Week 7 Reflection

Technology is ever changing just as education is ever changing. The two go hand in hand because they both impact each other in so many significant ways. Throughout this course I have been given many different tools that I am able to integrate into my classroom easily. These tools will provide my students with learning experiences that they are able to better relate with, become excited with, and use these tools in the future as they grow and adapt with technology and education. One important thing that we must remember as an educator is that we must always be life long learners in order to provide our students with the best education they can possibly have. Educators have the important role to continue growing with the trends and adapting our lessons everyday to incorporate materials and methods that we may not have been familiar with before. We must understand that we are preparing students for real life.

My first goal that I would like to set is to become more familiar with grant writing. Many of my frustrations in the classroom stem from not having the appropriate technology that we need to make sure our classrooms 21st century learning environments. It is always very easy to neglect integrating technology in the classroom when it is difficult to get your hands on the tools that provide these learning experiences. I want to become familiar with researching and writing grant proposals so school districts, like the one I work at, will not be left in the dust because we just do not qualify for funding. I will work hard to make sure I am taking advantage of all opportunities that are provided to educators.

My second goal is to make sure that I am up-to-date on all of the latest technology that can be brought into the classroom. I am ashamed to admit that I had not blogged, podcasted, or created a wikipage before this class and after creating all 3 I am excited to make them apart of my classroom. I know that these tools are only a little part of the technology that is available to get kids excited about learning and creating. I will make sure that I am constantly learning and researching different methods of learning that I can integrate into my classroom to make sure I am creating a 21st century learning environment.

This course has definitely changed my outlook on education and technology in a positive way. Before I thought because I didn’t have easy access to computers or a SMARTboard that I could just make do with what I had. Now I understand now that it is my job to make sure that my students have access to all of this wonderful technology so that when it is time for them to enter the real world they are entering it as a prepared citizen.

Walden University Podcast – Technology

http://podcastmachine.com/podcasts/6577/episodes/31090

“Every child in America needs to be ready for today’s and tomorrow’s world.”

http://www.p21.org/index.php

“Every child in America needs to be ready for today’s and tomorrow’s world.” This statement is very powerful, we must remember that our lessons that we teach our students everyday in school must not just be something good for today, it must translate to tomorrow. To do this we must be adaptable and open to change so we are able to keep up with the ever-changing world around us. Our goal as educators is to create life long successful learners who will continue to be successful long after graduation. We have a difficult task ahead of us, but with the right tools like the Partnership for 21st Century Skills we can develop practical and effective ways to create 21st century students who are prepared for the world around them.
I think the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is very intriguing, and hopefully something that will change the way we teach, learn, and work in a positive way. They work together with the government, businesses, community, and education to mesh what we have been learning in school in a new and more real life way so that our students are able to come out of school not only educated, but ready for life. They always say that you learn best with hands on experiences, that is why teachers student teach and others apprentice in their field before they take over. If we are able to have this ‘apprenticeship’ in place while our students are learning in school then we are instilling them with 21st century skills while educating them properly.
I also clicked on the New Jersey section of the 21st century website to how my state was implementing this initiative, but I couldn’t help but thinking how the government role of this equation, just isn’t working out. We have had funding continuously cut to our schools over the last year and I believe that something needs to change to ensure that programs like this will be effective rather than just a great idea.

Ideas for blog…

After watching the Spotlight on Technology video with Kathy Martin I thought having students create their own blog where they could interact with each other would be a great tool for a classroom.  As a “partly” departmentalized 5th grade teacher I think it would be a wonderful way to not only have communication between my three mathematics classes, but also a way to integrate writing into math.  A goal that I have set for myself this year is to have my students (math and language arts) do as much writing as they possibly could and if I provide them with a method to write that is fun and interactive then I may reach my goal while the students are able to have a wonderful time learning.