Week 4

Monitoring My GAME Plan Progress

To review, my GAME Plans focus on two standards:

Standard 2a: Design or adapt relevant learning experiences that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and creativity. 

Standard 4d: Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching. 

With suggestions from my colleagues, I have been able to find a great deal of resources for Standard 2a. My goal is to create meaningful learning experiences that are age appropriate for kindergarten. I want students to be enthused about being on the computer, regardless of what age they are. The classroom teacher I currently work with always sends them to three staple websites: Tumblebooks (local Library's read alouds), Education City (Math or Reading games), or Learn to Type Jr. Of the three programs, the one I feel most benefits them is Learn to Type Jr. Students are learning how to type with their fingers on the correct keys and this is so important for when they begin typing papers, doing internet searches, etc. 

To modify my action plan with this particular standard, I need to create a more realistic timeline that includes the tools being learned, how I will teach them, how students will use them and when they will be able to successfully use these tools either independently or with the support of  a classmate. When I mention timeline, I need to have a more purposeful plan on how I integrate technology to already existing content standards. I would like to have project goals set up throughout the year. Here is a rough sketch:

August/September: Learning the parts of the computer, How to turn on, use the mouse, navigate through the school district programs. 

October-December: Learn to illustrate using TuxPaint, save and open saved image for future uses. Also, learning how to upload image into a Word Document.

January-February: Using VoiceThread to look for  information about Science and Social Studies content and present using Digital Storybooks.

March-April- Use Microsoft Excel to graph survey results.

May-June- Use Powerpoint to share what they've learned in Kindergarten. Comparing their own experiences with that of a partnering classroom we will Skype with throughout the school year.

I realize that this may not go exactly as planned. Students may learn how to use the digital tools more quickly or take more time. The key is to be flexible. As far as new questions that have risen, I would like to know if there are any other Kindergarten, or K-2 teachers in the is course, what their suggestions are for teaching digital tools. How you taught them? When you taught them? Was there a plan you followed? Any blogs that had great ideas or how you taught students how to use the computer appropriately and effectively. We will no longer have a computer lab next school year, so I will need to improvise. 

For Standard 4d, it is my hope to use other forms of assessment to help drive my instruction. We currently use the mclass Wireless Generation TRC, NWF, PSF, BURST, and Math programs to benchmark and progress monitor our students. Along with using this technology, I would like to incorporate the use of clickers. I was thinking, to introduce the use of clickers, we could use the math concept of giving and reading survey results. I could ask a question, students respond, and then we could look at results. For a more summative approach, I could have students respond to any content area with questions displayed on the board, and students would have to choose the best answer with their clickers. I would then use these results to drive my instruction. Another area I would like to investigate further, is the use of Google Forms. Here I can create open ended assessments, multiple choice assessments, spelling assessments and it will be accessible at school or at home. I am interested to hear how other teachers are using assessments in kindergarten. What works well? What doesn't work so well? I really want to showcase authentic learning with real case scenarios so it is more interesting and motivating for my students.