Resources for GAME plan

            Last week, I started putting together a GAME plan for strengthening my proficiency in two standards from NETS-T.  The two standards I chose as my weakest areas involved promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conception understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes, and communicating relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats  (ISTE, 2008). 

In order to begin implementing the GAME plan, I need to locate some resources to guide me.  My goal is to find at least three peer reviewed articles about blogging in the classroom across content areas.  By finding these resources, I will have a better understanding of the benefits of blogging or using a wiki to supplement other areas of the curriculum in addition to writing.  I also would like to look at five examples of blogs from classrooms that have successfully implemented blogging with students across content areas.  Then, I can evaluate what worked well for them and what I think might work well for the students in my class.  I would also like to find a mentor for blogging.  This person would preferably be a current or recently retired teacher from around the third and fourth grade level that I could contact to “pick their brain” about the ins and outs of blogging in the classroom.  My hope would also be to invite them to leave comments on the blog once started and to be there as a resource if I become stuck while implementing the blog.  At this time, the only progress I have made in my GAME plan is selecting Blogger as the blogging tool to use with my students.  I feel comfortable with creating anonymous accounts on Google to protect the identity of my students.  I also feel the blog is easy to use and customize so students can make it their own.

Addressing the second standard will follow much of the same plan for finding resources except that I feel I need to narrow down the choices to use to create a classroom newsletter.  Before narrowing down the medium, however, I want to look at a variety of examples and research the software used to create them.  Then I feel I could make an informed decision about what form or options to offer to my students.  After all, providing options for students is important so they can take control of the learning process and appeal to their strengths (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009). 

Although I expect my students to build upon their skills, simplicity is going to be the key in the beginning to implementing both blogs and newsletters.  I want them to feel comfortable with the content put into a newsletter or blog and then feel the freedom to tweak using more advanced features of the software or tool later.  However, at this time I have only begun looking at examples of classroom newsletters and blogs as well as looking at different pieces of free editing tools available on the internet.

I know I had some great suggestions last week, but has anyone found some interesting articles recently about blogging or newsletters they would like to share?  Do you blog with your students?  If so, what has been the biggest obstacle?  If you have your own versions of blogs or newsletters you would like to share, I would love to take a look at them.

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2008). National education standards

for teachers (NETS-T). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS_for_Teachers_2008_EN.sflb.ashx

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.