Genetic Testing Blog Post #2

If you had the opportunity to be tested for a genetic disorder that would develop later in life, would you do it? What would make you want to know? What would make you not want to know? What if the test was for cancer? What if the test was for Huntington's disease? (think about the symptoms, etc of each).

Reflecting- Sosnoski Week 7

Step 1: Reflecting on my GAME plan, I have learned a lot. While I have not made as much progress on my goal for creating an authentic learning experience in ecology, I have made a lot of progress in my goal regarding blogging. The reason I have not made further progress with the ecology project is because IPEI (who offers the grants) referred me to 2 teachers in my building who I have already spoken to. I was hoping they'd link me to an outside, community resource. I'll keep trying! To revise this plan, I think I just need to take away a time limit and hope to find something by next year that will help me meet my goal. Perhaps over the summer, when I have more time, or in february, when I graduate from Walden, I will have more time to focus on this.

Meanwhile, my first blog endeavor with my students was a great success! The link to my class blog is http://sosnoskibiology/blogspot.com . Check out the responses! This was a great experience for me. I got so excited every time a kid left a comment. The prompt asked students to reflect on what they've enjoyed most and least in the class so far. The students were very insightful and it gave me some really great feedback that I can use to tailor my instruction to meet student needs. I will definitely continue to use this tool for student reflection.

As far as using GAME plan with my students, I had started this process in the beginning of the year by having students write SMART goals relating to my class. Unfortunately, I have no held them accountable for monitoring and evaluating their goals. Since the end of the marking period is coming up, I'd like to start this process over and really keep track of student goals this time. 

Step 2: As described above, I will be using technology more in the form of blogs to track student reflection throughout my course. During these blog posts, students are also collaborating with each other by responding to others' posts, promoting online collaboration. For my next big project with students, possibly on the topic of genetic disorders or during the body systems unit, I will have students create digital stories. For genetic disorders, students could create a story from the perspective of a person with the disorder, a doctor, or biologist. For body systems, students could create "tours" through the different body systems. 

As far as problem-based learning goes, I am trying to think of more authentic ways to use this in my classroom. One idea I have is to have a "diagnose me" day, where students research different disorders/diseases online then some students act out the symptoms while "doctors" diagnose the disorder/disease.