GAME plan for addressing the National Education Standards for Teachers.

After looking at the National Education Standards for Teachers I found two specific performance indicators that I would like to improve upon in my classroom. The indicators I would like to improve upon are:
· Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching.
· Model collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students, colleagues, and others in face-to-face and virtual environments.
The reason I picked these two indicators is because I feel like I do them a little, but that it would be very beneficial to my students if I did them consistently throughout the year. So, I have devised a GAME plan according to the DVD we watched to make sure that I strive to accomplish these two indicators in my classroom.

Goal: My goal is to make sure that I accomplish these standards once per chapter in my math classes. By forcing myself to accomplish the indicators every two to three weeks, I will know that I am consistently striving to improve my use of them in my classroom. Then, by using them that often the students will become more comfortable learning with the technology, and I will become more comfortable using the technology to assess and collaborate.

Action: To achieve my goal, I will have to do some revamping of my current way of both teaching and assessing. The first indicator will be hard for me to personally accomplish because I am so use to using tests and quizzes aligned only to the content standards to assess students. So, I will be creating at least one assignment, quiz, or test that aligns to the technology standards. This will mean going through my “old” material and finding a way to integrate the technology standards into them. It will also mean having more technology on hand in the classroom so that students can use it to accomplish these assessments. To accomplish the second indicator on a weekly basis I would like to create a wiki for the students to be able to use. I went into this year telling myself that I would create a wiki and blog for my students to use, but I did not actually commit to it and do it. So, I actually be creating the wiki to use, and then I will be posting a problem of the week for students to work on. This will allow for more collaboration outside of the classroom through virtual means. It will also allow all students to express themselves in different creative ways. So, I will get the chance to collaborate with all of my students, and not just the ones that express themselves in class.

Monitor Progress: I will monitor my progress with a checklist of what needs to be done each week to accomplish my actions and goals. By using the checklist I will be able to see if I am revamping my “old” routine to accomplish my goals. If I find that I am not doing what is on the checklist then I know that I am just relying on what I use to do instead of pursuing my goals of using the new indicators. The checklist will have things such as, created a wiki, posted a question of the week, interacted with students on the wiki, created a new assessment, and aligned an old assessment with the technology standards. These things will show me that I am really trying to accomplish the goals that I set.

Evaluate: As I am going through each week, I will look back and evaluate both the checklist and student achievement to see if I am accomplishing my goals. If my checklist is not done then I have not done my best to become better with the indicators that I have chosen. If my checklist is all checked off then I know I am doing everything in my power to complete the goals that I have set. However, my work toward accomplishing my goals means nothing if the students are not achieving in the classroom. So, I will also be comparing my students’ achievements with their own previous records on other topics to see if there is improvement, and I will be comparing them to the records of previous year’s students to see if there has been improvement in my students on that topic. If the students are improving then I know what I am doing is helping the students and I will continue to work in the same way, but if the students are not improving or declining then I need to reassess my actions to accomplish the goals so that I am benefiting my students.

I am really looking forward to working on these goals and doing what I can to improve student achievement in my classroom. If anyone has any ideas of how I can achieve my goals or improve upon my actions please leave a comment and thank you all in advance.

Paul Severino