Final Reflection of my GAME Plan

My GAME plan has taught me how to set goals and follow them one step at a time. My GAME plan is going to continue outside this course. My two indicators are leading me to learning more about technology that I can use with my preschoolers.

My new learning has taught me some good websites that I can use with my students to teach tohem letters and letter sounds. One website that I love is starfall.com. My students really love this website. They can interact with the website using the smart board. I am going to continue to talk with my coworkers to see what is working with their students so I can try it with my students to see if it works for them.

From this course, I have learned that there are different types of technology that I can use with my students to make learning more appealing to them and fun. Students can play video games for hours so I need to do something in my classroom that will keep their attention and assist them in learning the standards they need to be successful in Kindergarten.

Final GAME Plan

The GAME plan has taught me how to set goals and how to reach them one step at a time. This process is going to help me assist my students with technology goals and how to reach them. My students are going to be expose to more forms of technology that they will benefit from that will help them in the future. My students are going to use the computers to more to master the standards.

My students are going to know the process of setting goals and accomplishing them. It is going to make learning with technology more fun for them.

Revising Game Plan

So far, I have learned some websites that I can use in my classroom to assist my students in learning the alphabet, numbers, and other skills they need to know for Kindergarten. I have tried a few of the websites myself and the children are going to enjoy them after the Christmas break. I am going to start the new year off using more technology in my classroom. My students are going to be more hands-on with their learning to have them ready for this computer based world.

I am still working on finding more professional development opportunities that are going to teach me more about the things the smart board can do. I have learned how to take a picture on the smart board of what the children have done. I also have learned how to use the markers to write the morning message on the smart board and have the students circle the letter for the week in the morning message.

I am not ready to set a new learning goal as of now. I want to accomplish the goals I have set aside before I start on a new one. I am going to effectively use what I have learned and keep learning so I can be more effective at teaching using technology.

Evaluating my GAME Plan

My actions were very effective. Talking with my co-workers getting websites that I can use to make my lessons more effective for my students is going well. I have tried a few of the websites this week to assist with my theme Christmas. We use VoiceThread to write a letter to Santa. One of my co-workers gave me a site to use to get a letter back from Santa. Next week, I am going to put their VoiceThread letters in Microsoft Word and sent the letters to Santa so they will have a letter to take home. I am anxious to see their faces when they get their letters.

I still have to learn how to pull up the websites faster and have them ready for my students. I need to play with the websites before I introduce them to my students. I also need to try some new technology with my students besides VoiceThread.

Monitoring GAME Plan

I am finding lots of information from my classmates and co-workers that is helpful to me with carrying out my GAME plan. I have look at some classroom blog sites to get an idea of how I can set my up next year and the benefits of having a blog site. One of my co-workers showed me how to make calendars to send home to display my students' behavior each day. I am a shy person so I need to get out of that and ask people what works for them and what does not work for them.

My action plan is going good so far. My actions are working for me and the information is coming together one step at a time. I am learning how to use different programs that are already on my computer. I am taking a class to learn how to use different programs that are on notebook 10 on my smart board. No new questions have arisen with me so far.

Carrying Out My GAME Plan

To carry out my game plan there are many things that I need to do. First, I need to do some research on types of technology that my preschoolers will benefit from. I need to talk with my co-workers to see what things they have tried and how they worked with their students. Look for workshops that I can attend on technology that will help me move to the next stage. I need to take notes on what my classmates share so that I can try them in my classroom.

I have taken one step towards my GAME plan. I have talked with some of my co-workers about different types of technology they have used with their students and how it has worked for them. They have given me some ideas that I plan to try with my students.

My game plan for strengthening my confidence in two indicators in the NETS-T are:

First indicator I need to work on is engaging in professional growth and leadership. I can get strength in this area by doing research and going to workshops. This will help me to learn more and be able to share things that I have learned with my colleagues. The only way I can grow is to do things that will help me grow professional so that I can do my best at my job.

My second indicator is facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity. Strength in this indicator will help me better to teach and motivate my students. Learning from my co-workers can give me some ideas of things that I can use immediately in my classroom. Concepts that I am learning from Walden is assisting me inspiring my students' learning and making them to be more creative at what they do in the classroom.

