Reflection

As the end of this course approaches, I would like to reflect on the impact it has had on my teaching.  This course has really introduced me to many new ways to add technology to my teaching repertoire.  I have learned how to create a blog, about RSS, how to use an RSS aggregator, how to create wikis, and podcasts, as well as other ideas on effective uses of technology in the classroom.   Although many of these were things I had not heard of until this class, I now have a better understanding of their capabilities and how to use them.

I learned a great deal about 21^st Century Skills through our reading assignments and videos, however, I truly valued the experiences that had us manipulate the technology to really gain a better understanding and to make connections on our own.   Without these assignments I probably would not have set aside the time to truly figure out the components of a class wiki, or how to subscribe to feeds to get information without countless hours of searching.  These activities were not easy but I loved the feeling of truly learning meaningful content to enrich my students’ learning experiences.  I have even implemented the use of websites I found while reading blogs for this class, a class wiki project that focused on March Madness data, and Edmodo.  Each and every week I was invigorated by the topics we were assigned in this course and I brought that excitement into my classroom as I introduced my students to these incredible learning tools. 

Although I am known in my school to integrate technology as much as possible (I’ve been known to “hog” the mobile labs or computer labs on a regular basis and the tech department eventually decided to just let me house the mobile lab in my room since everyone knew it would always be there), I did not fully understand which skills I should be incorporating into my lessons.  Everyone seemed to use the lab to make pretty posters or publish writing, and although these are valuable ways to create final drafts, I always felt there had to be other ways or reasons to use the lab other than simply researching or typing a story in Word, but didn’t know where to look for guidance.  Although my classes often went beyond the basic computer use, I was hungry for a guideline to help me focus on the necessary skills I needed to help my students develop instead of trying to cover everything.  I was thrilled to read multiple articles assigned in this course that focused on 21^st Century Skills and technology standards.  These resources helped me to realize that 21^st Century Skills doesn’t just mean using technology on a regular basis, it also includes skills such as inventive thinking, effective communication, prioritizing, planning, and managing for results, effective use of real-world tools, and global awareness (Partnership for the 21^st Century, N.D.).  They also helped me to gain a better understanding of which skills are necessary for my students to master in order to be fully prepared for the next grade. 

The statement that stood out to me time and time again was, “It’s their after-school education, not their school education, that’s preparing our kids for their 21^st-century lives-and they know it” (Prensky, 2008).   Students are so eager to use technology that they carry it everywhere with them.  As soon as they have a free moment, they pull out their mobile device and “play” or “mess around”.  But it is this time that they are learning truly beneficial skills that will help them to be successful in our technology filled future.  They are learning various shortcuts, how to change settings to customize it to their liking, they are communicating with others around the world, they are problem solving, and most of all, they are engaged.  They are driven to use and master this equipment, and this equipment is the key to making learning meaningful and interesting to our students.  We need to find ways to incorporate these new, invigorating technologies into our classrooms on a regular basis.  “Educating or evaluating kids without these tools makes no more sense to them than educating a plumber without a wrench” (Cramer, 2007).  However, we must be careful about how we plan to use technology in our lessons, Bull and Bull argue that, “Using technology to teach the same topics in fundamentally the same ways that could be taught without technology does not strengthen students’ learning and belies the usefulness of technology.  Furthermore, using technology to perform tasks that are just as easily carried out without technology may actually be a hindrance to learning”  (Bull and Bull, 2003).  The truly effective use of technology is one that strengthens core content while allowing students to do things that would not be possible without the technology.

Many of the articles we read closely related the teaching of 21^st Century Skills to the Constructivist Approach.  My teaching during my undergrad (while volunteering in classrooms and working as the head teacher at the university’s day care) closely resembled the Constructivist Approach.  However, my teaching changed slightly once I landed my first teaching position and was handed a teacher’s manual (or 8 for that matter).  I’ll never forget the uneasiness feeling I got when I was expected to use the teacher’s guide to get my lessons.  The person who wrote that book did not know my students or their capabilities, so how could it meet their needs academically?  As time went on and I was forced more and more to use the teacher’s manual, I started to lose a little bit of the spark that had drawn me to teach in the first place.  To overcome this I’d throw in a lesson or two, created based upon my class’s interests while focusing and developing skills mandated by standards.  These projects rejuvenated me and my class (I had the same kids 3 years), and were the learning experiences we all still remember and value.  As a result, my goal is to become more of a facilitator and let students play an active role in leading the learning experience. 

