Reflection

It is hard to say that my beliefs have been modified in this class because to me they have either been validated or reawakened. The work of Skinner, Piaget and Garner are not new to any educators that have their undergraduate degrees in the last 20 years, but they are definitely ideas that, with expanding studies, add to our understanding of how to educate children. Allowing students to control their learning by experience has been a pillar of my learning theory since I first entered education, but it is also a theory that is very difficult to practice one hundred percent of the time in my classroom. Technological limitations, time restraints, testing requirements, etc. bog down my ability to do what I know benefits students the most. Knowing that increasing studies are lending further support for this practice rejuvenated my sense of purpose in students centered classrooms.
Voice thread and smart board interaction amongst students are the two tools that have enhanced my ability to use technology in the classroom. Allowing the creation of voice threads, combined with blogs afterwards, is a terrific way to create a sense of student centered learning. Allowing students to demonstrate those voice threads and allow their classmates to interact with them on a communal smartboard is yet another tool that will enhance my students learning.
When I look to the future I am always perplexed, because it is ever changing. I know the technological problems and advantages I had when I first entered education have drastically changed and will continue to change. They change with legislation, the economy, and the abundance of technology. I am supposed to make two long term goals for the future here, but I think my goals keep evolving with every course I take from Walden. The constant long term goals I have created from this, and all my courses thus far, are to be adaptable in and out of the classroom and to always ensure my students get the very best education I can give them. That education is one with student centered learning and as much technology as I can expose them to without it being instructional.

Connectivism and Social Learning in Practice

Every year I involve cooperative learning in my classroom because it works. Every year I have students that I have never had asking if they get to do what last year’s class did. My use of cooperative learning comes from a learning contract which allows students to form groups or work individually and present their allotted number of assignments together or alone. Every assignment has its own personal rubric for each individual student to insure they are doing just as much work as their peers working alone, but I have noticed in every class that I have ever taught using this project that students would rather learn together and learn from each other than not. The assignments are varied, but their enthusiasm to work together is not. I know that we were supposed to use a virtual example of classrooms using social learning theory strategies, but I have seen firsthand, through my assignments popularity, that students do indeed enjoy learning socially whether in a group, through technology, or an expert they choose.

Assimilation vs Accommodation

Pictures are worth a thousand words

Behaviorism in Practice

Last Words

Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society is a course from Walden University, which offers its students a chance to understand and implement Web 2.0 tools into their classrooms. The course asked students to investigate how to use blogs, wikis, and podcasts in our classroom. While I have used and was aware of all three of these technologies it was not until this class that I now feel very comfortable using wikis and my own podcasts in the classroom. I use blogs on a weekly basis in my classroom and also understood how to use other’s podcasts on my class website, but now I can create my own and can create a wiki for story writing ideas in my classroom.

The course has reiterated my districts mantra “We are a district of learners for learners.” When a teacher understands that self discovery is far more lasting and beneficial for a student than secondary knowledge they have finally found out what true education can be. Web 2.0 tools allow students to become the experts and receive far more perspective than they would ever get in a text book or lecture. They interact with information and the teacher becomes a guide rather than simply a lecturer. Teachers must also recognize that in order to stay in tune with the 21st century they must constantly learn themselves. In this respect, teachers must use web 2.0 tools themselves in order to continue learning for them. Guiding students to become life long learners by example is a powerful skill that will be left on them long after they leave our classrooms.

Educators must constantly monitor the technological landscape because it is constantly in flux. We truly need to take classes every year and research constantly in order to stay remotely close to all the innovation that can be used in our classrooms.

My two goals for the upcoming year is to podcast an entire class activity and have the class blog about what they hear and to have a class wiki for writing in my literature strategies class. Both of these goals require computers, which are not always available and computer literate students, also not always available. How can I overcome theses obstacles? I plan on either finding computers or writing grants for computers. I plan on lobbying in my school and in grade school for typing and computer classes to be a requirement and not just an elective and if it is not take time after school to help my students become computer literate. I am preparing future generations and when you prepare one for the future you need to use tools and information as closely related to the future as you can.

Podcast

http://www.podcastmachine.com/podcasts/1485/episodes/6914

Review of the partnership of 21st century skills website

This website has a wealth of information for anyone for anyone in a community. It allows many people outside the realm of education to come and join educators, policy-makers and business people to help close the gap on 21st century innovation and its ability to supplement education.
Ken Kay, the head of the website, explained to those visiting the site that core subjects are very important to the 21st century. I do not know if this was surprising as much as it was refreshing. Him saying that cores need to be a part of technology is exactly what we as educators should be trying to stress to our students all the time. Students will never live in a world where they are only required to know one discipline. Some might say that engineers do not need to know how to write but if they truly believe this the must not think that engineers need to fill out a resume. If life does not allow students to put their learning into separate compartments then we should not prepare them for their future that way either.

Route 21 makes me a little wary of the site. Granted, no one has to buy any materials from the link, nor do they have to even look at it, but whenever interests become mixed with monetary gain I become skeptical of whether those interest are self serving, which I am sure they are in many cases, or for the greater good of the community. It is great to see a learning community made up of so many different types of people and groups, but again, I am always critical when for profit groups are involved with education.
All that being said; I think this is a great resource for the community in general and should help close the gap between technology and its use in education. I am excited to follow this site and can’t wait to discuss it with my students and the parents of those students.

The communication power of blogging in the classroom

One of the first blogs that I ever had my class do was a reading blog. In our school, students are required to read so many books per semester. Knowing that most students do not talk to one another about what they read I created a blog that I allowed them to use after their class work was done. The results amazed me! I had students recommending books, discussing books they had read, and asking others for suggestions. By the end of the first week there were 110 comments. I saw students who would never speak with each other in school discussing books and scenes they liked as though they were old friends. It helped them find common ground in class and I started noticing that once they had blogged about it they felt more comfortable talking about it in class and in the halls. The two years I have used this blog was for 7th and 8th graders and I will continue to use it in the future. Perhaps the most impressive thing to me was, using the blog wasn’t for a grade, it was a resource and boy did they use it.

Technology in the classroom

It is my hope that teachers embrace technology in their classrooms and share what has worked well and what has not. Currently, my class has blogging assignments, Smartboard privileges, and a C.O.W. I encourage my students to use technology and remind them that very few of them, if any, will not use it in the future. I hope to use podcasting much more in this next year.

Please share any kind of technology you have used successfully or unsuccessfully in the classroom.