Final Reflection (G.A.M.E. Plan)

My Walden University course, “Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas,” is drawling to a close, but my G.A.M.E. plan will continue throughout my teaching career. G.A.M.E is an acronym that stands for set goals, take action, monitor progress, and evaluation (Laureate Inc, 2009). Basically a simplified definition to this acronym is the process of a teacher moving forward and teaching the future and not wallowing in the past. When I talk about the past, I am not talking about content necessarily, but the way of teaching content. Books, the lecture method of teaching, paper-pencil tests were the standard teaching methods used in the past and yes they are still effective, but not as effective as when you expand these methods to computers, iPads, social networking, blogging, new interactive programs, and basically anything involving web 2.0. Although my teaching pedagogy involves the process of moving forward with all the NET standards, my specific Game plan focused and is still focusing on NETS-#1 “Facilitate and Inspire Students Learning and Creativity,” and NETS-#5 “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.”

Now I am formally reflecting on the effectiveness of my Game plan and how it influenced and changed my ways of teaching throughout this course. In general, the game plan has not completely changed my pedagogy, but definitely improved it by organizing my thoughts. The majority of times, teachers have the best of intentions, but in many instances the follow-through is not adequate. Technology can be overwhelming at times and by following the a game plan and setting goals, taking action, monitor progress, and then evaluating, puts matters into a clearer perspective. One thing that I learned through my experience with technology is that if you look at the little details in a big picture, the results is overwhelming frustrations, but if you visualize a general big picture and start with baby steps, the process becomes quite easy. Most technology programs are designed for self-learning and just by incorporating them into a classroom, the process of learning improves drastically. I bought an iPad for my room to use merely as a lesson plan document reader. However, after using it, I now use it to control all of my music wirelessly in my class, it acts as a wireless remote for my SMARTboard keynotes, I play videos off of it, and it can be used as a drum or xylophone with the right apps.

I picked NETS #1 and #5 as a focus, because instilling creativity into my students is my number one priority and learning and sharing through colleagues is the best way to learn as a teacher. Books and classes are great, but sharing and learning from fellow teachers that are in the same situation as you is extremely helpful.

Overall, I will not incorporate any drastic changes into my Game plan, however, I will continue to move forward. I want to started with the aspects involving social networking and publishing on the web. I like to think of education like money and inflation. If someone has a hundred dollars and saves it, then in the future it will eventually be worth very little due to inflation, however, if the money is invested and the use of the money is put in a positive forward motion, then it will always carry a great value. Even though something works great in education now, a good educator should always be looking forward for the new and improved version and then share it with other colleagues.

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.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Enriching content area learning experiences with technology, part 1 and 2. [Motion Picture] Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T). (2008) located at http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf.