Week 8: Final Reflection

In this post I have included the questions which guided me through my reflective process. If you have questions or comments about anything I have written I would really appreciate your comments. I value diverse perspectives and I can only better myself as a teacher with the help from those around me.

Thank you,

Courtney

In what ways has this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?

“Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work and Society,” helped to build on to the technology skills I acquired through the teacher-librarian in the high school I teach at. Throughout the last two years, Mrs. I has opened my eyes to the world of Web 2.0 (I finally understood what that meant via the Common Craft media-clip). Throughout this course I gained a better understanding of how to effectively use my classroom blog. For example one of my classmates shared ideas with the class regarding collaboration of students from different schools and even different countries. I had only recently begun to have students converse with other sections of the same course, it had never crossed my mind to have the students collaborate with other schools throughout the U.S. or schools internationally.

Taking part in the wiki project also gave me a new perspective on how I could use a wiki as more than just a web site. This project also allowed me to experience issues and/or problems that could arise during a collaborative wiki thus, giving me some areas that I need to problem solve before creating a similar project for my students.

As for the readings and practical application piece of this class learning about RSS feeds and podcasts, opened up a whole world to me. I am currently planning how I will use podcasts in lessons during this semester and in the future.


In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process?

 I really had no idea how much depth and breadth Web 2.0 had until my exploration of the various tools in this course. In Will Richardson’s book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms (Second Edition), Richardson uses Douglas Rushoff’s idea of the, “society of authorship,” when describing the phenomena of the, Read/Write Web. Richardson views the “society of authorship,” as a place where anyone and everyone can read, write, collaborate, comment, etc. (Richardson, 2009). Rather than learning content knowledge from one person, students have the opportunity to learn and participate in the acquisition of social studies content in a worldwide community and in turn impact many others’ search for knowledge.

I also gained a clearer understanding of how the “Partnership for 21st Century Skills” (P21) blends with the No Child Left Behind legislature, a state’s core curriculum, and the ideas incorporated into the “Rigor and Relevance,” (R4) instructional practices. The article, “The New Literacies,” explained that the R4 skills fall within the different areas of P21, critical thinking skills, inquiry-based assessment, etc. This reading also gives teachers a glimpse at the importance of teaching students skills from within the realm of the “new literacies” (Miners and Pascopella, 2007).


In what ways have you changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?

While taking this course, I was exposed to many different perspectives on the teaching and learning process. I did not realize that as a teacher my teaching-style has slowly evolved from teacher-centered education to learner-centered education. Throughout the last three years I have loosened my hold on the content my students are being exposed to and I am challenging my classes (especially elective classes) to use the wealth of information that is available to each of them. I am increasingly having my students use the Internet, electronic databases, and collaboration to build his/her understanding of content knowledge. In doing so, collaboration occurs via the classroom blog, students learn to effectively evaluate web pages, learn the skills of correct citations, and utilize the skill-sets presented by through P21 (Miners and Pascopella, 2007).

 Being a teacher in the area of Social Studies lends itself to the ideas, resources, and technological capabilities of Web 2.0. Within the social sciences it becomes the teacher’s role to guide students in challenging the perspectives of both his/her classmates, community, and society as a whole. To move students from a mode of soaking up knowledge to that of critically examining what has happened, what is happening, or what may happen in the future lends itself to both the skills of the, “Partnership for the 21st Century Skills,” (P21) and the diverse technologies discussed through the course.

In what ways can you continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?

It is imperative that I continue to collaborate with coworkers, members of my grad classes, and others who have insights on the issues discussed throughout this class. The idea of “life-long learner,” is taken to a whole new level when partnered with the new technologies that are and will be evolving throughout my career. It is important for teachers to give the students direction and instruction on the new literacies and other tools necessary to be successful when using technology but this is not the only role teachers have when implementing technology in the classroom. Teachers must also take the role of a learner while the student takes the role of instructor. I know that there will be times that my students will know much more than I will in some areas of technology and I need to be willing to learn from my students and gain a better understanding of web sites, social networking, etc. Richardson is constantly reiterating the fact that the Read/Write Web is interactive and the “new two-way Web,” thus, working collaboratively with students will be key as I continue to implement technology into my instruction (Richardson, 2009).

Throughout the process of incorporating P21 and the Read/Write Web students will be asked to take an active part in the learning process thus giving the students ownership in his/her educational experience. When a student has an interest or a passion for what it is he/she is learning or researching some students forget that an assignment exists (Miners and Pascopella, 2009). I believe that the more students are asked to invest themselves in the collection of content-knowledge and in the dispersion of what has been learned directly impacts a student’s level of achievement.


Set two longterm 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?

The first longterm goal that I am setting for myself is giving students more opportunities to invest themselves in the learning process. This idea could be as simplistic as asking students in my different classes to take the role of a fact checker. A student would be assigned to look up more details about a topic, find maps to add to the context of a conversation, or double-check information that I might be unsure of. In one of the resources that was read for this class it was suggested that different students take on the role of recording daily notes during class. This would give a student a task to help focus him or her during class, supply notes for those students that were absent, and give me the chance to see what it was that was accomplished during the class period. There are times I cannot remember two-thirds of what was discussed, especially, if I have taught the same content for three periods in a row.

Looking back at the checklist from the first week of class I began to notice a pattern in the areas of collaboration and group tasks; the pattern being these types of instruction were virtually nonexistent. Incorporating more collaboration and large or small classroom groups the students will be able to take content knowledge and look at it from his/her classmates’ perspectives. This type of work can be done during class, via texting outside of school, or blogging. I have already cleared one hurdle in reaching this longterm goal because I recently received two new computers in my classroom to help with differentiating lessons and accommodating the needs of my students. These computers will enable my students who need extended learning options to work with a web site like Diigo and create questions or share information with my students who may need content in a summarized version. I will also ask my students to share thoughts and opinions about how different types of technology help or hinder his/her learning process.

My second longterm goal is to have all of my classes blogging and interacting with one another through wikis, blogs, Diigo, etc. I want to be able to expose my classes to these different types of sites in order to guide the students in best practices and all that is incorporated into the new literacies. In doing this students will be in communication with students that he/she may not interact with on a daily basis. The content knowledge and discussions shared in cross-class communications will fulfill many of the components of P21 and allow me to see what students are confused about, the topics that I do not need to spend much time on in direct-instruction, etc.

In both of my longterm goals I worry about the time it will take to instruct the students in how to navigate the web sites, utilize the different tools available, and insure that there is a clear understanding of the expectations when interacting and collaborating with other students. No one has enough time in the day, quarter, or semester to cover the content of a subject let alone add in the additional time to walk through these new resources. This is an issue that I will need to seriously evaluate before implementing some of the resources I discussed. However, I will not let the lack of time stop me from getting my students into these new venues of learning.

References

Miners, Z., & Pascopella, A. (2007). The new literacies. District

     Administration, 43(10), 26–34.

Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web

     tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.