Final Reflection

GAME Plan:
I feel that my GAME plan has helped me develop a vision for how I would like to incorporate the edmodo website into my classroom this fall. I am really excited because it will allow me to improve communication with my students and their parents.  It will also serve as  great tool for delivering content information to my students.  An added bonus is the ability for me to get my students to collaborate and interact with one another asynchronously.  I feel that my GAME plan has served me well and I do not feel that are anythings I would change at this point in time.  I can envision using the GAME plan process with my students when I assign them a large task such as a problem based lesson.  I think that the important thing to remember when introducing students to the process will be starting out small.  I will need to slowly introduce each part of the process and continually model what each step looks like for them.

Classroom Practices:
The biggest aha I had while taking this class was the power of social media in the classroom.  I really like the way that it forces my students to think about writing for an audience (Laureate Education Inc., 2010a).  I know from experience that when I tell my students that we will be posting work in the class or in the hall the quality of that work dramatically improves.  I also like the freedom social media gives students.  It allows them to complete their work on their schedule not mine (Laureate Education Inc., 2010b).  I think problem based learning is a powerful tool.   I like the way it puts students in the driver seat of their education.  I envision myself using problem based learning as a way assess stduents' understanding at the end of a unit.  I see digital story telling supporting and being the format that my students use when sharing through social media and finalizing their problems in problem based situations.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Spotlight on technology:  Social networking and online collaboration, part 1. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Spotlight on technology:  Social networking and online collaboration, part 2. [DVD]. Baltimore, MD: Author.