Final Reflection 8/19/10

Developing my personal GAME Plan over the past 8 weeks has been very beneficial to me. I began back in July creating goals I thought I could accomplish that would really bump my classroom instruction to the next level. One of my original goals was to successfully integrate at least 3 relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity during each trimester of the 2010-2011 school year. The other was to be able to model and facilitate the effective use of the digital tools before and during the the 3 relevant learning experiences to be created for each trimester of the 2010-2011 school year.

Once my goals were established, I began looking into the content I was teaching this year. I started looking for past activities that I could easily incorporate into my lessons. Our course textbook help give ideas for possible lessons or resources that could be used to support my goals. My blog posts have helped give me feedback from my peers about possible tools I could use to accomplish my goals. I am currently ready to use and model tools like bubbl.us, most Google Applications, voicethreads, screencasts, animoto, panoramio, and many others. Our course text helped give actual search engines for student research. The Library of Congress site is one that I will use on a regular basis.

The new learning that resulted from following my GAME Plan would be in the area of better understanding the different uses of the many tools I have been introduced to through Walden University. I also took the time to better understand topics discussed in our course textbook like promoting creative thinking, problem based activities, digital story boards, and social networking activities. The textbook really helped give an explanation as to why these types of activities combined with technology are beneficial to today's learner.

The most immediate adjustment I will make to my instructional practice would be to start teaching my students about the tools we will be using in class this year. I am also hoping to work with the computer teacher to help get our students proficient at using some of these basic tools. I would like to be able to introduce activities that require my students to use these tools without me spending large amounts of time reteaching the actual tools. I also plan on taking baby steps. I will probably create mini activities for practice before I actually require students to complete a large assignment.

This year is going to be my trial year. I plan on making a number of adjustments to my past activities to incorporate more technology. My monitoring and evaluating steps of my plan will be to monitor my practices and mark down positives and negatives throughout the year. I will make the necessary adjustments to improve each activity. I also intend on evaluating my new activities at the end of the school year to better understand what worked and what did not work this year. I am really excited to begin my journey.