Reflection
Looking back and reflecting on this course, this course has opened many doors and opportunities for my classroom to expand and presented new challenges to me as an educator and also new challenges for my students to overcome. We are certainly living in a technological age with technology being used in almost all aspects of live. Teachers must stay current in their classrooms and the only way to do this is through the use of technology. Examples of this technology can be blogs, wikis, podcasts and RSS feeds (Richardson, 2010).
This course has helped me in many ways. It has made me think outside the box and think of creative ways to present the same information I was currently teaching to my students but now through the use of technology. For example, an idea I now use is a blog for students to write entries based off of diseases we have discussed and learned about in health class. As Dr. David Thornburg and Hall Davidson stated in the video, "Technology's Influence," "technology is allowing project based learning and expanding student creativity" (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). This class also deepened my knowledge of teaching and the learning process because it made me think like a student. I began to ask myself, would my students enjoy this activity, does it present information to them in a way that is different then what they have seen all day. The podcasts activity that was completed in this class gave me many new ideas on how students can present information to the rest of the class. Instead of a basic skit, now the students can create their own podcast, something new and interesting.
As a fourth year teacher I am beginning to see that the teacher does not need to control every aspect of the classroom. By beginning to let students work on their own, letting them develop their own ideas and create their own projects the classroom is changing to a more project based learning environment. A teacher driven lecture is not allowing the students to explore and challenge themselves. The students are bored with lectures and enjoy using technology and moving around the classroom. This is creating a stronger learning environment and changing my classroom from teacher centered to more learning centered.
With every passing day new technology is being created and modified. The only way to stay on top of the ever changing technology is to continue to use it in the classroom, take classes to learn more about technology and to visit workshops about technology. Technology increases student achievement because the students are more motivated and eager to use technology. Any student who is motivated and gets to use different forms of technology and experience a different classroom structure will produce a higher quality product. When students are producing quality work they are learning more and working towards fulfilling their potential.
Two goals I want to accomplish to help transform my classroom are to continue to use blogs and teacher created websites to have students interact more with each other and also students across the globe. I think students working on large country or global project would be very interesting and foster a high level of learning. The students would learn how to work with others and communicate with each other even though they are not in the same school. This activity would require connecting with another school interested in the same type of activity and also require my school having up to date technology so the students do not get frustrated with lacking technology. I would also like my health students to create different types of podcasts to create messages about the dangers of drugs. This would be an end of the semester project where the students would work in groups of two. The students would create a podcast about drugs or drug addiction and post it on the internet and on the morning announcements. Since the students work will be on display for everyone to hear the students will take pride in their work and put forth a high quality effort. Both of these goals can be accomplished in the next two years if I put in the effort to organize my thoughts and work with the technology experts in my district to set up computer labs in my school to insure they equipped with this type of equipment.Looking back at our week 1 checklist the biggest change I see is in my teaching practices. No longer am I asking students for written responses on notebook paper. I have adapted those lessons to having students respond to weekly questions on my blog. Students now are not only writing to me but they are writing to their classmates. They are responding to each other and sharing their thoughts. Learning is taking place outside the walls of my classroom and now into their homes. Having students work together from other classes and forcing them to collaborate on the computer is a fascinating tool. The students enjoy using technology, whether is being a blog, email, RSS feeds or wikis. The students are motivated and eager to come to class. Behavior issues have since declined because of the new found interest in the class. Most of all I am now able to create various activities that allow students to use many different types of digital tools. Giving them choice of what tool to use allows the students to learn from one another because some are stronger than others in different technological areas.
References:
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