Week 8: Reflection


This class has taught me a lot of information that will be helpful in my future years of teaching. My personal theory remains the same somewhat. I plan to incorporate social learning into my theory. My students will enjoy learning from each other than me all the time. This will teach them how to get along with others and work together to accomplish a goal. I know it will be hard at first with my preschoolers but with a lot of modeling I know my students will catch on and be successful at it.
My plans are to incorporate more technology into my classroom to give my students more hands on learning experiences. Two technology tools that I plan to use in my classroom are blogs and Voice Thread. I am going to setup a classroom blog to display students' work, weekly newsletters, and a way for parents to keep in touch with me about anything they need assistance with. With Voice Thread, I am going to have students retell stories, discuss what they drew in their journals, and other fun activities. I will download the Voice Threads to our classroom blog site for parents to hear. What a great way to keep parents inform on what we are doing in the classroom.
My two long term goals are to use virtual field trips to save my parents money and continue to expose my children to technology to have them ready for the real world. Students love to go on field trips. What a great way to bring the field trip to our classroom. Students will still get the expose but in an environment that they already feel safe in. We as teachers are competing against technology so I am going to incorporate technology into my lessons to make learning familiar and fun for them.

My VoiceThread

www.voicethread.com/share/1262208

Cooperative Learning

Cooperative learning is needed in every classroom. In some shape or form we all do cooperative learning in our classroom maybe not the way we learned this week. Students learn a lot of information when they work with their peers even in the early years of school. When they learn to cooperatively work together in the younger grades the easy it is for them in the upper grades.

Technology plays a major role in cooperative learning. It is amazing how much technology has advance and how things can be easy accessible. With little assistance my preschoolers can work in groups using technology. One way we work in groups using technology is playing educational games that deals with the standards. I will pair the students in groups of twos and they work on the game together on the computer. They enjoy it and they feel they are big boys and girls.

One cooperative learning technique that I would love to try with my students as a whole is keypals. I would love for my students to see other 4 year olds in different places and cultures. It would be a great experience for them to be friends with children their age from across the world.

Constructivism Practice

The main force of constructivism is that it is student-centered. The teacher is only the person who see over the project. The six tasks that are for generating and testing hypotheses would work for all students of different ages. With the smaller children, you would just have to do a lot of modeling for them. Technology would play a major role with the constructivism theory.

In the Pre-K classroom, we do a lot of predicting I just need to pair it up with technology to make it more hands on for my students. Constructivism will be good in a Pre-K classroom because the students would learn a lot and they would be exposed to a lot of real life situations. I would just have to do a lot of modeling to prepare them to work on their own but they will gain so much knowledge that they will benefit from in the upper grades.

Cognitive Learning Theory


The cognitive learning theory consist of a 3 stage model: sensory input, short-term memory, and long-term memory. The 3 stage model helps students apply knowledge and retain information. When you connect prior knowledge to what you want them to learn then they are able to make a connection and grasp the new learning. The strategy that stood out to me was the Inspiration software. The software would be developmentally appropriate for my 4 year olds since they can not take notes at that age. This will assist them with the questioning technique to help promote critical thinking skills.

My school district uses EDI and with EDI you state the objective in kid friendly language. During the lesson, you tell how, why, and what they will use this learning objective for in the future. This is a good way to make connection to the real-world. The use of technology allows me to meet each student learning style.

Behavorism in Practice

Behaviorism plays a role in the classroom still today. We may use other theories with it but behaviorism is needed in the classroom so that instruction can take place in a safe enivornment. The website that I tried out was Classroom.JC-Schools.net. I found this website developmentally appropriate for my PreKindergarten students. The website was very entertaining and appealing to me so I know that my students would love it. I like the way it reinforced the questions that you get wrong. It encourages the child to choose the right answer. The website ties into the behaviorism because it focuses on drill and practice. It also has a tutorial assistance.

I enjoyed learning about the different types of achievement spreadsheets. I would have to modify and adjust them so they will work with my students. I would use their symbol that they use to go to centers and where they hang their book bag. I thought about using different color stars to show their progress. I also thought about using it on my classroom blog to show parents how their child is doing. The achievement spreadsheets work with behaviorism because it shows their rewards.

In the behaviorist theory, homework places an important role because it reinforces what you did in class that day. It gives the student more practice and to see if they really understand it. When they come back and you go over the homework together it will let you know if you need to practice that skill more with your students or with a particular student. To do that, you could have a drill and practice skill on the computer that will reinforce the skill in a fun way.

This week gave me a lot of information that I could use in my classroom with reinforcement and sites I could use in my classroom with drill and practice on basic skills.

In this course, I have learned to explore different types of technology that I knew about but have not tried out. This class taught me how I can use technology more effectively in my classroom. I have inquired exciting ways to help my students learn.

• In what ways has this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?

Throughout this course, I learned technology skills that I can use with my preschoolers. I did not think that I could use the computer to enhance my students' learning in so many ways. I learned how to set up a blog, wiki, and a podcast in this course. This course showed me how to enhance my essons wit technology so that my students will be ready for this technology based world. I have never used a way of technology to communicate with my parents but this school year I am going to try it with my parents to see how it works along with my weekly newsletter. This will be a good way for my parents to communicate with me and each other. It is also a good way to display students' work for parents to see that never come out to the school for conferences.

