Reflection

After reflecting on what I have learned and experienced in this course I must say I am suprised at how much I have developed in the field of educational technology. Before this course I knew very little concerning what ed tech was all about. I did not realize how far the cutting edge had gone and therefore how far our students should be advanced. Not only have I learned to weave my way through things like blogs, wikis and pod casts, but also how to use them effectively in a classroom situation to facilitate learning in a new and advanced way. Teaching and learning are no longer what they used to be. They are no longer what they were when I went through my teaching program in college and started teaching 16 years ago. My students no longer respond the way they used to, to the old ways. Teaching them how to learn with and use technology in the classroom and to be more of a facilitator of learning than a master teacher is becoming paramount to learning in the 21st century. Showing students how to learn for themselves and being their own knowledge gatherer is of the upmost importance considering all the knowledge that is available to them good or bad.
I think now that I am enlightened as to what is out there in technology with respect to using it for education, I can expand my knowledge of using these things for learning in the classroom by activiely taking part in the ed tech world that is available on the internet. Actively participating in web sites of any kind that has to do with education and student achievement whether it be blogs, wikis, pod casts, or anything new that comes along, will be a primary goal in my preparation for the classroom. Within the next two years two long term goals that I would like to set for myself to transform my classroom will have to be both challenging and realistic. The realistic goal is one I can achieve now with the technology that I have available to me at the present time. This goal is to make all of my students aware of what is out there available to them in the technology world and on the internet. I will do this by bring these new things to them in the classroom and allowing them to freely use and explore them. Hopefully this will cut the numbers of technologically illiderate students down substancially. My second goal is to educate the other teachers and "rally the troups" so to speak to bring pressure on our administration and district to make technology more important for the classroom and to hopefully reinstate the computer lab to our school that we lost a few years ago. As for any of my answers changing from the check list from week one the only thing I can think of is at that time I did not realize how specific and individual technology could be for each student as opposed to being effective only in groups in the classroom. Technology can be very personal and individual while also being useful for the masses.