My actions so far to meet my goals have not been very effective. On paper my actions to achieve my goals seem that they were direct and easy to carry out. I continue to find that I need time to achieve my goals.
What I have learned so far is that if I plan to effectively carry out my GAME plan I need to put in the work to achieve my goals. Just like my students, I am learning new things and have felt overwhelmed. This feeling will allow me to relate to the students when they are feeling overwhelmed with the work that they are doing and we can discuss how we can overcome this feeling and accomplish our goals.
There are still many things that I need to learn before I can fully feel comfortable integrating the technology into lessons and creating projects for the students. A couple of these things include, when is the right time to allow the students to use technology and is there ever to much technology that will take the students away from being to make calculations without technology? As a teacher to other teacher question that I would ask is how have these teachers found the time to create great lessons that involve technology?
My adjustment to my plan will be to simple keep plugging away and trying to achieve my goals with the new realization that it will not happen overnight. This is something that I cannot give up on but to keep working on till I meet my goals no matter how long it takes and hope that it will come together soon then later.
Rick Orr
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Rick,
ReplyDeleteI also feel overwhelmed at times and time is really the biggest factor in education. There just never seems to be enough time. Our pacing guides are set up for about one section a day. However, that does not take into account various things like the district testlets and practice explore tests we have to administer once a month, time to reteach a lesson if students don't understand, time to explore and play around with new ideas that may or may not work out as planned, time for extensive projects, etc. Not to mention the various assemblies, snow days and other activities that cut into our learning time. I am all for these things because I think that it is a great part of growing up and the high school experience... however, in my opinion, we need to take a second look at the amount of material covered in one school year.
Rick,
ReplyDeleteYou are not alone in feeling overwhelmed. Between commitments at school, at home and with this graduate program, I feel that I have very little extra time to spend developing new curriculum to integrate new technology into my classroom. My goals have also encountered roadblocks and have needed modification. As you said, it is important to remember that these goals will not be met overnight. It is a lengthy process that at least for me will require a longer duration of time than the 8 weeks of this course. The lack of technology and the opposition to technology that some of us encounter will take a long time to overcome. Good luck with your goals.
Rick,
ReplyDeleteI get the feeling we are all feeling somewhat overwhelmed due to a number of factors: the holidays, the workload of this course, school, family, home commitments, and so on. I have not accomplished what I had hoped to at this point in my GAME plan either. I had hoped to set aside time each day to work on my goals; however, the reality is that that did not happen. Had I done that, most likely I would be in a better position now. I feel if I did not have the graduate work to complete, I could accomplish my goals. I am hoping that when I finish I can spend the time I spent on my courses on planning new lessons for my classroom. Keep your head up, take it slowly, and you will accomplish your goals eventually.
Melissa S.
Rick, I believe overwhelmed is a feeling that good teachers have to live with. We are never fully caught up. We are always changing and growing in philosophy and research. That is what makes teaching a profession. Stay strong and know you are not alone. The students you teach will benefit from your overwhelmed feeling. This too shall pass-and then you will be on to more life long learning.
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