This year my teacher’s manual is sitting on a shelf near my computer covered in dust.  Sure, I pull it out at times to learn other strategies to introduce a skill or to get a feel for which topics relate closely to one another at times, but I prefer to create lessons based upon my students’ interests and abilities.  Just recently my classes were busy talking about the basketball game the night before and spouting out statistics of various teams.  I was amazed by the amount of data they had memorized when some have a tough time simply getting their name on the their paper.  I used the knowledge from this course to create a class wiki project that focused on March Madness data.  Students researched, recorded, compared, calculated, made predictions, corrected predictions, and collaborated during this activity.  Suddenly using data that was important to them they were eager to learn how to change a fraction to a percent, and how to divide using decimals instead of just getting a remainder.   They focused on place value as they compared field goal percentages and finally, they understood mean (average) and how to calculate it!  This task not only got my students engaged but it made me excited to go to school each day as well.  I was eager to see what new information they had found, new connections they had made, to listen to their discussions, and to learn WITH them as we utilized wikispaces for the first time.

I find my best teaching experiences have been created working as a team with my students.  We create projects together and discuss how to make certain topics relate to our educational standards.  We truly make a great team and I love getting the opportunity to learn from them.  Our students bring a great deal of knowledge with them when they enter our classrooms.  “Encouraged to share their expertise, students can be a teacher’s best resource for suggesting better access to technology, defining the kinds of technology that teacher should be using in the classroom, and showing teachers how they can use specific hardware and software tools to teach more effectively”  (Prensky, 2005).

“Today’s teachers have to learn to communicate in the language and style of their students.  This doesn’t mean changing the meaning of what is important, or of good thinking skills.  But it does mean going faster, less step-by-step, more in parallel, with more random access, among other things”  (Prensky, 2001).  By embracing these new teaching methods we will find that students are more engaged and in charge of their learning.  We will spend less time trying to motivate them accept why they need to learn something and more time allowing them to apply their skills.  To keep current on these changes in teaching I will continue to collaborate with other professionals, I will visit blogs that contain relevant information to improve my teaching practices, and I will continue to seek out professional development.  The past two years I have had the opportunity to travel our state to visit other schools to see how they have incorporated technology.  My favorite part of these trips is talking with the students to get their real (and very honest) feelings about the various technology skills or programs they are using. 

My goal is to develop and incorporate more technology in my classroom.  I would love to find gaming applications that require students to use various math skills to master the game.  With the vast amount of gaming software and resources on the web I’m sure there must be something created already, it’s just a matter of finding one that meets my students’ needs. 

Another goal I have is to create real-life applications that incorporate technology and the math skills I’m mandated to teach.  “Students need to learn academic content through real-world examples, applications and experiences both inside and outside of school.  Students understand and retain more when their learning is relevant, engaging and meaningful to their lives”  (Partnership for the 21^st Century, N.D.).  To accomplish this I will continue to search the web for activities but I will also collaborate with other teachers and even business owners in our local area to develop tasks that are meaningful to the students and strengthen their understanding of core content and 21^st Century skills. (There’s nothing more upsetting than spending hour upon hour “creating” a new project to hear, “Oh, so and so does the same project!”)   

During the first week of this course we were asked to complete a checklist to assess our technology integration practices.  This week we revisited this same checklist and although some of my ratings are still the same, I now have the resources to incorporate technology more frequently in my lessons.  Two of the goals I have had all year, developing more activities that require student collaboration to accomplish a task, and designing learning experiences that require students to formulate questions for inquiry and engage in real-world problem-solving activities are still goals I will continue to work on, however I now feel I have a better idea of how to incorporate technology into my classroom and I have a better understanding of how to collaborate with other teachers to find already created tasks that I can tweak to my liking.  One practice that has increased during this course is my use of digital tools to collaborate and communicate with students.  I often use my webpage or email to communicate with parents or to simply make information available to anyone who accesses it but through out wiki project and Edmodo I have begun corresponding with my students more often about projects.  This feature has been great for the student who was out of town for a funeral, for the shy kid who doesn’t want to speak up in class, and even for the student who waited until the last minute and needed some guidance on the lesson into the wee hours of the night. 

I could go on an on about the numerous things this course has taught me.  At this point I really feel it has been the most beneficial of all of the college courses I have ever taken.  Not only did I get great feedback and ideas from Dr. Calvin, but I also had an opportunity to work on a project with my classmates.  The wiki project allowed us to get to know one another and learn from one another as we worked to complete the project.  I truly value my classmates’ opinions and experiences as they have helped me to improve my own instructional strategies through our class discussions.  I leave this class with much more knowledge than I started with, and I feel reinvigorated once again. 

References:

Bull, G., & Bull, G. (2004). The digital disconnect: A recent Pew study. Learning and Leading with Technology, 31(4), 28–31.  




Cramer, S. (2007, January). Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first century skills. Clearing House, 80(3), 126–132.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/downloads/P21_Report.pdf

Prensky, M. (2001a). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).

Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13. 


Prensky, M. (2008). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.