How effective were your actions in helping you meet your goals?
Since the last week, I have been able to set up a meeting with Kodak to go in and talk with them about coming into my classroom for this up coming year. The earliest that I could get into meeting with them is August 26th. I am kind of nervous because I do not know what exactly I am looking for. I think that I am looking for having volunteers into my room and possibly teaching the students how to use the cameras correctly. I wish that they would donate some cameras so I could start some sort of a photography club or something like that.
I also was able to talk to the local Pudgies Pizzeria about having my students come into the pizzeria to make a pizza and talk about fractions, the money aspect, proportions, etc. so I hope that is possible. The owner seemed a little hesitant about it, so we will see. It seems like such a great opportunity. Plus it would be nice to have them donate some pizzas. Donations are always the best.
What have you learned so far that you can apply in your instructional practice?
I learned that communication with the real world is a lot harder than it seems. I feel as though if I were in the classroom with my students it would be a lot easier for these companies to help me out. I think that having the companies actually see the students would help them make a decision a lot easier. I will absolutely talk to my class about this whole process. I can not wait to see my student’s faces when the basketball players and the Kodak people walk into my classroom.
What do you still have to learn? What new questions have arisen?
I am starting to get a little confused about how I am going to apply all of these volunteers and community involvement into the lovely curriculum that New York State has in store for me and my students. That will be difficult for me. How do I get them all to apply? What will I have the volunteers do in my classroom? How will I turn all this good into benefits for my students?
How will you adjust your plan to fit your current needs?
I think that my plan is good for now. I will need to adjust it once my students come back to school and I start getting the community involved in my classroom. I think that I will be sharing this GAME plan with my other 6th grade team members to get their input once school has started. I tried to email them the plan and get any ideas from them and I have not received anything back from them. I have a feeling that they want to be away from school until the last possible second. Summer break is great.
Comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
GAME Plan Progress
Are you finding the information and resources you need?
I just wrote an email to my local chamber of commerce. Kodak was started in Rochester, NY and I am hoping through the connections of my family that I can get Kodak to come into my classroom to not only donate some professionals time, but some cameras to start a camera club. I think that would be great publicity for them and I am hoping that will work.
I talked to the assistant coach of our local semi – professional basketball team and they are going to come into my classroom this year and have their players donate their time. I think that I am going to be more excited about that than the students. He also said that when the season comes around that we will hopefully be able to make a game during the week early so that we could come to the game.
I have sent out more emails to local businesses and have not heard anything else. I sent an email to my fellow teachers explaining to them that I want to do by having local business in the community help in my classroom and if they have any ideas. Nobody has responded back.
I also have Junior Achievement lined up to come into my classroom within the first month of school starting.
Do you need to modify your action plan?
I do not think that I have to modify my action plan. I have gotten back some good responses from local businesses. I hope that they pan out once the school year starts.
What have you learned so far?
It is hard to get in contact with the right people from local businesses to support you. I have talked to many and emailed many people who said that they wish that they could help me but unfortunately they are not at the right position in the company to help me. I think that it will be easier during the school year because the students will be there and the companies will be able to come into my classroom.
What new questions have arisen?
I have a couple of questions:
- What will I have / hope for the basketball players to do when they come into my classroom?
- Should I prepare a PowerPoint to show Kodak about how beneficial their help would be not only for my class but for their company?
- What other local businesses can I incorporate into my classroom?
- What type of things will people be willing to help with when they come into my classroom?
Any help or ideas would be great….
I just wrote an email to my local chamber of commerce. Kodak was started in Rochester, NY and I am hoping through the connections of my family that I can get Kodak to come into my classroom to not only donate some professionals time, but some cameras to start a camera club. I think that would be great publicity for them and I am hoping that will work.
I talked to the assistant coach of our local semi – professional basketball team and they are going to come into my classroom this year and have their players donate their time. I think that I am going to be more excited about that than the students. He also said that when the season comes around that we will hopefully be able to make a game during the week early so that we could come to the game.
I have sent out more emails to local businesses and have not heard anything else. I sent an email to my fellow teachers explaining to them that I want to do by having local business in the community help in my classroom and if they have any ideas. Nobody has responded back.
I also have Junior Achievement lined up to come into my classroom within the first month of school starting.
Do you need to modify your action plan?
I do not think that I have to modify my action plan. I have gotten back some good responses from local businesses. I hope that they pan out once the school year starts.
What have you learned so far?
