Reflection: EDUC 6713

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.