Still In The Planning Stage...

Since our school year is drawing to an end, I unfortunately won't get a chance to put my GAME plan into action until at least August when the school year begins. "Learning, in general, and about technology specifically, is an ongoing process (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, p. 7, 2009). However, I plan on having everything in place and ready to go for when the time arises. Therefore, there are a few things that I have done in order to get ready.

First, I have spoken with many other classmates and colleagues about newsletters and have gotten numerous examples of newsletters that are used. I plan on coming up with a template that I will use for each month and just change the specific information. That will keep things consistent for both myself while I update it as well as those who read the newsletters. I have also gotten positive feedback from teachers who currently e-mail their newsletters to parents/families. One suggestion that I received was to plan to e-mail the newsletter out a week before the month begins; that way if for some reason you are behind you won't be too far behind. Another suggestion I got was to make the newsletter as generic as possible that way it can be used from year to year and all that will need to be changed are any dates that are included. All of these ideas are very helpful and will definitely be considered for next year when I begin e-mailing my newsletters.

As far as giving my students the opportunity to communicate with other students from different cultures, I have looked to ePals to help with this standard. I just recently set up an account and received an e-mail address through this site. In addition I put a posting on the teacher form seeking an English speaking class that would like to be ePals for the 2010-2011 school year. I am anxiously awaiting any responses. As I was looking around in the forum, it seems that when teachers post "ads" he/she get a lot of responses. I don't want to overwhelm myself or the kids the first year so I am just looking for one class for now. Before I commit to any class I would like to find other teachers who have used ePals with their class and speak with him/her about their experience. If you are reading this and you or you know someone who has used ePals please feel free to leave me a comment.

References
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology Integration for Meaningful Classroom Use: A Standards-Based Approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.