Reflection week 7

Setting goals is something I do all the time. I am a list maker and I love crossing things off the list and feeling like I am making progress. The GAME plan is a good way to do that. The GAME plan that I made at the beginning of this course involved learning more about technology; using technology to inspire my students to be more creative; communicating with parents and students through technology; and becoming confident enough to become a person that my fellow teachers come to for help and advice in using technology. I feel that I have made progress in some of these areas, although there is much room for improvement.

In just the last few weeks, I added technology to our research unit. I learned how to use Voicethread and students did oral reports along with pictures about the biography they read and the research they did about that person. Just adding that little bit of technology increased student engagement in a big way. Two students who have almost no motivation and rarely do any work of any quantity or quality, jumped on the project and not only read the book, researched their person, but couldn’t wait to record their Voicethread

We also did some role playing about the characters in the novel we read and students from our media class filmed, edited and produced the videos. Students loved writing the original scripts (based on characterization in the novel) and performing for the film. Just this little move into more technology was so effective and very rewarding.

I did receive my Promethean board last week so I am moving into the point of using technology everyday. I think fellow teachers have seen my move to use technology and they are coming around asking about how to use Voicethread and observing how I use the Promethean board in class. I have a lot to learn about the board and am still learning from those teachers who already have one.

The one area I have not made as much progress on is using technology to communicate with parents. I don’t know if it is just the hectic time of year with holidays, exams, end of semester reports, and literacy training, I admit I have neglected the class blog. I want to plan better in that area when we return after the holidays.

The new year is a time when people make new goals and plans. I am going to use the GAME plan with my students in January to make goals for Reading and Writing Workshop. In conferencing, we always make individual student goals. GAME is a constructive way to do this.

One very nice thing about teaching is that we have these built-in times of renewal throughout the school year (fall break, winter break, spring break and SUMMER!). These are times that we can regroup, evaluate what is working and what is not, and begin again. I think I will continue with the goals I have set forth in my GAME plan. This course has really taught me to try new technology and that it is ok not to know all there is to know about the technology when I use it with my students. I think this course has helped me to look at using technology as a journey with a lot of little steps. As long as I am moving forward, I am moving toward my goal. I am using more technology; I am planning lessons and then saying, “How can I add technology to enhance the lesson and engage students?” This is progress.