Wednesday 29 May 2013

MONITORING MY GAME PLAN



Once goals have been set and action taken towards the achievement of those goals it becomes essential to monitor my progress towards the achievement of those goals in order to determine if my plan is succeeding and if I need to make any adjustments (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009).  I have already begun accumulating resources towards the achievement of my goals, but I have come to the conclusion that timing is critical to the achievement of any goal or plan of action and pursuing some goals just cannot be rushed.

My research has led be to conclude that developing animations and implementing it as a classroom activity will take time and resources that are not readily available at my school.  Some of these resources can be sourced through other government departments, but bureaucratic red tape is a factor that must be considered when creating a time-line of implementation. Also At this point in the school year a lot of emphasis is placed on revision as examinations begin this week, therefore a time-consuming activity such as this is not a feasible option.  

As a direct result of this week’s course resources I also realize that I will also need to prepare appropriate scoring mechanisms to assess this particular project activity and ensure that the activity aligns with the objectives of the lesson and the teaching methods (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).  As such I will also have to add those two elements into my action plan.  I have examined previous lesson plans on the topic landslides and think that integrating this new tool would not be difficult though the smooth implementation is heavily dependent on my comfort with the technology.  Cennamo et al., (2009) also emphasized the importance of learning the technology before implementing it with students.  This will also take time, again as a result of focus on examinations at this point. 

Therefore, though I do not feel the need to adjust my goals my action plan must be adjusted to include scoring rubrics.  I also feel that more time will be needed towards the gathering of resources, learning the technology and then implementing it.

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. 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Program seven: Assessing Student Learning with Technology [Video Webcast]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hello Amanda,
The web site rubistar.com has a great app for easily creating rubrics for all sorts of projects and assignments. It allows you to select from ready-made options, modifiable to fit your specific criteria, or create your own from scratch. Then when it comes time to grade the rubrics, check out roobrix.com. I strongly disagreed with the way one of my undergrad professors graded rubrics, and the roobrix site completely validated my concern. There is even an app there that converts the rubric score to a percentile grade. I hope this helps you create and grade great rubrics with ease.

Stacy said...

Hi Amanda,

After reading the first paragraph of your blog entry, I applaud your attitude and patience. Sometimes I think it is so easy to quit after not seeing immediate results. However, you hit the nail on the head when you said that some goals just cannot be rushed.
The end of the year is a difficult time to try/implement new things, especially things that we, as teachers, are not completely comfortable with. Are you planning on developing this unit/lesson during the summer? What type of things will you be putting on the rubric? Will you be more concerned with the students’ knowledge of content of the students’ use of technology? Sometimes I struggled with that question in my classroom. At the high school level some of the things they are learning in classes like Algebra II seem so unimportant compared to having the skills necessary to use technology in order to help one be successful.