Second Update: My GAME Plan

Up to this point, I have learned a little and gained a little in achieving my GAME goals.  The fist thing I will say that I have learned and also have had affirmed, is that I am very pressed for time when it comes to implementing something this big into my teaching.  On paper everything looked so easy and tangible, but in reality it requires a lot of time and effort.  I am definitely willing to put forth the effort, but I cannot create more time.  As a result I took some of my classmates' advice and decided to start out small.  My first step towards creating more self-directed learning in my class took place yesterday once students finished their quiz.  Now there was not technology involved, but hey, it was a starting point.  What I had students to was take the next section's note packed and read trough the chapter and fill them out on their own.  It was a fairly easy chapter and all of my students have the prior knowledge necessary successfully learn the material on their own.  My biggest fear was not having students put in a serious effort to learn the material on their own, because they knew we would be discussing it as a class the next day.  My plan was partially successful, because one class took this opportunity in stride and had not problems learning the material and had very few questions when we discussed this the next day.  As for my other class, they did not have too many questions either, but this was because a lot of them opted to do nothing.  This was my biggest fear to begin with, because I know my students well and what they expect.  They expect that their teacher will always explain things to them no matter what, so why should they put any effort in learning it on their own.  This is not the case for all of my student in this particular class, but it is or the majority.  I guess I could have taught them a hard lesson and said that they just need to know it and that they would have to catch up on their own if they did not do anything, but the teacher in me says that it is my duty to make sure I attempt to show them how to do things at least once. 

So I did not make any major progress on this goal, but I feel as if I took a step in the right direction.  It gives me a starting point, and it lets my students know that this is likely to happen again in the future.  My next step is to try this type of self-directed learning a few more times, and then hopefully take it to the computer lab.  Although, this again brings up a new challenge, because I know how quickly students can lose focus when they are on the Internet.  In order to help prevent unnecessary surfing on the Internet, I will try to make sure I am constantly circulating the computer lab just to let students know that we are they to get work done, not play around on the computer.  Once this standard has been established, it is my hope that my students will then know what is expected of them when we go to the computer lab. 

As far as my second goal of creating, well actually updating my existing, classroom website, I have yet to find time to make any progress on that goal.  I know that it is an online component and that I can access if from any place that has a computer and Internet connection, but I am so swamped with school work and graduate homework that it gets prioritized pretty low.  However, just like my first goal, I am hoping to take my first small step soon, which would consist of uploading class notes to my website and updating the class calendar.  Again, I have all the resources necessary for this goal in place, but like the majority of my colleagues, I do not have the time to invest in it at the moment. 

Until the next update!

First Update: My GAME Plan

I recently reviewed my GAME plan goals that I set a week ago, and began to think about how I could start to incorporate this into my teaching.  Justo to briefly summarize, my goals were to include more technology to create more self-directed learning opportunities and to open up the lines of communication between my students and their parents and myself.  These goals are very similar, in the fact that they both involve the Internet.  I am lucky enough to have multiple computer labs in my school that I can sign out pretty much whenever I want.  There is usually at least one lab open at any given period though out the day, and there is also a computer lab that is dedicated to math and science classes only.  This is definitely something that I need if I want to use Internet research to promote self-directed learning.  I am also lucky enough to have a classroom website that has been provided for me by my school district through SharpSchool.  One thing that I have learned from both personal experience and hearsay is that SharpSchool is not the user-friendliest software to work with.  Nonetheless, it at least gives me something to start with.  I did take the opportunity to start working on my individual site way back at the beginning of the school year, but then normal day to day operations took over and the website got pushed to the side. 

