Final Reflection

As I reflect on my GAME plan that I developed at the beginning of this course, I am reminded once again that I tend to jump feet first into projects that I plan.  The framework of the GAME strategy  (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer 2010) helped me to set goals, take actions toward learning, monitor progress and evaluate whether or not the goal was met.  Although my GAME plan involves quite a few steps and collaboration with other teachers, I have been able to take steps toward reaching my goal of creating a first grade collaborative online project with learners from different regions of the world.  There have been some obstacles that have kept us from staying on the initial timeline, but having the plan written out helps us to stay on track and keep our focus on the end goal.  

I plan to teach and use the GAME plan with my third grade students when they research important United States monuments and landmarks. Students will choose a state monument to research, gather images and then create a digital story. I will great a template with a place for students to record each of the four steps of their GAME plan.  I have also created a GAME plan poster to hang in my classroom as a reminder to students of the steps.  

As a result of my learning from this course, I have implemented the use of digital stories into multiple grade levels.  Although I had fifth grade students do digital stories last year, I was inspired by the many examples of using digital stories with students as young as kindergarten.  I also revised current plans which involved younger students creating Powerpoint presentations, to creating digital stories by recording student voices with USB microphones that were recently purchased for our school.  Students can then save the PPT presentations as Quicktime movies.  These can then be shared on our class website for parents and family members to view.

Dr. John Ross (Laureate, 2009) suggests that technology is a tool to differentiate instruction in order to meet the diverse needs of all learners. Through problem-based learning, online collaboration, digital storytelling and the use of iPod touches and iPads, students in my classes are able to be successful in their learning.  Although I may scaffold a lesson to help organize and support the student investigation or inquiry, students are engaged and motived when using technology as a tool.

This course has shown me that the same steps that are necessary to carry out effective planning and implementation of projects for adults are also essential to be explicitly teaching our students. 

References:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2010). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author

Bumps in the Road

Well, this week proved that sometimes "the plan" doesn't always go as smoothly as you'd like... It was just one of those weeks that the wheels fell off and the cart was still trying to roll.  It began with two days out of school at a conference - which we all know means twice the amount of work preparing to be out of the classroom.  I came back with plans of collaborating with the first grade teachers to continue on with our TREE project lesson planning - and two of them where home with sick children of their own.  I continued to plug forward, only to get that dreaded phone call from the school nurse at my son's school... 2 days home and finally a visit to the doctor to determine that my 12 year old has mono.  BAM! - there went my week and I'm already into the next week trying to catch up!

So onward I go - and perhaps a little behind the plan, the enthusiasm to connect our first graders with learners from different communities holds strong! The good news at this point is there is no turning back... with 25 six-year olds asking about the project there is no option to disappoint!  I have chosen to create a wiki - which for me can be frustrating when I can't get something to look how I envision it to be.  It's very much a work in progress, but my goal is to get it polished by the end of this week.  Here's to healthy children, lots of late nights to catch up and smiles of delight when we finally connect to some new friends!

My plan has been slightly modified and I have learned that patience and persistence are important when trying to complete a bigger project when "the rest of your life" goes on.

A new question that I have is more of a specific technical question - when creating a wiki page I can add a table.  I'm envisioning a page with several picture links - set up in rows and columns.  I was thinking that creating a table and inserting a small picture with the name of the school in each "box" would be a good way to have all the schools listed on one page - and then each would link to a separate page with that school's information, student work, pictures, etc.  As I add a table to the wiki - it allows me to determine the number of rows and columns, but the table appears teeny tiny.  Is there a way to set the cell size, or does it just modify as I insert my information to each cell?  I've seen this set up on other wiki pages, so I know it's possible somehow... just guessing that they used a table to align all the information.  Any tips are welcome - otherwise I'll do what I teach the students - play around until I figure it out!

Mrs. Bergman's First Graders with their class tree - September 2011