My GAME Plan Journey

Authentic instruction focuses on the person being an active participant in his or her learning process. An old proverb says, “Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand.” (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009). This week I attended several seminars about STEM during the LEAD conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Part of my game plan is to educate myself on the STEM initiative in Race to the Top so that I can effectively and seamlessly integrate math, science and technology into my classroom instruction. I started fulfilling my GAME plan by attending this conference. My next goal is to involve myself in the process of integrating STEM projects. I will take the information back to my classroom to implement in the curriculum and to educate other teachers about the STEM initiative.

In order for me to continue working towards my GAME plan goals, I will need to continue to participate in more professional developments, webinars and educators networking sites to learn about this type of project-based curriculum. I need to obtain a schedule of future professional developments and webinars. In addition, I will need to research the STEM websites that were brought to my attention during the conference. Since I am a visual learner, I would like to find sites that have video clips of this type of learning unfolding in a classroom. I need to set aside some of my planning time to research these websites.

My plan is to journal my thoughts, ideas and successes as I complete each part of the GAME plan. Since the conference ended today, I have not had a chance to journal any thoughts yet but I plan on doing so in the next few days.

I am recognizing that I have a learning style just like my students. As I sat in some of the classes during the conference, I found my mind wandering because the presentation was lecture format with a power point of all text (no pictures). I am a visual learner and like to be engaged in the learning process. I found myself interested in the classes that engaged us with small group activities. I also like the idea that I am able to pick and choose the way in which I am gathering my knowledge about STEM. “Research suggests that collaborative learning can improve the effectiveness of most activities, and the same is true for technology-based activities” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I am choosing to use technology and collaborative work to fulfill my GAME plan. I need to remember that my students can manage their learning if I provide support and the opportunities that match their needs.

Jennifer P.

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.