A chance to change!

In what ways has this course helped you to develop your own technology skills as a professional teacher?

This course has opened my eyes to some new and creative ways to use technology in the classroom. I love the idea of blogging and group wiki's for classroom use. My students are so in touch wtih technology and have the access that I feel like I would be letting them down if I did not use it more in the classroom. I have also learned more about how school districts and government agencies are pushing for more use of 21st century skills like group projects and technology usage.
In what ways have you deepened your knowledge of the teaching and learning process?

I have realized that with all of the technology at my fingertips I need to utilize it more often with my students. They know a lot about computers and such, so incoporating that in the learning environment will make the experience better for them and allow me to teach them what I know about technology. Teaching is not just standing in front of the class reading and giving notes, we need to teach them skills that they can use in the real world as well.
In what ways have you changed your perspective from being teacher-centered to learner-centered?

Learning centered or student centered should be the main focus of teachers. It is not teaching to just give them the answers when they are having a difficult time, helping them find ways to get to the answer is teaching. If they don't know what a word means, telling them the meaning is not as useful as having them use a dictionary to look it up. They need to understand where information comes from and that you (the teacher) does not know everything. Students need to take charge and be responsible for their learning. They should not get to sit back and be handed grades and information. They need to work for it!
In what ways can you continue to expand your knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement?

I can continue to expand my knowledge of the teaching profession by taking part in professional development activities as well as continuing my education. Things change rapidly over the years so it is important to stay on top of the things. Reading and researching up and coming technology can also help give teaching stratgies and ideas. The professional development that is offered to teachers can be so beneficial if people take the opportunity to take part in it. Regardless of how many years I have taught I am still willing to learn and hear what others have to share with me because you can learn from one another!
Set two long-tem goals (within two years) for transforming your classroom environment by which you may have to overcome institutional or systemic obstacles in order to achieve them. How do you plan to accomplish these goals?

My first long term goal is to have students answer a weekly question through a blog. I want to post a question a week and have students respond to them through their very own blog or even wiki. I want students to understand the importance of technology and how it helps us communicate. I am capable of incorporating this next year because so many of my students have access to the Internet. I will have to accomdate some students, but if I have the opportunity to try this out next school year I will. My prinicpal will have to get on board with this because some parents may not want their children creating a blog, but I think once they see how it will be used, they will all be supportive.

My second long term goal is to have students create more technological projects. I have them create PowerPoints, but Moodle is a great resource and so is our E-chalk system that we use now. I would like to utlizie our system we have now more. Students can email teachers and save assignments to their page, but none of them use it to submit projects/papers/homework. I would like to have them begin doing that as well next year. Again, no teachers at my school currently use this program for electronic submission of assignments, but we have discussed it. I hope to push for that next year so that we can start using it school wide!