Class Reflections

When I began this class eight weeks ago I thought I was effectively using technology with my students because they had opportunities for word processing, presented projects through PowerPoint presentations and used the SmartBoard daily. We were using technology as a tool for efficiency and producing neat, professional looking products. Imagine my surprise when Dr. David Thornberg explained the distinction between “doing things differently and doing different things with technology” in the DVD session “The Emergence of Education Technology.”

I had heard of blogs, wikis, and podcasts and even had several blogs I enjoyed following. I had no idea I could subscribe to them and they would come directly to me. I thought of all of these tools as something I could experience passively, it didn’t occur to me before this class that I could join in and actively participate or even create any of these on my own, much less use them in my classroom. Through the class assignments of reading, posting comments and creating my own blog, creating a wiki collaboratively, and creating a podcast I learned first hand how to use these tools. I now have enough experience and background knowledge to use these learning tools with my students; in fact they are currently creating weather podcasts. Having the opportunity to actually use each of these tools was much more effective than just reading about them. It was quickly evident to me that using these tools would be effective in increasing student engagement and motivating students. More importantly though, was learning about 21st century skills and how these tools could be used to develop critical and creative thinking skills and collaboration.

This class made me aware of the 21st century skills our students will need to develop to be successful in the future and provided tools to help me facilitate the learning of these skills. I realize the importance of providing students opportunities to research information, evaluate its accuracy, and make it their own to share with an audience beyond my classroom walls and their homes. Just as I learned these tools well by actually using them, I need to provide my students opportunities to learn the technical aspects and use them to create new products. I have also begun to evaluate the setting in which my students are working. In the past, I expected most of the work to be completed independently. Now I am more aware of the importance of developing collaborative skills, and look for ways to incorporate that into the activities. Additionally, I am working to foster student centered learning by providing guidance and support while students are actively engaged in learning activities.

I know that integrating technology is a process and will require continual learning of new tools. To stay abreast of new technological developments and classroom applications I plan to continue to read technology education blogs and collaborate with other teachers by sharing the ways I am integrating technology and learning new ideas from my colleagues. I have signed up to participate in a professional learning community in my school on using technology for differentiation. I use what I have learned about 21st century skills as I plan lessons to integrate thinking skills, collaboration and the curriculum.

I have set two long term goals to further transform my classroom environment. The first goal I have set is to utilize technology to identify people who would serve as resources for my students as they work through their independent centers. I think it would be very valuable for my students studying the chemistry center to be able to communicate with chemists or those studying architecture to be able to share their work or ask questions of an architect. The read/write web could provide opportunities for individual students to explore topics in depth with experts in their areas of interest. My second goal is to provide students opportunities to create real products for real audiences. I am beginning with podcasts, but plan to incorporate wikis and blogs in the futures. Although secure settings exist to use these tools in my classroom, I will need to teach my students to use these tools safely and provide explanations to parents so they understand the importance of integrating these tools. Richardson (2009) explains, “We can invite people from around the world to engage in discussions and even content creation with our students, and our teachers must be willing and able to find and use sources effectively” (p. 136). For both of my goals, I will need to become a “connector” as described by Richardson (2009), “not only of content, but of people” (p.136) so my students reap the benefits of people’s knowledge, ideas and experiences from all over the world.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008) The emergence of educational technology. Laureate Education, Inc.

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

The Results Are In . . . Technology Survey Podcast

This week, I surveyed my students to find out more about the technology available to them in their homes, the ways they use technology, how they like to learn about technology and something new they would like to learn about technology.

I found the activity so valuable, I now plan to begin each year with a technology survey. Not only will it provide a window to me of what technology they have and use, it will help frame my lessons to develop 21st Century Learning Skills through technology experiences.

True to digital native form, I discovered most of my students felt they could teach someone something on the computer and their favorite method of learning something new is to try it out. As one student added, "I never read the directions to video games, I figure it out as I go."

21st Century Skills

The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills has an informative website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ detailing the skills our students will need to develop to be successful in the future. Our education system can no longer be based on the agricultural or industrial ages, if we hope to prepare our students to live and work in the 21^st century. I heard of the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills at a meeting, but had not viewed the website until this week. Interestingly for me, the gifted education program I am a part of focuses on the skills described on this website. The semester progress report that we use to evaluate our students correlates closely, as our main areas for evaluation are critical and creative thinking skills, and independent and interactive learning skills.  The students’ progress in these areas are indicated on a rubric and we consider growth over the two year period that our students attend our center.

The information on this website is presented in clear, understandable language and it is easy to navigate. There are numerous links to news stories and articles supporting and discussing the need for the 21^st Century Skills. The link to Route 21 is my most favorite, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/ as there are links to excellent resources for activities and lessons to develop 21^st century skills. I plan to explore these resources further, but already have identified an activity I plan to use to practice and encourage both collaboration and creative thinking. The lesson, “Solving Problems With Simple Machines” http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/2870 will also reinforce science concepts.

The more we, as educators can incorporate multi-disciplinary, hands on problem solving activities into our lessons that encourage collaboration, critical and creative thinking, the better we will prepare our students for the 21^st Century. 

 

Creating a Community of Learners Through Blogging

I teach 4th and 5th grade students identified for gifted services from six different elementary schools. I teach a different group of students each day of the week. During each class session my students work on a center topic they self-select out of over 50 choices. Students work independently on their centers using a contract as a guide. 

I am interested in using blogging for students to have a forum to share their learning and projects from their centers. At any time, it is very possible for all of my students to be working on different centers or activities within a center. Blogging could provide a unifying experience for my students to communicate with each other about their centers. Students attending on different days, but working on the same self selected center could share ideas, interests, and projects with each other. Blogging could remove the barrier of not attending the center the same day. Students who might otherwise never meet, but share similar interests, could further their ideas and learning by collaborating with each other through a blog. Additionally, students could share projects and products from their centers with a larger audience and receive feedback from each other. Ideally, the blogs could spark a student's interest in a new topic by reading about and discussing their classmates' center experiences.

Has anyone had experience using blogging to share independent learning projects? I am also interested in suggestions for organizing the posts

Starting From Scratch

This is my first blog, the inaugural entry. I have enjoyed reading blogs in the past, but this week I'm diving in, responding to blogs for the first time and now writing my own. This has been an eventful technology week for me. I am working to integrate new information and put it into practice on a personal level - like the blogging and subscribing to favorite blogs through an RSS feed, I had no idea I could do this and have been checking several blogs on a regular basis separately. It is amazing to me that now the updated blogs come to me. 

On a professional level, I now have this new knowledge about Wikis, blogs and podcasts and I am in the idea stage of how to integrate these into my classroom. On top of this, I have expanded the blogs I am reading and have these new resources to use with my students. I look forward to sharing ideas with others and making some of the ideas realities in my classroom.