Resources and Information to carry out my GAME plan.

The resources needed to teach, are computers, publisher program, the internet with predetermined reference sites, and an example of a MySpace. With that example, I will have to design a rubric for the students to address each individual area of the mock MySpace to create their project. The rubric will be augmented by daily assessment sheets where the students have the day’s activities and expectations to fulfill. Each day they will be provided with the websites to develop the project. Since the project will be in Russian History, they will have to do a biography on a Czar, a biography on a famous artist, musician, or writer and will have to provide information on three other areas such as products, wars, architecture or any cultural characteristic. I will have to provide a bank of websites for reference and use by the students and since it is a mock MySpace, the students will have to use a template from Microsoft Publisher in order to format their project. I have been able to design the template but am still in the process of building the web bank of sources. I also have been able to work up a rubric, but the daily assessments still have to be designed.

As for the professional development department meeting, the initial procedure has been taken. The first step was to set the time and dates. We will have three separate working meetings where I and five other colleagues will gather for a workshop on the first of my presentations. Since I am designing the mock MySpace for a project, I had planned to pitch that particular example first, but may have to adjust project presentations to range of difficulty due to time consideration.

Since we all teach Social Studies, my peers should easily be able to adapt any one of them to their content areas. I will have a power point presentation with a finished project to display. If I start with the mock MySpace, I can show each individual element as it follows the rubric and assessment sheets. Since they may not have the full understanding of what they look like, I can have them create a template in the publisher program as I go through it step by step. I would try to make the presentation a “learn by doing” activity. Since it is a small environment to work in, I can move to help with any questions or confusion.

Once I have been able to work through that presentation, we will schedule the next meeting for another small group workshop. It would be at the next where I would teach each individual to create a Glog from Glogster. Again it would be a “learn by doing” experience. It takes the internet, a mock subject, and a short period of time to find photos, text, links, video, and any other animations that may be interesting. Since Glogs are self contained, my peers would have to create an account and then just be guided through the creative process.

The last project to introduce would be an Animoto. We again are working in a website where we would need to establish an account, and then begin the process of learning how to download the photos, add text, and then add the music to complete the process. For this project, the internet would be needed and laptops for my colleagues which are not a problem as my classroom has everything available to run a workshop. I have established the times for the workshops, but the real challenge is that they had to be scheduled and are in the future toward the end of the school year. Our department members will only have time to introduce one or two of the projects, but not the third so I will survey my peers to get an understanding of what they would like to do first. Certainly the Glog would be easiest for them to learn, then the mock MySpace, with the Animoto to be the more difficult because of fear of the complexity and music management. However, it is not too difficult for them to learn in a one hour presentation.