My GAME Plan has really mad me take charge of the technology curriculum I have set for myself and my students in my classroom. My actions have been very effective because I have set aside a good hour each day to continue to work on the technology curriculum in my class. I have spent this time researching ways to introduce technology to my students and have found about 3 pages of child friendly websites and virtual tools to develop them into dynamic technology 4th graders. To say the least I am very excited. I have learned that using a basic search engine can lead to numerous possibilities. I have found that rearranging words on a search engine can open up many other possibilities to find tools. I also have found that I need to find a better way to get organized so I can easily access these tools for my students (such as a class wiki to organize all my thoughts racing through my head). I need to learn to present a small amount of information at a time. I am very excited about incorporating much more into my technology curriculum but I need to understand that this is very new to some of my students and this will take time. I want to adjust my plan on a individual students basis. My ultimate fantasy would be to have a technology book that students can follow and work through so they are understanding all aspects of technology.
I do have a few questions for classmates…
- What would be a good way to organize all the information I have found?
- At what age do you think it is appropriate to begin students with social networking? (something I am contemplating with)
- Do you think that students would benefit from working through a “workbook” and using problem based learning when it comes to technology?
Megan,
ReplyDeleteGreat start and am glad that I am not the only one getting excited about all of this. I also have been wrestling with the idea of what is the best way to organize all the info I have found. In the past I have used Blackboard when working on a project. I liked it because I could set up a resource list that was hyper-linked for them, plus you could use the discussion board feature for groups or all your students depending on how you want to do it. It was also a nice intro for them as a social networking tool. Not all of my students have myspace or facebook accounts, so this was a chance for them to post messages and questions and have other students not only from their class but from other hours. Two years ago the other social studies teacher and I did a joint a project where all of our students competed against each other in groups. It was neat to see them interact on the board not only with their own classmates, but also with different classes from the other social studies classes taught by my friend. So, that was a long winded answer to your question about age - basically, if done right in a controlled environment, your 4th graders should be fine.