At the beginning of each school year, I make it a point to get to know my students. I spend time talking to each student to get an idea of their prior knowledge and understanding. I also ask parents to complete surveys about their child’s likes and dislikes, what they excel in, and what they may already know how to do. We also conduct a skills survey to measure student’s readiness for school. We measure students’ ability to identify letters, letter sounds, emergent behaviors, and ability to read kindergarten sight words. These assessments are used to build our guided reading groups which we usually begin in October. These actions are the grade level assessments that we use collaboratively in order to meet the needs of our students. If necessary we may move students so that they would be in a classroom where there are students that are performing on a parallel manner in a similar zone of proximal development.
Through our efforts with our groups’ differentiation station, I was introduced to several technological resources that can effectively be used in the classroom. They include the ability to create a webpage using wix.com, or funbrain.com to introduce students and provide opportunities for exploring concepts in a child friendly manner.
It is my goal to integrate technology in our learning and teaching processes. After getting to know each child I will work to meet the needs of all my students. We will explore students interests and encourage opportunities for students to display their learning through their learning preferences. Flexibility of choice will be incorporated in student’s choices. Flexible student grouping will help students learn together and from each other.
I also plan to continue to gain support from our schools administration, colleagues, and parents by involving each group in the students’ successes. By inviting participation, I hope to expand the inclusion of technologies in the primary classroom.
As part of my approach to teaching in the future, I will incorporate techniques from Universal Design for Learning such as looking for and removing intrinsic barriers that are often found in the traditional curriculum approach. This way I am addressing the needs of all my students. I will also continue to incorporate aspects of Differentiated Learning to meet the needs of all my students. Continuing to assess student’s readiness will continue to help guide instruction. Providing opportunities for flexible learning can help ensure that students are learning in a productive and encouraging environment.
ISTE NETS-T5.c. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership by evaluating and reflecting on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning.
ISTE NETS-T.3.c. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning by communicating relevant information and ideas effectively to students and parents using a variety of digital-age media and formats.
The GAME plan that I developed and followed over the course was designed to improve my professional growth by making a commitment to stay current with new technologies and to continue to look for effective uses in a primary classroom in support of student learning. Over the course of my studies at Walden University, I have been exposed to a number of new technologies and effective ways to implement and integrate the new technologies in a primary classroom. In the past, I had become comfortable with my knowledge of technology in the classroom and missed many opportunities for my students. Now, I recognize that it is my role as a teacher in the 21st century to get my students exposed and using technologies that are a part of our world today as well as new technologies that are not yet developed. By providing these opportunities for my students to use current technologies, I can prepare them for the new yet undeveloped technologies that will be a part of their lives as they grow up into adulthood. As a digital immigrant, I can see that by staying stagnant one can fall behind and not feel comfortable with new technologies. I have jumped in and found that I can swim. And this affords me the ability to help my students start their journey integrating technology into their learning experiences. I am committed to staying current with new technologies. I am committed to continuing to pursue opportunities for professional development. I am committed to finding, implementing, and integrating technologies into student curriculum and learning experiences.
In order to expand this role, I plan to introduce my kindergarten team and principal to many of these new technologies and learning opportunities for our students. As I develop and learn, I will share my experiences and encourage others to get involved.
My GAME plan also included modeling the use of technologies in my classroom and communications with my parents and students outside the classroom. In order to effectively communicate with parents and students outside the classroom, I have developed a classroom webpage. In the past, I had used a monthly newsletter (hard copy) to keep parents informed about what we were doing in our classroom, any needed supply requests, and special at home assignments to augment our classroom studies. This worked well and parents were responsive. Then I moved to sending group e-mails to parents to communicate similar information and this also worked well for my student’s parents. Recently, I created a classroom webpage to provide parents with this information and extended it to include links to educational resources that augment our curriculum. In addition to a newsletter, I have added links to a variety of educational links for primary students, our texts online homework resources, and online reading books based on students guided reading levels. My plan is to continue to develop our classroom webpage as a comprehensive and extensive learning tool. My plan is to model through our webpage the many opportunities to integrate technologies in students learning experiences. My goal is to build the foundation for primary students as they start their learning with technologies.
