As I consider the steps I have made towards my goals set forth in my GAME plan, I am finding that all of the resources that I said I would need are available to me. I have access to Remind 101 as well as Edmodo. The students already have their Edmodo accounts, and since it is so early in the spring semester, I feel like I can still send home parent information for signing up for parent accounts as well as Remind 101 account setup. I do not see the need to modify the plan in this aspect right now.
The only thing that I am struggling with now is the goal of having a PLC with colleagues to share ideas for technology integration. There are a lot of things going on in the spring semester as far as benchmarking, and our flexible year days are also coming up. The teachers on my campus are always a bit hesitant for another thing to be added to their plate, so I am not sure how another committee or group would be received.
I have learned that when setting goals, to be realistic about the expectations you set for yourself. I think that most of my goals are reachable for me this semester. The things I am wondering about are whether my goals should be more substantive and less in number. Maybe I should have set 1 or 2 goals that would require a little more work than several smaller goals like I have.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI completely understand your reluctance to overburden your colleagues. Maybe a way to lessen your reach is to start off with people that you are more friendly with. At my school, I know that I have a few people in my building who be willing to juggle a little bit of extra work for me if necessary, knowing that I would help them out the same way if the situation arose. Think about who those people are in your building. See if you can get even a group of three people together for your PLC. Once people notice that your getting together to talk about strategies, some people may just interject their thoughts as their passing by if you have your meetings in a public place like the teacher's lounge. Just a thought! Good luck
Heather
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI think it is great that you are finding the resources you need. Do you already use Edmodo? How do you use it with your students? Have you used Remind 101 yet? I just read about it recently and think it would be a great way for parents to keep up to date with what is happening in class. My department head set up an email group for each of his classes and sends out occasional emails about an upcoming assessment or that grades were imputed. He says he does not get many responses, so I sometimes wonder if the parents were getting the emails. With Remind 101 do they have to sign up for the text alerts? What will you do if the parents do not sign up?
I can see how it would be difficult to get teachers to join in yet another thing, especially at this time of year. Midterms, grades, mid-year conferences, etc. What if you looked online for a PLC. I am sure it is not your ideal situation, but at least you could gain technology ideas from others.
Good luck with the remainder of your GAME plan. I look forward to hearing your results.
Nicole
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteHow do you like Edmodo? Are your students pretty tech savvy and able to complete assignments individually? If you were to assign something to be completed for homework, do you have many students that do not have internet access at home? I find myself agreeing with you when you spoke about burdening your colleagues with yet another thing to meet about. Unfortunately, this time of year is so focused on test prep and evaluations that teachers are very reluctant to meet for anything that is not directly linked to that. Also, because we have had so many new things thrown at us this year and last, the teachers are very reluctant to participate in anything that is not required of them. Surprisingly enough, I would have better luck asking teachers to get together this summer a few times to meet for a PLC. It is crazy how we all get so stressed and focused on the tests for the remainder of the school year.
I hope you have better luck getting your colleagues together.
Natalie
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI love Edmodo. It has become one of my pillars. Do you use the calendar planner feature? I just started using it and find it helpful. Also, do you use any of the apps available there? I've downloaded a few but haven't really had time to implement.
A couple words on your PLC dilemma. Remember your classmates here at Walden are a PLC of sorts already. I think most agree we're in this together and are willing to help each other. Also, I use Edmodo as one of my PLCs as well. You can subscribe to the community pages for your discipline. Without fail, I can put a question out there and have multiple responses within 24 hours. I've also offered my unit plans, rubrics, resources to many. I like it because it is low committment with a high yield. It's a heck of a lot better than sitting in a staff meeting masquerading as a PLC. Don't you agree?
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI like that you're using Edmodo! What do you typically use it for? Mostly I just use it to collect links and responses from students, but I haven't gotten too far into it yet.
I like the idea of having smaller goals for yourself. I often make goals that are too big, and then I get discouraged when I don't meet them. It's also frustrating to have goals that depend on other people, like PLCs. Maybe it would be better to start with a few smaller things and work your way up to bigger ones. I like Joseph's suggestion of looking for some online resources for PD. For me, as a library media specialist, I know we have state organizations that have blogs and discussion boards and stuff. Maybe something like that exists for you?