Final Blog Post

In this blog post I will reflect on what I have learned and how it will affect my ability to effectively and appropriately integrate technology in the content area I teach. The GAME plan that I developed and followed throughout the course can be viewed in more detail by reading the previous blog postings below. The physical education classroom website that was created has increased collaboration and communication with teachers, students, parents, and other community members. Other teachers have taken ideas from the physical education classroom website and used these ideas on their own website such as the year in review section to let people know what has been learned so far in the current school year. Parents and students like to view the online physical activity calendar and participate in the activities as a family as a fun way to exercise and keep their bodies healthy. This website is helping people be physically active and healthy. The easy communication with parents via email has been a success as well. For example, parents and teachers are able to have convenient communication with one another without having to figure out a time to meet in person or worry about students losing notes that are being sent to and from home.

One immediate adjustment that I will make to my instructional practice regarding technology integration in physical education class as a result of my learning from this course is an online program called Xtranormal. This website allows users to type in whatever text that they want and the online program will quickly and easily create an animation video to present the text that was typed in by the user. This may allow teachers to present information in a way that will engage students and increase their understanding of content. Another piece of technology that will be integrated into the classroom is when a student earns a “star ticket” while in my classroom, I will email the student’s family to let them know how proud I am for their effort in physical education class. Having positive contact with families can promote a positive learning environment and can also help parent-teacher interactions in the future if a concern about the student arises thus making it easier for teachers and parents to work together to help the student.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

Teachers can examine the National Education Standards for Students (NETS-T) and use the GAME plan process with their students to help them develop proficiency in these standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S. Students will go through the same steps as the teachers go through. Students will set goals based off one or two standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S. They will then take action by stating what they will do to achieve these goals. Next they will monitor their progress of their learning and receive feedback from their peers and teachers. Finally, they will evaluate and extend their learning through reflection.

For example, students may select standard 1a: apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. Students could create a short one to five minute digital story integrating technology by using pictures, video, music, and narration to share their problem-based learning projects with other students. They could develop a GAME plan using these ideas to help them accomplish their goals. This is one way teachers can use the GAME plan process with students to help them develop proficiency in the technology standards and indicators outlined in the NETS-S.

Revising My GAME Plan

I have learned different ideas that can be applied to my instructional practice since learning about the NETS-T. For example, a physical education classroom website was created to collaborate and communicate relevant information with students, parents, staff, and community members. This idea to create a classroom website was based off of the two standards from the ISTE’s Educational Technology Standards for Teachers that were used in the GAME plan: 3b – Collaborating with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation; 3c – Communicating relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats.

The goals that I am still working toward include finding a blog or wiki that can be used in conjunction with the physical education website to allow people to collaborate with one another. Once a blog or wiki has been found, students will need to learn how to use this technology appropriately.

I am not ready to set new learning goals until I have developed my classroom website further. However, based on the NETS-T, the new learning goal that I may set for myself in the future may be related to standard 1b – Engage students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources. For example, students could learn how to use heart rate monitors to assess their fitness levels to help them create plans to lead a healthy life.

The learning approaches that will be used next time to improve my learning will be to continue to research ways to incorporate a blog or wiki into the physical education website. Further communication is needed with the instructional technology department in the school district to determine which options are available. If possible, a practice session would be used to test out this new technology to determine if it would be beneficial to students before full implementation would begin.

Evaluating My Game Plan Progress

The focus of this week’s blog post is to evaluate my personal GAME plan (Cennamo, Ross,& Ertmer, 2009). This evaluation is about the progress toward meeting the goals established for learning about technology and technology resources. The four questions below are used to reflect upon my learning.

How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?
The two standards from the ISTE’s Educational Technology Standards for Teachers that were used to set goals for the GAME plan were: 3b – Collaborating with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation; 3c – Communicating relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats. The goal was to create and maintain a website to communicate relevant information and ideas about physical education, health, and fitness effectively to students, parents, and peers as well as being able to collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using this website.

The actions taken have been very effective in meeting this goal. In order to achieve this goal, the physical education website is consistent in look and feel and it has the appropriate information on it without feeling too cluttered (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2010). The website template that is being used is the same template that is being used across the entire school district. Relevant information about national, state, and district standards for physical education is available on the website as well as links to other websites about health and fitness. A calendar of upcoming events for physical education class is available along with a month by month review of what has already been taught. A physical activity calendar is available for students, parents, staff, and community members so they can participate in as many challenges as they can and the calendar can then be turned into the teacher to receive feedback about their progress. Recently, some students participated in a 1.2 mile marathon because they were able to use the information found on the physical education website. A link is also given so people can contact me via email if they have any questions or comments so we are able to collaborate easily. I have received positive feedback about the physical education website from many parents, such as thanking me for letting them know about the kid’s marathon so they can promote health and fitness at home.

What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
Using this physical education website to enhance student learning and engagement has given me the confidence to continue to integrate technology into the classroom. It is important to have the knowledge, confidence, beliefs, and supportive culture to effectively integrate technology into the classroom (Laureate Education, Inc, 2009). Also, many questions that students, parents, and other staff members may have about physical education class can easily be answered by the website which allows better communication and understanding between these people and the teacher. Having this better understanding and support allows me to continue to promote health and fitness not just to my students, but to my community and the rest of the world as well. Students can get information from the website and use that information to enhance their learning in the classroom. I can post information on the website and apply it to my instructional practice by integrating the information from the website into the classroom. For example, students can review what skills are needed for an upcoming skill assessment about dribbling a basketball.


What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?
I still want to learn how to integrate other pieces of technology into the classroom. For example, using heart rate monitors to assess students’ effort or attaching a blog or wiki to the website. New questions arise when planning to integrate these new ideas into the classroom. How much does a set of 30 heart rate monitors cost? Are they easy enough for students to use? Would all of my planning time be taken up monitoring the blog and wiki?

How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?
Using surveys and questionnaires will allow me to adjust my plan as needed. I may also want to adjust my plan to fit my current needs by selecting a different standard to set goals for. “Engaging students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using digital tools and resources” is a standard worth looking into more. Asking students what activities they can do to help keep them healthy would be an authentic problem since obesity and the health risks associated with obesity is continuing to rise in the United States of America.


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

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.