Time to reflect

The first question we addressed in this course made me rethink and revamp the way I use technology in my classroom, because upon reflection I realized that much of what I was doing was simply using technology to complete the same tasks in a different way. By practicing many of the programs, such as wikis and podcasts, I now feel comfortable enough to use them to broaden assignments for my students. I will still need to get to know the programs better before I use them so I can trouble shoot for students, but I also feel sure there will be students who can help me in that role. While not necessarily “digital natives,” students do seem to have an uncanny way of fearlessly figuring out any technological problem facing them.

I plan to continue expanding my knowledge of technology integration by completing my Walden course work and working closely with the media specialists at my school. We have an on-site trainer for Smart Board who can answer questions as I play with that technology to get the most out of its interactive features. Our librarian/media specialist is always happy to create lessons to fit our topic while also addressing how to evaluate websites and media sources for the best information. I feel my commitment to “modernizing” lesson plans I inherited will result in increasing student achievement by using technology to keep them involved, tailor assignments to their various skills and levels, and to appeal to the knowledge they already have while expanding their awareness of the role technology plays in their future.

My goals for my classroom environment are to help my students become more risk taking independent learners and for me to do the legwork necessary to be more of a facilitator. Our single gender program emphasizes how much boys like to have choices with assignments and I believe technology makes that easier to accomplish. Thus, my first aim at students’ achieving independence is to make the technology available to them. I actually started on this today when I saw several computers that had been donated to our school. I asked the TI if I could have two of them to fill my available spots and have five desk top computers. The next step there will be to get programs such as Audacity, Smart Board Notebook, and Photo Story on them. Finally, to give students more freedom, I will have to find ways to “work with” our school filter. When we find good sites we just have to ask permission to let them pass and then they can be added to the acceptable list. This leads in to my second goal of making my lessons more of a quest for my students than for me to just ladle out the information. This is definitely a long term goal as I have only taught this curriculum for one year. I plan to spend time over the summer and as I teach next year figuring out ways to let my students do more inferrencing, predicting, finding and sorting of information than they do now. These skills will help them to become critical thinkers and prepare them better for the digital workplace they will face.