Reflection: Technology in the Classroom

Prior to taking my first graduate school course in Integrating Technology in the Classroom, I knew what a Wiki, Blog, and Discussion Board were, but I had not used them to create a dialogue or to collaborate with other professionals. I have a new understanding of how easy it is to use them and how great the outcomes of them can be in acquiring new knowledge, ideas, and activities to use in my classroom. This course has allowed me to not only learn more about these technology tools, but also provided me with valuable practice time for using them before I use them with my students. Time to practice a new skill is something that teachers often do not have.

More than anything, this course has opened my eyes to the way today’s students learn and process information. Through a recent technology survey a sample of my students completed, I was able to gain greater understanding of how much my students multi-task outside of school and how much they crave being able to use their everyday technology tools in the classroom. I don’t think most of my students can even imagine how much technology can be used in their education, outside of the typical word-processing, PowerPoint, or assessments, because the majority of their teachers are not using technology in “new” ways. I appreciate my student’s abilities to use technology more than I did before and I have realized that, while I do need to have a working knowledge of the technology that my students use in my class, as well as a plan on how to manage it, I do not have to perfect my use of the tool before my students can use it…it is something we can learn together! Allowing them to help me learn it allows me to model for them how to be a life-long-learner, as well as it gives them an opportunity to take ownership in their learning as well.

I have changed my perspective from being teacher-centered to being learner-centered in that I give my students more opportunities to collaborate on a daily basis. I integrate this into my daily warm-ups and reflections as much as possible by providing real-life prompts for small-group discussion. By providing students an opportunity to touch-base with peers in meaningful ways before I discuss the previous day and begin to build on what they have already learned, I am integrating valuable reflection time. For some students, this is also an opportunity to give or receive peer teaching, which helps to bring the material back to them and hopefully provides a connection from day-to-day.

I can continue to expand on my knowledge of learning new technology and integrating it into the classroom by continuing to collaborate online with other teaching professionals in order to discover new activities and tools that will allow my science students to make relevant connections between our curriculum and their everyday life (Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. Baltimore: Author.) It is in making relevant connections that I truly believe that my students will move themselves beyond the curriculum. As Dr. Thornburg and Dr. Davidson point out, this opens up new doors for student learning and brings greater joy back into the classroom for teachers (Laureate Educaction, Inc. 2008), which is something I have needed this year, as this has developed into one of the most challenging years in my nine-year-teaching-career. I believe using technology in the classroom will continue to bring a fresh perspective to teaching and learning for myself as a classroom teacher.

In looking ahead at how I would like to transform my classroom environment, I would like to continuously model for my students a collaborative culture. I would like for them to see me working with other teachers in order to accomplish everyday tasks in meaningful ways, and I would like to bring that into the classroom. This is a 21st century skill, but does not necessarily require the use of technology. It is my hope that my students learn to complete tasks by collaboration by second-nature. I would like for them to develop the skills necessary for them to be a meaningful addition to a collaborative group and learn how they can best support their group in their own personal way. In addition, I would like for it to be a norm for my students to communicate and collaborate through the use of a discussion board, blog, or Wiki. I feel like this would allow bring a valuable technology tool into the classroom, and open the door for them to be more responsible and accountable for their own learning, a very important life skill.

At the beginning of this graduate course, I reflected on how I supported the learning of 21st century skills in the classroom and on how I, as a teacher leader, supported and developed technology skills in my school. Upon completion of this course, there are a few areas in which I see myself beginning to emerge more than before. First, I spend more time modeling and engaging students in activities that encourage them to self-reflect on their own learning. Second, I have focused more on encouraging my students and colleagues to develop leadership and technology skills for themselves. Finally, I encourage best practices in integrating technology by spending more time researching and evaluating tools for use in the classroom and then sharing my results with my colleagues. Although these are just a few ways in which I have started moving towards a 21st century classroom, there are many more areas in which I am developing ideas about how I can be a leader and promote and support the integration of technology in the classroom and steer my classroom and school toward complete 21st century learning.

How Much Do Students Really Use Technology?

As part of my Master’s program in Integrating Technology in the Classroom, I profiled 56 of my middle school science students to find out how much they use technology during the day. Click the link below to listen to the podcast that highlights the results of my profiling.

http://sciencetech.podbean.com/

21st Century Skills

I have been exploring the website of Partnership for 21^st Century Skills at www.21stcenturyskills.org. I agree with the mission of the organization, which is to bridge schools, community, and government together in order to help students master 21^st century skills that they will need in order to be successful in the future workforce. There is a variety of resource material available for teachers to sort through on the site, by content area, state standards (although limited to 11 states), assessment, and professional development, to name a few. I was able to sift through some of the resources on the site and found it to be a somewhat confusing layout. I am not sure teachers would have a lot of time to muddle through all of the resources to find something useful. I did appreciate the ability to search resources by ratings and editors pick and by title, but still found it difficult to get to good ‘meat.’ The foundational information for each state represented was reflected what was stated in the P21 mission. Unfortunately I became frustrated with the site, as it often prevented me from using the back browser and I had to restart the website in order to explore more. What was surprising about the site was the volume of ‘big names’ listed as members of the council, including, but not limited to Pearson, Intel, Adobe, Blackboard, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Dell, Ford, Hewlett Packard, Lego, McGraw-Hill, Microsoft, NEA, Scholastic Education, Sesame Street, Verizon, and Walt Disney. I felt like some of the statements made on the site were too absolute. For instance the ‘Mission of the High School’ on one of the state links indicated that high-performing high schools were those that, essentially, understood the needs of high school students and were able to meet those needs better than other schools. I think it is important to remember that some schools have more “fortunate kids” than others, and, therefore, more access to technology and resources than schools that have a heavier population of “deprived kids.” It is not fair to make such absolute statements when not taking into account the demographics of schools, as well as the economic situation of school systems. Having said that, I wholeheartedly believe that teachers today have a responsibility to their students to do what they can to prepare them with the skills necessary to be successful in the 21^st century workforce. This means closing the gap between schools and within schools and providing meaningful opportunities for all students to be successful. I know that the way I must teach today is not what I remember thinking teaching would be like when I was a little girl. I have only started my ninth year teaching, but things are still very different in my middle school as an educator than my middle school as a student. I must go with the changing times and do what I can to support my students and help them become tomorrow’s leaders. If this means learning new things that might make me a little uncomfortable now in order to provide them with opportunities that will help them be successful, then so be it. It is, after all, the goal of an educator…to do all that can be done for the greater good of our students!

What good is a blog to the classroom?

Blogs are great spaces for teachers to provide opportunities for students to reflect on topics that have been covered in class. I teach 8th grade science and see blogs as a way for students to think critically about experiments carried out in class, errors that may have occurred, ways to improve techniques, and then to analyze data collected.

Students in one of my classes are limited to the number of students in the room at that time. However, a blog would allow students in all five of my classes to interact with each other. This would allow for students to be exposed to more ideas than they would in a traditional class discussion.

In addition, students could use a blog to continually reform, reshape, and expand upon their ideas as they would be able to reflect back on their work over the course of the school year. This is a perfect way to illustrate the “nature of science” for students, which is an overarching theme in my science content area!