It is hard to get in contact with the right people from local businesses to support you. I have talked to many and emailed many people who said that they wish that they could help me but unfortunately they are not at the right position in the company to help me. I think that it will be easier during the school year because the students will be there and the companies will be able to come into my classroom.
What new questions have arisen?
I have a couple of questions:
- What will I have / hope for the basketball players to do when they come into my classroom?
- Should I prepare a PowerPoint to show Kodak about how beneficial their help would be not only for my class but for their company?
- What other local businesses can I incorporate into my classroom?
- What type of things will people be willing to help with when they come into my classroom?
Any help or ideas would be great….
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
GAME Plan Resources
GAME Plan resources
In order to carry out my first GAME plan goal, I am going to need to need to do a lot of researching. The one website that I am going to need to access daily is the Rochester Business’ websites that are local. One for example would be,
http://www.discoverourtown.com/NY/Rochester/Business-2532.html to help me find local businesses. This will be a great website that will put me in touch with local business’ that I can get in touch with to see if they are willing to be a partner within my classroom on a daily basis. I am going to need to be able to explain what I want them to help me with while being in contact with my classroom. Various things come to mind such as, good communication skills with the business world; real life business associates talking with my students about the benefits of school, and possibly a partner that will help me get a computer / internet access within the students home at little or no cost. The access to these businesses would allow for me to get the local businesses involved in their communities’ school learning. It could also give my students an idea about where or what they need to do to possibly work at one of these local businesses.
My second goal of my GAME plan, I am going to need to connect and become a part of as many social networking websites as I can. I need to join various Blogs, Wiki’s, internet chat rooms, and join various educational websites. Joining and being a part of these sources will keep me and my classroom in touch with the outer world is a great tool to have at hand. Another great way for me to learn new and improve my existing skills about involving technology is to attend as many district professional developments as I can. There are various professional developments offered by my district that teaches various technologies and by attending these it will help me become more fluent in the 21st century literacy skills.
One thing that I am currently doing because I am teaching summer school is that I am asking my students what and where they go shopping? What places / businesses do you see that you would like to know more about? It is hard for me to do this because I do not have any studens that will be in my school for the upcomming school year. It is a good way for me to see where my students minds are though.
I believe that by using the above resources, I will be that much closer in making my GAME plan a real obtainable goal for myself.
In order to carry out my first GAME plan goal, I am going to need to need to do a lot of researching. The one website that I am going to need to access daily is the Rochester Business’ websites that are local. One for example would be,
http://www.discoverourtown.com/NY/Rochester/Business-2532.html to help me find local businesses. This will be a great website that will put me in touch with local business’ that I can get in touch with to see if they are willing to be a partner within my classroom on a daily basis. I am going to need to be able to explain what I want them to help me with while being in contact with my classroom. Various things come to mind such as, good communication skills with the business world; real life business associates talking with my students about the benefits of school, and possibly a partner that will help me get a computer / internet access within the students home at little or no cost. The access to these businesses would allow for me to get the local businesses involved in their communities’ school learning. It could also give my students an idea about where or what they need to do to possibly work at one of these local businesses.
My second goal of my GAME plan, I am going to need to connect and become a part of as many social networking websites as I can. I need to join various Blogs, Wiki’s, internet chat rooms, and join various educational websites. Joining and being a part of these sources will keep me and my classroom in touch with the outer world is a great tool to have at hand. Another great way for me to learn new and improve my existing skills about involving technology is to attend as many district professional developments as I can. There are various professional developments offered by my district that teaches various technologies and by attending these it will help me become more fluent in the 21st century literacy skills.
One thing that I am currently doing because I am teaching summer school is that I am asking my students what and where they go shopping? What places / businesses do you see that you would like to know more about? It is hard for me to do this because I do not have any studens that will be in my school for the upcomming school year. It is a good way for me to see where my students minds are though.
I believe that by using the above resources, I will be that much closer in making my GAME plan a real obtainable goal for myself.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
GAME Plan
I felt relived once I started to look over the National Education Standards for Teachers because I feel like I do a good job the majority of the standards that are address there. There was one specific standard that stuck out to me the most.
Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments - C: customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources, really stuck out to me. I worked a great deal this past year on using different digital tools for various students. Working with their strengths and what they needed to work on…DIFERENCIATED INSTRUCTION.
I feel that I am confidently achieving the following goals when it comes to the NETS-T standards; they are Standard 1 Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and Standard 2 Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments and Standard 3 Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.
The other two standards are the ones that I think I need to spend more time on working along with my students. Standard 4 Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility and Standard 5 Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership are standards that are key for students to understand and use when they get into the real world.
