The GAME Continues...

            Three weeks ago I set out on the journey of accomplishing my GAME plan.  I evaluated my strengths and weaknesses against the ISTE NETS-T Standards to determine areas for improvement.  The first standard I saw room for improvement in is Standard 3c: Communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents, and peers using a variety of digital age media and formats (ISTE, 2008).  The second standard I am hoping to address through my GAME plan is Standard 1c: Promoting student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’ conception understanding and thinking, planning, and creative processes (ISTE, 2008). 

Last week I felt overwhelmed by my GAME plan partially because I have a hard time making decisions when it comes to choosing tools.  I had too many options for creating a classroom newsletter.  Then, I had an epiphany.  Why should I be the one to select the newsletter format?  Why not explore some options with my students and get their feedback?  After all, providing choice is important so students can choose tools to use that showcase their strengths (Laureate Education, Inc., 2009).  I also wanted them to take ownership of the newsletter to showcase their learning each week.  In addition I realized that the two standards I chose to create a GAME plan for were starting to merge.

I started out by showing my students some of the ideas I gained from colleagues.  I showed them some example newsletters from other classes as well as showed them tools.  One of the tools they loved the most was Prezi and asked if they could use that one to create their newsletter.  Another student asked if they could change formats as they saw fit based on the material they wanted to include in the newsletter that week.  For example, if it would do better to show the parents what they were doing, they would like to be able to produce a newsletter that allowed for video or links to video stored online.  I think the video idea came from the fact that they had made their first movie about Thanksgiving this week using We Video, an online video editing collaboration tool.  In order to accommodate both, I suggested using a blog.  A blog would allow them to not only create a newsletter in text, but also allow multimedia to be posted to include pictures, movies, or audio commentary.  It was at this point that I realized the two standards I was addressing in my GAME plan were beginning to merge.  Students were going to be using a blog to create a newsletter to inform parents about happenings in the classroom enhancing parent communication.

            I also finally located some good resources for creating a classroom newsletter this week.  One of the resources I discovered was this lesson plan for creating a classroom newsletter.  Although I will not be using that format, I thought it might be a good place to start with my students.  It has students work together to brainstorm a list of 4 or 5 topics they would want to write about.  Then each student chooses one topic from the list to write about.  Each student writes their article individually in three of four sentences.  After engaging in a peer review process, the students copy and paste their articles into a separate document to combine the articles for formatting into a newsletter.  This could easily be accomplished with Google Docs.

            Another resource I discovered was from the Miami Herald.  They created a 5 day unit plan for creating a classroom newspaper.  Although this is longer than what I need, there are some great resources for students in the file to help them think through what is important in a news article.  I also found this Printing Press tool that can format all articles into a newsletter.

            Overall, my GAME plan has changed slightly in that the two standards I began addressing separately, are starting to become one.  By using a blog to create a classroom newsletter, parents will be able to comment on articles as necessary as well as ask questions.  I will use Google Blogger to create a separate blog for my classroom for students to use.  My next step will be to send a letter home to parents explaining what is about to happen and to get permission for students to create their own Google accounts.  Students will then work together to create the look of the blog as well as receive input from myself.  I also realized we will have to spend some time going over criteria for a newspaper article, which makes the above resources so valuable.

            Some of the questions I still have include, how do you get parents to visit and read the newsletter?  Do I leave it up to the student to notify their parents of the newsletter or do I send reminders home?  I plan to send a letter home to the parents telling them what I am planning on doing and to ask for permission to create individual Google accounts to be able to post on the blog.  These accounts could be used for accessing any of the Google productivity tools.  I am open to suggestions!

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.