Reflections on GAME Planning (Final Post)

I am sure throughout the many classes that I have taken that the professor has lectured about making a plan to achieve a goal. This concept is everywhere in life. This was my first encounter with GAME planning. I have to say that the explanations and material made more sense and applicable to me then my previous experiences. I can see where the students can use GAME planning in school and out of school.
I feel that in my first attempt to use this method it was successful. The goals I made for myself allow for some kind of success and confidence. I also know that because this was new to me that no matter what happened with my goals I was growing as a professional. The actions that I took to help achieve these goals were basic and something that I can build on in the future. It allowed me to have a starting point when trying to achieve a goal. I have yet to attempt anything new in my class to date but when I do I will have confidence in monitoring and evaluating the success or failure of the changes that I will make. I know how a base of knowledge that will allow me to adapt the work being done so that the students and myself are learning.
The most important thing that I learned was to be patient. Any assignment that is created can have its challenging moments. To create an assignment with different methods not traditionally used in your classroom takes time, it is not something that is created in the three minutes between classes. The most important part of my new found patients is to reevaluate when it is needed. The more frustrated that I become with the actions that I am taking, or the students who are working on the assignment that was created, can lead to more problems. I need to step away and evaluate what is being done and how I can change the GAME plan before I just give up.
The immediate impact that was made from what I have learned from this course is that integration of technology can be done in any class. The integration does not have to be a whole sale change. The change can be as simple as having the students respond on a blog or creating a video to answer a question. This can lead into projects in the class that involve using more than one type or technology.
In the beginning it was more how can I integrate technology in the class, and not feeling very confident in the ability to adapt lesson. Now it is how much should I use for this assignment and which method will allow the students the best understanding of the material.

Using GAME Plan with Students

Now that I have been introduced to the GAME plan process and have been working on my own throughout the past weeks, I now have a better understanding of the process that I can share with my students. The knowledge I have gained will allow me to continue to work on my own GAME plan and help my students create their own. Throughout the process of creating my own GAME plan there has been a mix of emotions. My experience with my own plan will allow me to help the students as they will face the same situations and feeling that I have.

With this being said, as I introduce the students to NETS-S and the process of the GAME plan I will take it slow at the beginning making sure that the students are confident in the process. We will evaluate the different technology standards and pick the ones we will work on carefully. Once the decision and goals are made we will discuss the different actions that we will take to obtain their goals. The students and I will then create ways to monitor and self evaluate how they are doing and done to reach their goals.

Since this is all new to my students the process is something that I will work with them as we get started. As the students start to achieve their goals I will start to take more of a backseat role and be more of a monitor. I will assess how the students are doing to achieve their goals and have an evaluation that we will go over together so the students will know what they have to work on to be more successful.

What are your thought on the process I am choosing to take in introducing the students to NETS-S and the GAME plan process? This is something new to them, just like it was to me, and I have found if I make them dive right in and not take some time to separate the topic into smaller parts the student become frustrated and I do not get their best effort.

Revising the GAME Plan

The biggest thing that I have learned through this is something that I already knew but was reminded of it as I sit and ponder how I am going to make these changes and what am I going to do. The thing that I remembered is that most people learn to crawl before they walk. I am still satisfied with my Game Plan but instead of thinking I need to make mass changes right know; instead make small changes that will compile into a large change.

At this time I am not going to set new learning goals for myself. I am going to continue to work on the ones that I started with. Once I feel satisfied that I have archived these goals I will revamp my Game Plan and work on achieving a new goal. I know that I am not ready to extend my goals or make changes because I am not personal satisfied with my effort, outcome, and confidence of my present goals.

As I stated before I am going to take a more settle approach this time. I am going to look to make minor changes so that I can work toward major changes. Some of the minor changes are to find ways to integrate one tool and then built off the use of that tool to integrate another.

I know that in previous week that others and I felt overwhelmed with what to do. I think that this new approach will be better. What are your thoughts on this new approach to the Game Plan?

Rick Orr