Looking Back at 6710

Before this course I have never ever blogged, created a Wiki, or created a Podcast. I am so happy that I have learned these new technologies so that I can start to implement them into my classroom. It will take time and baby steps for me to do this because I need to feel 100% confident in my own skills before I teach my students. I currently have started a Wiki page and am working on developing a blog page for my students. We have discussed possible applications for using a Podcast in our classroom and are going to wait to start a big project up like that once our testing is done in January.

I have always used and implemented technology inside of my classroom. Now that I have learned about new ideas it will be easier for me to allow my students to explore more and figure information out on their own. Being able to have a Wiki page or a Blog is a great way for the students to explore information on their own and express their ideas without the feeling of being wrong. They can become the teacher and we can become the student. I love the idea of having the student be a teacher and teach their fellow classmates a skill that they have learned and developed at a mastery level.

Technology can help your classroom transform from having a teacher centered learning approach to a learner centered approach. The students can do their own research on topics that interest them and present them to the class once they become an expert.

I plan on keeping up with my personal blog as well as interacting with other educators via the blog to keep up to date with issues involving education. This course has opened up my eyes to a new world of educational issues. It is a nice feeling knowing that there are other teachers who share the same opinions that I do and are not afraid to express it. I plan on doing professional develop courses throughout the year to keep me up to date with new things happening in the world of education. Lastly, I love reading about technology and the importance that it has on education. I want to keep on reading educational articles, books, and online resources that pertain to technology.

I want all of my students to have personal computers at their homes so that they are able to blog and wiki at their convenience. If I am going to require my students to participate in blog or wiki entries, they need to be able to access this from their homes. I am currently asking for community support and fund raisers to help get my students computers. I just received confirmation that I will be getting 50 computers with one year free internet access for our 6th graders. This is a program that I wish to keep up year after year. Another thing that I want to accomplish is to have my classroom become a technology centered. I want to master using blogs, wikis, and podcasts inside of my classroom so that my students feel comfortable. That would be such a great transformation for me and my students. It would give the students a sense of pride and ownership over their own learning. Of course, money and lack of resources are always going to hinder technology advancement in an inner city school district.

Before this course, I thought that using PowerPoint and doing lessons on the Smart Board was integrating technology into the classroom. Now that I sit here and think about this course, they are tools of technology but it does not mean that I implemented technology into my classroom if I just simply put a PowerPoint together and show it on my Smart Board.

This was a very interesting course for me. I have learned a lot of skills and different technologies that I will need to master for myself before I get my students involved.

Technology Podcast

I conducted four interviews with students in my class pertaining to their usage of technology inside and outside of school. I asked each student the same questions, but I chose different things from each student.

Before I conducted my interviews, I thought that the students would all have computers at home, access to the Internet, and all have cell phones. Each student did have them, but some of their answers shocked my in regards to how they viewed the use of technology inside of the school.

I hope that you enjoy listening to the podcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAcsEyO7JNo