In what ways has this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?
In this course, I have developed several technology skills that I have never had before. For one, I have never created a blog. I have read blogs, and commented occasionally on blogs, but I have never published one. It was an exciting experience to be able to publish something for others to see on the internet. It was also easy to do, which enabled me to see that I could use this as a tool in my classroom one day. I envision it as a way to post notes online, and maybe use it as a homework helper for my students. I also learned how to create and contribute to a wiki. This was interesting because it allows for more than just ideas and perceptions to be shared. You can create pages dedicated for weblinks, or for certain topics instead of one continuous blog. I like the idea of using a wiki for an entire subject with other teachers included. Each class would have their own page, and we could really learn from each other’s ideas and work. Podcasting was another technology skill I developed while taking this course. I have never made a podcast, so it was a fun experience to record myself and publish it on the internet. I imagine using this as another method for students to present information to the class or me. It is much less threatening then standing and talking in front of people, and they can edit it as much as possible so they make sure they say what they really meant to say.
In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process?
I have learned that teachers must do more than train our students in the traditional literacies of reading, writing, numeracy, etc. We must also teach them how to be literate in the use of technology because the advancement of technology is shaping not only the way we live, but also the way we work in the workplace. We must help students learn the skills necessary to use this technology, as well as to help them adapt to the changes in technology that will inevitably occur as they further their educations and careers.
In what ways have you changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?
I have learned through this course that I must allow some freedom in my lessons for students to lead their own learning. I must give students activities and problems that are engaging and meaningful, and allow them to learn on their own. I also should serve more as a facilitator to my students learning rather than a director. In order to do this, I must allow access to more information sources than our textbook. I think that as I gain access to more technology and other resources in my classroom, I will be able to be more of a mediator for my students learning.
In what ways can you continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?
I think I can continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology by utilizing it more in the classroom. I must not allow my lack of knowledge and familiarity with technology keep me from trying to experiment and use it in my classroom. I will only be able to learn how to use it effectively to increase student achievement by exposing my students to it, and practicing with it. Perhaps my students will be able to teach me more about the technology than I will be able to learn myself.
Set two long-term goals (within two years) for transforming your classroom environment by which you may have to overcome institutional or systemic obstacles in order to achieve them. How do you plan to accomplish these goals?
One goal I have in mind for transforming my classroom environment is to utilize a blog or wiki in my classes so that my students and I can have dialogue outside of class. I think this would increase participation in homework and projects outside of class because of its uniqueness. The only issue I would have is that many of my students do not have access to internet outside of school. One way I could get around that would be to make sure I utilize our academic computer lab and the classroom set of laptops we have available to our mathematics department on a regular basis.
Another goal I have set is to have lessons that are predominantly student-centered rather than teacher-centered. I can accomplish this by finding or creating meaningful tasks that align with our standards where students have to find information themselves to create solutions rather than me modeling problems and them mimicking the way I solve problems. This could be difficult because it is not easy to come up with meaningful problems that relate to all of my mathematics standards. However, I could overcome that by planning for a few standards per year until I could have my entire lesson plans revamped.
Refer to your checklist from Week 1. Have any of your answers changed after completing this course?
Not many of my answers have changed from week 1 because I have yet to implement any changes. However, I do plan to design more learning experiences that provide students opportunities to solve real-world problems. I also plan to have students use different types of technology to solve their problems than I currently use. Lastly, I want to empower students to direct their own learning, and use the tools I provide to them to teach themselves as I mediate and evaluate their choices and progress.
