Mrs. G's G-A-M-E Plan

Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer have created a tremendous acronym to help guide self-directed learning (2009). The GAME plan is such a great way to break down the steps needed to ensure that learning is taking place. It has really caused me to stop and think about what I am doing and why I'm doing it. I am excited to get this plan started and see where it takes my own learning as well as the learning of my students!

The two ISTE Standards that I would like to focus on for my GAME Plan are Standard 1d, Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments, and Standard 3b, Collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation (ISTE, 2008). 
Both of these standards, I hope to strengthen through a project I have started with the high school English teacher. We have set up a collaborative partnership between my fifth graders and her senior writing students. 

Goals

1. To increase my collaboration time with a colleague outside of my PLC. 2. To engage in collaborative conversations with students (both seniors and fifth graders) and other teachers to facilitate increase proficiency in my students' writing skills. As a side note, I will strive to ensure that the comments I leave for students are constructive in nature. I will avoid statements such as "Nice job" or "Good Work". My feedback should be specific.

Actions

In order to achieve these goals, I have set up collaborative time with the senior English teacher to meet on a weekly basis to discuss the projects that are going on between our students. We have set up expectations that our students will respond to each other concerning the weekly project on at least two separate occasions. Because I have 19 students to review, I will respond to each partnership at least once throughout the week.

Monitor

I will keep a weekly log of my collaborative time with the senior English teacher to keep record of what has been discussed and to also keep expectations clear. This will be done on a google doc that will be shared between the both of us so we both have total access. I will also set up a feedback schedule to keep myself on track with collaborating with partnerships. I will make it a point to review 5 partnerships collaborations per day, with one day per week being left open if there was a group that needed to be checked in on again. 

Evaluate & Extend

I will evaluate my progress by reviewing my logs and feedback schedules to determine if I have been consistently working toward the goal. I will also seek out other professionals who have used collaborative partnerships with students, and glean from their experiences. I hope that by researching collaborative partnerships throughout this process, I will be able to bring some ideas to the table that could enrich the experiences for myself, my collaborative partner, and the students.  

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.


ISTE Standards - Teachers. (2008). Retrieved September 9, 2015, from https://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/20-14_ISTE_Standards-T_PDF.pdf