Thursday, September 27, 2012

Monitoring Progress with my GAME Plan



Two professional goals I have for implementing this GAME plan concern Iste.Nets standards. The first goal is Teacher 2. Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments whereby teachers design, develop and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessment incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and to develop the knowledge skills and attitudes identified in the NETS.S. (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE.t), 2008).The second goal is Student 3. Research and information fluency whereby students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate and use information (International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE.S), 2007). 
A third professional goal for this plan is to incorporate Common Core Writing Standard 8 into my 7th grade curriculum. This standard states: Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, using search terms effectively, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source; and quote or paraphrase the data and conclusions of others while avoiding plagiarism and following standard format for citation (Ohio Dept. Education., 2012.)
Progress this week, toward these goals in my GAME plan came about mainly because I modified my approach in teaching the CHOMP method to avoid plagiarism. I noticed students were as frustrated as I over the lack of success we were experiencing. After assessing the second attempt students made at creating an original work from Internet data, I realized many of them were copying way too much information, pasting it on a document, then making only feeble attempts at chomping out the little words.
I used these too zealous of attempts to discover and copy Internet data as examples of what not to do. Then I showed them a paper with one substantial paragraph of data. I had a student volunteer eliminate the three letter or less words from the paragraph. This demonstration set the stage for our lesson plan that day. Students were instructed to find one paragraph of data online that stated the birthday and birth place of the famous person they were researching.
After finding the information, they copied and pasted the selected data on a document. I told them not to copy more data than they were willing to read. I think they were under the misconception that the more they copied the better they had completed the assignment. I apologized to the students for not recognizing this misconception sooner, and could they please try to find online, just the birth place and birthday of the famous person. The students did this, mostly with ease, and they actually chomped out the little words in the text. I had the students save this CHOMP attempt and had them drop the assignment in my dropbox. 
The next day, after assessing their paragraphs,  I instructed them how to verify the data they selected with two more websites. This too had a better result because the students understood the instructions and knew they were only having to confirm two facts; the birth place and the birth date of their famous person. As Dr. Peggy Ertmer states, successful teachers need to plan their work and then work their plan (Laureate Education, Inc.., Producer., 2010).
What I learned from this lesson plan experience was that the goals and the action of my plan were clear to me, but not to my students. As I monitored the student learning I noticed the resistance to the task and lack of success in completing the task I described in the lesson plan. As I evaluated the work samples, I realized that the students were overwhelming themselves with data, and to chomp through everything they pasted from the Internet was going to be a monumental task. I learned I needed to rephrase and repeat with clarity my goals for the avoid plagiarism unit. I also learned that re-approaching the students was not a bad idea at all. By accepting the blame of not defining my goal clearly, I removed negativity associated with their first two attempts at chomping. 
New questions I have regarding my GAME plan is how often will I need to revise it and how can I make it universal in design? Do the majority of my students understand my directions? I believe monitoring my actions and evaluating my next set of results from the students documents will guide my future actions. 

References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Enriching content area learning with technology, part 1 [Webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for teachers (Nets.t). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

International Society for Technology in Education. (2007). National education standards for students (Nets.s). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries?PDFs/NETS_for_Students_2007_EN.sflb.ashx 

Ohio Department of Education., 2012., National Technology Standards., Department of Accountability., Retrieved on September 20, 2012 from http://www.ode.state.oh.us/


2 comments:

  1. The process that you described is one that many teachers have faced at one time or another. Taking the time to both monitor and evaluate what the students were doing, as well as your role in what they produced, allowed for the necessary modifications to be made and success to be felt by all. It is critical to any lesson that students understand what we are asking them to do. When we include technology that they may or may not understand in the process, support for them becomes essential for the learning to take place.

    One way to ensure that your directions are clear is to ask the student themselves. Exit cards at the end of the class can illuminate students’ understandings of what you are asking them to do. Another method would be having a select couple of student repeat the directions for the assignment. A third option would be a handout with the directions printed step-by-step. This could be very helpful for those technologically challenged students or second language learners.

    As for GAME plan revisions, I am finding out that it is a process that is continually in flux as I learn more about my students, their abilities, and how technology changes the nature of traditional paper and pen assignments.

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  2. Several people have mentioned the exit ticket or exit slip this week. I know your art teacher uses this almost every day. She is very good, some one I would like to observe. I do think I will use exit slips at the beginning of my next big unit. That way students can reveal their understanding of my expectations.

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