More Changes Than You Will Know Though

At the beginning of this course I was only focused upon passing and earning a M. E.d, but I have come to realize that that I am a natural leader who likes to learn new things, and want s to apply technology in my career again.
Taking the Keirsey Personality test at the beginning of this course made me accept my unique personality. The report revealed that I was a Rational Mastermind, and boy do I fit that profile. Before, I would be reluctant to lead because I thought that my personality was too different from my colleagues. But now I know that my personality is a unique gift.
My attitude toward technology has changed. Once upon a time I was very interested in technology, but I became frustrated with the ever-changing game. I became complacent. This course has renewed my interest and shown me a new approach to using technology in the classroom.
Taking this course has helped me to regain my confidence, regain my curiosity, and actually look forward to earning my M.Ed. so that I can lead my colleagues to a new 21st Century way of teaching.

Success is in the eye of the beholder

For the most part, yes, I was successful in carrying out the course assignments; however, some assignments were more successful than others. The most difficult week was week 2's assignments, and most discouraging part was that I spent the most time doing the assignment for the low score I received. The assignment had many elements: set up a blog, create 3 blogs from research, create a PowerPoint from research, imbed the PowerPoint, upload the PowerPoint, find a book to read, etc. Because I am not familiar with blogging or imbedding, I ran into obstacles and frustration in learning then applying the process. I became discouraged because I could not navigate as easily as I thought I should have. Also, because of the difficulty navigating, I was not able to reach the depth in connect that I wanted. But I did learn the mechanics through an activity, and I saw that it was a relevant way to learn a new skill.

No Relevance Here

While I was able to see the relevance of integrating digital technology and project based learning into my classroom, I did not see the relevance to certain sub-population of students that are prevalent at my district. Where I teach there are a lot of at-risk students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds. There are a lot of these students who do not have computers, Internet access, or digital devices such as ipods or mp3s. These students have limited access, at school only. Therefore, I was not able to find a link with relevance to help to motivate these students to learn digitally. The article Real Projects in a Digital World points out that "students naturally turn to digital tools - which they have grown up using - to investigate, analyze, communicate, and connect" (Boss,S., & Krauss. J. (2007). However, it does not address those students who have limited access as children and progress to high school without gaining a strong enough background in technology to perform critical thinking. The article Bridge the Digital Divide for Educational Equity provides some ideas for students who have limited access because of disabilities, but not for students who are poor. Therefore I am still searching for a rationalization or a remedy to help poor students obtain the necessary hardware to want to gain the necessary 21st Century Skills.

Boss, S. & Krauss, J. (2007). Real projects in a digital world. Principal Leadership, 8(4), 22-26.

Mason, C.Y. & Dodds, R. (2005). Bridge the digital divide for educational equity. The Education Digest, 70(9), 25-27.

Answers to questions right now, right now, right now. . .

For the past couple of years I had noticed a change in my students, and even mentioned my observation during a meeting with the administration. The meeting was about how to improve classroom management and student discipline. My students were causing disruptions through not being able to contain their questions. They needed the self gratification of knowing the answer to their question right then, and some students would even become defiant when I pointed out the disruption. The responses I received in the meeting were examples of what other teachers did in their classrooms. The main response was to tell the students to put their hand down and wait, because they need to learn patience and self discipline. However, because of this course I have found a better answer. I have changed my perspective and approach on the way that I give instruction. The article, Real Projects in a Digital World, provides information that students must understand the relevance of instruction, whether it be directions or content. Therefore, giving students a task oriented assignment leads them to answer their own questions about information on the lower levels of bloom’s taxonomy and gain the confidence to seek clarification for higher levels, thus “creating experiences that satisfy diverse learning styles and learner dispositions” (Boss, S & Krauss, J. 2007). The reason for self gratification of knowledge is because “Digital Natives crave interactivity – an immediate response to their each and every action” (Prensky, M. 2001), which has been learned through the experiences in the digital world. Therefore, this class helped me to rationalize changes that I had already observed in my students; and adapt to their needs.
Boss, S., & Krauss, J. (2007). Real projects in a digital world, Principal Leadership, 8(4), 22-26.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part2. On the Horizon, 9(6), 1-9.

Expectations, Outcomes, and Alignment

Last year I attended Manor New Tech High School’s Think Forward Institute and saw a new type of learning environment. Going through the program prompted me to think about how this type of classroom setting was relevant, adaptable, applicable, and would it last to serve our students or be just a passing educational fad. My expectations for this course were to answer some of the questions I had asked myself and I learned that, because of how rapidly the world of information has changed, using technology and digital resources is the best way to teach our students. Marc Prensky states that “the brain changes and reorganizes itself differently, based on the input it receives” (Prensky, 2001). This article on changes in the brain made me see that we are in a mental evolutionary development stage of human history. To know that current student’s brains process information differently and therefore have physiological differences in processing proves that school must adapt in order to teach students subject matter that they need to know. And because this evolutionary change is learned, not inherited through DNA, reinforced my perspective that the classroom be a place to foster learning.

Prensky,M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants: Part 2. On the Horizon , 9(6), 1-9.