Final Blog Post

The GAME plan that I developed throughout this course motivated me to set goals in my classroom that will help my students prepare for the future. As a teacher, I have to stay up to date with the latest trends and teach my students to be successful learners. In integrating www.globalschoolnet.org into my curriculum, I have provided my students a way to collaborate with students from all over the world. This definitely prepares them for the future workplace. My students need to learn to work with different types of people. This is a life skill. Through my GAME plan, I have also found rubrics and checklists that will help my students choose sites that are reliable and trustworthy. In order for students to be successful researchers, they have to learn how to use the internet responsibly.

My students have visited www.globalschoolnet.org and they were really excited. They visited the Geogame link. This is an interactive website that helps students learn terms, maps, and cultural diversity. I also plan on having my students visit the online exhibitions. This is great for social studies. Students will be able to view history on the internet. What a great way to motivate them and keep them engaged in learning! There are many writing projects that are included on this site as well. Students can conduct research on current local issues and publish them. Students can also write articles and post them for the whole world to see. My students are improving in choosing websites that are appropriate and trustworthy. http://www.21cif.com/tools/evaluate/ is a site that allows my students to check the reliability of a source. Teaching my students this skill is significant. In the future, this will be a lesson that I teach at the beginning of the year. As teachers, we are implementing a variety of projects that integrate technology. We have to make sure our students are prepared for these types of assignments. The internet has become the primary source for research.

In Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use, Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009), explains that the “GAME plan requires you to think about and take steps to direct your learning process, specifically while learning about technology and how to integrate it into the curriculum.” Through this course, I learned how important it is to reflect on what is working and what areas need room for improvement. In order to grow as an educator, I have to be willing to make changes when necessary. A plan has to be put in place that will help me to stay focused and evaluate my progress. Just as we require our students to evaluate themselves through rubrics and checklists, a GAME plan is a way for educators to reflect, set goals, take action, monitor progress, and evaluate the results. In the future, I will keep a journal of activities that I integrate. If necessary, I will create a GAME plan to improve and better reach my students.

References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use. Ohio: Cengage Learning.