Final Reflection on Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology

As this course draws to a close, I have learned many new things that I can immediately begin implementing. Through the use of our learning community group, I have learned about many new links for resources and ideas for differentiating in my classroom. I have saved all of these links in a folder in my favorites so that I can go back to them. Many of the links have some great ideas which I have already started using. I have began implementing some of the ideas that I found within the links relating to using technology. I have a laptop for every student in my classroom, which allows me to plan using them on a regular basis. We work on many projects and collaborate within the classroom. The links provided me with new ideas of projects and how to better incorporate differentiation. The next project that we are going to begin is going to be differentiated by process and product. For example, the students are going to have an assigned part in the project, therefore they are going to be working on different assignments, then they will come together to create a "whole" project with all of their parts.

Final GAME Plan Post

The GAME Plan proved to be very beneficial to me as I began preparing for the school year. I focused my GAME Plan on finding websites that had WebQuests or another form of lesson supplement. I also focused on coming up with a plagiarism policy for my 5th graders. The game plan has really helped improve my planning for the beginning of the school year. I feel that the WebQuests I found are going to be great as we begin our curriculum. The plagiarism policy I have developed is going to help my students learn how to correctly use sources in their writing and work.

The GAME Plan has also shown me how to implement a positive goal setting plan for my students. It has shown me the steps I should take to help prepare my students for setting and achieving their goals.

Using the GAME Plan Process with Students

The GAME Plan could be used to help students self-monitor their own learning. Students could set goals for things they want to accomplish throughout the school year. We could set both short term and long term goals. Then, the students could write an action plan to describe how they are going to achieve their goals. Students would then begin implementing their action plan, and when the time arises, I could model for the students how to revise their GAME Plan as needed. I think that the GAME Plan would be very beneficial in the classroom.

Revising My GAME Plan

As I have been working on my GAME Plan, I have come rather far in finding the information that I need for plagiarism and lessons that will be beneficial for my students. I am not yet ready to be revising my GAME Plan because I have not been able to actively use my findings. I want time to be able to use the lessons that I found for my students, and I want time to begin implementing my new plagiarism policy. Once I begin implementing these ideas, I will know what steps need to be taken to revise my plan so that it will work better.

Evaluation of GAME Plan

The actions I have taken in my GAME plan have been very beneficial. The research I have done and questions I have asked of colleagues has helped me to begin writing my plagiarism policy. I feel that what I have found is going to be beneficial to both my students and myself in the upcoming school year. I have also found many WebQuests and other lessons that will correlate with our curriculum and help the students to further their understanding.

One of the things that I have learned is that it is important to teach my 5th graders about plagiarism from the very beginning of the school year. Over the past couple of years, I have waited until about half-way through the school year to teach plagiarism, but I have found that it will be more beneficial to teach it at the very beginning of the year. It will help the students then throughout the year.

I am still trying to balance the lessons I find. There are so many great lessons and WebQuests that correlate with our curriculum, but I need to balance them and spread them out among each of the content areas so their is a mix of learning going on.

So far, my plan is still fitting my current needs, so I not need to adjust anything yet.

Monitoring my GAME Plan

I have been able to find valuable information in order to help my carry out my GAME plan. The Internet has helped provide me with information about plagiarism, and I have found websites that have helped me with finding WebQuests and other projects for the students. I have found many great things for science/health and have now found some for social studies. I am currently working on finding projects for math and communication arts. As of now, I do not need to modify my GAME plan, as I have not run into any issues or concerns yet. I have not had any new questions arise, other than just wanting ideas about how to teach plagiarism. I am still finding this to be my hardest part.

Carrying out my GAME Plan

In order to carry out my action plan, I am going to need a few resources. First, I am going to need a computer with internet access. I will need to be able to research online different ideas that other people have created. I am also going to be talking to my colleagues to find ideas that they have developed. Using both the internet and my colleagues, I should be able to find enough information to develop real-world activities and develop a plagiarism policy.

I have already found a few WebQuests that use real-world ideas and problem solving. The WebQuests I have found so far all relate to science/health. I still need to research some ideas for math, social studies, and communication arts. I have also started researching how to teach plagiarism to elementary students, specifically fifth graders. This will help me to get started on my plagiarism policy.