The GAME plan I
developed was based around using technology for differentiation and
creativity. My first goal I created was
to personalize learning activities to address the diverse needs of my heritage
speakers using digital tools and resources.
My second goal was to model creative and innovative thinking and
inventiveness through integrating new technology tools in my lessons. I worked on this GAME plan through work in
my classroom and through creating my technology-based unit plan.
The new learning
that I developed through working on my GAME plan was that technology can be
used to better meet the needs of my students and connect what I do in my
classroom to other content areas. Technology
can help teachers to customize learning, reach all learning styles and special
needs, promote project based learning which supports differentiation, and
support diversity (Laureate Education Inc., 2010). The feedback that I got from Walden colleagues
of all disciplines gave me a different spin, helped me to think outside the box
and think beyond my Spanish content to real-world technology applications.
The progress that I made on my plan was a good
start but I realize that professional development is a career long process,
especially when dealing with something that is constantly evolving such as
technology. I do not feel that there are any adjustments that I need to make to
my plan, I just need to continue with it.
I will be incorporating Voki software with my Spanish 1 students again
at the end of the semester. I also need
to locate more resources that promote creativity to use with my students. I have found through my GAME plan process
that these are the same type of resources that can support differentiation for
my heritage speaking students. Creativity
and differentiation are critical in my content and I plan to continue to keep
working on them until I have some tools fully integrated to support these
concepts.
Another concept
that I would like to reinforce with my students is the GAME plan process. I might use the GAME plan process with my
students to create a goal each year for their improvement in language
proficiency. This will be particularly
helpful with my Spanish level three students who take a standardized
achievement test online near the beginning of the year. This test, the Standards Based Measure of
Proficiency test “is an objective, real-world, web-based assessment used to
determine proficiency in multiple domains and languages at any point along the
learning.path” (Avant Assessment, 2012).
Based on these results students could write a proficiency goal then
follow the GAME plan steps as suggested by Cennamo, Ross and Ertmer (2009) to
create action steps, monitor their progress quarterly throught the year,
evaluate their achievement of the goal and extend their learning if they meet
their goal. The GAME plan process could
help students to write more focused goals and also to focus on what they need to
do to achieve them.
The immediate
adjustment I will make to technology integration in my content area is to
integrate more technology in projects to enhance the ability to share, assess
and connect with students worldwide. As our learning resources point out “Human
communication has always been interlinked with technology” (Cennamo, Ross and
Ertmer, 2009, p. 227). If we think
about the use of cell phones, the internet, and social media (to name a few
examples) technology dominates how we communicate with other people. In the classroom technology allows students
to use the language in an authentic context where they often feel safer to
share because they can rehearse what they have to say. Using technology in my classroom is critical
for students being able to use technology in the language in the real world.
This course
helped me to realize that I do use, real-world, authentic, problem-based
learning a great deal since most of the assessments in my class are performance
based, often requiring a project or problem.
I would like to use online collaboration through blogging more in my
class. My goal is to implement one blog
topic per quarter in my class to start.
I need to write good questions and create a good rubric to take action
on that goal. I will integrate digital
storytelling for the first time by having my students create one for the legend
or myth they create. I would also like
to use digital storytelling to have my students teach grammar concepts to other
students.
In sum, this
course made me realize how integrating technology is in my content area can
help students to be more connected, capable, and creative. It also showed me how I can use technology to
link to other content areas. As my
Walden studies begin to come to a close I realize that technology integration
and my professional development and leadership in this area is just
beginning. It will be a long process to
develop, change and complete but the beauty of technology is it is always
changing and improving, as are we as educators.
References
Avant Assessment (2012). STAMP.
Retrieved from http://www.avantassessment.com/stamp
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.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive
Producer). (2010a). [Webcast]. Meeting
student’s needs with technology part one. Baltimore: Laureate
Media.
