Reflection

Before taking this course, I was unaware of the educational usage of Wikis and Podcast. These two pieces of technology could easily be a part of many lessons in the near future.  Often, I hesitate to utilize different forms of technology, such as these, because I feel that I would not know what to do, or how to set anything up, but now, I see how easy it all is.

I am constantly deepening my knowledge of the teaching and learning processes. There are always new concepts, strategies, etc. to learn and apply. Already, I have started my own Google Blogger page for my students next year. In the first week of school, I plan to introduce my blog page and have the students get comfortable with navigating and responding to posts. I may, or may not, have each student create his or her own blog page, with the permission of his or her parent or legal guardian. The more the students are involved in their learning, the more responsible they will feel for their own education. I have always thought that the classroom environment should be conducted as a student-centered classroom, as opposed to a teacher-centered classroom. My belief will never be changed, for the world is advancing before our eyes and there is not turning back now. The further we move forward as a society, the further we move away from the stiff, tedious old ways of the past. It is up to me, as a dedicated educator, to communicate what I learn and apply to my fellow colleagues and other teaching professionals so that they too could begin to transition into learning and teaching 21-century skills.

Within the next two years, I plan to incorporate blogging and podcasts in my classroom. This will transform my classroom environment, undoubtedly. In order to accomplish my goals, I must spend time organizing information; create engaging and meaningful activities, and preparing alternate ways for my students to access the Internet and other tools in order to participate in the blogs and podcasts. One idea that I have in mind, which I mentioned in a previous discussion, is to have the students participate in a weekly word problem or brainteaser. The students could “bounce” ideas off each other or simply respond to someone else’s idea or strategy, eventually ending up with a solution. A second idea is for the students to use a Podcast in order to communicate final results from a study they had conducted for probability or interpreting data purposes.

About 7 weeks ago, I would have claimed that my students were provided with varied

and multiple opportunities to use technology tools and resources. Now, I have come to

the realization that this was not true. There are many other technology tools and

tools that are appropriate for both teaching and learning purposes. Looking back on the

checklist based on International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE] NETS for Teachers, there are a couple of categories that I changed my ratings on. One that stands out the most is “Provide students with opportunities for sharing and presenting

information in multiple ways, with a choice of medium (text, multi-media, graphics, etc.). Obviously, this standard affected me the most, because I integrated it into my future goal within the next two years.