GAME Plan Progress

The progress towards my goals, of implementing real world problems through the use of technology, and improving communications with parents and the community through the use of technology, have been quite eye opening. In the past week, I have been able to begin the set up of my classroom blog. I was also able to speak with the district technology director about the lack of usable and updated equipment available in my building. Unfortunately, like many districts across the country, my district is facing a budget crisis of epic proportion, which has led to significant budget cuts in the technology budget this year, with deeper cuts anticipated for next year. I will need to alter my action plan for implementing my ideas in my classroom, because I will need to utilize only the outdated and faulty equipment that is available. This will directly affect my instructional practice, since I will have to rotate the use of the classroom computers to accommodate all of my students as they participate in the blog. Additionally, it will also alter the type of multi-media projects that I can allow my students to complete as they make connections with the community concerning the impact and problems associated with the local neighborhood gangs. I may be able to work on a whole group project that uses my one updated computer, so that the students can still create a podcast or movie documenting the information and problem solutions they have gathered from the research. This will drastically change the look of the collaborative groups within my classroom. Instead of each small group or pair choosing a real world problem to solve, the entire class will need to work together to devise and create the questions together. The sub questions that will be involved in this problem-based learning activity will then become the choice for students as they choose what part to take in our project. This is a change from my original plan and vision, but completing the Problem-based learning unit as a whole class project that is broken down into smaller pieces will still allow me to provide my students with a complex and authentic learning experience; one that will provide opportunities for students to construct knowledge, complete organized inquiry, and have an impact far beyond our classroom (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009).

While the news regarding the availability of any technology equipment was discouraging, it allowed me to focus my attention to meeting 21^st century skills, regardless of the technology. When I was forced to see how I could accomplish this without the most basic of technologies, I began to realize that this goal is not as much about the type of technology equipment used, but rather about integrating some technology into the search for a solution to a problem that will affect my students and the community well beyond the walls of my classroom.

While I have altered my action plan to meet this goal, I have also begun to look too the future. I have been seeking out grants that could provide my building and my classroom with their technology necessary and most useful to facilitate my GAME Plan. Through suggestions from Deana, I have begun a partnership with a 5/6 teacher and a local community center mentor. Our plan is to write a grant to be submitted to ING for a Problem-Based Learning project to focus on resolving the problem of gangs in the local neighborhood. The area that I teach in is highly impacted by gang membership and activities, and many students from 3^rd through 6^th grade have close connections to gang members, or already have strong opinions about gangs. Unfortunately, it is an integral part of the community, my students' lives, and their experiences. I was also led to a grant opportunity through Lowe's that could also offer some support in acquiring the needed technology. I have moved on this opportunity quickly, and I am in the final stages of completing the grant application.

The achievement of my second goal has been much easier. With the creation of our classroom blog, I am close to being able to provide parents with a page where homework, activity, and classroom information can be readily posted. This will allow my parents to interact, provide support to our efforts in the classroom, or to ask questions about our activities and our learning. The challenge I am facing is the number of parents who do not have access to the internet at home, and will not be able to participate in the blog from home. Because of the high number of homes that do not have computers or internet access, I have altered part of my action plan to include the creation of a bi-weekly newsletter with the most important classroom information. Using Microsoft Word to create a classroom newsletter will still allow me to utilize technology to communicate more effectively with parents and with the community. By completing both, or simply posting the newsletter on the class blog, I will be able to communicate in multiple ways with the majority of my parents, and many more community members. One question that remains for me, in meeting this goal, is how I can accommodate the parents of my ELL students. These students speak several different native languages, and all of them are in very different stages of learning and understanding English. How can I get my newsletter translated so that these parents also have the opportunity to hear about our classroom learning and activities?

As always, any suggestions or insights would be greatly appreciated regarding the changes I need to make to my GAME Plan, or how to solve some of the challenges I face to complete my goals.

 

Resource:

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.