Stepping up my GAME

It has been two weeks since I established my GAME plan. In my original plan, I decided to devote one hour at least biweekly researching and noting digital tools I can use to upgrade some of my lessons. Each month, I plan on using one of the tools I studied to revamp an entire lesson. Therefore, if all goes according to my GAME plan, I will have twelve new, technology-rich lessons to share with my students.

This week, I continued my exploration of Geogebra, a popular mathematics application. I commented in one of the discussion posts that I was particularly excited with the way this technology handled vectors; so impressed in fact, that I have decided to add this technology to my AP calculus lesson on vectors for next year. It can certainly help my students to see the actual vectors (position, velocity, and acceleration) after we have used calculus to derive them.

In response to the questions this week, I had no problem finding information and resources concerning Geogebra. Although I downloaded the user’s manual, I have found the online tutorials that exist all over the internet much easier to follow.

The only modification I will make to my GAME plan is to intensify my research. Rather than explore a new technology biweekly, I will attempt to do this at least once a week. I believe my original plan on modifying one lesson a month, however, remains a realistic goal; therefore, I will not be altering my strategy for this portion of my GAME plan.

As I explore Geogebra, new questions abound. For instance, how could I use it in my geometry classes? There are of course a number of features in the application that are applicable toward geometry as well. Also, what is another technology to explore after I have researched the limits of Geogebra? For this question, I reach out to my colleagues since this is where I heard of Geogebra in the first place.

 

 

Monitoring my A(ctions)

In this week’s post, I will be discussing the progress I have made thus far in the implementation of my GAME plan. This week, I used a conference hour, as per GAME plan, to explore a potentially useful digital tool known as Geogebra. I got the idea to explore this technology from our most recent teacher inservice although I had previously heard good reviews. I downloaded the app on my Ipad and played around with some of the features for around an hour. Having just completed a lesson on vector calculus, I was dismayed to find that I could have really used this app to display all of the important vectors (position, velocity, and acceleration) precisely during my lesson! Following my exploration, I immediately logged Geogebra into my spreadsheet of potential technologies and noted its potential use during this lesson next year. There were many other features of this app that had promise as well, so I will likely spend some additional time with this tool.

To continue with my game plan, I will read the tutorial on Geogebra built into the application in order to learn how to use it properly. I may also seek out some online tutorials since I often learn better from them than from reading alone. Unfortunately, while a colleague introduced this tool to me, she herself had not really done much more than toy around with it either. Perhaps some of my fellow math teachers reading this blog have used it before and could offer some tips?

My GAME Plan

 

In this assignment, I chose to focus on the following two ISTE (2008) indicators from which to further develop my confidence and proficiency:

  • 2(a) Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity.
  • 5(c) Evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning. (ISTE, 2008)

To become proficient in these two indicators, my long-term goals will be to do regular research on new digital tools, and then use them to enhance or even replace some of my existing lessons. To put this plan into action, I will follow a strict timeline:

  • At least biweekly, I will spend one conference period or take on hour after school to research new digital tools that could potentially be used to create new learning experiences for my students.
  • At least monthly, I will either incorporate the technology into a previous lesson, or design a completely new lesson with the new technology in mind as well as the relevant content standard.

To monitor my plan of action, I will keep Microsoft Excel to keep digital log of my research in which I note the new technology, give a brief synopsis of it, note the url where I found it, and write a summary of its potential use in a lesson.

At the end of each month of research, I will either restructure a lesson utilizing one my newly found digital tools, or design a new learning activity where students could use it to teach themselves the content. Lesson adjustments will be recorded in my plan book and then performed either this year or next. Once the lesson is executed, I will take the advice of Cennamo, Ertmer, and Ross (2009) and keep a digital reflective journal using PlanBook so that I can assess the overall effectiveness of the lesson and technology that was utilized. I will also be sure to design a formative assessment for each new lesson so that I can monitor the progress of my students and be sure they are in fact learning.

To evaluate and extend my own learning, I will use the reflections from my plan book to make further adjustments to each lesson so that they become better each time they are executed. I will also be mindful of new digital tools that may crop up and possibly be better alternatives than the one currently in use. Finally, I will seek out any professional development which may further extend my proficiency of these two NSTE indicators (i.e. those that focus on digital tools and accompanying learning environments).

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/standards/nets-for-teachers