Reflection: EDUC 6710

This course has helped me developed my own technology skills by encouraging me to try some new technologies for the first time.  Honestly I had never blogged or done a podcast before this class and my wiki experience was limited.  This class showed me that using these new technologies is not difficult although it seems daunting at first.  I feel that I would be much more inclined to seek out and try new technologies that could benefit my students in the classroom.

Through this class I have learned that students learn differently and that lecturing is no longer effective because of the plethora of resources available online (Richardson, 2010).  The role of the teacher is changing to be more of a facilitator and less of a lecturer (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).   Additionally the skills our students need to be successful in the work force are changing because future careers will be more global and flexible due to the sharp increase of world-wide technology usage (Laureate Education Inc., 2010).  In that way this class made me think about how I am delivering content in my class, how teacher-centered my room can be at some times, how I can get my students using technology to enhance their learning and how I am preparing my students for success in the 21^st century.  In my content area there does have to be some teacher-led instruction but I feel that encouraging my students to solve problems and create projects using technology could help open up the Spanish language and culture to the students in my classroom.

When looking at my checklist from the beginning of this course my answers have changed at the end of this course because now I am more aware of the integral role technology plays in learning; a role that is beyond simply using a PowerPoint and a SMART board as a projector. In my teaching I have done a much better job of modeling self-reflection and encouraging students to take greater responsibility in their own learning.  My students have been using technology more since I started this class.  Also I have thought more about the choices I am making in my instruction and how what I am doing promotes 21^st century skills and technology literacy for my students. Although I have not completely changed my use of technology in the classroom I am off to a good start and look forward to implementing new ideas and technology skills I have learned.  I feel like I have more information in order to become a teacher leader in regards to technology implementation in my school.  I look forward to using the skills I learned in this class to model appropriate technology usage for colleagues and students.

Next year my goal is to have one of my major projects per semester be technology based.  A challenge in meeting this goal is that many of my projects are district assessments and controlled by this district.  To face this problem and accomplish this goal I plan to advocate for our common presentational assessments in our district to all have a technology option.  

Within two years my goal is to have one of my major projects per quarter be technology based.  The challenge with my district is the same but I plan to continue to advocate for technology based assessments using information I learned in this class through our learning resources.  Another challenge I may face in doing one technology based project per quarter is the availability of technology resources in my school but I am going to plan ahead to sign up for labs and computers in order to accomplish this goal.

My ultimate goal is for each of my students to create an electronic portfolio document that they can put all of these projects/assessments in so they can track their own progress and learning.  This type of document could serve as a resource for my students as they move through the levels of Spanish as well.  A challenge with this goal is deciding if I am going to use a ready-made electronic portfolio system or if I am going to create my own document template for students to create.  I need to decide which system is going to allow for me to best oversee and give feedback/grade on the portfolio process.  This summer I plan to look at each option and start working on setting up this system.  I plan to start slow by having my students add a couple things each year but within 5 years I plan to have my students upload each of their projects and assessments along with other writing and speaking samples.  By starting slowly and taking time to set up this process I feel that having a portfolio system could be very successful, exciting, and helpful to my students, me and other teachers.

When looking back on this course I am thankful that I learned so much because I was, quite honestly, further behind in my technology knowledge than I thought.  The most exciting this I learned is that with technology the possibilities in the classroom are endless.  I plan to explore these opportunities.  I can continue to learn about educational technology in many ways but I plan to continue to visit the suggested sites on the wiki my group created for this course, talk with colleagues and share ideas for incorporating technology, attending district offered technology courses and subscribe to technology education blogs using RSS feed technology. I look forward to changing my teaching from here on out to reflect advances in education and society.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. Skills for the 21^st century. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Media.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. Skills for the 21^st century. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Media.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for the classroom. Throusand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Week 5 Podcast

Creating a podcast for week 5 of our technology, work and society class was a process that took me a little longer than I expected but I am proud to say my podcast is finished and published!  Here is the link to my podcast if you are interested to hear about technology used by my students both within and beyond the school setting: http://jenicarroll.podbean.com/

Week 4 Application

I was introduced to the P21.org website earlier this year by a co-worker.  We spent time in our meetings reviewing each type of 21^st century literacy, sharing what it meant and what that literacy can/would look like in our world language content area.

My initial reaction to the website was that it made a lot of sense that today’s students need different skills than I even needed when I graduated from high school ten years ago.  One key thing that jumped out at me was that world languages are listed as a critical 21^st century skill.  I attribute this to the fact that with new technology comes a greater need and ability for global communication as Thornburg discussed in his video lecture The Changing Work Environment Part One (2010).  It is clear that Thornburg’s ideas and work are supported by the skills framework as he stated in his video program Skills for the 21^st Century (2010).  For me the graphic is very helpful to see how the skills tie together to form a bigger picture of 21^st century learning.

The information that surprised me on this site is that there are not more state initiatives to encourage 21^st century learning.  There are only sixteen states listed that applied and are working on an action plan to increase 21^st century readiness of students.  This is something that I feel every state should be aware of and committed to.

On the site I really do not disagree with anything to be honest.  The skills framework and means to get there seem on target to me as far as important skills for the changing world and work environment.  In my opinion the 21^st century skills described support the education of the whole child through a variety of life, social, learning, career and technology skills.

The implication of 21^st century skills for students is that they have to be prepared for increasingly demanding, technology oriented and global jobs.  This means more rigor and variety in the topics that they need to master.  Reading, writing and arithmetic are no longer the only standards of general knowledge.  To truly be prepared they must work hard and apply different skills to all curricular areas and it is up to contemporary teachers to equip and prepare them.

One implication of the information on the P21.org site for me as a contemporary educator is that because students need different technology skills I need to change the way I teach from traditional paper and pencil methods to more technology based assignments and assessments.  Another implication is that as a contemporary teacher there is a need to teach all different types of skills in my class such as financial literacy, civic literacy, health literacy and environmental literacy which means more cross-curricular connections.  In addition there are always life and thinking skills that must be taught strategically as we go through the curriculum.  All of these literacies and skills help to form a more prepared student but it definitely points out how truly strategic we must be as educators to ensure that students are learning and using the skills they need to be successful once they leave our classrooms and our schools.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. Skills for the 21^st century. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Media.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). [Webcast]. The changing work environment part one. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Media.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). Partnership for 21^st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from: http://www.p21.org/index.php

Week 2 Application Blog

I will begin my first blog post by stating that I am a high school Spanish teacher.

I might use a blog in my classroom to pose questions in English like “Why is taking a world language important?” or “How do you plan to use a world language in your future career?”  during Discover Languages Month.  This is the type of discussion that Kathy Martin posed to her students in this week’s learning resources.  My department did a blog similar to this during this school year and the student responses were surprising and thoughtful.

I could also use a blog as a forum to have students actually communicate in Spanish with each other.  I could pose a question in Spanish and require students to post an answer to the question in the target language and respond to others.  Using a blog can enhance my content and lessons because it allows students time to prepare their answer so it feels like a safe place for them to use their Spanish and a blog in Spanish may elicit a response from a larger community such as Spanish speakers in our community or around the world. 

 I can see how blogs may be a good tool to introduce students to the global perspective of learning a language and provide them a real world context to apply what students learn during class.  I am open to other ideas or comments on how a blog could be beneficial in my content area!  I appreciate any suggestions.

Welcome to my blog!

This will be my blog for my course about understanding the impact of technology on education, work and society for my MSED degree.  This is my first blog and I am excited to get started!