Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Revised Action Plan Outline

When I re-examined the outline of my action plan, I decided to add some key pieces of information that I think teachers, in this case the students, will need in order for them to have a positive interaction with this new learning community. First, by becoming a member of several groups myself, I realized that if I am making this group by invitation only, I will need the learners to email me so that I can email them an invitation to join. I also thought it would be helpful, since this will be a new experience for many, for them to search for and explore other communities available at www.ning.com. Finally I thought that it would be helpful if teachers have a format for entering their meaningful instructional practices. On the action plan I have stated the required pieces, however, I am unsure about how I will impart this information to the members of the team. When issued an invitation you get an email so I am thinking that sharing this information in that email may be the best possible way to share the requirements for entering lesson ideas.

This week I also touched base with the reading specialist at my school and she has agreed to work with me on this project. She has a wealth of knowledge about reading strategies and I think she is more than willing to share them, but also is under time constraints. As the first person with whom I have shared this idea, she was very positive and excited about this new adventure. She agreed that there is certainly a need for it and feels that is could be a positive experience for everyone.

I am a little nervous about putting this plan into action just because it will require more training on the teachers end and they have been a little overwhelmed this fall. I think that I will first ask the team that I have worked the most closely with in the past to pilot this program. Hopefully, they will find the experience to be a positive one and will then be able to get the word out. Then, later in the year, I will offer a voluntary training for anyone who would like to join. There are also several "tech savvy" teachers out there that I could email invitations to with a brief description of my overall goals for the site.

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