Evaluating Your GAME Plan Progress

My learning this week has been on problem-based learning.  Although I understand what problem-based learning is and what it encompasses, I am having trouble thinking of ways to integrate this learning strategy into my elementary art and high school Art 1 curriculum.  Problem-based learning involves students researching and analyzing various solutions to a real-world problem.  Here are a few of my thoughts regarding the implementation of PBL in my art classroom:
1. Culture and how it affects the arts
2. Is everything that people create considered art? What essentially is considered "art"?
3.  How does art that is put on public display affect the viewers?
4. Should religious art be put on display in public government buildings?

How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?
My actions were successful in helping me meet my goals.  By researching visual art learning experiences for my students that were more self-directed, I have discovered more ways to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessment.  By talking with colleagues, emailing other art teachers, and attending professional development opportunities presented, I am meeting my goal of engaging in professional growth and leadership.

What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
I have learned to involve my students in more self-directed, collaborative learning activities, where they have a choice for how they would like to present their information to the class.  Also, using technology to support student learning enhances their learning and is necessary in the 21st century in which we live.  So, I try my best to research ways I can use technology resources in the classroom to support content learning.

What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?

I have to practice using the technologies that I have available to me in the classroom, so that I feel comfortable using and teaching with them.  I still have to learn to be patient and to take it one step at a time when using new technologies in the classroom.  Also, being flexible is important.  There really isn't any new questions that have arisen, other than how do I use problem-based learning with the content that I teach?

How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?
There is not much adjusting to my GAME plan that needs to be done.  I will continue researching and analyzing ways to design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments and engaging in professional growth and leadership.

I want to share a few statements that I read in our text, Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use.  The statements include, "Creativity is the process of sensing problems or gaps in information, forming ideas or hypotheses, testing and modifying these hypotheses, and communicating the results" and "The use of technology in visual-arts classrooms inspires students to evaluate gaps in information, form ideas, and communicate the results" (p.337).  This sounds very scientific to me.   But, in thinking about the statements, I realize the truth of these two statements.  In the process of being creative, students must look at information and evaluate it, think about it, form their own ideas and thoughts, and display their thoughts and ideas through a presentation or their own artwork.  What do you think about the meaning of these statements?