Reflecting on My GAME Plan and the Use of Instructional Technology in My Classroom

The GAME Plan strategy to which we were introduced in the first week of this course (EDUC 6713, Walden University) has been very beneficial to me. By nature, I am an organizer and planner; I function better with structure and I believe my students do as well. What I appreciate about the GAME Plan strategy is its simplicity and effectiveness. The strategy is not complicated, but it has built into it the important steps of monitoring and evaluating goals which are often ignored in goal setting.

Having to write a GAME Plan for this course encouraged me to follow through with what could have been great yet unexecuted ideas. As a result, I have: 1) researched free online graphing tools to use with my algebra students; 2) completed a two-day training session on how to use the Promethean whiteboard; 3) started developing Promethean flipcharts to use with my lessons next year; and 4) communicated with teachers in our district about developing a district-wide standard for student citation of resources. I am so impressed with the GAME Plan strategy that I plan to make posters illustrating the strategy. I will hang them in my math classroom and in my computer lab next year so that students may refer to them as they work through projects following their own GAME Plans for selected projects.

I have already begun to make adjustments to my instructional practices using technology. In the past, the concept of problem-based learning (PBL) has been a difficult one for me to implement in the math classroom. This course has challenged me to think creatively and as a result, I now have one unit fully planned for my algebra students which incorporates PBL, online collaboration with local professionals, and digital storytelling. The unit addresses a real-world problem specific to my 9th grade students who are becoming licensed drivers and will discover a lack of parking space on our campus as they drive their own vehicles to school next year. Using technology, they will learn and apply content-based math lessons while they attempt to find a solution to our inadequate campus parking. Their final projects, in digital story format, will be presented to our school administration and board members. A full description of the unit and its lessons can be viewed here.

I have thought several times during this course about how much I am learning and about how excited I am to implement these instructional technology tools in my classroom in the fall. I also look forward to sharing what I have learned with my colleagues, as many of them are not familiar with the power of the technology available to them for use in their classrooms. This course has been exceptional and worth every minute of the time I have dedicated to completing its assignments.