Application 4: Online Learning in K-12 Schools Podcast

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Using the GAME Plan with Students

Now that I am more versed in using the GAME Plan mentioned in our learning resources, I am ready to teach my students how to use this plan to reach their learning goals. According to the NETS standards for students they must possess certain skills in order to be proficient in technology use and to be digital-age learners. I will help my students set goals for themselves that are simple and attainable. They must know that setting goals are a task they will continue to do for the rest of their life. I will show them how to take action to reach their goals. They will seek out the resources and tools they need including their peers and adults. There is so much information available it is hard to imagine a person not finding what they need. I will teach my students how to monitor their progress. One way is to maintain a blog and enlist the help of peers. The advice and feedback they have to offer is invaluable. They must continually “take a step back” and observe what progress they have made and determine if adjustments need to be made. Evaluation is a critical element of the GAME Plan. This is the time when we decide if we have met our goal or not and what we can do to ensure we do. Students need to know that it is acceptable to not reach a goal with the first try. They must identify what went wrong and decide what course of action to take next in order to stay on track. Most important of all is that they must never get discouraged or give up.

4 comments:

  1. Jody,
    You point out that an important lesson incorporate in the GAME plan is the value of tenacity. Many of my students are easily frustrated when their first attempts do not yield total satisfaction. They are particularly impatient with complex problems and ambiguous or qualified answers.

    One of my students asked me last year if I would help her with a question for her Biology bridge project. I reminded her that I was an English teacher, but said I would do the best I could. The question was: “What environmental factors affect the grey squirrel population in your region?” So, I asked her, “What do squirrels eat?” This nearly brought her to tears. “That’s not the question!” she complained. I understood her frustration once her bridge coach, who was a Biology teacher, explained that she had failed for more than an hour (after school) to find an answer this question, and that he had given her nearly the same response when she turned to him in frustration. Her approach had been to type the whole question “What environmental factors affect the grey squirrel population in your region?” into a search engine. When this failed to yield a satisfyingly concise answer, she decided she could not solve the problem herself and turned to her teachers for the answer.

    Those of us who grew up in a time when information resources were scarcer may have a greater skill and tolerance for the tedious process of nibbling away at a research problem, which may be why the GAME plan seems rather intuitive. For our students, on the other hand, this may offer valuable guidance for those complex and “ill-defined” questions that aren’t answered in the first page of search results.
    -Dug

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  2. Response to Craig:

    If your students create how to videos for Screen Toaster I would love to see them. After your suggestion in my post to try Screen Toaster I went to a teacher training video and watched it. then went to the site to try it out. I am not sure how it works but if your 6th graders can manage to use them I’m sure my high school students can figure it out and teach me. How long did it take your student s to become comfortable with Screen Toaster? Did you give them very much instruction before you began? I think it would be very good to use for “how to” digital story telling if I could figure out “how to”.

    Nancy

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  3. Jody,
    I have been typing and copying all day and posted this with out proof reading. I don't know how to delete. Sorry to mess up your blog
    Nancy

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  4. Jody,

    You make a good a good point about one of the GAME plan’s key ingredient, never give up. By monitoring and evaluating, our methods and means can be adjusted so we meet our goals. Students want instant gratification and sometimes they forget that the journey can be as rewarding as the end.

    Nancy

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