpful to know the level of skill the students have in the area of technology. This determination would allow for the difficulty with which the project can be designed. However, if a self-paced learning environment is created it should allow for success no matter the level of technological expertise. trying to set technology requirements may hinder or limit the students ability to produce quality work and find relevant information. As the instructor I would like this knowledge to avoid slowing or limiting the progress of my students.
I have begin to look at the areas of study in my curriculum and places where students could make relevant, interesting connections to the real world they see today. Knowing that students are not usually well connected to current events I have begun to look for ways to help them make scholarly connections. I have also begun to look at units of curriculum which can be used to incorporate these types of connections.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
GAME Plan
In finding a GAME plan for integrating technology into teaching their are several aspects I looked at. First off was the Facilitate and Inspire student Learning and Creativity. The goal would be to find assignment that through the use of technology would encourage students to become fully engaged in the learning process. As a Social Studies teacher it is easy to allow students to identify with real world learning experiences. Students can compare and contrast current and relatively modern issues with those that have happened in the past. In order to monitor the students I would ask them to explain to me how they are tying the real world issue they have chosen into the class curriculum. I would then take the final product and evaluate what the students have done and how it aligns with our current curriculum. My one concern with emphasizing current issues in less would be that fact that students would need to make strong ties to the curriculum and not get to caught up with the new 'real world' issues.
I would also seek to engage in Professional Growth and Leadership within my district. So often teachers are caught up not wanting to change for technology or trying to use technology but not making any stride toward improving student learning. In the leadership role a teacher could aid others in finding ways to effectively improve student understanding of given curriculum with new technology. So often the key to helping students is through helping teachers with the process. By becoming a leader and helping teachers to find ways to effectively incorporate technology I would also be helping high numbers of students. This is a tricky goal as many teachers are turned off by others helping them change their methods. It is also the case that many teachers believe they are already effective in their use of technology. I would like to think many teachers will begin to see the importance as we move forward. The challenge with this strategy is that it is relatively difficult to judge your effectiveness in this type of leadership. Simple observation may be the only way to monitor the growth of colleagues in this area.
I would also seek to engage in Professional Growth and Leadership within my district. So often teachers are caught up not wanting to change for technology or trying to use technology but not making any stride toward improving student learning. In the leadership role a teacher could aid others in finding ways to effectively improve student understanding of given curriculum with new technology. So often the key to helping students is through helping teachers with the process. By becoming a leader and helping teachers to find ways to effectively incorporate technology I would also be helping high numbers of students. This is a tricky goal as many teachers are turned off by others helping them change their methods. It is also the case that many teachers believe they are already effective in their use of technology. I would like to think many teachers will begin to see the importance as we move forward. The challenge with this strategy is that it is relatively difficult to judge your effectiveness in this type of leadership. Simple observation may be the only way to monitor the growth of colleagues in this area.
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