Formal Blog #1

Formal Blog #1

Hmmm... How have I grown or progressed toward my goal today.... Well, I guess I've narrowed down the product that I want to make. We were talking about flexible pathways at the 3 pillars talk and an image of a board game popped into my brainball. I'm going to make a game that kids can play to find a path towards their goal. It'll  have a bit of structure and a ton of flexibility. 
I also flipped through some OBLIQUE STRATEGIES and considered how they could be used for student planning/game play. This game will totally transform the PLP experience from last year. It will be a great way to get kids out of their boxes and trying something new. 
Had a great conversation with Mary about this progress and she pointed me in some great directions. 

A strength I've demonstrated over the first two days is creativity and intertextuality. My original idea was a worksheety kind of thing that morphed into a game (thanks Jumanji!). The 3 pillars talk on flexible pathways made me think of people taking the unbeaten path, which sparked ideas like examining the lives of characters who do it their own way- what they do, why they do it, and how they do it. Paulsen's Brian came to mind. In Hatchet he learns out of necessity.  He had to learn how to survive in the wild. In later books he does formal learning about survival and even teaches others. He's a great model of an engaged student: he learns, loved learning, and learned outside of school because he loved it. Maybe kids need to be stranded in the woods on their own for a few months to do their PLP goals?
No significant challenges so far, save my struggle with caffeine withdrawal, and no breakfast low blood sugar. 
I did go through the Flexible Scheduling module to discover that it didn't really apply to my project. It did get me thinking about the constraints on flexible scheduling that I've experienced- especially recently. I was a Montessori student so my entire school day was flexible to the max. At my last school we had to at least pretend that we had x minutes of each class- especially the "important" ones (Math, ELA). I also had a student who could not handle a topic going seconds beyond the clock. 

I think I need to focus on the Flexible Pathways module. This is what I want my students to do.

Name Matt Smith

Elevator pitch for what I want to accomplish at MGI My goal for MGI is to create worksheets that will help kids reach their PLP goals in a more organized, fun way. (I like the move from worksheets to game) PLPs have been too nebulous and wishy washy so far. (The game will definitely do this and give them a way to show/share/bounce ideas with a partner/opponent) I want to make a SMART goalish thingy that kids will actually do. The planning guides will focus on organizational concepts such as: Flexible scheduling, family engagement, and community partnerships.

Goals For each goal state the goal and also note overarching connections (e.g., to MGI 2016 MG Teacher Standards). Please make sure your goals contain the components of the SMART goal format. S-Create planning guides to help students make PLPs happen. M-Compare PLP engagement/accomplishment from last year to next. A-1 year goal. I plan to make them available to other teachers (I will not be in the classroom) R-There was a lot of failure/time wasting last year. I want these guides to motivate/gameify personal learning plans. T-I hope to have them rolling by beginning of next school year.

Plan for the Week What learning opportunities will you pursue to help you meet your goals? List known or possible activities, such as MGI 2016 Modules, student consultations, workshops that you would like to request, etc. Provide details as appropriate, such as sequence, when each module will be tackled, with whom, etc. It’s ok to note that you would like us to pair you with someone or a small group. I plan to explore the modules and use what I glean from them to help create the guides. I will try to fit in a module every day or two this week and then sporadically during them summer. (Did one, wasn't the right one for me but got me focused on the next one to look at)

Action Research Project Note the main questions of your Action Research project and provide a link to your site/proposal. Does gamification help students organize, focus, and have more enthusiasm independent learning?