Before taking this course I had not considered the possibility of becoming involved in blogging, wikis, and podcasts within my classroom. I simply did not know how to do it, nor felt that I had the patience to learn something new. According to Richardson (2009) teachers are the creators of new technology within the classroom. Teachers have to go out on a limb in learning and presenting new technology in order to create the 21st century learning environment for his/her students. Our students thrive on collaboration, immediate feedback, and multimedia tools for learning. Since I teach kindergarten I was very unsure coming into this class what I would be getting into since half of my students do not have access to a computer at home nor are able to do much technology by themselves. I’ve found that with a little brainstorming between some colleagues, and myself we have used United Streaming videos, Voice Thread to record letter learning, and have contributed in a podcast. I believe that this is all just the beginning of exciting things to come.
One project that I would enjoy using next year is starting a blogging quest with the parents in my classroom to where they could give input or ask questions about their child’s learning and see what we’re up to. Using the resources that I learned from this class I hope to provide weekly updates on what it is we’re studying I am hoping to start out small in that simple quest and then moving on towards incorporating the technology that I have used in my classroom by adding it onto my classroom web page. In the meantime I will be actively collaborating with my technology facilitator on how to incorporate technology onto my webpage and within the classroom. My school district has a wiki for teachers that I very rarely use. Since taking this course I have become more open to wikis and how wonderful they can be in collaborating and sharing of information. I hope to log onto this wiki weekly to collaborate and share information with my peers.
It is hard for me to imagine teachers not using technology in their classrooms. It seems that teachers would do less work as long as the activities were student centered. Dr. Thornburg mentioned that most teachers see technology as a great thing and how much more engaged student learning is (Laureate, 2008). My classroom is becoming more student oriented by involving my students in decision-making. The decisions that we make in the kindergarten classroom vary greatly. Decisions such as how we reward ourselves for meeting student goals, or to how some of the students want to learn. All of these actions turn my classroom into their classroom. We build a sense of community where every learner’s opinions matter. Students like collaborating in this type of environment and I enjoy teaching in that type of environment.
My knowledge of technology has grown since being exposed to what types of technology is out there and yet I wonder what the future will hold. I think back to how far technology has come within the last ten years and marvel at how teaching will continue to change in the next ten years. In studying the DVDs and reading online articles about how students continue to learn in profound ways using technology, I am convinced that technology will continue to help our students learn increasingly complex material in a different process. No longer will teachers be lecturing using textbooks and students listening taking notes in a notebook. Those days are long gone and teachers need to be willing to take a step into learning about how to engage students into learning. By asking students about what they would like to learn and how they want it presented, a teacher opens up a doorway into students taking control of their learning. Adaptively, along with connectivity, is where digital technology will have the greatest impact on education (Prensky, M., 2005).
In continuing my quest to incorporate technology into my classroom I will use the resources from this class to start a classroom blog and collaborate with my technology facilitator in ways that I can apply technology resources within my classroom. Since taking the class I have incorporated a few adaptations using technology. Other teachers have noticed and they really enjoyed watching the Voice Thread presentation of what my students did. They want to try it in their classrooms. I’m very glad that other teachers have the patience and the willingness to try different techniques. Any professional development courses that are offered online and reading more professional articles online will assist me in my learning of technology.
According to the checklist I have promoted leadership in technology skills for both my students and colleagues. This has changed since the beginning of the class. There was always an excuse such as, it takes too long to figure out, or not really utilizing the resources that I had available. Since I’ve used technology in my classroom other people have noticed and have begun asking me questions about how I’ve used technology. In a way, I’ve utilized a personal community of collaboration on professional development topics.
Laureate Education Inc. (2008). "Bringing the Fun Into Teaching With Technology”. Baltimore, MD.
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Richardson, W. (2006). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