• In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process?

I learned that every student is different and they learn in different ways. It is my job to make sure that I am meeting the needs of all my students. Using technology can make learning fun for them and it gives them a hands-on learning experience. Since they can play those video games at home and win at them, with me using technology in the classroom along with the standards they will also win.

• In what ways have you changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?

I have learned it is all about my students and their learning needs. I need to use technology with my lessons to give them more hands-on learning experiences. We need to talk more and share so that students will know how to socialize with each other respectfully. I work a lot with my students in groups since there are 2 of us in the classroom. It is important that I go on the learner's needs versus what I feel they need to know. They need to lead and I will guide them in the right direction.

• In what ways can you continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?

I believe the best way to continue and expand my knowledge is to stay up to date on teh most recent technology that is out there. I will need to do research to see what is out there and hwo others are using it in their classrooms. I need to use technology more in my classroom with my preschoolers on a daily basis to help them achieve their goals. Sharing with my co-workers on what they are doing and how it is working is alos a good way to expand my knowledge. Another way is to ask the adminstration to set up staff developments of the lastest technology and how to use it.

• Set two goals (within two years) for transforming your classroom enivornment by which you may have to overcome institutional or systemic obstacles in order to achieve them. How do you plan to accomplish these goals?

My first goal is to set up a blog for my classroom. I want parents to be able to communicate with me and others when they need to. I want things to be more involved in their child's education so whatever I can do to make it easier I want to do. A lot of my parents do not have transportation to come to conferences so I can display what their child is doing in the classroom. My second goal is to implement virtual field trips for my students. It usually cost my students a lot to go on field trips because we have to buy the diesel, pay the bus driver, and their admission to get in. This will be a great way to go on field trips that students can enjoy in a safe and warm environment.

• Refer to your checklist for Week 1 has any of your answers changed after completing this course?

When I looked back at the checklist, I found that my results have changed since I took it during week 1. Most of my answers were rarely because I was not aware of the different things I could do with technology with my preschoolers. I am going to allow my students to share more and I am going to collaborate with my students.

In conclusion, this class has taught me a lot of new information that I am going to incorporate in my classroom. My professor and peers have shared a lot of ideas that has been helpful. My classroom is going to be learner-based so I can better meet the needs of my students.

My podcast address is: genesis01.podbean.com

I found Partnership for 21st Century Skills website to be full of information that is good for teachers. With me being a teacher and a mother of 2, there is a lot of information to go through in a small amount of time that I have to spare. I love the idea of having the tabs to take you straight to where you need to go. The website is colorful so it was eye catching for me. I like the idea that you can download the framework and print out the themes and different skills.
The information that surprised me was the number of states that are using the 21st century approach. It seems to be a great program that students will benefit from at all ages. For my preschoolers, I would have to adjust the activities to mee the needs of my students. There is so much information ther that I did not find anything to disagree with. It gave me the insight on all the ideas I wanted to know about.
The site prepares teachers and students for a world that we are living in. The information will also inform parents on what is going on and how we need to prepare our children for what is to come.

What purpose would the blog serve?
Since I teach Pre-K, my blog site would be geared towards my parents. I could use it to put my weekly newsletters and upcoming events. I could also display students’ work for the parents to see. SHARP students for the week can also be displayed on the site. Parents could ask questions and make comments to me other to other parents since everyone’s schedule is tight these days.

Is it a place for students to interact?
I teach Pre-K so I do not see this as a place for my students to interact with each other. The parents and child could look at the blog together and the child may want to say something and the parent could type what their child says on the blog.

Is it a showcase for their work?
I could display my students work on the blog site. I would display my students work with the parent consent. Each week I will choose several students work to show off. The students will be excited to see their work displayed on the blog. The parent and child will be overjoyed to see their child’s work.

How does using a blog enhance the lesson?
On the blog, I could suggest ways parents could help their child in mastering the standards we are working on each week. Parents could post what work for them and what did not work for them to get parents involved in their child’s education.

How the blog can enhance the lesson?
A blog could help enhance a lesson by informing the parents on what we did in class and they could review with their child what we did in class. I could put simple activities for the parents to do with their child and parents can respond to how the activity went and where or not it was successful.

Hi! My name is Chastity Frazier and I teach Pre-K. I have been teaching for 9 years and I love my job. I teach half day classes. The countdown to the end of school is on 22 more days. I enjoy teaching the 4 year olds because they are like sponges. They take in everything you teach them. Integrating technology in the classroom is a great advantage for children in this society. For me it is amazing to all the new technology we have to take learning and teaching to another level. Technology is a must no matter what field you are in. Our school has smart boards in all the classrooms. What type of new technology do you have in your school? How is that type of technology working with your students?