REFLECTION

Throughout this course I have struggled and succeeded with many concepts and have discovered many new ideas and activities to use as a teacher.  I have gone from being somewhat knowledgeable in technology to having a new found obsession with incorporating technology into my classroom.  During previous school years, I often found the use of technology with students to be more tedious than beneficial.  Now, however, I am eager to work with technology in my classroom with my students and more importantly have begun using my student’s vast knowledge with technology to assist me in the classroom.

In taking this course, I have also enriched my own knowledge with technology.  I have created a blog, a wiki, and a podcast.  I would love to use these technologies with my English classes next year.  I have also learned a great deal about collaborating with classmates to reach a common goal.  Throughout this class I have had to rely heavily on the support and assistance of my classmates.  We were expected to work with one another to complete the wiki page which was a very difficult task in itself.  Also, with this being an online course, we often depended on one another to assist with questions needing instant feedback that the professor may not have had a chance to respond to immediately.  I am very fortunate to have had such amazing colleagues throughout this class and want to thank each and every one of them.

I currently teach English to 5th grade students.  At the start of the school year, many students are unorganized and overwhelmed with the drastic changes from 4th to 5th grade.  Many struggle with being held responsible for completing tasks and keeping themselves on track and organized.  This course has opened my eyes into new approaches and ideas to hold my students more accountable.  Next year I am incorporating centers into my classroom.  By creating this atmosphere, students will be held liable for their work ethic, organization, grades, and completion of assignments.  Creating a child-centered classroom in which the teacher acts a facilitator is more realistic in the real world and will teach the children responsibility.

I have two long term goals that will be an obstacle in my district due to the fact we do not have technology guidelines and rules implemented.

One activity I intend to use is blogging to assist with peer editing.  A teacher’s input on writing is extremely beneficial to student’s when working with revising and editing.  However, a peer reading a child’s writing on a blog is even more vital in creating a more positive atmosphere in the writing process and student’s will demand much more from the child.  The other goal is to create assignments that incorporate a school to real world connection.  After viewing the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website and searching through their resources, I have realized that students need a guarantee that what they are learning in the classroom will be beneficial to them outside of school.  This can be a struggle due to the standardized testing writing I need to address with my students.  They will most likely never use this type of writing again, but I need to create prompts that the children can relate to.

After reviewing my checklist from the start of this course, I realized many of my answers did change.  While I am constantly trying new things in my classroom, this course has allowed me to learn actual activities and new ideas that I can practice with my students.  I have gained a great deal of knowledge about 21st century learning and incorporating technology into the curriculum and due to this course, I now have the resources, materials, colleagues, and educators to actually accomplish these tasks.