Final Blog Post: Week 8

Reflection:

After going through each part of the GAME plan process, I have had a lot of successes with my students in regards to technology integration. We have slowly started to change the way we do our daily journal writing. Three days a week, students respond to a journal prompt via their personal blogs. The other two days students continue the traditional journal entries with a hand-written response. The students were very eager to take part in this and were excited to express themselves by making their blog page their own. It has been difficult as each of the students is on a different page with previous exposure to computers and the Internet. With the help of my high school aides, I have been able to pair students who needed more help with a high school helper to help navigate or post to a prompt. I have found that this change doesn’t just happen overnight. We started off slow with this integration where students were able to navigate the site as a whole group and explored different options.

Impact on Instructional Practice:

One of the biggest things that I learned is that it’s okay to depend on your students for help. I have to say that they catch on and might know more of the ins and outs than I do, even at a young age. My students have been so cooperative with each other in this process and their excitement for learning has really been prevalent. I have also learned that integrating technology is crucial in order for students to start preparing for their futures. Even a little integration will help prepare them for what’s out there.

Adjustments:

As a result of my learning from this course, I plan on integrating technology daily into my lessons. I would like to integrate a new program or technology each month to my students. This sounds like a big task to complete, especially with 2nd graders, but it is my hope that I can do what is needed in order to expose them to experiences they might not get elsewhere. I will also give my students the reins and have them research a program that we will use. This will allow them to take hold of their learning and become experts on the technologies that we will utilize.