The GAME plan is a powerful tool to generate well developed standard based lesson plans. Using the GAME plan gave me a framework in organizing and implementing learning experiences for my students. The GAME plans four steps are setting goals, taking action, monitoring progress, and evaluating and extending the lesson as needed (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). In each phase a series of questions are posed to help facilitate their effective use. I have found that the steps and thought provoking questions have helped me think more thoughtfully about lesson plans and develop a more metacognitive approach to teaching and learning with technology.
In addition, the GAME plan can be used as a tool for educators to develop a plan to improve their teaching practice. Over the course of this class, I reviewed the ISTE NET-T standards and implemented a GAME plan based on these standards. Ultimately my goal is to incorporate all the standards in my teaching practice. Through my continued development, I plan to create and grow an instructional environment where my students are immersed in learning through a lens that incorporates effective uses of technologies.
I will continue to grow our classroom webpage by looking for ways to provide parents and students with more online learning tools and resources. I have progressed through hard copy newsletters to group e-mails and now a classroom webpage with links to online resources. In addition to continuing to grow our classroom webpage, I plan to more fully develop our classroom blog though more developed interaction and communication with other classrooms inside and outside our school. I have been exposed to e-Pals which I feel is a great way for primary students to get involved in “educational networking” (Laureate, 2009). I am very fond of an introduction unit produced in e-Pals called Who We Are in collaboration with National Geographic. Students have the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with students from another location in the world. This helps students learn from others, become aware that there are other people and cultures around the world, open their eyes to becoming a citizen of the world using technology and building their proficiency in multiple literacies, and starting their journey in becoming prepared to be a part of the 21st century. It is my hope to be a part of this learning and teaching process for my students and to expand my reach my including and encouraging other teachers.
The GAME Plan has potential in the classroom for students as well as for teachers planning and organizing lessons. As a kindergarten teacher, I can model the GAME Plan processes whole group for students prior to students their participation. For example, in our social studies unit on conservation students can work collaboratively to develop a plan on how to get involved in conservation and how to get families and communities also involved. Students can then take action by determining the steps necessary to make their goals happen. We can develop a plan or schedule to monitor our progress and determine if we need to extend our activities. As the teacher I will function as a guide and facilitator throughout this process.
Of the ISTE NETS – S performance indicators for students this project will encourage students to develop their creativity and innovation skills. ISTE NETS – S.1.a.Creativity and Innovation where students apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, and processes works well with our conservation unit. Students come to school with a strong knowledge base about what they can do to help take care of their environment such as put trash in the trash can, sort plastics, paper, and aluminum. Some families are already participating in our local community recycling efforts. From this knowledge base students extend their knowledge by learning about conservation and natural resources and coming up with ideas such as turning lights off to save electricity, only using enough paper to dry their hands to save wood, closing doors to save electricity, only using enough water to wash our hands to save water, using recyclable bags at the grocery store to bring home groceries to save trees, and getting our families involved to make our conservation efforts a life-long process.
ISTE NETS – S.2.b.Communication and Collaboration to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats is a performance indicator that is found in our exploration of weather. Students learn about different weather conditions in their neighborhood. Students create a voicethread to discuss their findings. The voicethread is put on the classroom blog so that parents can view. Another facet is to extend students understanding of their world when they communicate with other students in another part of the world through e-Pals. Students get to know each other, learn about the weather conditions each experiences, learn about what the other students like to do in the weather they experience, and get a better understanding of other cultures. The goal is defined as learning about our world and its weather patterns.
My GAME plan involves a continuing effort to stay current by being involved in professional development opportunities and by encouraging communication between parents, students, and myself. With each of these strategies, it is my hope to establish a learning environment that promotes student development of 21st century skills. In my GAME plan I have continued to grow my understanding of new technologies and effective ways to implement these strategies. By implementing new technologies and modeling their use, I hope to establish a productive learning environment that incorporates technology in the teaching and learning processes as a vital and integral component. In addition, I have continued to refine my class webpage. I have received several suggestions to encourage more parental and student interest in the classroom webpage. The classroom webpage will continue to be a work in progress with revisions and updates made regularly. As I continue to grow these activities and strategies, I plan to expand and scaffold my compliance to the ISTE NETS – T performance indicators over the course of my teaching career.
Reference:
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.
