Reflection has been integrated into the daily routines of myself and my students. Learning logs have become a staple in my classroom, deemed effective tools by Shellard and Protheroe (2004) for progress monitoring, assessment, communication, and reflection (pp. 47-48).
The GAME Plan, recommended by Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) is a strategy teachers can use to “set goals, take action, monitor learning, and evaluate progress” (p. 7). My students will benefit as much from creating their own GAME plans as I have. While I hope that my students will one day be able to align their goals with the Colorado content standards, that is not realistic. But that does not mean my students are not ready to set goals. On the contrary, my students can and will benefit tremendously from setting goals and being held responsible for monitoring their own progress.
Spring semester I will welcome an entirely new set of students into my classroom, at which time I will introduce learning logs and GAME plans. Each student will immediately set three goals for him or herself. Naturally, these goals will look different for everybody. One young man may set a goal to show up to class three mornings each week, while a young lady may decide that she will get straight As third marking period. Regardless of the goal, students will be responsible for choosing measurable actions with which to achieve chosen goal, while regularly monitoring and evaluating their own experiences and efforts of the process. These reflections will serve as reliable reminders to students that they do have goals which are attainable; while keeping them engaged and excited about the prospect of reaching these goals.
Student GAME plans ... that's what's on my mind!
References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (Laureate Education custom edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Shellard, E. & Protheroe, N. (2004). Writing across the curriculum: to increase student learning in middle and high school. Alexandria, VA: Educational Research Service.
Posts
Tarebare,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you have an excellent plan as to how to best integrate the idea of setting a GAME plan. I like the terminology you use when you mentioned, “learning logs”. This is a great way for your students to really get a strong visual and understanding as to how they are doing towards meeting the three goals they set at the beginning of the course.
Kevin Richstad
Tara,
ReplyDeleteI think it is a great idea to start fresh with your students in the spring, in terms of setting goals and establishing GAME plans. I am glad that you will have your students set "measurable" goals. Many of my students have difficulty setting goals that are both measurable and attainable. They have very high expectations for themselves, unfortunately they struggle when it comes to setting a goal that is attainable. This is something that I work on often in my class and slowly but surely, they are getting better at this task. I think that your ideas will keep your students interested and will allow them to focus on achieving the goals and completing their GAME plan.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteYou sound like you are on the right track with your students using the GAME plan. I never thought about it but it's a really great idea for our students to use the GAME plan format. I think that just having the students to create their own goals will be a handful but necessary for them achieve higher learning skills. I think that you should definitely work with your students so that they are creating goals that sre attainable. Sometimes students are not realistic with things and do not understand the process of making goals. I once asked my students to create classroom rules and the rules they came up with were more strict than the ones I created. I don't think that the students put thought into making the rules just like they may not put much thought into creating attainable goals as you mentioned in your blog. Good thoughts!
I think you have a great start to structured, goal-setting for your students. You mentioned wanting your students to be able to align their goals (someday) with your state standards. If your state is like mine that has become a moving target.
ReplyDeleteYou show good acceptance of your students in meeting them where they are with the realistic, attainable goals they set. Your students are very lucky to have you