Reflection

I think that the GAME plan I developed for this course is one that will help me to improve my teaching. I have looked over the NETS for students and teachers and I now see how these two connect with one another. It is important for teachers to be familiar with these standards so that they can model and assist their students in accomplishing them. The two standards I chose to focus on: 2.c. customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources and 4.d. develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures usingdigital-age communication and collaboration tools, are a good place to start. While I already customize lessons and assignments for my diverse learners, there is always more I can do. I think that modeling cultural understanding and global awareness is a very important skill to prepare students for the possibility that they may have to work with people from different cultures and countries in the future. I did not get the chance to carry out my entire GAME plan since school ended before I was able to. I plan to continue with this plan next school year, and hopefully I can continue to learn new things to use in my classroom over the summer.

I think the main things I will take away from this class are how to use the GAME plan with students and using digital storytelling. I think that by starting to work on the GAME plan with my 2nd graders, it will help them be able to use this method with any goal they may have in the future. I know that this is something that they can build on and it will be beneficial to them. Digital storytelling is something that I am VERY excited to use in my classroom next year. I was never aware of all the different ways that digital storytelling can be used in the classroom. I think that this is something that the students will not only enjoy, but it is something that they will be able to share with their parents at home. They will be able to use these stories to share information with their classmates and teach things to each other. I have found that at times, the students do a better job of explaining a topic to each other than I can. I think that creating these digital stories for different topics will be a way to provide help to my struggling students.

An immediate adjustment I will make to my instructional practice will be to incorporate digital storytelling. I plan to create some of my own over my summer break in order to be able to share them with my students when school starts. I think that by introducing them early on in the year, my students will be able to create them on their own without much assistance after Christmas break. Maybe even before. I am excited about all the different uses for digital storytelling and I can't wait to share the different ideas I have learned with my 2nd grade team.

References:

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.

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) (2008). TheISTE National Educational Technology Standards (NETS-T) andPErformance Indicatiors for TEachers. retrieved fromhttp://www.iste.o-Trg/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_T_Standards_Final.pdf