So basically I have everything I need to achieve my goals, as far as resources, information, and physical equipment (computers) goes.  The only thing really holding me back is time.  I have spoken with many of my colleagues both in and out of the math department, and they all say that they simply do not have time for it.  Most of my colleagues are graduate students, coaches, parents, volunteers, etc. in addition to being a teacher, and they all admit to wanting to do more, but they simply do not have the time to do so.  I also have found that in a trimester schedule (which is what my school is in) does not allow from much deviation from the curriculum because time is so precious.  As a result, I am faced with the dilemma of risking valuable class time to take students to the computer lab and trust that they will learn something while they are there.  My biggest fear is that I will take my student to the computer lab to have a self-directed learning experience and all they will do is surf the internet and either not find anything about the topic we are studying, or have no desire to look anything up that is relevant to the class.  Part of my idea for setting a goal to promote self-directed learning is because of how much I do it myself.  However, I only do this when I am super interested in something or I have to do it for my job or schooling.  I am an adult and understand what is at stake, however, and many high school students do not have this mentality (at least not where I teach).  So my goal within my goal is to try and find ideas, strategies, lesson, you name it that can help me get my students to want to learn math on their own. 

Setting Technology Goals

As a teacher who loves technology and uses it on a daily basis, believes in it, and really cannot see living with out it, you would think that I would incorporate in every lesson that I could.  However, this is not the case, and is probably most unfortunate for my students because most of them are just as in love with technology as I am.  I am a high school math teacher, and part of why I do not incorporate technology all that much (in fact it is very rare that I do) is because I think you should understand what the technology piece is doing before you go ahead and use it.  In my personal experience, I primarily use the Internet to teach myself about concepts that I have a personal interest in.  As for my math students, they want to use technology to make math easier, which means find a piece of technology that can do their work for them.  For instance, I have not found one yet, but I am sure there is a calculator some where on the Internet that can factor polynomials for them.  This idea that there is technology out there that takes the work out of things is what scares me the most, however, I know that technology has must more to offer than making things easier and letting it do all of the work for us. 

I recently reviewed the standards set by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), which they dub the NETS-S.  They have five main standards, and all of them have a number of performance indicators that teachers can use to help just their progress on incorporating technology into their teaching.  I have identified two performance indicators that were of particular interest to me, and seem to fit where I am at in my willingness and readiness to bring more technology into my classroom. 

The first performance indicator that I am setting as a goal falls under the second standard:

2.  Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

b. Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity (International, 2008)

Part of why I chose this goal is due to the fact that it seems to reflect why I love the Internet so much.  I use the Internet to delve into topics that I want to learn more about and I always seem to find something about whatever it is I am looking for.  I will be using GAME model to help set my goals, which involve me setting Goals, taking Action to achieve those goals, Monitoring the progress on achieving the goals I have set, and finally Evaluating the progress on my goals (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).  So for this goal, I would like to try and provide more opportunity for my student to use the Internet to learn the content of my course.  This will provide opportunity for more self-directed learning, which I feel will ultimately inspire creativity.  In order to achieve this goal, I will have to take time to bring my students to the computer lab and cut down on the lecturing and direct instruction, which is currently the my main method of instruction.  In order to monitor the progress of this goal, I will look at students’ assessment scores (both quizzes and tests) in order to see how well students are doing with this new style of learning.  Finally, I will evaluate the overall effectiveness of this goal to see if I will continue on with my original plan, or make a change in order to improve on the process.

The second performance indicator that I am setting as a goal falls under the third standard:

3.  Model Digital Age Work and Learning

c. Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats (International, 2008)

The main reason why I want to set this as a goal is because I want to make things more convenient for all, which includes my students, their parents, and myself.  Part of what I want to do to achieve this goal is to create a classroom website where I can upload different kinds of classroom information.  Whether it is class notes, homework assignments, tutorial videos, or math help websites, I want a ‘central hub’ where my students can go to access information for my class.  So my goal is to incorporate a classroom website where I can openly communicate with students and their parents, as well as provide classroom materials and math support.  In order to achieve this goal I will have to find a software that will allow me to create a website.  Next I will have to upload various classroom documents and links to websites and videos for my students.  In order to monitor the progress of this goal, I can periodically ask students if the website is helpful or not, and also allow student to give feedback and suggestions on the website to improve it if necessary.  Finally, I can evaluate all the input I get back from students and parents to decide if the website is working or not, and also fix any flaws that may have been pointed out along the way.

Resources

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.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers