Overall, my experience in EDUC 6713 has been a very positive
one to say that least. I feel that
I have learned a lot about 21st-century learning and how to
implement into my teaching. I am a
person who utilizes technology a ton in my personal life, and as a result I
have learned a large amount of information about a lot of different topics in a
very short amount of time. If I
every want to try something new, whether it be some for of exercise/workout or
a new cooking technique (some of my personal passions) I simple do a quick
Google search and study up on it and then give it a go. This class has opened my eyes to
utilizing these same processes in my classroom. One thing that I have also realized, however, is the fact
that this type of 21st-century learning that I am using in my
personal life is to learn about things I am greatly interested in. So when I consider introducing this way
of learning to high school math students, I have to remember that the
enthusiasm might not be as high as it is for me because for a good majority of
them, math is not their favorite topic of study.
Moreover, one of the most valuable things that I have
learned in this coarse is how to properly set goals. You would think that at 27-year old would know how to set
goals by now, and I do, but the GAME plan for setting goals is a structured way
of setting goals that has checks and balances within it, which make for a more
efficient way to set goals. The
GAME plan involves the act of setting Goals, taking Action towards achieving
those goals, then Monitoring the progress you are making on your goals, and
finally Evaluating the entire process which will ultimately help you decide
where to go next (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). What I like so much about this plan is the fact that it is
cyclical and helps you either decide to redefine your goal, or press on to a
new one. As far as the progress on
my personal goals that I set at the beginning of this course, I would have to
say that I did not fully reach either.
My first goal was to provide more self-directed learning experiences in
my classes, which would involve them searching new topics of study on the
Internet and learning independently.
I never actually found time to take my students to the computer lab to
actually do this, except for two of my statistics classes on one occasion, as
each day within a trimester schedule is critical and I have plans for just
about every single day before the term even starts. I was not totally unsuccessful in this goal however, because
I did promote this to my students a lot and did show them many examples of how
to develop these self-directed skills, and encouraged them to practice at home. I have not gotten feedback from too
many students, but from the ones who did try it said they liked it and really
prefer to use YouTube because it has somebody showing how to do the math,
rather than just reading about it on a website. My second goal was to create a classroom website, and again
time was the major issue here. I
do have a classroom website, however, the only contents on it are helpful links
which include links to Google, YouTube, a couple of free online graphing
calculators. With coaching, taking
Master’s classes, being a husband and a homeowner, and not to mention being a
teacher, I have quite a few things that are higher on the priority list. However, I will keep this as a goal
until I actually achieve it, because a well-developed classroom website is
something I would love to have.
Overall, I am pretty happy with the progress that I have made with all
things considered, however I fully understand that this is plenty of more room
for me to gain in these areas, but that will come with time.
Continuing with the here and now, there are many great
classroom ideas that we learned about in the last few weeks of this
course. The units we developed,
which included problem-based learning, online collaboration, and digital
storytelling, are fantastic ways to utilize technology in the classroom. Ertmer (Laureate, 2010a) states that
problem-based learning involves students looking at a real-world, genuine
problem, and finding ways to recommend solutions to it or recommending ways on
how to find the answer. As a math
teacher, estimating or know where to even start a real-world problem is at
least half of the battle. One
thing that I am constantly preaching to my students whether we are looking at
real-world problems or not, is to think about what the answer should look like
before you start the problem. In
addition to having an expectation of what the answer should look like, students
should have a good understanding of where to look in order to seek out a
solution, whether it be searching online or contacting an expert, they should
know how to utilize resources to help them find a solution (Laureate,
2010a). On a side note, the idea
of digital storytelling went over very well with my Algebra 2 students when I
showed them a couple of math music videos. This really grabbed their attention and they even talked
about creating some of their own.
I really like the idea of digital storytelling because it allows students
to express what they have learned in a creative and genuine way, and is
considered by some to be superior to writing papers or essays (Laureate,
2010b).
In closing, my overall assessment on 21st-century
learning and including technology in the classroom has become more positive
than ever. My goals, that I know
effectively know how to set, are somewhat unfulfilled, but my thinking on these
issues has greatly changed. There
needs to be a sense of urgency in how we include technology and the Internet in
education, because it is so fast and effective. I have also learned that my personal experiences with online
learning are very valuable pieces of evidence to my students, as they respect
the fact that I will always be a student of something, and the Internet will
always be my primary textbook.
References
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.
Laureate
Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). [Webcast] Spotlight on Technology: Problem-Based Learning, Part 1. Baltimore,
MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc.
(Executive Producer). (2010b). [Webcast]. Digital
storytelling, part 1. Baltimore, MD: Author.
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