This course has helped me develop my
own technology skills as a professional teacher in many ways. I had started a blog for my class last year
as our District is on a plan to have every single teacher have a classroom blog
up and running by next school year. I
would say I think of myself as already tech-savy but in no way am I a
tech-expert. This class has helped me
decide what I need to put on my blog and what is unnecessary. This class also helped me hone in on what
skills I need to work more on and what skills I am pretty good at. I found that I really need to work on
Podcasting. Podcasts were very hard for
me to figure out but I do see the benefit in podcasting.
I have deepened my knowledge of the
teaching and learning process by really understanding that you need to plan
with your end result in mind. You need
to think about what you want your students to learn and how you can best teach
that using as much technology as necessary.
I also think that you need to try to put technology into projects even
if you aren’t 100% comfortable with that technology yet. You need to be open with your students and
let them know that you will work with them and that you don’t know everything
also. I would want to say that we are
learning together.
I think that I have changed my
perspective from being less teacher-centered to more learner-centered by
wanting to create more projects and assignments for self-discovery. I want the students to have more genuine
learning experiences facilitated by me.
I don’t want to just tell them what is supposed to happen or what is
going to happen, I want them to try it themselves. I want them to make their own mistakes and
try again.
I can continue to expand my
knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of
increasing student achievement by continuing to stay on top of current
technology. I want to make sure that I
have that connection with my students where they feel that they can talk to me
and correct me and inform me of new things.
I want to make sure that students feel comfortable talking to me about
their lives and their world.
One goal that I would like to
achieve would be to use my ActiveExpression every day in several different
subjects. Now I do use the Expressions every day. I use it at least one time in the morning to
check in and often I use it in math at least 2-3 times a week. I would really like to use the Expressions in
every subject. I will need to get
creative in how I use them. I think that
this will really expand their engagement as they love using the
Expressions. The whole 5th
grade has ActivExpressions and we just got them about 3 months before school
ended last year so we are still learning how to use them.
Another goal that I would like to
achieve is to get the kids on the computers at least once a week by the end of
this year and at least 2-3 times a week by the following year. I plan to do this by setting aside time for
the computer. I only have five computers
in my room so I will need to rotate the kids.
I will do this by creating another activity for the kids to do. I may even create ‘stations’ for the kids to
rotate through. This will take some more
thinking and asking around and searching the web for answers.
Referring back to the checklist from Week 1, my
answers have not really changed too drastically. I think once school goes back in session I
will really know. I do think that as I
start this new year, lessons learned from this class will change my teaching
style and lessons.
