As I begin the journey of setting a GAME plan for a digital experience I have to reflect on the many years of teaching without the use or even the thought of technology. I see a resource that had to be gathered in a library, periodicals, and micro film. Now with one click of a button you have the whole world to explore for information and resources. As I was searching through the ISTE and the NETS-T I was thinking about how I can become a more proficient teacher when it comes to implimenting technology into my everyday teaching.
I looked at two of the standards I would like to improve upon and set new goals for myself to follow through with them those where standard one and three. The first is 1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity. I teach at an At-Risk high school. My students have a difficult time thinking outside the box and using any creativity when it comes to learning. I know at times it is up to me to model to my students and believe me I try, but it has not been with use of technology or a digital experience. It has been difficult in my building because our technology is so limited and unfunded. I know personally I have to move outside the box myself and take some risk to try to get my more involved in 21st century learning. I would definitely would like to use standard one to impliment more real world issues in my world history class. In that class I know that there are many occasions where the use of technology could be used to explore issues of the past that can resolve or compared to an issue from the present. The interent can be a tool to do just that. There are plenty of sites, webquest or other resources that can help students explore the web and find valid information to support their arguements. The second is 3. Model digital age work and learning. at this point in time with the district grading program and email accounts it has been much easier to communicate with parents on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis without setting up a person to person meeting. The only draw back is you are not setting a personal relationship with the parents of the students. I still feel it is important to have that relationship and sometimes it can because of technology that has been lost. I know that I do most of my lesson, quizzes, PowerPoints, and test using some technolgy. All of the grading and attendance is all on a computer program and even now our students are doing credit recovery over the internet using a program called E 20/20. The problem I have is trying to master all of this. I am 43 years old and at times I feel uncomfortable or I guess I lack confidence in my abilities because some of this technology I just do not understand or have practiced it enough. That Is why I am doing my masters in technology so i can improve and learn more skills so I con model it for students with confidence.
To monitor my progress I intend to keep a daily journal of when I use technology and when I should have used technology and then refelect each week on how to improve upon what I did or did not do. To improve upon this I intend to see what other teachers are doing, ask about ways that I can use technology and what is the best avenue to take when creating a digital learning experience. i have some of my own ideas, but I want to be confident in them and jump outside my limited technology box and dive right in.
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Blake,
ReplyDeleteBeautifully written post! I'm fifty and young and yes, you and I are self-directed learners to this technology world. However, do not dismiss your traditional well thought out lessons from the past. There are several computer nerds at my school and honestly, they are not using the technology to their advantage for lessons with the kids. They can maneuver around fast and fix things, but all that will come with practice for us.
As for your At-Risk students who cannot think outside the box, there are a few of those same students scattered throughout my classes. It is a blessing to offer them the opportunity to try to think outside the box. I have one student, described as 'rough around the edges' by another young lady.I will be watching her to see if the ideas will come out of her both in a traditional art project and with technology. I conclude that we consciensious teachers cannot hit ourselves over the head, but rather applaud ourselves for continually giving all our students, no matter at what diverse level, differentiated lessons to express themselves in.