Going
through the GAME plan structure, I found myself reflecting on several things.
The largest realization I found was that we now exist in a world where
isolation of thought it very rare. Between technology and the internet, our
very thoughts and ideas can be shared beyond the walls of our classroom. We can
find those around us who agree or disagree with our thoughts, like or dislike
their statements, and summarize it all down to 140 characters. As an educator,
we must realize then that our classroom should reflect these changes in
thought. Rather than isolate student thoughts on a page where we as the teacher
are the only ones who read it, we should be looking at ways for them to express
thought on a larger scale. As a result of my initial work on my GAME plan, I
have opened the door to exploring further how I can allow for assessment in new
and innovative ways. For example, embracing Google Docs as a platform to allow
for students to communicate and collaborate on their writings. I also have
started to realize how important it is to use this technology to communicate
what it going on in our classroom to the outside world, including the rest of
the school, the parents, and the community. When exploring this side of
technology, I realized how easy this GAME plan would be to utilize with my
students. The structure and self-direction in exploring the ideas deeper
allowed me to move and adjust where I saw necessary in my plan. The same could
be said for my students when they begin researching. Rather than place
restrictions on their work, it would be beneficial to explore the GAME plan as
a way for allowing them more choice on our research projects.
One
immediate change to my instructional practice I will be taking away from my
GAME plan will be including one assessment per unit that is technologically
based. While overhauling my entire structure would not make sense, I can commit
to trying to include either a formative or a summative assessment in each unit.
The most logical way to use this will be through the writing process and for
group discussions. The reason being that these both allow for the participatory
nature of what technology brings and also allows for students to communicate
with a larger audience. I also will begin using Twitter and Facebook as a way
to communicate and create community with my students. By allowing them to
communicate with each other and myself
as their teacher, I open the door for extending my classroom beyond it’s four
walls. The biggest thing I have taken away from this course is that rather than
use technology just to use technology, it can be utilized to strengthen the
classroom and lessons by allowing our classroom to be bettered by it.
