The Hunger GAME: Time to Change Strategy?

To review my GAME plan, my goal is to incorporate one new activity and one new assessment for my students as they continue mastering the standards for The Hunger Games unit we are covering.  These goals will allow me to develop  my implementation of ISTE indicators that will customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources; and 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 (ISTE, 2008). My activity is to give students the task of finding a song that relates to one of the characters from the novel and creating a video, slideshow, or podcast that shows the lyrics and what they have to do with characterization.  My assessment is to challenge students to create a series of three six second video clips that highlight the novel’s significant plot events, use of symbolism, and characterization.

Life just got in the way.  Instead of being in the classroom where we could use laptops to finalize their group projects where they are creating an arena, I just lost a day due to testing that was added unexpectedly so we can collect data on my students’ reading levels.  Another factor that has them excited (read distracted) is the upcoming release this Friday of Catching Fire.  They are so anxious to see what happens next that they are making predictions instead of focusing on our content.  I am curious to see how the new movie sparks their interest and catches fire (pun intended) in the classroom when it comes to creating their vines. Add into that the upcoming Thanksgiving break, and six seconds of attention is about all I may get. 

The good news:  they are excited about their arenas and are impressed with using Google Docs.  Some of them are working on shared documents for the first time.  If I can model some Vines that I make this weekend, I think that I can reignite their interest in new technologies and get them to complete the projects if not before the break, then during their time off.

I will stick with my plan and use my resources.  My colleagues can help me make the Vine samples since we all dressed up as Hunger Games characters for Halloween (we had an amazing Effie, Madge, and Katniss – I was Greasy Sae).  Right now I am monitoring my progress and will make adjustments in the deadlines as needed to accommodate student motivation and practicality;  I will later evaluate my choice of technologies I have included (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010).  Their focus in on their current project and not the new challenges I have posed, so I am curious to see how this all plays out.  Back to the field!  Half time is over and it is time for the fourth quarter press!  Whatever the outcome, students are talking about the book, and that is a “win.”

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

       use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for

            teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Week 2 of the GAME Plan

       Last week I set my goal: create one project and one assessment that allow students to use a different technology than we have used in class to reflect diverse learning styles, allow for collaboration, and utilize students’ creativity as they plan their project and self-assess upon completion. Moving into action, I spoke with my English 10 team and we came up with some ideas for fun projects and assessments that will coincide with the standards we are covering for our Hunger Games unit. We kept in mind our essential questions, looked at the ways students could learn it, and came up with ideas as to how students could access the information differently (Howard, 2004).
       Right now, my students are working collaboratively to create the next arena where the Games could be held. They are focusing on setting, elements that would make the games strategic, symbolism used within the arena like logos, icons, and signals, the influence of another time period, and the characters that would be competing. In between reading the book, watching supporting video clips, and working as a team on this project, students are also completing some supplemental activities. One was to look at song lyrics and compare Katy Perry’s “Roar” and Alicia Keys “Girl on Fire” to our protagonist, Katniss Everdeen.
      The activity and challenge I have given my students is to find another song that relates to any character from the novel and create either a podcast, a video, or a slideshow that uses the music, the lyrics, and an explanation of the connections made between the song and a character. For the assessment activity, I have created a project using the idea of the social media platform Vine: students are to create a series of three Vine videos, or six second videos using their smart phones, that highlight a significant event of the novel, a symbol from the novel, and a character’s personality and relationship to others from the novel.
      Materials I will need are laptops and student smart phones or other video recording devices. The students may upload videos to our class wiki and may present their projects using our Smart Board. I still need to create the specific assignment sheets and rubrics for the activity and assessment, and making my own exemplar to model ideas will be very helpful for students (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010, p. 101). I will continue to collaborate with my team to complete that step. Incorporating universal design for learning (UDL), I will hopefully find ways of sharing information that students are not able to use in a more traditional classroom or assignment and provide flexibility in terms of options for materials, methods, and assessments (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010, p. 117).
        As I continue to monitor my progress, I will finalize the assignment sheet and the rubric this weekend. I have already reserved laptops for the week before Thanksgiving break, and will monitor student progress to decide if they will be needed after break as well. Anticipating student absences, I think this may be necessary. I am anxious to see what the students think about their new “test”!

 References 

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A     standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Howard, K. L. (2004). Universal design for learning: Meeting the needs of all students. Learning and 
     Leading with Technology, 31(5), 26–29.

An Interesting Perspective on Common Core and High Stakes Testing

The GAME Plan for The Hunger Games

     The International Society for Technology Education’s (ISTE) standards for teachers are clearly stated, timely, flexible, and reflective of solid 21st century teaching practices.  The National Education Standards for Teacher (NETS-T) include the following:

1.      Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity

2.      Design and Develop Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments

3.      Model Digital Age Work and Learning

4.      Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility

5.      Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Of these standards (ISTE, 2008), I feel the areas I could develop further would be standards 1 and 2.

            Connecting to and engaging students is one of the most important jobs I do after knowing my content well.  A brilliant mind may contain extensive content information, but if that instructor cannot communicate it in a relevant way to students, it does not hold the same value.  There are two indicators that I would like to focus on in regard to standard 2: customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources; and 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. To complement that standard, I would also like to focus on standard 1 and one of its indicators: promote student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conceptual understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes.

            To develop my proficiency in these standards, I will create a GAME plan that allows me to set goals, take action, monitor my progress, and evaluate and extend my actions (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010).  My goal is to create one project and one assessment that allow students to use a different technology than we have used in class to reflect diverse learning styles, allow for collaboration, and utilize students’ creativity as they plan their project and self-assess upon completion.  I will take action by looking at my standards and essential questions for my Hunger Games unit and create an activity that encompasses my goal. I will ask my English 10 team for ideas and collaborate with them.  I will monitor my progress by completing the assignments creation by Thanksgiving break, providing a rubric for my students, and sharing the final assignments with my team.  I will evaluate my actions by observing the students’ participation in the activity and assessment and have them evaluate the activity and assessment as part of their final reflections and self-assessments.

            By following a GAME plan, I hope to make the lights go on for my Hunger Games participants;  I want them to be able to use their choice of technology at school, creatively express the content knowledge they have, learn the way they want to, and connect students to their world (Prensky, 2008, p. 45).  By strengthening my proficiencies in the ISTE standards, not only do I become a better teacher, buy my students become better 21st century learners.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom

       use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards for

            teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-teachers

Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.