Reflection
As I reflect on this course I begin
with my personal learning theory and note that not much has changed about it
over the course. I still hold that my
classroom theory of learning is a recipe that works for me and my students and
evolves each and every year. It is a
combination of Neuroscience, Constructivism, Multiple Intelligences, Social
Learning and Behaviorism. Even though
there was no real change to the theories I base my classroom and teaching upon
there was significant growth in how I can use technology to expand upon my
theories and enrich learning in my classroom.
One key adjustment I plan to make
is discovering more ways to have students arriving at learning from their own research
and construction. I plan to find more
problem-based instructional activities to heave students work toward solutions
and therefore gain greater understanding of the topic or concept being taught
(Orey, 2001). I have already made one
change and that is how I introduce weekly vocabulary. I have students learn a new word in pairs,
through the dictionary or web search.
Then they are to find a synonym, antonym, write it in a sentence and
illustrate it. After about 10 min all
students then present their word to the class.
The next step in this will be to have them digitize their work so that
students can go back and review the words and classmates presentation to help
with acquisition of new vocabulary. I
believe that I am going to use VoiceThread or iMovie to create the
presentations and post them to my webpage.
I am planning to start with a few pairs and build up until the whole
class can complete this activity with meaning and efficiency. A second tool that I want to integrate in my
classroom is a class social network. I
was originally going to use Edmodo for this, however now I am considering using
e-pals because it has a larger spectrum of uses. Using e-pals will take more approval and
parents being on board because I will need parent permission to provide
students an email address since they are under 13. Additionally, I will need administrative approval
too. While for Edmodo I can just set it
up and begin using it. It is a lot to
consider and think about, but I will begin using one of them in my classroom
this year.
There are so many things I want to do to expand the learning in my classroom through the use of technology. It is difficult because there are only 4 computers in my classroom and limited lab time, so until that changes I will have to continue to be creative. The first goal I want to set is that all of my students learn some internet safety and effective evaluation of internet sources. I do not feel that with all of the academic content that is piled on my plate that I do this enough or effectively. It is my plan that during our get to know you 2 week curriculum suspension at the beginning of the year that I will use this time to teach my students some of these basic technology skills. Another goal is that I make my leadership notebooks and graphs digital. Each of my students has a binder that they record all of their assessment data in and then they use that data to set goals and reflect on their learning. I want to move this from a physical binder to a digital binder where my students are using excel to enter data and through the use of a template it will automatically graph the data. In order to do this I will need to create the excel templates for all graphed data and teach the students at the beginning of the year how to use Excel and the specific template. I think this would be a great way to introduce the students to the uses of Excel.
Over the course of this class I have discovered
ways that I can be more effective in the classroom by adding technology to some
of the things that I am doing. I
deepened my understanding of my personal learning theory and how to use
technology as an enhancement to my classroom structures. I will continue to integrate technology in
new ways and will use material from this course as resources to help others
understand the important role technology should play in a modern classroom. There are so many things I want to do to expand the learning in my classroom through the use of technology. It is difficult because there are only 4 computers in my classroom and limited lab time, so until that changes I will have to continue to be creative. The first goal I want to set is that all of my students learn some internet safety and effective evaluation of internet sources. I do not feel that with all of the academic content that is piled on my plate that I do this enough or effectively. It is my plan that during our get to know you 2 week curriculum suspension at the beginning of the year that I will use this time to teach my students some of these basic technology skills. Another goal is that I make my leadership notebooks and graphs digital. Each of my students has a binder that they record all of their assessment data in and then they use that data to set goals and reflect on their learning. I want to move this from a physical binder to a digital binder where my students are using excel to enter data and through the use of a template it will automatically graph the data. In order to do this I will need to create the excel templates for all graphed data and teach the students at the beginning of the year how to use Excel and the specific template. I think this would be a great way to introduce the students to the uses of Excel.
Resources
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program thirteen:
Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and
technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning,
teaching, and technology. Retrieved
