A New Mind-Set: Course Reflection

Reflection: Final Blog Posting

As this course comes to a close, one word to describe it would be, “WOW!” I have learned so much that I am now planning to implement into my classroom. In reading the materials of Week 8, this course has indeed set a new mind-set on education, technology, how students learn, and most importantly, how we as teachers teach them. In watching the DVD learning for the week, I enjoyed the stories Thornburg and Davidson told in regards to how teachers define the impact technology has had on them as well as their classrooms. I can definitely agree with them all when they stated that this new phase of technology and implementing 21st century skills has truly, “Restored the joy of teaching, allowed teachers to have fun, as well as having your students be engaged in the lessons, and overall, enjoy learning,” (Laureate Education, 2008).

Before this course, I had no idea what a wiki or a podcast was. I was a little familiar with blogs, but it was just a personal blog my sisters and me, simply setup for the three of us to communicate. Learning how to create a wiki, contributing to the wiki, creating a podcast using Audacity, adding in sound bites, etc has truly deepened my knowledge of technology and more ways for me to teach my students and for them to learn. It goes back to Week 1’s discussion of how we as teachers can use technology to do things differently as well as do something different.

My teaching and learning process has definitely changed for the better. This class has opened my eyes to how teaching is moving from a, “teacher driven world to a more inquiry project based world where teachers are more of facilitators,” than dictators (Laureate Education, 2008). We are becoming a guiding light for our students to get them more engaged in their learning through collaboration, communicating, problem-solving, etc. With the classroom atmosphere changing, my perspectives have changed too. I am more conscious of the different learning styles of my students, knowing their strengths and weaknesses. Changing from teacher-centered to learner-centered is how the global society is seeing learning. Our students today are not just learning from a textbook and we test them on the information the book gives us. Information comes in various forms now, and our students have the open access right at their fingertips! They don’t have to rely on us and think that what we say is the law and that’s it!

This course has expanded my knowledge in many ways. In our learning resources, Knezek describes it best when he stated that, “Teachers must become comfortable as co-learners with their students and with colleagues around the world. Today it is less about staying ahead and more about moving ahead as members of dynamic learning communities. The digital-age teaching professional must demonstrate a vision of technology infusion and develop the technology skills of others. These are the hallmarks of the new education leader,” (Knezek, 2008). I have learned how to become a “new education leader!” Continuous improvement comes from furthering education through seminars, advanced degrees, classes, etc. The overall goal for all teachers is to teach our students how to become lifelong learners. In doing that, we as the teacher must become one first. When we do that, we increase student achievement.

In setting goals to transform my classroom, first and foremost, would be the approval from the administration. When you have the administration’s approval, you have that “go-card” to set as many goals you desire to have. Being a teacher, the ultimate long-term goal is for all students to be successful. For this to happen, the classroom environment has to be different. The environment has to change to a more welcoming, friendly, close-knit environment versus an army drill-sergeant environment where students are afraid to ask questions or even speak. Another goal I have would be to have a complete classroom of all my classes be taught in the project based manner rather than the teacher driven manner. This change will definitely take time, because our students are so used to learning one way. In order to implement these changes, one must set the foundation. Without the foundation for any goal, the entire goal will crumble. Setting the foundation means having students and parents to come in to see the benefits of a project based curriculum. Everyone knows that change takes time; therefore, it would be gradual. Giving students daily exposure to a new way of learning will give them the ability to become comfortable with it.

Overall, no matter what goal you set for yourself or any student, we must all know that it will not happen overnight. This course has opened my eyes to a new way of learning. It will give those students who are normally not class participators, become one. It has shown me how to facilitate lessons based on each student’s needs.

In summary, Will Richardson said it best giving me an overall look at the entire learning environment. He stated, “The coming years will be marked by a flood of new innovations and ideas in teaching, most born from the idea that we can now publish and interact in ways never before possible. In reality we have a read/write/reflect/write/participate Web, none that will continue to evolve and grow in ways not yet thought of, spurred by the efforts of creative teachers who recognize the potential to improve student learning,” (Richardson, 2006)

Resources:

-Knezek, D. (2008). International Society for Technology in Education. Retrieved February 11, 2009 from http://www.iste.org.

-Richardson, w. (2006). Blogs, wiks, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms. (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

-Thornburg, D. (2008). Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). Bringing the Fun into Teaching with Technology. Baltimore.

Student's Profile Podcast

Here's my podcast! Check it out!

http://www.gcast.com/user/fbradley/podcast/main

Podcast Creation

I just finished creating another podcast. It was actually cool! I downloaded podsafe audio from SoundSnap (www.soundsnap.com) that has thousands of sounds to use in your podcasts.

Happy Podcasting!

Creating a Podcast

This is the first time I have ever created a Podcast. I really didn't know what it was until we started this class. I asked around at my school, and our technology specialist told me about podcasting. I created a sample using Audacity and added sound as well. I was excited! I wonder how everyone else is doing with their podcasting. Now I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to get the responses from my students all together with music in one podcast.