Reflection

I had two goals for my GAME plan. One was to incorporate more technology and hands on use of technology in my classroom. The other goal was to find more information about technology sites and uses. Since making these goals, I actually have grown in both. Due to my schedule, I don’t have a lot of extra time to bring computers into my classroom, but I have tried. My next step is to plan them more into my lessons, so that students aren’t just listening and watching,, but are also doing. As for finding more sites and keeping up with newer technology information, I feel that I have learned a lot from this course. Many of my classmates, along with the professor have shared many wonderful sites. All I have to do now is make a list of them and categorize them as to how I can effectively use them. I do want to continue to find sites, blogs, or wikis that will keep me informed of new and wonderful sites that would be beneficial to my students. I think that my progress on these goals has been a little slow, but once I have some free time after my classes are over, and once report cards are taken care of, I will have that extra time to focus on my GAME plan. To use the GAME plan process with my students, I would simplify the steps some and walk them through the process, so that they can continue making goals as they move into third grade and beyond.

In the near future, I plan to incorporate social networking and digital storytelling into my classroom. I think that my students would truly benefit from social networking with students of their age from different areas of the state, country, and world. Also, I think that my students are going to enjoy telling stories digitally, and it will show me that they truly understand what we have learned and discussed. If I begin introducing PBL lessons now while they are in second grade, they will start to become prepared for the rest of their school career in working on their own learning and incorporating high levels of thinking to solve problems. Since I teach all content areas, I can incorporate PBL lessons, digital storytelling and social networking in almost all of the subjects that I teach.