Final Four

My first GAME plan that I started on did not pan out like I had hoped. It actually become a little overwhelming and I ended up not working on it. I was going to have my students become involved with the Kony 2012 activity, but it ended up becoming too political and more of a passion of mine and not of my students. My second GAME plan I am still in the process of working on. That was to have my students debate using a blog. I have started the first part of this assignment which was the research aspect and this week we will begin the blogging part. My students are excited about blogging and so am I. I have decided to not use other teachers at this time but just the students in the classroom. There are still a few bugs that need to be worked out, but I think it will work out well. I ended up having to spend a little more time than I thought on the research and writing of the paragraphs, but that is just because I wanted it done right. I had my students submit their paragraphs to turnitin.com and that really helped them to see how to cite better and it helped me to see that many of them do not understand the concept of summarizing. This was a good lesson for me.

One of the biggest things that I learned when it comes to technology is that I need to sign up for computer lab time early, especially when it gets to the end of the year. I am really excited about all the great tools that I have learned about and cannot wait to learn more about them. This summer will be dedicated to learning more about different uses of technology, like Google Sketch and Google Docs. I am hoping that my GAME plan works out because I would really like to use blogging in my classroom more. I may just require it as part of my curriculum next year, one blog every two weeks or so. This will allow me to find computer lab time easier too. I will definitely start using technology more when it comes to teaching and assessing literature. I really like the digital storytelling assignment and want to use it more. It is funny that I have actually used some of the tools that we have discussed in this class without knowing it! It is nice to know that these do fit easily into curriculum.

JenZ