Once again, another graduate course from Walden University did not disappoint. I am very pleased with the knowledge and skills that I have already gained from this program and look forward to much more great learning. Although I am over a decade behind, this course has certainly developed my perception of the modern classroom. Before it began, I did not know exactly what a podcast, wiki, or blog even was, let alone how to use them to help my students learn. The concept of Web 2.0 was an enlightening lesson, and with it came a swarm of ideas to use with my students. Before this course, I was only ready to use technology to do things differently in the classroom. Now, I’m well prepared to use technology to do different things!
Prior to this course, I was already a believer in constructive learning. Last fall, I had attempted to build my eighth grade math classroom around this type of environment. It had promising results but was still missing a few key pieces. With a more thorough game plan and a better sense of my role, I feel that I am ready to give it another shot. My students have already shown that they are capable of learning in a student-centered environment. This time, I must be pro-active in helping my students learn. I plan to be out in the classroom urging students to ask questions. No longer will I be the main source of knowledge, but I plan to be there to help my students build their information literacy. With the support of technology, student tasks will be much more engaging. My students will need to build their media literacy to get the most out our available technology. In addition to engaging students, technology also offers major advancements in student assessment. With student work and data readily available, teachers are now able to help students by providing feedback in a more timely manner. The 21st century has already begun and it is about time for my classroom to catch up.
There is no doubt that I have learned a lot from this course. Not only did I learn about the benefits of Web 2.0, I also became an active member in the read-write web. My classes even created their very own private wikis. I plan to build on this progress throughout the rest of my graduate program. With an endless supply of valuable resources and opportunities for collaboration, I plan to become actively involved in the online professional community. My journey has only just begun and I am looking forward to seeing the results that it brings for my students.
My goals for the next two years will begin with the available technology in my classroom. I would like to have as much digital media available to my students as possible to accommodate for different student interests. This includes a computer for every student along with digital cameras, GPS units, and other devices. My district has talked about adopting tablets for each of our students to use in and out of school. Many other teachers are concerned about the problems that we will have with this transition. I am afraid that these concerns may overshadow the benefits that such an adoption would offer our teachers and students. My main goal for the next two years is to develop a plan for our district to support the implementation of this computer adoption. With hands-on professional development for our teachers and digital media classes for our students, this plan will certainly help our district make a smooth transition into the 21st century.
