Monitoring Your Game Plan Progress

Since creating my GAME plan several weeks ago I am beginning to create a resource bank of authentic lessons connected to my math curriculum.   As I stated in last week’s blog I have realized that my initial goal was a bit to lofty and it is going to take more time to provide authentic resources for each of our curriculums lessons.  I am continuing to look for online resources that connect to my curriculum.  To aid in this process I have contacted our district’s curriculum director and he has put me in touch with other districts that are using the same math curriculum we are using.  One of the districts I have connected with, is further along in technology integration than our district and has already started this process of connecting the math curriculum to technology resources.  I am in the process of seeing how I can use the resources they have gathered to enhance my teaching. 

Although I am not implementing all of the ideas I am getting at this point I can see how the more I incorporate authentic learning activities the higher level learning that will occur.  Based on the lessons/activities I have implemented I am seeing how my students are beginning to make connections from what they are learning in math to how it connects to the real world.  I am struggling to find the balance between continuing to fully implement our curriculum as required by the district while still providing these experiences with my students. 

My students are definitely more engaged in the learning when they are involved in simulations as opposed to pencil/paper work.  Just recently I was teaching my students how to find perimeter and area of a basic rectangle and more complex shapes.  We spent some time doing worksheet type activities and I realized students were quickly becoming bored with this and had memorized the process but weren’t understanding what exactly determining the perimeter and area was telling them.  After meeting with my grade level partner we found several websites that helped students connect the process with why they would need to know perimeter and area.  A few of the websites we used were: http://tinyurl.com/e4jrh;  http://www.funbrain.com/poly/index.html;  http://www.mathplayground.com/area_perimeter.html

Reviewing My Game Plan

So,  perhaps I was feeling a bit ambitious when I initially wrote my GAME plan…or perhaps I am now feeling a bit overwhelmed with report cards, conferences, the holidays and well, the list goes on.  In my GAME plan I had a goal of rewriting or adapting one math lesson a week to “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems” and to “incorporate digital tools and resources”.   I am definitely feeling like that was a bit of a lofty goal to meet on my own. 

Part of my original plan was to meet weekly with my grade level partner to adapt/modify one of the lessons.  I now realize this isn’t going to be able to happen each week.  I have revised my goal so that it is more realistic for my teaching partner and myself.  We will work to revise several lessons of each unit in math we teach.  Instead of reinventing the wheel I have been doing some searching on the web for other teachers that have already started this process.  I have found several resources where teachers have adapted our curriculum’s lessons to be used with a SMARTboard.  One such resource I will be using is http://tinyurl.com/SMARTmathexpressions Another source I have come across is the National Library of Virtual Manipulatives.  This website is making it so that I can easily “incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity”.  To stay abreast of new ideas of how to incorporate technology into the classroom I have subscribed to the “Math Solutions” online newsletter featured by Marilyn Burns. 

At this point I haven’t progressed too far in reaching my goal.  I plan to recommit myself after I have finished report cards and the next five days of parent teacher conferences.  What’s important is that I recommit to my goal and recognize there will be times when I will not be able to make as much progress as I had originally planned.  

Developing My Personal GAME Plan

The two indicators of the ISTE NETS for Teachers that I would like to strengthen are Standard 1, Indicator B and Standard 2, Indicator A.  The first indicator that I would like to increase my confidence and proficiency in is my ability to “engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources”.  The second indicator I have chosen to create a GAME plan for is m ability to “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity”.   These are two areas have spent countless hours talking to colleagues about.  The problem is we have made little progress in the area of change.   

Goal: To increase my proficiency and confidence in these two areas I want to make sure at least one math lesson a week meets these two indicators.  If this year I adapt and change one lesson a week to meet these two indicators I will work next year to adapt the remainder of the lessons with the help and support of my colleagues. 

Action: In order to meet this goal I will work with my teacher partner during our weekly planning time.  We will use our math curriculum textbook and pick a lesson that could be adapted in order to give students a real world or authentic problem.  Much of our math curriculum’s lesson will easily fit this requirement.  Next, I will work to incorporate a digital tool to provide an alternate way to teach the concept.  Perhaps, students will view online advertisements to learn about percentages; view online weather resources to learn about the different types of graphs or how to determine mean, median and mode.  What ever digital tool I choose to use it will have a real world/authentic application. 

Monitor: As I begin to take action I will need to make sure this goal is manageable.  While adapting each lesson and providing students with a real world/authentic purpose I must still continue to teach/use the required district curriculum.   Once I spend more time on adapting lessons I might see how I can integrate other content areas.  For example, in math we are currently learning about the different types of graphs and mean, median, mode and range.  In science, we are learning about salmon.  Using online resources I can incorporate the two contents to ensure that both curricula goals are still being met. 

Evaluate and Extend: One way I will evaluate whether or not my goal is met is by observing student behavior and performance.  My hope is that the changes I make based to the lessons will increase student interest and participation.  I will be able to compare how students are motivated when I do a lesson that isn’t authentic and doesn’t allow creativity with a lesson that does.  In addition, I can seek comments from students.  Based on what I find, I will either work to modify and adapt more lessons or rethink my GAME plan. 

References:

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.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.a