GAME end summary

Reflecting on the GAME plan provides many important insights into how I have been teaching over these last years.  The biggest area that stands out is that of Monitoring.  In the past, I don't feel that I took the time to really monitor how I was teaching and the students performing. I think I took a 'stand and deliver' strategy and then pondered the results after the test or assessment.  By using the GAME plan, I was forced to included monitoring in my daily lessons and this in-turn put me more in-tune with my student's learning.  For the Application 6 activity, which I implemented, this extra monitoring paid off because I had a few students that struggled with some of the fine points of Edmodo and PB Works.  Because I was continually thinking about monitoring, I was able to bring these students up-to-speed rather quickly. 

The other major component of this class that impacted me was the use of this blog. I had heard about other teachers that use blogs for self examination, but had never given it a try myself.  Here in the blog forum, I was forced to look deeper at myself and my methods to strategies. An important aspect of my blog was the ability to ask questions of myself and of others that may read the page.  During this entire course, my Walden classmates have offered important advise and suggestions.  Here in the blog, I thought the the suggestions that they made were more valuable than in the regular weekly discussions because their suggestions were made with more knowledge about what I was exactly doing and try to do.

What this means for me and my teaching is clear, I need to take more time to reflect and monitor my teaching and I also need to be willing to reach out to my fellow teachers and Walden classmates to ask questions and seek advice.  Traditionally, I have been kind of a go-it-alone teacher, so this is going to be a stretch for me to consult with others. 

For my immediate plans, I think that I need to try to use these strategies sooner rather than later: Wikis, Educational Networking, and iMovie / Digital Storytelling usage.  One of the issues that slowed down the work on the entire unit of Digital Storytelling was the learning curve.  This was new to both the students and myself.  If I can continue using these strategies, or get my teammates to try them,  or both, then the students will become better and more comfortable using them.  I know that the more I used these strategies myself, the easier they became.  Like most things in life, with continued practice, skill and confidence improve and it shows in the final product.