Reflections

When I began my graduate program last Spring, I felt pretty confident in my abilities to use technology and incorporate it in to my lessons. Sure, I often times encountered problems when messing around with some new gadget or application, but who doesn’t? After completing my most recent class, Impact of Technology on Education, Workplace, and Society, I now know that creating lessons that just include technology isn’t really going to benefit my students in the long run. Instead of doing things differently, I must do different things. I need to change my practices to include more collaborative activities so my students can learn to negotiate, work with others to problem solve, and create more-in depth products. We've all heard the saying “more is better than one,” so it's time to start utilizing the skills of many to complete authentic tasks in the school setting.

Through this course, I also learned that teaching can no longer be about the teacher. By that I mean when we generally think about education, we think about teachers standing at their chalkboards lecturing to students. In reality, how boring is that? We must begin to think of education where classrooms have much interaction and discussion towards a common goal, students working in groups while teachers facilitate the experience, and students helping teachers connect content with how they use technology in their home environment. In other words, we need to move away from teacher-centered instruction to learner-centered activities.

I have learned so many valuable tools and ideas through this course that I cannot wait to begin implementing some new strategies when I return to teaching mid-January. (Is it just me or has this sabbatical flown by?) I have established two goals that will help transform my classroom environment to include 21^st century learning.

Goal #1: Students will complete their journal activities through a classroom blog (instead of a private journal) where they will be expected to interact and respond to each other and publish their work for a global audience.

By asking students to publish their journals online, my hope is that students will get excited about writing because they now have “an audience”. Today, students are accustomed to being a part of a global audience through Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and other social networking sites. They like the feedback they receive from their peers. My hope is that students will be more motivated to write and also their writing will improve since their work will be viewed by many, not just one.

Goal #2: Based on the new blog activity, I will revise my current journal rubric to include the skills demonstrated through blogging (i.e. collaboration, responding to classmates’ posts in an appropriate manner, and effort/participation).

By revising my rubric, I will make a shift from grading on just academic skills to grading on some of the skills needed for the future. Hopefully this will show the students the importance of these skills as they refine all of their academic skills.

These goals may provide some challenges in that many of the blog sites are currently blocked in our school. I also need parent permission so students can publish their work on the Internet. I have already reached out to our technology department to find out what our district policy is on blogging and what site would be most appropriate for our students. I am awaiting their response before I proceed further. I have already begun to formulate a letter to parents to explain the blogging process and gain permission from them. I must be prepared to find an alternate way to include students in the process if any parents have objections and do not grant permission.

As I reflect on my past practices and what I have learned in this course, I think the biggest perception that has changed for me is my belief that incorporating technology into the classroom environment helps prepare students for 21^st century learning. I have learned that it does not. Simply using technology does not solve the problem. It is when we teach our students 21^st century skills like collaboration, problem-solving, being creative, communicating effectively, negotiating, and being able to access information available on the web that we are providing the skills necessary for the future. With that in mind, I am now able to shift my thinking to include technology while also focusing on these important skills.

As I continue with my future courses, I want to continue to collaborate, share ideas, and learn from others so I can find news ways to increase student achievement to not only prepare them for those fun standardized assessments, but for the main purpose – their future.