Week 7: GAME plan

Throughout the past several weeks, I have thought about and evaluated my own GAME plan for increasing my knowledge and understanding of the technology standards for teachers. These standards are important because they are necessary skills and knowledge for the future success of our students. Students will need these skills in order to be competitive in the future economy.
To that end, I have been working toward my GAME plan: setting goals, taking action, monitoring my work, and extending it. As I consider implementing these standards in my classroom for my students, I see the value in using the GAME plan with them as well.
There are many ways to incorporate this type of plan with students, and as teachers we should be continually setting goals with our students and working through the parts of the GAME plan. In particular, I want my students to be familiar with the technology goals and 21st century skills that will be necessary for their future success.
To begin, I would like to have my students work in groups to evaluate the standards. Over the course of the semester, I would like them to break down each standard into student-friendly language and discuss what they mean and what they look like in the real world. I would also like them to consider the advantages to having these types of skills.
As they work, I would like students to develop their own GAME plan to prioritize the standards and begin to work toward mastery of them. Throughout the semester, I will ask my students to set goals to incorporate these standards into their work in the classroom. As they set their goals, I will have them keep reflective journals to see what their goals are and how they are working toward them. Periodically, we will review their journals together in our conferences. I will ask them to list specific steps they need to take to work toward their goal, and they will reflect in their journals how they are progressing to their goal. Our conferences and their journals will allow them to monitor their progress. Each time we meet, I will ask how they are progressing and if their goals need changed or amended to reflect new skills or information. As they achieve their goals, I will ask them how they can extend the knowledge and skills they have gained.
At the end of the semester, I would like students to blog about their reflections and the achievements they have had due to following their GAME plan to learn and incorporate the standards into their classwork, as well as where they will go from here in regard to their GAME plans.