Reflections.....

Over the course of the past seven weeks I have learned the importance of putting together a GAME plan and how it can help me achieve the goals I have set for myself. I have enjoyed learning and going through the process of the GAME plan that I have had my students create their own GAME plans for the remainder of the school year. The GAME plan allowed me and will allow my students to take responsibility and ownership over the decisions they make whether they be good or bad. I was able to remain reflective about my progress in regards to my GAME plan and that is my hope for my students as well. I have yet to fully meet my GAME plan but I believe that it is one that will take time and will require continued reflection and patience on my behalf. As I have learned new ways to incorporate technology I have tried my best to try out new things with my students. They only way to feel comfortable with technology is to dive right in and take risks. The wondeful thing about this program is that we have opportunities to create these awesome unit plans that incorporate many new strategies and techniques. I must say that every unit plan I have created for each course I have put into action with my own students. It's amazing to see how waht I learn through these courses impact my role as an eductaor in the classroom. As I move forward and the end of the year comes closer I plan continuing my GAME plan over the summer so that I will be able to enter the new school year with bigger and better ideas than what I had the previous year. The more I play around with technology the more my students will be engaged in learning. Engaging students in learning history can be a very tricky thing to do but with the blogs, wikis and other internet related tools I have learned it will not be an impossible task to complete. As a member of the curriculum writing team for social studies I have been able to take what I have learned through this course and others and create awesome unit plans that incorporate technology to help students create authentic pieces of work. I look forward to continue bringing what I learn to my students and my colleagues.

The GAME Plan and my STUDENTS!!!!

I think that the whole purpose of my GAME Plan is to become a more informed and more effective educator in the classroom. How can I properly prepare my students for the 21st century if I lack the skills necessary to teach them? By learning new ways to incorporate and use technology in the classroom I will be able to better prepare my students as well as engage them more in their learning. Teaching 21st century learners can be tricky especially since they live in a society that relies heavily on technology on a day to day basis. The days of just relying on your blackboard, well decorated classroom and maybe if your lucky an over head projector just won't cut it these days. Students want lights, camera, action when they walk into your room. They want to be entertained and engaged while learning at the same time. Tough act to follow, right? Not as hard when equipped with up to date technology and the knowledge to use it creatively in the classroom. As I continue on my journey I hope to learn, learn, and learn about using different resources that will engage, entertain and educate my little angels! While this school year has been trial and error with the new things I have learned at Walden next year will build a more solid foundation to stand upon.

Where to go from here?

In regards to my GAME Plan I think I am going to start focusing on how to collaborate with my colleagues as well as include parents into what's going on in the classroom. Since we are nearing the end of the year I plan on putting this all into action for the new school year. This gives me time to really think about how I want to go about this new part of my plan. It would be create to collaborate with colleagues online outside of school. I currently do this with a small group pf my colleagues using google docs to write the new curriculum using UBD or UDL as its known through this course. Other than that I really want to engage parents into what is going on in my classroom and with my students. I was thinking of creating a classroom blog page or webpage where I can display work and post comments or topic discussions. It's hard to develop relationships with parents because they work and are very busy and don't always have the time to go to school. Involving them through technology might be more flexible and less stressful for them and myself. Not sure which way I plan on going but I'm definitely going somewhere with this for teh coming school year! Any ideas or suggestions would be great!