Teaching+with+Technology+Course+Reflection

 My eyes have been opened to the need to make learning relevant to today’s students, which means incorporating resources that they use outside of the school day into the school day. The outcomes I had envisioned from this course were to become more adept in ways to incorporate technology into teaching and moving beyond teacher PowerPoint use to tools more substantial to student growth in the classroom. Through the course of completing this class, I have read about ways technology benefits both students and teachers, viewed a variety of videos that have demonstrated these benefits, and finally created activities that I can take into a classroom and apply for my own results. All of these components have proven that technology is a true asset to teachers, and reaching the students and teachers in a way that is motivating and encouraging is only going to improve our educational system. I am truly passionate about improving the quality of education for those I work with and this course has taken me one-step closer to achieving this goal.  I think that the goals I set for myself with this course have only improved my stand on student education and remain very relevant to what I aim to achieve as an educator each day. As the ESL teacher this year, I am able to work with smaller groups of students from a variety of cultural backgrounds and help “level the play field” with the students in the rest of the school. I have taken on many different approaches to building the language and comprehension skills of the students I work with by using different tools like Reading Adventures Primary with my second graders and creating a Christmas around the World Web Quest for my fourth graders to work on. My second graders were able to both read and listen to a story on the computer while learning new vocabulary that we then applied to other areas of their day so they could connect what they learn with real life. My fourth graders were given questions about Christmas in countries around the world and specific sites or phrases to do a Google search. Once at the site, students skimmed through the site searching for key words and/or phrases needed to answer their question. They were then able to read the paragraph and answer the question. This was a huge success and I thank the creators from Pleasant Grove Elementary School for this great activity.    I believe I was able to achieve the goals I had set for myself to some degree. I would have liked to see more progress made with the goals, but as with any teacher time is always issue. With the amount of time I put into creating activities for just two grade levels, I would have planned for an entire week as a math teacher last year. The perfectionist in me came out in this class, wanting to make sure that I could apply myself everything I expected of my students. In order to achieve this I had to make sure I knew my students well enough and the activities suitable to their needs. As a teacher of six grade levels, that requires a great deal of time. That being said, I fully intend on continuing with this style of teaching as it suits me as an educator.  I felt a great sense of accomplishment with each of the assignments completed through this course. By far my favorites included using the Book Builder site to create our own book and the UDL Lesson Planner site. I am amazed at the creation of the books on Book Builder, and wish I had known of this resource last year when my class created their own books at the end of our fractions unit. I was discouraged with myself for not being more creative with my own book because I did not include pictures or a narrator for the book. I did create a glossary for my book and I believe that to be a tremendous asset to teachers and students. The definitions I included were meant to be “kid-friendly” so that anyone would understand the meaning of the word. I absolutely loved this resource and have shared the site with a couple of other teachers so they can try it out also.  At the end of this course, I have learned that my true passion is educating others and writing curriculum. I am growing stronger and stronger with my technology skills, becoming more bold and adventurous with what I will try to accomplish on a computer. I have moved past checking e-mails and working in Word or PowerPoint. I am now the author of a blog, a wiki, and a website. Had I been asked about any of this a year ago, I probably would have laughed thinking that I was doing all I could with these basic skills. My leadership skills are also growing stronger as I proved to myself that I could lead a group of teachers from across the state and with varying educational backgrounds to complete a group project to benefit the teaching and learning of others in the world. I am by no means ready to take on something larger than this right now, but as I continue to learn and grow as a student, I also learn and grow as a teacher and leader.