Reflections

Since beginning my master’s degree, I have been working diligently to utilize technology more often in my classroom so my students will have access to 21^st century learning. With the course that I am finishing now, I have learned so much about incorporating problem based learning, social networking/ online collaboration, and digital storytelling.

My GAME plan has pushed me to “facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity,” as well as “engage in professional growth and leadership.” I have been working hard on exposing my students to more real world applications, as opposed to teacher directed instruction. They are given ample opportunities to work together on a common task that is real world focused in order to create a more authentic learning environment. In addition, I am continually reading through the blogs that I have subscribed to for more ideas and hope to post some of them here in the future.

Using the GAME plan with my students is an organized way to allow them to focus on the given task. I would want to focus on the monitoring piece the most with them. For myself, I have found that I set goals constantly, but fail to really monitor my progress throughout. If this is something I struggle with, it is certainly something my students will struggle with. It will help them stay on track and to meet their goals efficiently.

For years, I have been using social networking/ online collaboration through edmodo and will continue to do so, as I have had great success with my students. A new goal I am setting for myself is to try to include at least one problem based learning activity or one digital storytelling activity for each unit I teach. Although these processes are lengthy, they are great ways to keep up student engagement, as well as fostering student achievement.

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