Final Reflection

Yet another course draws to a close in my road to obtaining my Masters degree. Throughout the last several weeks, there have been many ups and downs, successes and failures. My GAME plan proved to be a good one. I am now a part of several PLCs, and am in the process of creating one for my school to use to integrate technology, specifically online collaboration with students. I am excited for this new adventure in learning!
I found PD360 to be highly effective in helping me learn about PLCs as well as any subject I wished to research. This site gave me many valuable ideas as to things I can do better in my classroom, and how I can become a better teacher. I found that working with my colleagues on various projects and issues has deepened my sense of connection to the school system, as well as the content I teach. I will continue working on my GAME plan, even as I end this course.
Though it is not on this blog, I did begin implementing a content area unit plan with my students. This unit plan incorporates problem based learning, online collaboration, and s=digital storytelling. I am excited to work through this unit plan in the coming weeks, because I have already seen the excitement bloom in my first grade students. They have begun researching and creating a project about ocean animals, which I know will lead to high levels of understanding about ocean animals, and their importance in the marine food chain. Using the GAME plan process to create lessons for my students has been a highly rewarding experience for me, and will continue to be for my students. As I progress through the unit plan, I see how the planning has really helped to make this a smooth, cohesive unit, which I can tweek for the coming school years. I do think that I chose a topic which was really too large for my initial GAME plan project, but the large amount of work has been worth the benefits I am seeing in motivation and high quality products I am seeing my students create. 
As I continue on in my learning to become a more effective teacher, I will think back on this course, and will continue to apply what I learned about the GAME plan into my teaching. I am excited to move on to the next chapter in my studies!

References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J., Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use.