Game Plan Part 4

Not much has changed in a week.  I continue to progress and work with what I laid out last week.  I have heard from a few former students and they have agreed to help.  What I'll have them do is look at some things I'm considering using and class and have them give me feedback.  I try to keep in mind that I need to put myself in the shoes of the students, but even with that mentality it can be hard to do, so their perspective gives me some ideas on how to tinker with the process.

I'm still set to give a professional development workshop on one of our professional development days prior to the start of school.  I haven't heard any of the logistics, though.  It would be nice to know what room I'll be in and what materials I'll need to have prepared.  It shouldn't be too hard to do once I know the parameters.  I'm going to show them how to set up a blog and a Google Reader and how they might want to use it in class.  A friend of mine is doing one on all sorts of web applications.  Hopefully this brings some new converts to the technology side of things.

Game Plan Part 3

Thanks to summer, I've had some time to put a lot of effort into my game plan.  I've been able to find what I need so far, though I wish some of the educational technology blogs I read would update more frequently!

I subscribed to a few new technology blogs on my Google Reader and they have given me some new insight into what tools are available.  I've spent a bit of time brainstorming how I could use applications like Twitter in the classroom.  I read how one group was performing Romeo & Juliet through Twitter.  It was interesting to see how they didn't necessarily use the dialogue but focused on the emotions.  This could be a good activity with my students.  I have one like-minded colleague at school that I see often over the summer.  We bounce ideas off of each other and I've made a point of steering our conversations to technology and the classroom.

As of now, I wouldn't modify the overall framework of my plan, but I would add a few things to it.  For example, in order to hit the ground running this fall, I would like to contact some former or future students and have pilot my ideas to see if they are feasible.  In the past I've had students launch into new technologies and there are always hiccups along the way.  It would be nice to get those worked out beforehand.

Looking forward, I'd like to get a feel of how any new technologies in the classroom will be received.  For example, last year, I had my students working with blogs all year and found them blocked at school in mid-May, making it very difficult for students without computers at home to get their work done.  It would be nice to have an idea of what will be available at school before we get started.  This will involve contacting some administrators.

Game Plan Part Two

I will need to address my plan in different steps for each part.

In order to implement some changes in using social media in my classroom, I will have to seek out examples of classrooms in which social media has been used and worked and find research that supports its inclusion in the classroom.  Not only will this help me determine if this is a worthwhile endeavor, it will also prevent me from wasting my time if social media is something that has yet to make a significant impact in the classroom.

To become more active in the professional development arena, I will have to seek out opportunities to share my new skills.  Much of what I have learned has been here in my coursework or on my own, so it would be ideal to find some further professional development opportunities on my own.  I already have plans to present a blogging workshop during our professional development days prior to the school year, so I've made one step to achieving that goal.  I am anxious to see how it goes and if any of my colleagues will offer any criticism or begin to use blogs in their classrooms.  I know there are a few like-minded teachers in my building, so it would be good to have a core of teachers interested in technology to bounce ideas off of and get more technology into my lessons.

Implementing social media seems to take a bit more time.  There are already some ideas I have about using it in the classroom (further use of blogs, Google Wave) but it's difficult to get a feel for what the next step is until I have had a chance to try out these ideas with some students.