Week 5 GAME Plan

* How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?

So far my actions have helped me become more motivated in pursuing my goals further. I have created plans for working on a collaborative lesson with another second grade class. I have researched online learning communities within my district so that I can better understand the technology that is provided for me.

* What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
I have found many great resources that I will be using this year with my planning, I will also be using KWL charts more frequently to help inspire questions for problem based learning.

* What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?
I still want to learn more ways to implement technology in the classroom I sometimes get stuck on the same uses that I am comfortable with and have already used. I would like to hear more from teacher chat groups and other in the education field to provide me with fresh ideas and uses.

I also have so many more questions about problem based learning such as how is there space in the classroom for students to be working on various different ideas or final projects at one time? Also how long does it take to get children familiar with the concept especially at a younger age? Finally how does timing work I am thinking of my huge variety of students and how I always have those that are so far behind sometimes due to behavior and others due to other disabilities. I of course modify their assignment but sometimes that doesn't help and they get even more discouraged when they see their peers finish and begin a different project.

* How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?
I think that this is not the time for me to be joining another committee I am in a lot already and just found out I am switching from my well known primary grade to an intermediate grade with the F-Cat. Even though time outside of school may be more limited I will be able to use more independent technology projects with the older students.


Ertmer, P.“Spotlight on Technology: Problem-Based Learning, Part 1”

Ertmer, P.“Spotlight on Technology: Problem-Based Learning, Part Two”



Cennamo, K., Ertmer, P., Ross, J.,(2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach.

Week 4 Game Plan

I recently registered on Cisco to receive newsletters on the new applications of technology in the classroom. This website offers webinars, forums to chat with other professionals and many other resources to provide ideas for implementing technology in the classroom. I visited some resources suggested to me by Ms. Clausen and found that Suzie Boss was holding a Project Based Learning Camp on www.edutopia.org, there were also many interesting video topics that I got lost in watching. I finally visited Polldaddy.com as suggested to me in a previous blog which I think will be a useful tool to use in gauging students interest or prior knowledge before or after a project. I could use it prior to a lesson as a formative assessment and after the project to assess the project I planned and what did or did not interest students. I could also use it at the end of unit as a forced response assessment. Finally I signed up on TES Connects to view lessons and ideas I really wanted to see the lesson for Murder Mystery Math how fun does that lesson sound. I really liked the screen cast and demonstration videos on free4teachers.com. This is very useful to me because I love implementing technology but at times get a little frustrated when I am not able to figure out how to work certain programs so the tutorials are very helpful. Looking through all of these websites are motivating me to search further for technology uses in the classroom.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Carrying out my GAME plan

TO get started on my game plan I will need to find individuals who are already involved with the technology committee so that I can find out the location, times, dates and my eligibility as a member. This is an important step, if I am on or attending the committee I will be exposed to new information and possible uses for the technology provided. I also need to seek out articles, blogs, and online lesson plans that deal with the integration of technology. Finally I need to find a colleague that is proficient in the use of the District Angel site that allows me to create online lessons, resources list and blogs that students can securely access anywhere without risk of individuals outside of the classroom accessing any information or postings. So far in a quest to meet my goals I have discussed working with a teacher on assisting with my exploration of the Angel site and the possible classroom uses. Also my nephew is going to be in second grade next year in Ohio while I teach second grade in Florida so I am going to attempt to plan an activity that the two classrooms can collaborate on.

Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Game Plan

After reading the National Education Standards for Teachers I feel that there are two areas that I need to develop. The two indicators for professional growth for me were “Model Digital Age Work and Learning” and “Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership” (NETS-T, 2008).

Goal: Work with peers and professionals in the educational community using technology. I will work with those who already use a wide range of technology and I will also collaborate with other teachers during instruction.

Participate in Professional Learning Communities were technology is the main focus to explore various creative implementations of technology.

Action to Achieve: I will find teachers who are actively engaged in collaborative projects and search other professional resources for ideas that involve collaborating with technology.

To improve my professional growth I will seek out others proficient in technology use and get involved with our school Technology Committee to stay current on new implementations of technology and participate in trainings.

Monitor: To monitor my practice of collaborative projects I will create a blog in which I will be able to reflect on the practices that I am learning and how the implementation is evolving.

To reflect on my professional development with technology, I will keep a journal to record a review of new implementations of technology that I am using and my thoughts or ideas of how to use new information.

Evaluate: I will video tape a collaborative project as it is being applied in the classroom. I will then watch the video with a peer and assess the positives and negatives of the process, the successful outcomes in student progress along with their involvement.

To evaluate my professional development I will return to the reflection journals to assess how I have maintained the use of previously favored technology tools.I will also gauge my mastery of using the current technology tools in the classroom.

National Education Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) (2008) retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/
2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf