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.
I appreciate your honesty! I have also felt that sometimes the goals that I create are a bit more than I can handle at one point. I think the key is realizing what changes you need to make to create an achievable goal and eventually work towards the originally-intended goal. I think that the lesson you have learned is a great lesson to share with students. Cennamo (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009) has noted that the creative process is in constant circulation: you get ideas, take action, evaluate, and repeat. Your situation would certainly help students to realize that mistakes will be made, but reflecting on the plan of action to identify what changes need to be made to get on track is critical to future success and growth. Best of luck in moving forward on your GAME plan!
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Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.
(It's Rachel from class)
ReplyDeleteSometimes we come up with these great ideas, only to realize that we've bitten off much more than we thought we had in the first place. It's good that you realized it now before you got too far along.
The GAME plan is very flexible, and it seems like you've already put it to work. I think as long as you reflect each week and make any necessary changes that you'll be able to work toward your goal more than you think. It's only been a week.
I like the SMART resource you linked to. It's too bad I'm at home or I would see if any of the material matched with my curriculum. I know that the reading series does, and that some of the file names come from Waltke's Web. What math series is the math section for? The link says "mathexpressions", and I am wondering if that's the name of the math series. If so, it matches my series and I would like to explore it at school.
As a teacher, you have wonderful ideas about what you can do to help your students or teach them in a more engaging way, and sometimes, we realize we do not allow ourselves enough time to achieve our goals. Don't worry about your plans - your current plan is great!
ReplyDeleteI love virtual manipulatives! I don't think I could teach 2 and 3 digit subtraction without this website! I will have to try the web address that you suggested. Have you tried SMART exchange? They have a ton of lessons and activities for you to use with the SMART board and the best part is - it's free!
Good luck with your revised plan!
Rachel--The Math Expressions link does take you to some great resources for the Math Expressions curriculum. This link has resources to several grades.
ReplyDeleteEllen--I LOVE SMART Exchange and use if frequently. I actually started using it before I got my SMARTboard and just projected the lessons on my overhead screen. It's so great to learn about all the tech tools out there!
I will have to check out the Math Expressions link tomorrow when I'm at school. I'll have time to play with it since we're on break all this week. I am 4th grade, which I saw plenty of sources for in reading and math. I may see if any changes were made to the reading sources from what is available on Waltke's Web.
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