Final Reflection

Wow, I cannot even believe that it was 20 months ago that I was starting on this journey through this master’s program. While this program is done I can see myself continuing to log onto the internet to see what new things are out there. I am so excited to have been able to gain the knowledge that I did from this course. I think that it will help me with the rest of my teaching. I cannot say how excited I am to have been able to take these courses.

The last assignment had me thinking about what technologies are out there and how they can help my students perform at a higher level. Well I am happy to say that after doing the assignment I was able to find a site that I can use at my school and I will be meeting with a representative from the company this Thursday, April 22nd, to see what the company has to offer. I never thought that I would be so excited about technology, but I am seeing that it can help to motivate the students that I teach. I hope that this company is good and that we are able to get the technology at my school next year. I talked it over with my principal and he is going to hear what the representative has to offer on Thursday also. I have been comparing different programs that can be used with math in my class and I do not think that I would of ever done that if it had not been for this class. I never thought that I would be looking for resources to use in the building that I teach. It feels so good to be able to bring what I have learned to life. I feel that it is making my job more enjoyable to be able to find things that the students will be enthusiastic about. I was able to test out a demo with the students last week and they seemed to love the demo. Most of them were upset that they were not going to be able to use the technology.

As a whole I am so glad that I have been able to have the opportunity to take these courses. I was a little hesitant at the beginning of the program because I did not think that it had anything to do with technology. Looking back now I can see how it might not of been using a computer or the internet, but it made me think about the students that I teach as a whole and I am so excited to have been able to take those courses and gain some great knowledge.

Spotlight on Emerging Technology - Click HERE

Reaching and Engaging All Learners through Technology

As I look back at this course and all that I have learned I see that one size does not fit all and that because I am a specific type of learner that not all of my students learn in that same way. It also made me evaluate the way that I teach. As a teacher if I am able to identify the way that I learn and the way that all my students learn then I will be able to be a more effective teacher. This class has also showed me that I am not alone in implementing differentiated instruction in my classroom. There are things that I do in my class that I do in my class that just come naturally to me and it is differentiating the instruction to all the learners. Yet there are still areas that I can improve in. Before when I would see that education needs to be more differentiated I kind of fought against it. I did not know that there were so many resources out there on the internet or that I was doing many of the tactics in my class already. Differentiated instruction was not so clear; actually it was kind of muddy. Now that I am at the end of this class I look back at all the resources there are and all the knowledge that I have gained I am actually more comfortable with implementing more things into my class.

Adjustments that I am making in my class is providing the students with guided notes that they are able to get all the information that they need on the topic that I am teaching. I started this process halfway through this class and the students have been responding positively. The thing that I did last year at the end of the year when I knew that I was going to be having the same kids was grouped the kids in the classes that I was going to be teaching by their ability. This has helped with teaching because I knew what the ability of the students was and I was able to pair them up so that those students that were higher would be able to excel. I have seen that this has worked pretty well this year.

Reflection

As I look back at this course and reflect on my GAME plan I think that it fell into place and I feel like I will be able to incorporate more technology into my classroom. There are many things that I will take from this class and use in my classroom. There are also many things that I did not know existed and I am glad to have had the opportunity to be in this class and learn about all the advances there are in technology. I was fortunate to be able to use the SMART Response technology in my classroom and that helped me and my students advance in technology. The students were able to gain instant feedback on what they know and don’t know. It also allowed me to know where the students were lacking and what I needed to cover more in my class. The technology that I would like to take from this class into my own class is digital story telling. I think that it is a great way for the students to be able to express themselves.

Week 7 GAME Plan Continued

In order for the students that I teach to understand that technology is important in all that they do I will need to model how important it is to them all the time. I am loving being able to use the SMART response clickers in my classroom. I think that they are a great tool and the kids love to be able to use them. I am a little scared that I will not know what to do when I am not able to use them on a daily basis. I use the clickers at least three days a week and at times it is every day. Not all the teachers in the building use them now so that is great for me because I get to use them all the time, but when all the teachers in the building start using them then I will have to give them up. I am not looking forward to that. I love the technology that is at my finger tips. Just sometimes when there is only a limited amount available to use I think that is limits me and the things that I am capable of doing.

GAME Plan- Week 6

I am still in the same place that I was in looking over my GAME plan. I think that I have a pretty good understanding on how I am going to do my lesson plan and I think that it Is coming together pretty well. The goals that I have I think are coming together. I know that there are teachers that I teach with that are not proficient with the SMART Response clickers and I have been helping them to understand how to use and implement them into their classes. I hope that I will still be able to help those that are struggling and then also grow as an individual in my own knowledge of the technology.

GAME Plan Evaluation

My game plan so far has been effective. My first goal was to model digital-age work and learning to the students. I feel that I am doing well with this because I have been able to use the clickers in my classroom that will help the students in to gain knowledge in the ever changing world. The other goal that I have set forth is to engage in professional growth and leadership. Well I feel like this will all come into effect when I am able to talk about the clickers and how they are used in the classroom on our delayed start on Thursday. I hope that the teachers in my building will be open to the new technology that I will be presenting along with a person from the district. I have had great success in using the clickers and getting the students engaged in the lessons that I hope that I will be able to show all the possibilities there are with the clickers. They are a great way to get the students excited about learning about math and applying technology.