Final Reflection

As I reflect upon my personal learning theory that will be continually implemented in my instructional practice each day with each new lesson, I will continue to set high goals for my students to reach and in return, I must have high expectations to teach them. I can honestly say that each student that enters my classroom is important and I will do what is necessary to provide them with the best chance of receiving a quality education and become a solid member of a society. This learning theory that we have been studying over time has been amended on several occasions even more so now with the use of technology as another tool for learning. I am positive knowing that in the future it will be challenged and changed again.

This era of technology that is taking roots in the education profession, I know that I must make some positive adaptations to my own personal theory. I know now that technology is a necessity in our classrooms and for our multi-tasking students. This technology boom in education has forced me to become more aware and unafraid of the challenges that technology presents, but at the same time I know it is best for my students. I am a digital immigrant it has taken me some time to integrate technology into my lessons without fear and I truly believe in the statement “You’ve come a long way Baby” has had a huge impact for me with the use of technology in my area of teaching. I now know that web based learning has endless possibilities for myself and my students.

In Michigan are educational system is at an all time low and it is Unfortunate that my technically challenged school district, my classes will not have much access to computer lab. Although, when I do get a chance to use the lab, my ultimate goal would be to develop lessons that will include web quest, concept mapping, blogging, and Excel. I already use PowerPoint for all my notes, and recently our school has purchased a remote system that allows students to answer questions by pressing their own personal remote pad and it allows the teacher to save all the data of all wrong answers instantaneously. Even though are states educational system is poor, our district is doing its best to make some important financial moves to improve our technology; recently they have installed overhead projectors that are directly connected to our computers in our rooms. It was a big step for them and it has made our life much easier and updated. I am still 100% in favor of technology and the effects it can have on the learning process. I am excited about the endless possibilities technology has had and will have in the near future in education but, the problem is of course money. Technology does not come cheap and until local, state and national governments come together, the lack of funding will inhibit the outcome and the future of its use.

Voice Threads

http://voicethread.com/share/573598/

I feel that voice threads can give you an opportunity as another instructional tool for learning. If I were to create my own web page or blog for my students I could use a thread to give directions, prompt them for an assignment or a review exercise, and it would allow a student to either read or listen to the prompt. It would take some time to establish , but it would definitely be an idea I would like to implement. Another great way I could possibly use a voice thread would for note taking or missed assignments. Students could go my web page and retrieve the notes from that day and get an explanation of the missing assignments and procedures. Again I must stress that in my district not many of our students have access to the internet at home. This would be great if each one of my students did, but the reality of it all is that they do not.

Relationships to social learning theories

As I stated in my discussions this week, in our world today, I feel social learning through interacting and networking is a huge step toward an learning environment for growth and meaning. The students of today are much different from those students of the past, myself included. I observe the students and watch they use technology to interact with themselves and their social connections. I have watched my football and hockey players immediately get out of a practice or a game and go to their phones and start texting. I hear my players and students discuss their game play on-line against each other. As educators we need to find a method to use this as a strategy and implement it into are classrooms to create a social yet a instructional learning atmosphere.


Anytime you can put students together to work as a team it will generate a positive environment for learning. With that in mind, you must be fair and keep the intended purpose of these cooperative groups. In other words do not stack the teams. If the lesson for the groups include the use of technology, I find it would be a necessity to divide the teams into small groups, allow them to chose their different roles for the group, and provide them with a lesson that has structure. In the past when I have used cooperative groups I only will allow no more than four students per group. If it a web quest or an on-line assignment it may only have 2-3 students per station.

As I went through the chapter I viewed several ideas on how to implement technology with cooperative groups and I found them quite interesting. Again though, in my school availability is a problem. I have used web quest on several occasions and have used multimedia video assignments, but I really like the idea of my students creating their own web pages. This would be very good assignment for my health and world history class. What a great way for them to work together as a team, using their creativity to develop their own web site, and finally to research and up date it over a long term time period. This should generate a productive social atmosphere with all the student with group sharing their ideas and the other groups looking and try to out do the others sites. This lesson however, must be supportive to the task at hand and have a solid objective.