My progress on my GAME plan has been good, but now that the school year is over, I will have some difficulty implementing everything in the next two months. My goals involve providing projects that allow students a greater level of freedom to express creativity. I believe that I am often too structured in my teaching approach and that what needs to change is my teaching style. This will only happen if I focus on the creative aspect of projects when planning. I can do this by reminding myself during the planning of the projects of this important aspect. I also plan on asking colleagues how they ensure that their students can express their creativity to get some ideas.
I will be attending the ISTE conference in Denver this June. I am quite certain I will be able to get some good ideas on creativity and innovation and how I can incorporate these into my lessons.
For my last project of the year, I purposely did not provide as much structure as I normally do when students were creating their digital yearbooks using PowerPoint. In the rubric, 30% of their grade for the project was based on creativity. I saw some very creative animations in PowerPoint – some that I had never seen before. So, I think when we allow students the freedom to try things, they can be very creative. I am encouraged by this.
Chris Lorenz
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
GAME plan - Resources and Information
In order to implement my game plan I will need to change the way I approach teaching my lessons. For example, I will need to allow students more opportunities to complete projects and assignments in a way in which they choose as long as they are still meeting the objectives of the lesson. I plan to reduce the amount of structure in projects and allow students more freedom to choose how to solve problems. In the past, I have been quick to help and make suggestions, but I believe to help students learn creative thinking and innovation, I must lose the temptation to always help them and instead, allow them to solve their own problems. Being flexible with students and allowing them a variety of opportunities is the key.
Additional information I need would be ideas on how to modify my lessons specifically to allow for more creativity. I can ask colleagues, or use information from the internet or other trainings and conferences. I am going to be attending the ISTE conference in Denver this June and will probably be able to get many ideas there.
So far, I have begun to implement my plan by having students figure various aspects of programs on their own, rather than me showing them every step. For example, using PowerPoint, I am letting students figure out on their own how to do various things, such as custom animations, and inserting music into the presentation. Since many times, students will need to learn different aspects of programs on their own, it will be beneficial to allow them to problem solve and figure things out independently.
Chris Lorenz
Additional information I need would be ideas on how to modify my lessons specifically to allow for more creativity. I can ask colleagues, or use information from the internet or other trainings and conferences. I am going to be attending the ISTE conference in Denver this June and will probably be able to get many ideas there.
So far, I have begun to implement my plan by having students figure various aspects of programs on their own, rather than me showing them every step. For example, using PowerPoint, I am letting students figure out on their own how to do various things, such as custom animations, and inserting music into the presentation. Since many times, students will need to learn different aspects of programs on their own, it will be beneficial to allow them to problem solve and figure things out independently.
Chris Lorenz
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Personal GAME Plan - Goals
Two NETS-T standards that I would like to focus on for my GAME plan would be Standard 1a and standard 2a. Both of these standards deal with creativity and innovation and I believe these are the two most critical aspects of education today.
Standard 1a states that teachers “promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness” (NETS for Teachers, 2008). As a teacher, I need to create lessons and projects that encourage students to be creative and innovative with the knowledge that they have and that they can access. Because knowledge and information is now readily available to anyone in the world, students must be able to actually DO something with it – something that hasn’t already been done. Teachers must design projects so they are not just cookie cutter, one size fits all, predictable outcome projects. In order to monitor my progress on this goal, I will continually consider the creative aspects of projects that I create for students to complete. If they do not have a creative aspect to them, I will modify them so students have more choices and opportunities to show creativity.
Standard 2a states that teachers “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity” (Nets for Teachers, 2008). This standard requires the teacher to utilize digital tools to help students with creativity. Utilizing various communication and multimedia technologies will allow me to provide students with the tools they will need to express their creativity. To monitor progress on this goal and evaluate my progress, I will list this NETS-T standard in my lesson plans when planning for projects so it becomes a necessary part of each lesson I teach.
I truly believe that creativity and innovation are the two most important aspects of teaching 21st century skills. If teachers can focus on ensuring that these two things are evident in each lesson and project, we will be providing two essential educational elements for our students.
Chris Lorenz
References:
Nets for Teachers (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved May 13, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm
Standard 1a states that teachers “promote, support, and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness” (NETS for Teachers, 2008). As a teacher, I need to create lessons and projects that encourage students to be creative and innovative with the knowledge that they have and that they can access. Because knowledge and information is now readily available to anyone in the world, students must be able to actually DO something with it – something that hasn’t already been done. Teachers must design projects so they are not just cookie cutter, one size fits all, predictable outcome projects. In order to monitor my progress on this goal, I will continually consider the creative aspects of projects that I create for students to complete. If they do not have a creative aspect to them, I will modify them so students have more choices and opportunities to show creativity.
Standard 2a states that teachers “design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity” (Nets for Teachers, 2008). This standard requires the teacher to utilize digital tools to help students with creativity. Utilizing various communication and multimedia technologies will allow me to provide students with the tools they will need to express their creativity. To monitor progress on this goal and evaluate my progress, I will list this NETS-T standard in my lesson plans when planning for projects so it becomes a necessary part of each lesson I teach.
I truly believe that creativity and innovation are the two most important aspects of teaching 21st century skills. If teachers can focus on ensuring that these two things are evident in each lesson and project, we will be providing two essential educational elements for our students.
Chris Lorenz
References:
Nets for Teachers (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved May 13, 2010 from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm
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