Reflection

            As I look back over my GAME plan and the steps it took to complete the process I am surprised at how much of this process I already did without realizing it. Most teachers have some sort of goal that they set for themselves every single day, what the GAME plan allows you to do is vocalize that goal and envision steps to accomplish said goal. What I did learn from completing my GAME plan was how important the monitoring phase of the plan is (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b). Without the monitoring stage it is impossible to know how close to reaching your goal you are, and what steps you still need to take to get there.

            The impact this will have on my instruction is that I will utilize the GAME plan for my goals, as well as have my students write their own goals in this manner. Once I and my students verbalize our goals and create a plan to reach those goals they become more tangible, thus making it more likely that we will reach our goals. At the beginning of the next school year I plan on spend time in class to directly teach my students how to use the GAME plan strategy, and then implement it for every student based assignment that we complete throughout the year.

            Looking at my original plan, the only revision that I would make would be to complete this plan earlier in the year. My plan was to create an environment that was student-centered and technology driven. If I create this environment earlier in the school year then my students will have adequate practice with completing self- directed learning experiences, allowing me to create more in-depth learning experiences later in the year. Rather than focusing on the process I will be able to focus on the content.

            Another aspect that creating an environment that is more students centered and self - directed would be that I could implement more problem-based learning as well as more social learning. By spending the time early in the year instructing my students how to set and reach goals, I will be able to create assignments that focus on a problem for them to solve independently rather than being spoon fed the information (Laureate Education Inc., 2010a). In addition, by having my students create good goals I will be able to utilize nontraditional means of evaluating my students performance, such as utilizing social networking sites such as wikis and blogs (Laureate Education Inc., 2010c).

            By ensuring that my students can create valid achievable goals I will provide an environment where my students can successfully complete self-directed learning tasks. The more self- directed my students are the more likely they are to buy into the content and make deeper connections with the material. The basis of any self –directed learning though is creating goals and working to achieve them, so through the use of the GAME plan model I will be moving my class in the right direction.  

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010a). Program eight: Spotlight on technology: Problem based learning, part 1 [Video webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Ertmer, P. 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010b). Program one: Promoting self-directed learning with technology [Video webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Cennamo, K. 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010c). Program ten: Spotlight on technology: Social networking and online collaboration, part 1 [Video webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Davis, V.