Throughout the process of incorporating more technology into my daily teaching, I have realized how manageable it is for me as a teacher and how beneficial it is for the students. While using the resources we have incorporated thus far, the students have been able to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the material and are truly engaged in their learning. As teachers, we are taught to have daily, weekly, and yearly goals for our students. I have seen how beneficial it is for my students to reach toward their goals, and now I realize how important it is for teachers to set goals as well.
I am still working on becoming more proficient with the vast amounts of technological tools available, but I am learning day by day. At this point, the goals that I have set so far are manageable yet challenging, as I want to be thorough with teaching each tool every month. This will enable to the students to feel more proficient at using the tools as well so that they can continue to enhance their learning. For the students, I think that an extension would be for them to incorporate the various technological tools we have used thus far into one lesson. They can use their creativity to choose which tools will assist them to demonstrate their learning of the content as well as the technology at hand.
I will continue to research and try new tools throughout the year. I will continue to provide learning opportunities for myself as well as my students with new technology in the classroom. Learning is all about trying new things, and we cannot be afraid of making mistakes because mistakes are inevitable. No one is perfect, and I will continue to try new technology until I can find a successful way to implement it into classroom activities.
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I find your plan to be quite admirable to incorporate a new technology each month. I think that your students will truly benefit from the exposure to so many different technological resources.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your addition to your goal to extend your students learning by having them use multiple of their previously learned technologies is also quite valuable. Many of the internet resources are meant to be used in collaboration with other resources and not individually. It may be nice to take the pressure off of yourself, even though you have so many resources available, and make the extension for advanced and interested students to come to you with a technology they are familiar with and present it to the class. This could be a way to allow more student participation and involvement as well as giving yourself a break in always being the introducer of new technologies. To further their technology integration, you could have them use one of the previously introduced technologies to do their presentation on a new one (if applicable). Good luck with your classes. I would love to hear what resources you have taught so far and what possibly unexpected applications you have found for them.
You goal of one technology tool a month is a good idea. Also, I like what you said about not fearing mistakes. I think its healthy for students to witness me making a mistake and working my way through it without getting worked up. In my science labs, students are always asking "Is this right?" I work hard to get them to a "lets see what happens if I do this" place.
ReplyDeleteDo you have access to computers and software in your classroom for your students or do you have to schedule through a media center?
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your positive comments regarding my GAME plan. I have found that many of my students have begun to incorporate the various resources in combination with one another on their own accord. After observing this, I felt that it was important to address this is expand upon it with all of my students. I guess I have to give the credit to my students for the extension piece. So far we have only gotten to incorporate graphic organizers (Webspiration/Kidspiration); Word processing; Microsoft Excel; Powerpoint; VoiceThread, and researching the web. I plan on incorporating podcasts, blogs, and wikis in the future.
Thanks,
Shannon
Molly,
ReplyDeleteYes, I make a lot of mistakes throughout the week, and I agree that it does help the students to see that. We all have to learn how to cope with our mistakes and turn them into meaningful learning experiences. I always like to make those into "teachable moments" when they do occur. I really like how you are expressing the importance of becoming independent learners while asking them to see what happens next.
I am very fortunate because I now have 4 computers in my classroom. At the beginning of the year, I had 1 computer, and I am so fortunate to have the additional 3. We are able to do so much more as a class, and the students are truly benefitting from it.
Thanks,
Shannon