Reflect on the GAME plan you developed and followed throughout the course. Summarize any new learning that resulted from following your GAME plan, and explain what impact your new learning will have on your instructional practice. Describe how you might revise your plan based on your progress. Also, share your thoughts and ideas about how you might modify and use the GAME plan process with your students
Over this course, I was able to create a GAME plan that discussed my goal as far as implementing technology in the classroom and how I will learn to use the technology and understand its features. My GAME plan revolved around understanding how to use the document camera in my classroom and understanding the different kinds of tools that it entails. I would then like to have my students attempt to use the camera also in projects throughout the school year.
Since I was able to make this game plan, I had contacted the tech coordinator for our district and asked if the "Tech Tuesdays" classes might include some classes on the use of the document camera. He had thought this was a great idea and also said that he would offer some classes the week prior to school beginning, which is great! I have a document camera in my classroom, and I have been going in to the classroom a few times a week for a half hour or so to just play with the technology, as was given as a piece of advice from earlier course videos. I was not sure how well this would work at first, but it has worked very well. I have not figured out all things having to do with the camera, but I did figure out how to make it so that the document does not always look blurry and far away. Tha'ts a step in the right direction!
I think that within my GAME plan, I was very fixed on focusing on one type of technology at a time to learn it well. I am starting to feel like I can do this, but also add other types of technology that might not be such an undertaking. For instance, with having worked with blogs and wikis for the last several weeks, I am feeling very comfortable with these types of technologies and think that I could expand my GAME plan in incorporating these technologies in to the classroom while extending my learning on the document camera. Blogs and wikis are types of technology that I can use at the beginning of the year with students. I might not end up using the document camera as often; I will have to wait and see how that aspect goes. I see now that just because I make a GAME plan does not mean that it cannot be revised or added to as I feel like my learning is progressing. I can see using this GAME plan process with my students can help them to organize thier own learning and keep track of their goals within that lesson, which is the goal, pushing students more towards a self-directed learning process.
Describe any immediate adjustments you will make to your instructional practice regarding technology integration in your content area(s) as a result of your learning from this course. How might you integrate technology as well as problem-based learning, social networking/online collaboration, and digital storytelling into your instruction?
There are certainly specific things that I can do as the school year starts to make my transition in to technology more immediate. First of all, I will use my classroom website in order to post a blog discussion for the beginning of the year. Since this site is also used by parents and other community members, I will post links that anyone might use to understand what thier students are accomplishing in the classroom, for instance, the link to a classroom wiki that we will begin. I will also share my own GAME plan on the site letting everyone know my efforts with the document camera and ask for any assistance that others might have. I am beginning to realize that the more inside track parents and the community have in to my classroom, the more support that I might receive within the use of technology. Parents may come to understand that helping thier students understand how to use these technology elements is very important to thier learning.
