Thus far, my GAME Plan has been progressing as fast as time and resources permit. Besides teaching 8th grade ELA, I must also teach a Computer Lab elective to 7th graders. In that class, I try to incorporate the goal of designing or adapting relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. That class has been basically my “guinea pigs” for the new technology that has been presented to me throughout the past couple of months in my course of study. We have been going over internet etiquette, blogging, wikis, and currently we are using Inspiration. The children have been able to work on various projects from other classes and apply the various tech learning tools to enhance their learning quality and assessment.
What I have learned thus far from my GAME Plan is to take things slow with implementing all the technology in class. A majority of my students have very little technology skills. Therefore, I had to learn to slow down, not assume their level of exposure and skill and start from the basics. Also, to treat computer class as I do a core subject class – allow much group/partner work and group students according to ability.
All in all, I feel that my GAME Plan is going well. My only anticipation is to implement more technology and the wait for my middle school students to receive their netbooks so that these tools are used school wide on a regular basis.
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteYou have started the mould the classroom with the latest technology tools in spite of having students will very little technology tools. Students only want the initiative to do something different and we as educators need to direct them. Grouping students according to their ability helps them to collaborate with each other.