Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

It has been three weeks since I first began developing my GAME plan as a way to become a better self-directed learner. The GAME plan has four steps:
1. Set Goals
2. Take Action to meet those goals
3. Monitor progress toward achieving goals and
4. Evaluate whether the goals were achieved and Extend your learning to new situations (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 3)

The goals I set for myself came from looking over the National Education Standards for Teachers. My first goal is to create a classroom website to provide information, resources, and published student work to students, families, and the community. My second goal is to show the colleagues I work with the benefits of integrating technology into their classrooms, and to help show them how to use the technology if possible. Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to take action to meet these goals and monitor the progress I have made towards these goals. This week I will be evaluating my progress.

My actions for meeting my first goal of creating the classroom website seem to have come up short. I was told yesterday that until the district creates a uniform code for how classroom websites should be done, that I cannot create a site that is linked or associated with the district. When I asked how long this might take, I was told a few months. In the meantime I have been playing around with a couple of ideas such as creating a classroom website or blog using Weebly for Education. The site provides free education website and blog creation that I still might be able to use as long as I do not link it to my district or allow any student pictures or names to appear. Has anyone used Weebly before? It looks fairly easy from what I can see. Also, creating a classroom blog might be useful for integrating problem-based learning. Ertmer notes that blogs are good for student reflections, publication, and collaboration during the problem-based learning experience (Laureate Education, INC., 2009). Problem-based learning is a way of having the students’ work revolve around solving an complex, real world problem from authentic content (Ertmer & Simons, Spring 2006).

My actions have been much more effective in meeting my second goal of showing the benefits of integrating technology into classroom to my colleagues. Two of my colleagues are planning on observing me during a lesson where I integrate technology. If that goes well, I can see them asking for some assistance in starting to integrate more technology.

Looking back at what I have learned so far that I can apply in my instructional practice, I see that I have learned have a backup plan for when things do not always turn out the way I hope they will. I thought creating a classroom site would be easy to get the approval for and I would have it up and ready by now. I have also learned how helpful setting up self-directed learning goals can be to becoming a better educator, learner, and professional. This is something that I hope to pass on to my students.

I still need to learn how to persuade the administrators in my district to see the benefits of blogs, websites, and other online ways of collaborating and publishing information. I have discovered some ways of convincing my colleagues, but it seems more difficult to convince others that students with severe disabilities can benefit from all these same technologies. My new question is should I keep pushing it with them or continue doing what I can and wait for them to see what good things my students are doing?

At this point, I will only adjust my plan to allow for additional time to complete my first goal. I think I will play around with Weebly and see about using it to create my website and blog until I can do an official one through my district. At this time, I will not be adjusting my plan for completing my other goal of working with my colleagues. I will continue to re-evaluate my plan and adjust it as needed later on.

Let me know if you have any thoughts, questions, or comments.

Shannon Eno

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Ertmer, P., & Simons, K. (Spring 2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting the efforts of K-12 teachers. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1), 40-54. Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=ijpbl.

Laureate Education Inc., (Producer). Program eight. Spotlight on Technology: Problem-Based Learning, Part 1 [Motion picture]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.

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