Monitoring my GAME plan

For this weeks blog, I am supposed to look back at my GAME plan, and I am supposed to begin to look at the steps that I have began to take to reach my GAME plan. So far I have begun to make progress working with other colleagues in my department (social studies) to talk about the types of activities they are doing in class that involve critical thinking and problem solving, and I have been talking to them about what types of digital tools they are using in class.. From them, I have came up with some ideas of different types of lessons that I would like to do in my class. My colleagues have given me some great ideas for lessons on different topics that I teach. Many of these lessons are very creative and have a lot of differentiated instruction in them. The best part about the lessons, is the 21st century skills that are involved in the lessons. The one thing that many of these lessons lacked was the use of technology or newer digital tools. Some of these lessons involved power point, and they were great lessons, but I would like to use some other digital tools in my lessons. I currently use power points in my class and know how to do them pretty well, so I would like to work on some new tools I need to learn. So I have narrowed the tools that I would like to explore to learn more about and possibly integrate into my classroom next year. The first thing that I have began to look at is video conferencing and distance learning. This sounds like something that my students would be into, and it sounds like an activity that could be very productive for my class. But I really do not know anything about it, so I am beginning my research to see what I would have to do to do this in my class. I will also have to contact my technology department to see what I would have to do to get this done. Another tool that I would like to use in my classroom next year is a podcast. I am currently talking to another teacher who would like to use pod casts in their class next year. I am currently trying to learn the ins and the outs of making pod casts. I have had one class where I had to make a podcast, and had never done it before. I got it done, and thought that it would be great to use in class, but I was not confident in my abilities with it, and I was not confident that I could teach my students how to use it. I am exploring this right now. I would like to talk to teachers who have used these tools in their classrooms, and see if they have any advice for me when it comes to how to incorporate these tools into my classroom, and things I need to look out for when doing these activities.

I myself feel that I am in the right direction researching these topics. I do feel that I have to take the time to try and get the technology department in my school more involved. Also, our school is getting a technology grant, and some of the teachers are going on professional development to learn how to integrate new technologies into the classroom. I will have to talk with them on these topics, and see if they will work with me to come up with ideas for these lessons, and if they have any knowledge they would want to pass on to me about these tools.