I am a firm believer that in order to truly grow as a person and become more successful, you must take the time to reflect. So with that being said, I am taking this opportunity to do some reflecting on my first Technology Specialization course that I have completed through Walden University.
Overall I am very excited about what I was able to take out of this course as an educator. Being only 25 years old right now, I consider myself a digital native and technology has never scared me. However, this course was able to open my eyes to the fact that the types of things people my age are doing such as social networking, blogging, podcasting, and using wikis, can be extremely valuable learning tools for students as well. Before this course I had never attempted to conduct a podcast and I never really saw any use in me creating one. Now, after learning what types of things can be done with podcasting, I’m addicted to finding ways students can use them in my classroom. My 5th graders this year absolutely loved being able to use the Garage Band program to create their own podcasts to prepare for oral presentations they had to give recently. They saw it as a great resource to be able to actually hear how they sounded so they could change things up if they found they were talking too fast, too quiet, or had too many “umms” in their speech.
Not only has this course helped me incorporate new projects into my classroom, but it has also helped me understand more thoroughly the importance of teaching 21st century skills. Now, instead of spending time every day telling students exactly how to complete a certain task, I try to take a step back and let them work collaboratively to do some problem solving first. As educators, we need to be preparing our students to survive in a world where they do not even know what jobs will be created and out there by the time they get out of college. While sometimes it seems easy to do the thinking for our students, it will not benefit them. Yes, my students certainly did struggle the first week or so when I refused to simply tell them an answer and told them to think harder and try to figure it out. However, now I find myself standing in the background smiling a lot more, as I watch my students put their knowledge to good use to figure out things they never thought they could do on their own before.
As always, there is always room for improvement. I have prided myself as an educator who looks for ways to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading. What this course has helped me do, is see so many ways that I can expand in all of these areas by utilizing technology. The research, tips, and discussions that are available online to help educators succeed is amazing! There is yet something that I have searched for that I have not been able to get help with. Not to mention the 21st century teaching that I am able to do by having students complete projects that allow them to communicate to the world through wikis and blogs.
To help me stay on track with making improvements, I have created two goals for myself.
First Goal: To totally transform my classroom environment so that all students will automatically try everything possible to figure things out for themselves and with the knowledge of their groups, rather than taking the easy way out and asking for the answer from the teacher. To accomplish this, I will need to let the students know from day one, that they will not be spoon-fed any knowledge while in my classroom, and should not ever expect that in the real world either.
Second Goal: To create a classroom environment where students feel comfortable with each other, and where they are constantly working as a team. In order to accomplish this goal, I must always be showing students how one person can affect the whole group. They succeed as a team, and they also struggle as a team. However, my hope is that students will quickly realize that by working as a team, their chances for success are greater, and that they can achieve so much more as a team. For students to see that as being true, I will be giving them constant opportunities to work collaboratively. Having students aligned in rows for the year, working alone, will not cut it in my classroom.
So, with all the knowledge that I have been able to take out of this course, I hope to use it to continue to improve on my teachings and my own learning. There is always more to be learned, and this class has definitely motivated me to try new things in my classroom and to see what is out there!
Magan
