In
my reflection I will write about my GAME plans, the implementation of a
problem-based learning, and the integration technology within my content.
At
the beginning of the class I started two GAME plans. Over the last 7 weeks my
Game plan has been evolving. My first goal was to have my students interact
with French teenagers through Epals. As of today, I can say that I was able to
contact a French class. French students wrote emails that I will proofread to
give to my students. I will have them write back in French this week.
I decided to
only involve my 8th grade students at this point because the French
students are a year older and due to the number of students who wrote. I will
have my 7th grade interact with French teenagers next school year or
before the summer with another class.
It gets very
overwhelming, because of the lack of time to prepare the class. Between my
lesson plans, state exams, the master and the PBL assignment, I feel I am doing
too much at the same time. I still need to write a letter to my principal to be
able to use Epal and have students bring their parents’ authorization to
interact with another student in another country. It looks like I am planning
this the wrong way, but I am learning how to use this website and I did not
expect the other French class to be ready to interact right away.
Next time I will
be using Epal, I will do it differently.
I will wait for my students and me to be ready to contact another class.
My second goal
was to share my different projects integrating new technology within my
content. I already talked to my Department chair to have some time during our
meeting toward the end of the year to show my work. She agreed and will set up the meeting later
on the school year. I also would like to share my work with the staff within my
building but at this point I don’t think I am ready. I would like to wait next school year at the
beginning of September. By then I will be able to get a better presentation and
reflection of my work. I keep having the same sentence in my mind “keep it
small” (Laureate Education, 2011). Now that I know how to integrate new
technology in a more efficient way within my content, I get excited and ideas
come up in my mind all the time. I want to do too much too fast, and I get
overwhelmed by the workload. I really need to slow down.
Last week I implemented my lesson 1
and introduced my students to a problem-based learning (PBL). Thanks to Walden
students’ feedback, I was able to modify my lesson to make it more efficient.
Students were a bit confused at the beginning, but after I answer their
questions they were able to understand better. The research on digital story
gave them a great insight on what the final product will look like. I know that some of my students are still not
sure how they are going to do it, but I insured them that they will be alright
because we will be working step by step. Now that I implemented Lesson 1, I was
able to reflect on it and modified it. I tried to have students create the
rubric for the research phase and the final product, but it was difficult for
students. They created categories such as on task, spelling etc.… but I was not
satisfied with the result. I did not think it was assessing students’ abilities
throughout the unit. Next time I would like to create the rubrics and discuss
them with the students. We will be able to make modifications together. This
way it might help students reinforce their understanding of the PBL and I will
be assessing students’ work more efficiently.
This course was an eye opener on my
class instruction. I have the technology available in my class and the ability
to integrate technology within my content efficiently. Today, I have GAME plans
for my instruction that will enhance my students’ learning. Now that I
understand the importance of the new technology, it will help my students and
me to succeed. Students will be more exposed to the 21st century
skills to help them building a better career. The biggest challenge is to
start. It takes time and patience and organization to plan, but collaborating
with other people through Internet has been helping me enormously. I am
starting to twit with other foreign language teachers to share ideas hoping to
learn from others.
