I am continually amazed at how much technology is available that I am not even aware of and how it can be used to instruct our students. Throughout this course, I was constantly reading postings from other co-horts about the technology that was available to them and how they incorporated and used it in the classroom for instruction. There were many time when I read some new information that I never knew about as far as incorporation of the technology. It seems amazing to have the technology but for me at the same time it seems unrealistic because I am not so lucky in having resources available as many of my other co-horts so it is very difficult to understand and visualize such things being done. However, I am amazed by what is available and what can be done if resources were available.
Throughout this course I have learned a lot of wonderful things that I can use and incorporate into my classroom. Wikis, blogs, and podcasts are all tools that I had heard about but I never really knew what they were and never used any of them either. However, throughout this course I’ve had to step outside of my comfort zone, reach out, read, learn, and apply what I’ve learned to create each of the aforementioned technological tools. I’ve had to contribute to other people’s ideas and opinions which has opened my eyes to wonderful resources, thoughts, and an overall goal that we all have in common which is to educate and prepare students in a way that would be beneficial and give them the tools to be successful and contributing citizens one day. I can now comfortably use a wiki, blog, and podcast and feel that I can add it to my repertoire to apply its use in my classroom and use it as a teaching tool. I already have plans to incorporate their use into my classroom instruction and have even made it a goal on my state evaluator system that our school and state does to evaluate teachers, to incorporate their use into my classroom. Making it a goal that I must do makes it more realistic and gives me the push I need to ensure that I do use it and incorporate it. I look forward to beginning this journey, applying it and seeing the rewards that will come with allowing my students to be more hands on technologically and contribute more to their own learning.
I think technology drastically changes how education occurs. Although students are more hands on and instruction is more student centered instead of teacher centered, education will forever need teachers to guide, facilitate, motivate, and assist students. I have changed my views on teaching and feel that I must allow my classroom to be more student centered and incorporate more technology where I can. Students can learn a tremendous amount from technology. They need to have the opportunity to work with technology in an effort to give them the 21st century skills that they need to be successful. I think the most difficult part of this is not incorporating technology, but instead the management of making my classroom more student centered. With this, students will be up and moving more, having more conversation, and being much more involved as opposed to the old way of teaching where they all sat in their seats and listened while taking notes for the majority of the day. Now I need to let go of my control and find a way to allow more movement, student centered activities using technology to benefit and make my classroom environment more hands on and enriching with opportunities to create wikis, podcasts, and even blogs. I do think that once students understand the task at hand and have enough practice to where they are comfortable, that with it in time, management and more control will come back to the room because students will learn the procedures and will be involved doing something that they enjoy where they themselves are in more control of their own learning.
In an effort to allow more hands on experiences with more opportunities, I need to learn more about technology and how it can be used to enrich the educational setting. I also think that I need to jump in there and give my students a task. However, it’s okay to not completely understand and know all the answers. I think that is the biggest thing I have learned over the course of this class. I have learned that it is okay to be a student and learn while my students are learning as well. We can learn together and I am sure they can teach me things they know that I don’t know already with technology if I give them the opportunity to do so. The use of technology will make learning much more engaging and students will be more excited to take part in education. I think with that will come better student success because the engagement of students is a huge factor in how well they learn and how much they take in as opposed to just listening to information.
In the next two years I hope to have a classroom that is more student centered where students are more involved in their own learning and are taking more control of their education. I hope to allow more opportunities to learn in groups and work collaboratively with one another to present what they have learned. I also intend to incorporate the use of technology much more. I want to teach my kids how to use a wiki, podcast, blog, and other resources that they can use as tools for learning. It is important to provide these opportunities and ensure that they know and can manipulate them and create them on their own. Students must be able to work with these tools to be ready for the future. They must develop 21st century skills and it is my job to provide them with the opportunity to do so. I need to make sure that they become critical thinkers and problem solvers. These two are extremely vital to whether or not they will be successful as adults.
