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.