My Mega-Plan

I included the following in my grant proposal...

In order to learn and retain information, students must be engaged and motivated. For the students, there must be an obvious value to their work and learning. To accomplish this, three things need to happen.
 
First, I will gamify my classroom. When introducing new concepts, I will present them as challenges or quests. Working individually at times and often in groups, students will solve the problems using online resources and digital tools to present their findings. Collaboratively, they will use Google Apps to interact with one another, creating joint projects--this allows them to work at school as well as at home.

Second, my students will create digital notebooks. While there’s value in using notebooks to record math and science notes, most students are unwilling to refer to them for assistance. They’re simply uninteresting and many fifth graders can’t see their usefulness. Using a webpage creator, such as Wix or GoogleSites, groups of students can transform their notes into digital notes, which will include videos (ShowMe, Educreations, etc.) that they create, solving and explaining the skill. Or, they can use digital photos (using digital cameras or iPads, or KidPix) and voice recordings to create a slideshow that explains the skill. Or, they can create and edit digital movies (using iPads and a movie editor) that show them solving and explaining the skill. Plus, they can embed a variety of Web 2.0 tools (Voki, Blabberize, Prezi, Animoto, ClassTools, Wideo, Bubbl.us, etc.) that help explain the concept, define necessary vocabulary, or offer hints and reminders. 

Third, I want to incorporate Minecraft into my instruction.