Reflection: Final Blog Post
Using a system to challenge, identify, plan, implement and assess my adoption and development of integration of technology in my classroom practice has proven beneficial to both my instruction and my students’ learning experiences.
My “Goals” began as intention to "facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity", as well as to "design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments" (International Society for Technology in Education). These goals remain my intention for adoption of technology in my classroom practice, but my understanding of what these goals mean has evolved. Technology offers opportunities to provide students the power to interact with information and people in new ways. Many students who previously lacked sufficient means of expressing themselves are empowered to share their insights and participate in a social learning experience that benefits the individual learner and learning collaborative. Some simple example of empowering learners is the opportunity to share their voice through digital story telling or via a classroom social media discussion board. Students who in a traditional lecture/discussion classroom tend to feel uncomfortable often disengage. The tools of technology can and do give students new ways of participating that strengthen their engagement. At the heart of these tools are new ways of learning and communicating. The result of using these tools to learn and communicate are opportunities to challenge, use, and develop creativity. As to why creativity is so important, Einstein once said, “All great achievements of science must start from intuitive knowledge. I believe in intuition and inspiration.... At times I feel certain I am right while not knowing the reason" (Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein, Imagine That). When technology can serve to support students’ development of content and skill mastery, it is an essential tool.
Originally, my “Action” intention was to allow a great deal of student autonomy in choosing inquiry-based projects and to have the work on these projects completed in an entirely digital medium. While conducting work in the digital medium proved successful and a direction much of my classroom practice is moving, student choice created significant pitfalls. One of my primary conclusions on the success and necessity of a digital work environment is the organizational and access benefits that it provides. Student choice seemed like an ideal way to create opportunities for engagement where enthusiasm previously did not exist. My findings were that highly motivated students thrived, many average students got lost, and very few previously unmotivated students developed a notable new sense of connection to their school work. While choice was not what I had hoped, I am still convinced that it offers great potential. Moving forward, I know that students require a great deal of support and individualized instruction during choice and self-direction.
My “Monitoring” plan was far from sufficient. Rigorous daily individualized and small group instruction proved the most important tool for me to manage and stay on top of the progress of my students. Working with colleagues helped me develop my personal plans, but understanding and identifying the information and skill mastery (Cerrano, Ross and Entmer, 2009) of my students became the primary focus of my instructional time during class. What emerged was a new sense of appreciation for Google Forms. The software helped me organize and aggregate student responses in a fashion that supported manageable logistical management on my part. Google Forms has become a key tool for me to use in checking for student understanding.
Evaluating and extending was an abstract concept before the work was completed. While I still plan on using my professional learning community to develop lessons and approaches to my instruction, evaluating student results and the processes that they went through is my primary concern moving forward. I now know how the lessons played out and the courses they took. Identifying the successes and failures for groups and individuals will guide my future planning and implementation.
Resources
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
International Society for Technology in Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets-t-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2
Root-Bornstein, Robert & Michelle (2010). Imagine That! Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/201003/einstein-creative-thinking-music-and-the-intuitive-art-scientific-imagination
