Reflecting on my Learning

Marielle Staropoli 

December 14, 2014

Reflecting on my Learning

The GAME plan is a strategy that is helpful for self-directed learning (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). This strategy allows one to set a goal, outline specific actions that will aid in accomplishing that goal, monitor progress towards the goal, evaluate whether the goal has been achieved and determine ways in which learning can be extended (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Though this sounds like a complicated process, the GAME plan actually simplifies goal setting since it allows the learner to follow specific, clear protocol for both goal setting and follow-up.

When I began this course, I set two main goals for myself related to integrating technology into my teaching practices. I wanted to develop activities that would increase my students’ exposure to technology. More specifically, I wanted to implement technology in a way that would help students to access content. Also, I wanted to begin using technology in a manner that would support the diverse learners I teach, pushing both my struggling students and my advanced students to extend their thinking in order to experience rigor, accomplishment, and confidence.  

Thus far, I am satisfied with my progress. Not only did I provide my students with multiple, varied opportunities to use technology in a meaningful way, I also communicated my beliefs about the importance of integrating technology into instruction to my colleagues. This provided an opportunity for us to have conversations about how we could modify existing lessons to incorporate technology, and why it is important for us to dedicate class time to instruction that deals with preparing students to be informed, discerning, and ethical consumers of digital information. Because my grade level, content area team is currently writing curriculum, I was able to make sure that our future instructional practices, assessment methods, and learning goals incorporated the use of technology. This is extremely important as it means technology implementation will extend past the reaches of my classroom and its learners to affect all 8^th grade students, present and future.

In addition to prioritizing the integration of technology into my teaching practices, I was also able to learn about and increase my comfort in using new instructional methods. By updating this blog and also participating in a Wiki group, I became aware of how useful and easy these tools are to integrate into the classroom setting. I considered practical applications for their use, and I planned lessons that would ease my students into this new type of learning. My classmates pushed me to consider how to incorporate online discussions without being dependent on Edmodo, and I started to see that authentic learning opportunities abound when one allows technology to enter her practices. I learned about the flipped classroom model, and I thought about how I could more effectively teach argumentative writing to my students by teaching the lesson through short, instructional videos and allowing students to practice with my guidance in class (Bergann, 2014). I created a cohesive unit that not only centers on problem-based learning, it also requires my students to be creative thinkers. My own thinking has shifted in favor of tasks that require me to release control and allow learners to become self-directed inquirers.

Though these changes have been challenging and intimidating to me, I find comfort in knowing that by fostering creative thought and self-directed learning, I am helping my students to become generators of “original ideas” and practitioners of “metacognitive strategies” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p. 25). As I continue to read about how important it is for me to reflect on my own practices, the undeniable link between reflection and learning is finally sinking into my regular routine. As suggested by Ertmer and Simons (2006), I now have my students engage regularly in “reflective activities such as journaling, self-evaluation, and group debriefings” (p. 41). This is substantial progress for me; I have been able to do more than process and internalize information, I have been able to make real, lasting changes to the way that I teach.

Since I build opportunities for reflection into my practice, it would be relatively simple to also build in opportunities for students to create their own GAME plans. In any problem-based unit, students could begin by creating a GAME plan. This plan would help students to stay focused on their goals and to be honest with themselves about how their behaviors or attitudes towards learning impact their achievement of goals. At the start of any unit, students should be aware of the objectives. Using the GAME plan would encourage student ownership of learning, and it would encourage them to more actively pursue the information they need.

Active learners are able to search for, manipulate, and synthesize information in order to make interpretations (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). Using the GAME plan model will help my students to “function autonomously” and to display the characteristics of active learners (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009, p.30). This would work very well as my students participate in problem-based learning units that include lessons requiring them to be online collaborators and digital storytellers.

Ultimately, there are many changes in instructional practice that I have made and will continue to make as a result of my learning in this course. I have always been driven to use technology in my instruction, but I have lacked confidence in my execution. This course has forced me to swallow my fears and just jump into technological integration. The fear of failure has been replaced by a respect for reflection, and the understanding that it is okay to start small, and it is okay to make mistakes. What is not acceptable is allowing fear to halt progress.

References

Bergmann, J. (2014, November 4). Flipped Learning Toolkit: Overcoming Common Hurdles.

Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-learning-toolkit-common-hurdles-jon-bergmann.

 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.

 Ertmer, P., & Simons, K. (2006). Jumping the PBL implementation hurdle: Supporting     the efforts of K–12 teachers. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 1(1), 40–54. Retrieved from http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1005&context=ijpbl.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas: Promoting self-directed learning with technology. Baltimore, MD: Author.