GAME Plan

Carrying Out My GAME Plan
As I ponder the goals I listed in my last blog, I know that I will need a colleague in a foreign country with whom I can collaborate. I will also need their classes to be able to collaborate with my classes (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I have currently connected with a teacher, through epals, who teaches in Japan. She teaches English and wants her high school students to be able to have an exchange with English speaking teens in another country. She said that her school has limited internet and terrible connections and wants to use snail mail. I emailed her back and asked if she and I could communicate via email on a regular basis. I also requested that we try sending something to each other through the mail to see how long it takes to receive. We have exchanged addresses, but I am awaiting her response. I am hoping that we can still have some communication via email or skype or something for my class. If we cannot, I may have to use another classroom for the exchange, however, I think I will still communicate via snail mail with this class and incorporate it somehow into the lessons.
I have begun an account in EMODO as well in case I need to search for a new classroom. I have not been verified by EMODO yet, but am waiting for their approval. I would like us to skype sometime on my smartboard as we interact with the other classrom.
I have also been thinking about how I will present this idea to my classes. I think we will discuss it in class, and I will post the information to my website so the students can look at it as many times as they want (Laureate Education, Inc. 2010a). I have also been thinking about how my students might communicate with others. Students might bring photos, items to show, life story or digital history, share things such as music, facebook, food preferences, etc. (Laureate Education, Inc. 2010b). I also want my student to be respectful of other cultures and work to develop an understanding (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I would like to do some projects that represent our culture, then ones that represent the culture of the other school and depict what we have learned from them. These projects could be interchanged with the Japanese school and also posted for other classes in our own school to view.
I have presented this idea to my building principal. He is supportive of the idea to have my classes communicate with students of another culture. We will begin talking about whether we can make it a mandatory part of the class; since I teach course recovery this might be a little tricky.
I have also begun thinking about my log. I think I will develop an excel form on which to keep my thoughts. This form will include the date, time and content of my communication activity. It should also include a goal for each communication and an evaluation. I think I might also assign each one a number that signifies to what extent it is meeting my goal.

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.
Edmodo. (2011). http://www.edmodo.com/community/support#
Epals. (2010). http://www.epals.com/
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program One. Meeting Students’ Needs With Technology, Part 1. [Webcast]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program Two. Meeting Students’ Needs With Technology, Part 2. [Webcast]. Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore, MD: Author.