Reflection
The ways in which this course has helped me develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher is by introducing me to tools that I had never used before or maybe would have been nervous to try if it were not a requirement. Creating a blog and teaching my students about it opened up a new realm of possibilities for gathering information and reflecting on that information. The wiki has allowed my students and me to create and share new information in group settings, as well as reflect on other student’s work. I had difficulty with podcasting, but in the end was so happy to have learned how to use the technology and now have many ideas brewing on how to use it for my audio learners, for vocabulary lessons, and for reenactments.
The main way I have deepened my knowledge in the teaching and learning process is through the reflection of what I was doing, which I sadly refer to as old school teaching. Through this reflection I realized that I needed to reprioritize and refocus. I needed to ask myself if this was the best learning environment I could provide. I learned to approach my lessons by making sure to include real life problem solving, synthesizing, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and higher learning assignments, requirements, projects, and assessments. Beginning to ask more questions as well as focus on student interests helped guide me in the direction of providing more meaningful learning.
The change in my perspective from being teacher centered to learner centered was initially difficult. I had to take time to sit back and let my students perform. Granted they were given guidelines and choices for their learning, it was still difficult to set up the facilitation of that, opposed to just helping them do it. Once I started to see what they could do without me as a crutch, it was amazing, they were able to teach me things. That is when the switch became rewarding and I started to revel in the new types of assignments and projects that we could do in the future.
Some of the ways that I have thought about in regards to expanding my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology to increase student improvement is through reflection, communication, and collaboration. I think continuing to visit educational blogs to get new teaching techniques and ideas, as well as view lessons that other teachers have shared would be extremely beneficial. Sharing ideas and lessons with colleagues and creating an open dialog for reaching today’s students along with designing best practices will help with this process. Most importantly I need to continue to ask students questions about their interests, ideas, what ways they like to learn, and what technology they would use given the choice.
Two long term goals I would like to use to transform my classroom that would definitely be difficult due to institutional and systemic obstacles, would be to have complete blog access, and have students be able to use video to create their own lessons and share them with other students online. The administrators and parents at my site are very protective and it is a fight for every inch of technological freedom. I understand the worry of students having access to strangers and vice versa, but I think if the proper guidelines were in place and we educated our students on appropriate use of these tools there is no stopping their potential. I think the best plan of action is to start small, like I have done with my class blog and wiki that has security controls, and then gradually share with parents and educators what the possibilities for student learning could be if we widened the scope. Being persistent and sharing lessons that motivate and engage students would definitely have to be part of the fight for an environment that supports and encourages 21st century learners.
After referring back to the assessment checklist from the beginning of this course there are three definite areas that have changed for me as an educator. First being, designing activities requiring student collaboration to accomplish a joint task. Many times in my teaching I let students slide on collaboration, and now realize what a complete disservice this is to them. Whether students collaborate well or not, they have to find a way to be productive in it if they want to be successful in their careers and futures. Holding my students accountable for this and reorganizing this process has made it more beneficial for my students. The second area I felt improvement in was modeling reflective practices and engaging students in activities that promote self-reflection of their own learning. The use of our classroom blog has really allowed my students to see their work through a different perspective, another student’s perspective, and this feedback has helped them anticipate problems or areas of weakness before submitting completed work. It has also taught them how to use constructive criticism when commenting on other student’s work. The third area that I felt I improved in was designing learning experiences that incorporate technology by examining the learning goals to be achieved, then recommending the most appropriate tools to support those goals. Whether it is some of the new vocabulary we are starting to create with podcasts, the wiki used to share, edit, and add information on content, or using our rss reader in our blog to help us receive current information on topics of interest, all of these tools have made my students more successful.