Mr. Henry’s GAME Plan
Goal
I would like to learn how to become better at using local and global learning communities to explore and integrate technology into my classroom to help my students learn. Using technology accessible from various community organizations would help establish a good partnership and a good learning experience for my students.
I would also like to develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. The internet is a wonderful tool if use correctly that can expand the walls of your classroom.
Action
Both of my goals can be achieved almost the same way. I need to learn how to network myself and my classroom to the community. I can do this a couple of different ways, first by going around to local businesses and seeing they would be interested in working along side of my classroom. I can also go to various workshops or Professional Developments offered by my district to see what they have available for partnerships.
I also think that both of these goals could be reached by me networking myself though all of the various social networking websites that are available to us now. Exploring and researching the internet for partnerships and for other classrooms that want to use the internet as valuable resource would be a great idea too.
Monitor
There would be a lot of reflecting on my own progress, reflection-in-action. I need to be able to look at what I am doing and making the necessary changes if I need to change my progress. I will set timelines for my progress. I will need to meet them by a certain deadline or at least make an effort at obtaining partnerships. I will need to make sure that I am asking my students for their input and what they think should be our next move. The students input and from other colleagues is extremely important considering they are the ones who are going to be helping me with this adventure.
Evaluate and Extend
My first goal will be evaluated by determining if and when a community partner has came into my classroom or has communicated with my class on any level. If I have had no community involvement, I need to go back and revise my GAME plan and start all over again. There are always people from around the community who are willing to lend a helping hand. I will attend community forums and look for support at any place possible.
My second goal I will ask my students to share their insights on a daily basis about what or where we should go next. Their input is crucial. I will talk with the classrooms via the internet about any suggestions or ideas they have about how to make our interactions more valuable.
I am hoping that my GAME plan will help me become a better professional. If my GAME plan works, I will be connected to the outside world and show how important communicating with the community is with my students.
If you can help me out or have any suggestions, feel free to add your thoughts. The more the better…
Standard 2: Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments - C: customize and personalize learning activities to address students’ diverse learning styles, working strategies, and abilities using digital tools and resources, really stuck out to me. I worked a great deal this past year on using different digital tools for various students. Working with their strengths and what they needed to work on…DIFERENCIATED INSTRUCTION.
I feel that I am confidently achieving the following goals when it comes to the NETS-T standards; they are Standard 1 Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity and Standard 2 Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments and Standard 3 Model Digital-Age Work and Learning.
The other two standards are the ones that I think I need to spend more time on working along with my students. Standard 4 Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility and Standard 5 Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership are standards that are key for students to understand and use when they get into the real world.
Mr. Henry’s GAME Plan
Goal
I would like to learn how to become better at using local and global learning communities to explore and integrate technology into my classroom to help my students learn. Using technology accessible from various community organizations would help establish a good partnership and a good learning experience for my students.
I would also like to develop and model cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools. The internet is a wonderful tool if use correctly that can expand the walls of your classroom.
Action
Both of my goals can be achieved almost the same way. I need to learn how to network myself and my classroom to the community. I can do this a couple of different ways, first by going around to local businesses and seeing they would be interested in working along side of my classroom. I can also go to various workshops or Professional Developments offered by my district to see what they have available for partnerships.
I also think that both of these goals could be reached by me networking myself though all of the various social networking websites that are available to us now. Exploring and researching the internet for partnerships and for other classrooms that want to use the internet as valuable resource would be a great idea too.
Monitor
There would be a lot of reflecting on my own progress, reflection-in-action. I need to be able to look at what I am doing and making the necessary changes if I need to change my progress. I will set timelines for my progress. I will need to meet them by a certain deadline or at least make an effort at obtaining partnerships. I will need to make sure that I am asking my students for their input and what they think should be our next move. The students input and from other colleagues is extremely important considering they are the ones who are going to be helping me with this adventure.
Evaluate and Extend
My first goal will be evaluated by determining if and when a community partner has came into my classroom or has communicated with my class on any level. If I have had no community involvement, I need to go back and revise my GAME plan and start all over again. There are always people from around the community who are willing to lend a helping hand. I will attend community forums and look for support at any place possible.
My second goal I will ask my students to share their insights on a daily basis about what or where we should go next. Their input is crucial. I will talk with the classrooms via the internet about any suggestions or ideas they have about how to make our interactions more valuable.
I am hoping that my GAME plan will help me become a better professional. If my GAME plan works, I will be connected to the outside world and show how important communicating with the community is with my students.
If you can help me out or have any suggestions, feel free to add your thoughts. The more the better…
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