Final Blog Posting: Reflection

     Keeping up with the latest technology is a difficult yet rewarding task. Technology has become the center of just about every student we teach lives. So, in order for our students to come to us eager and motivated to learn, we must use this technology to its advantage and present our curriculum through this tool. This will enable us to create self-directed learners through meaningful instruction

     Over the years, I have been introduced to many new resources and tools through technology to use in my classroom. Through this course, I have learned how to create a blog, a wiki, and develop a podcast. I have already begun to utilize a blog in my classroom as a learning tool. “Through the unique process of blogging….students are learning to read more critically, think about that reading more analytically, and write more clearly. And they are building relationships with peers, teachers, mentors, and professionals, within the Weblog environment” (Richardson, 2010, p. 20). My future plan is to implement a class wiki for students to communicate and collaborate. Finally, I am going to use podcasts as a form of assessment when students complete their project based assessments. My goal after this class is to integrate more technology with hope to create lifelong learners in my classroom.

     One piece of knowledge that has stuck out from this course is students need to take ownership of their own learning. They need to be their own source of information. Students need to realize that teachers do not need to be the center of the classroom knowledge, but a facilitator and interpreter. “Teachers don’t need to teach the way they were taught, but in a fundamentally different way” (Laureate Education, 2008). I have always believed that students should take ownership, but I had to play some sort of a role in how they comprehend this information. However, through this course I have learned that I need to take the backseat and let my students become the driver of their own learning process.

     For me to be an efficient teacher, I must dedicate myself into becoming a lifelong learner. Each time new technology is introduced, we must do whatever we can to learn more about it. Our students have access to all types of technology in their everyday lives. So, if we want our students to be successful, then it is critical we take what interests them and use it to its advantage and that is integrate it into our curriculum.

     The first goal I have set for myself is to make my room more student-centered. I want my students to become self-directors, self-monitors, and self-managers of their own learning and for me to become a facilitator of it. One obstacle I see I may face in doing this is giving students the confidence to achieve ownership of their own learning. The second goal I would like to accomplish is to integrate wikis into my curriculum. This will be a challenge because my district does not feel that wikis are an effective and a reliable learning tool. In order for this to occur, I will have to take what I have learned from this class to persuade them that wikis will help students become prepared for the real-world by learning how to make good decisions, become excellent problem solvers, researchers, and teach them how to effectively communicate and collaborate with their peers.

     After reflecting back on week one’s checklist, I feel I have changed in some ways. I have been allowing students more independence when completing project-based assessments, by giving them the choice in how they present their information. I have also begun to provide them with more opportunities to collaborate and communicate with one another in order to gather information and create projects. Finally, I have begun to create more learning experiences with technology. Technology is the wave of the future and it is going to continue to grow so we must use it to its fullest advantage so our students will be prepared for the next level as well as the future.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore: Author.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.   3^rd ed. Corwin.