Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

Our students need to be able to use technology in their lives and will continue to need to be able to use it in the future. I'm not sure that there are many jobs out there that don't use technology in some way, shape or form. I think the more we introduce and use technology with our students the better chance they have at being more successful in the future with technology. Even using and charting something that seems simple, like pedometers, I believe gives them an advantage. Students need to know how to use technology not only in school but in their everyday lives.

Revising Your GAME Plan

Making sure that our students are learning what we are trying to teach them is the most important job we have as teachers. Our students learn in different ways, and we have to make sure that we do our best to reach each and ever one of them. I am still trying to find ways to get this done. Doing this while try to integrate technology at the same time makes this an even more difficult task. I know that my students love using technology and I believe that it helps them to learn more efficiently. I want to introduce as much technology into my class as possible. One thing I have learned in this process though, is to take my time and make sure that it is technology that is helping my students learn and not just technology for technology sake. I want to make sure that I try to keep extending the learning process of my students. I think that it is important that I get feedback from my students on what they like and don't like about the technology that I am trying to introduce into my class.

Evaluating My GAME Plan Progress

As I think more and more about my "goals" for my game plan, that this will be an on going process that is ever changing. I think that I will always be growing and changing what I am doing in my class. I think that this goes for all teachers that care about their students growth and development. The use of pedometers is a PE setting can help to motivate students and can also help students with there own goal setting when it comes to fitness. I also think that using pedometers is a great way to teach our students about respect and responsibility. They have to use them in the correct way so that they will be able to be used for a while. I think that I have some good ideas on how to use pedometers but by no means do I know everything or have every idea. This is where collaborating with other PE teachers comes into play. As teachers we steal ideas from one another all the time. If someone has something good, take it and use it. Again, I think that this is an ever-changing process. I am sure that it will be modified from year to year and even class to class. I think that this process is what makes good teachers.

Monitoring Your GAME Plan Progress

As I think about ways to use technology in an elementary PE setting I come up with more and more ideas. I think that as I orginally thought about this, I was getting too complecated. I don't think that it needs to be that complex. Even using pedometers for students to monitor effort levels is a great way of integrating technology into the gym. I don't know that I need to modify my action plan but I do think that I need to refine it. I need for my action plan to become more directed at the outcome that I want technology to have on my students in my classes. I've learned that students want to use technology. It is a great way to gain our students attention, and hold that attention. If I can use technology to gain my students interest I think that in the long run that it will help my studnets to learn more and become more interested in our content areas. This is an ever changing process, it is dynamic. It never really done, it keeps changing and evolving though the learning process.

Carrying Out Your Game Plan

There are many resources that will we will use to help carry out my game plan. I think that colleagues can help almost better than any other resource. They know what we go through as Physical Educators and they also have many great ideas. As an elementary PE teacher I don’t get a chance to see a lot of other PE teachers teach. I know that collaborating with other teachers can help me to become a better teacher. This week’s resource spoke a lot about how our students all learn in a different way. I think that it is important for us to have differentiated instruction. I also think that we need to provide our students with interventions and enrichments. I believe that I am taking steps toward becoming a more effective teacher.

Personal Game Plan

I think that it is important for us as teachers to instill the importance of technology in lives of our students. They need to know how to use technology and they also need to see us use technology. We cannot tell our students that technology is important and then now use it ourselves. One NETS-T goals that will help with that process is “Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.” This goal lends itself toward showing our students just how important technology is and can be to their future. Students will need to see me use technology in my daily life and also in class. This goal will also help me too collaborate with of teachers and educators. I think that it is important that I stay in communication with other educators, whether those educators teach in my same content area or not. Another NET goal I will strive for is “Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.” I think that it is important that if I teach my students technology that I also assess them with technology. There is a ton of great technologies out there to help me with those assessments. I also know that students learn in a variety of ways, which is why it is important for me to use a variety of technologies to teach them. Some of our students are kinesthetic learners while others are visual learners. I will continually look back at these NETS-T standards to monitor my progress with the goals I have set for myself.

Reflective Essay

In a reflective essay to post on your blog, respond to the following:

• Describe the most striking revelation you had about the teaching of new literacy skills to your students as a result of this course.

I think the thing that struck me the most, is actually knowing what it is to be computer literate. There is a ton of information for our students to know in order to know the "new literacy skills." They must be able to find reliable information on the web and be able to know the difference between a reliable site and one that is less than reliable. Students must also know how to navigate a website to find the information they are searching for. Students today must have a larger skill base from which to call upon.

• Describe how the knowledge and experience gained in this course will influence your teaching practices going forward.

There is a ton of useful information I learned in this course. Some of the things I will take and use in my class are; internet based projects, using reliable websites, and helping my students to become computer and internet literate. There is a wealth of information out there for our students to use, our students need to be able to get to that information.

• Identify at least one professional development goal you would like to pursue that builds upon your learning in this course and develops your own information literacy or technology skills. Describe the steps you will take to accomplish this goal.

I am lucky enough that our district offers many technology based classes. I plan on taking as many as possible to help me get a better understanding of how to use technology to improve my teaching. Our students are growing up in a world of technology and we as teachers need to keep up with it as well.