When I was monitoring my progress throughout my GAME plan, I was confidant that I was doing well and that I was going to have a fairly easy time achieving my goals. However, after I evaluated my progress, I realized the need to slightly revise my GAME plan by establishing an additional goal that will help me in organizing and pacing the time I spend learning resources. I find that it is necessary for me to limit how frequently I learn a new resource. The problem I am encountering is that I am learning a little about a few resources, rather than focusing on mastering one. As a result, I have been unable to apply any of these new resources in my instructional practice.
As I mentioned last week, the original goals I established for myself will be goals that I will continue to strive towards throughout my entire teaching career. It is important for me to continuously learn my students’ learning needs, while implementing meaningful resources that will reach diverse learners. I believe that the learning goals I have set for myself are challenging and I think it is necessary to master these goals before I go ahead and focus on setting newer goals. Focusing on too many goals at once may cause me to lose tract of my original GAME plan, something I am trying very hard not to do. One way I can extend my learning will be to increase my exposure to tutorials and how-to-tips pertaining to the resource. Sometimes small suggestions and tricks make a huge difference when learning something for the first time.
Overall, I believe that this experience has caused me to become a better self-directed life-long learner. I have used trial-and error methods of learning in the past, but as I found through this process, I need more than trial and error if I ever want technology to be an effective learning tool.
Jaclyn,
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of the saying a mile wide and inch deep. Focusing on one or two technologies at a time and becoming proficient in them is a much better approach to take than trying to tackle many tools at once and only learning very little about them. I have found tutorials to be very helpful when learning a new technology also. I really like the frequently asked questions that many sites have. Using these resource can really support your effort in learning a new technology. The greatest resource is having someone to go to who has experience with the resource. Talking with other people about how they are using technology can be a great motivator for me. It sounds like you have made great progress.
Jenny
Jaclyn. I experienced the same lack of progress due to not taking the time to thoroughly learn one tool before trying to incorporate another. I "know" about quite a few technologies now and can discuss how they might be used, but am not really able to use them as effectively as I need to. I hope and think that there will be knowledge transfer from learning one technology to another. Cathy
ReplyDeleteJaclyn,
ReplyDeleteYou make an excellent point; In order to learn something well, you need to spend a considerable amount of time focusing on that topic/skill. I have learned about so many new technologies that can be integrated into the classroom, although I have not spent a lot of time investigating each one. Next school year, when my Master's program is complete, I will have time to focus on specific technology tools. I will find ways I can use those tools in my classroom to improve student learning. I will also continue to collaborate with others in order to achieve this goal.
Jennifer
I learned the same thing while going through our GAME plans and also as an online student in general--time and organization are crucial. These are two very important things that you need to be self-directed and I don't have either. I learned that I needed to set specific times to dedicate to certain things otherwise nothing gets done because I keep putting it off for something else. I also learned that I need to be more organized when I am trying to learn something new through self directed learning. I think you learned an important thing, taking on too much at once can end up with you not learning much at all. Many of us are eager to learn more about technology and try the tools out with our students and we end up biting off more then we can chew.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your continued learning.
You seem to have hit on a subject that is near and dear to many of us. We have had the fortunate experience of having many resources presented during our Walden classes. In an effort to introduce many at once, we have been deluged with information. The strongest organizers have waded through, many have felt overwhelmed. I believe we have all come to the wise decision to slow down, process what we know and choose to implement what will work in our classrooms one at a time.
ReplyDeleteBy the nature of what we started, we have demonstrated our commitment to being life long learners.