Final Reflection

Throughout the course we have had the opportunity of learning about new types of technoloy and how this new technology can increase our teaching and assessment while creating problem based inquiry projects. While creating a GAME plan we had the opportunity of creating goals to use the new technology and educational strategies posed throught the course. The GAME plan is a great way to set goals and then take then necessary steps to accomplish them. Goal setting is important both as a teacher and as a student and so these types of plans are beneficial within the classroom.

One new type of technology that I have learned through the process of working through my GAME plan was digital storytelling. I have used Voice Thread before but became intrigued by the idea of digital storytelling and its many uses within the classroom. My GAME plan included learning about differnt types of technology and using it with my students so creating digital stories was one way that I could incorporate my GAME plan into my clasroom. I have decided to try and use a digital storytelling project with my students this spring during our life science unit on animals. By showing students the types of things that can be accomplished using technology, it is my hope that the students will become more excited and engaged which will further enhance their knowledge of the content.

As stated in previous posts one thing that I have learned about creating GAME plans is to not try and over do it all at once. When starting out, I wanted to try a new type of technology in my classroom every week. This quickly became stressful both for myself and my students. My students were not able to learn a new type of technology this quickly and I was not able to effectivley learn all the technology that quickly. I chose to readjust my GAME plan with the idea that quality should trump quantitiy. I want to really learn a new technology well and then make sure my students learn it well before moving on to something else. This causes much less stress to both myself and my students. It is important to set goals and when students see their teachers creating goals and sticking to them it provides a great model for the students.

Week Seven GAME Plan

Throughout the process of developing a GAME plan I have found that by setting small goals which are easily attainable and then working towards larger goals I find myself more motivated and am greeted with greater success. My students are the same way- when they are able to see the small steps leading up to a larger goal they are more motivated to keep with the goal than to give it up if they don't meet it immediately.

When asking my students to develop a GAME plan I think a better idea for my elementary students is to develop a class goal rather than individual ones. The class can then work together to develop the goal and the action steps needed to fulfill it. As the year progresses the students can begin to develop their own goals, but until they are taught this they need guidance and practice. The students can then help each other throughout the GAME plan process so that the students are working as a team toward the goal rather than as individuals.

One area in which I have concerns about creating a GAME plan to meet the NETS-S standards is the lack of time and technology we have in our school. We can develop a goal and even steps to achieve it, but having faulty technology and only a thirty minute per week time slot in the computer lab makes it difficult to achieve all that the NETS-S have outlined. The NETS-S standards are a great idea, but until time and technological equality find their way into the classroom it may be difficult to implement.

Week Six- GAME Plan

While developing and implementing my GAME plan I have once again realized the importance of creating a clear and concise goal and then developing steps to achieve it. It may sound obvious, but after being out of the classroom as a student for a while such structured practices fall by the wayside. Sticking with a plan is important to meet with success. By retraining myself to take a step by step approach and plan out each section of my plan I have been able to see results in a way that I haven't before. I can measure success at each step rather than becoming frustrated by having to wait to see the end result.

During the process of working through any type of plan it is important to evaluate frequently what is working and what is not throughout the process. I am continuing to work on gaining access to different types of technology that up to this point have been banned by my district. This is one area that may be a continual discussion as time goes on. I do not think that there will be easy closure on this one, but an on-going dialogue outlining the importance of such technology usage.

One new goal that I would like to work on is collaborating with parents and students via technology. This was one of my origional GAME plan goals and I have been so focused on designing and developing technology rich projects with my students that my second goal, collaboration using technology, has settled onto the back burner. Using technology to communicate with both parents and students is very important. Currently I communicate via email with parents when neded, but would like to set up a website or blog that parents can access to find information about upcoming events, homework, topics being learned in class, etc. This type of communication with parents is important and is a goal that I would like to achieve over th enext few months.

I think that I am ready to set new learning goals, as outlied above. Now that I have followed and created a GAME plan I think that in the future I will try to narrow down my goals so that they are more readily attainable. When too many goals are set at one time frustration sets in and the plan becomes unsuccessful.