Planning, Planning, and More Planning

Since our school year comes to an end in two days, I have not been able to put my GAME plan into motion. However, it is nice that I get to take the time to really do some researching so that when the new school year starts I will be ready to implement my plan.

Like I had mentioned in my previous Blog, I have registered on ePals and created an advertisement seeking an English speaking class that would be willing to be ePals with a fourth grade class from the USA. I have gotten numerous responses and e-mails to my postings. My dilemma now is, how do I decide which one to choose? Once I decide which class would be best for my class, then I need to communicate with the teacher of that class and decide how frequent, and what content will be included in our messages to each other. I want to find a happy medium with how frequently we communicate. I don't want the first experience to be overwhelming for the students or myself, however, at the same time I don't want it to be just once or twice within the school year.

In regards to communicating with my parents electronically, I am in the process of creating a survey for my parents to find out what kinds of things they would like to see on monthly newsletters. I have a list of options that they can circle as well as a place where they can write some of their other ideas. This will go home to my current students in hopes to have ideas for when I begin creating the monthly newsletters for next year's parents.

Since the school year is just about over and I will not be able to implement my GAME plan until next school year, I am taking this time to get myself on the right track. It is nice to be able to take time to think through all of the information and get feedback rather than having to rush through it and make decisions that could backfire because they were rushed. Since the GAME plan allows you to "take notes so you can easily revise your lesson for the next time" (Laureate Education, 2009) I am hoping that with plenty of time to research and think about how I want things to work next year will cause less frustration and chaos on both the students and myself.

References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.