Sunday, April 15, 2012

This week is my final week with EDU 6710: Integrating Technology into the Classroom. I went into this course with much anticipation about what I would learn that could enhance my literacy and FACS courses. I am pleased to say that it has met my expectations and more. In the first week of our course we were to complete a self-assessment checklist concerning how we support 21st Century Skills in our classrooms. I had heard of 21st Century skills because I am involved in a collaborative group called Teach 21 that connects the local state university with our public school district to help train future teachers. This class was a great resource to better prepare me to bring issues to the discussion table. I also feel armed with a myriad of new ideas and resources to inform my own skills in technology. As a digital immigrant, I have always been excited about what new things I can do with my classroom such as PowerPoints, developing web quests and using my school website to inform students and parents about upcoming assignments, but I realized that I was doing the same old things in a different way (Laureate, 2010a). I discovered that to become a truly innovative and professional teacher of 21st Century skills, I needed to hone my own skills first. Richardson (2010) believes that teachers need to use the tools available “in our own practice first so we can understand the pedagogical implications for the classroom” (p. 9). I have learned about and practiced using Wikis, Blogs and Podcasts in addition to Edmodo in order to learn the power of social media and determine how I can use it in my own classroom. With the goal of preparing my students for the new literacies online, I need to be able to teach and model how to make ideas and products available to others (Richardson, 2010, p. 149) so my experiences in the class gave me that opportunity. Another tool that I am using more and more is an aggregator to organize the information in the blogs that I am following. I had never even read a blog before this class, let alone create and use one. Richardson (2010) states that “posting on other people’s blogs before you start you own is a great way to get the feel of publishing your thoughts” (p. 44). I found it interesting and engaging to read a few blogs before I created mine. I have explored social bookmarking, which I have found hugely beneficial to me when accessing and organizing the great resources I have been introduced to in this class. Writing and responding to discussion board and blog posts has given me insight into the challenges my students may face when they engage in collaborative discussions and projects. 

There were a variety of tools and resources in this course that deepened my knowledge of the teaching and learning process. Reading the course materials and listening to the videos provided the foundation for my learning. I discovered that most of the PDF’s allowed highlighting and inserting comments, so this allowed me to annotate and highlight what I was reading and synthesize the information as I went back and reread the information. I also took notes on the videos and found the interviews and presentations informative. I liked hearing some of the teachers share their perspectives and was able to relate to their experiences. The debate between Dr. Thornburg and Hall Davidson (Laureate, 2010b) allowed me to further process what I had read in the article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants (Prensky, 2001) and gave me enough information to discuss this with my peers. This course utilized a variety of sources that not only informed my learning, but prompted me to do further research and find additional resources to deepen my understanding. The discussion board and blogs we created gave us, my peers in the course and me, an opportunity to process what we learned and get feedback on our thoughts. Writing for an audience gave us the “opportunity to communicate within a global forum, build knowledge content as a community and publish writing to an authentic audience” (November, 2008, p. 80). It also prompted me to carefully read my posts before submitting them and check for grammar, spelling and accuracy (Laureate, 2010c). Collaborating on the creation of a Wiki and working with a group of people I had never met gave me the insight I needed to understand the challenges that my students would face when they collaborate on projects such as Wiki’s. Learning how to create my own podcast led to more understanding about the challenges of using technology that is completely foreign to me and the rewards of trying something completely different. I found the instructional videos on blogs and wiki’s helpful as I applied what I learned from Richardson (2010). I feel that the technology tools provided in this course to deepen my understanding were all designed for the me to learn from technology as I watched tutorials and read about the idiosyncrasies of creating Wiki’s, Blogs and Podcasts, but also to learn with as I read the foundational information and wrote and responded to my peers online (Cramer, 2007).

As a Reading Specialist, I already knew that teachers need to change how they teach in order to increase reading comprehension and student engagement; however, my eyes were opened to the ways that we can use technology to help us do that. According to Dr. Thornburg (Laureate, 2010d) we are entering the “communication age” which involves and increased need for collaboration to solve problems and build knowledge. In order for our students to be able to compete in the global workplace, we need to prepare them to be able to work collaboratively in a virtual workplace using high level thinking and skill in communication (Laureate, 2010e). Our students are digital natives, born using technology and from what I have learned from my students, attached to their technology as they take it everywhere with them, even to bed at night. As we move from teacher-centered to learner-centered classrooms, we need to understand that teaching is conversation, not lecture (Richardson, 2010, p. 151). Students need to become directly involved in their learning and teachers need to model what it looks like to ask open-ended questions and find the answers using technology (Laureate, 2010f). They need to help students discern what a valid source is and how to be safe (Richardson, 2010, p. 12). The biggest change in my thinking was when I surveyed my students on their technology use and interviewed some of them. I was very surprised that 100 per cent of my students had Internet access at home and 99% of them had cell phones. These digital natives are engaged with their technology 24/7 and I have realized that we need to begin the shift toward the classroom of the Read/Write Web now (Richardson, 2010, p. 149). Prensky’s articles on providing opportunities for students to have a voice in their own learning and the ways they would like to be engaged were helpful when synthesizing what my students were telling me about their technology use (Prensky, 2005, 2008). The learner centered classroom is going to require a shift in thinking and pedagogy and it is going to require patience and an open mind as we struggle to change a long history of doing the same old thing.

I am not going to stop learning. This course has provided not only very usable knowledge and practice, but it has also given me an appetite for more. I am going to take the remaining classes for the graduate certificate in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. If I hadn’t already earned a Masters in Literacy, I would have pursued one in technology. In order to continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching and leading with technology with the aim of increasing student achievement, I plan to continue following the blogs I have found that support that effort. According to Richardson (2010) “teachers are employing Weblogs and wikis and the like in ways that are transforming the curriculum and are allowing learning to continue long after the class ends” (p. 148). I think it is important to keep up on the latest research, so I will continue to conduct my research, access the resources we were directed to in class, including P21.org, and engage in conversation with others who share my interests in education (Richardson, 2010, p. 149). According to the ISTE article, teachers need to “exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others” (2007) so I will continue to participate in curriculum and school improvement committees.

One of the main reasons I am taking technology courses is to inform my own teaching practice and to be able to mentor other teachers as they explore theirs. I am involved in the District Improvement Team, the Curriculum committee and the Student Achievement Leadership Team, all of which are highly involved in improving reading and math scores through increased student engagement. My main job at the high school is as a Reading Specialist and my main role is as a coach to help teachers improve their practice with fresh new ideas that engage students in higher level thinking and get them more involved in their own learning. I have two long-range goals for transforming my classroom environment. One goal is to complete the transformation from teacher-centered to student-centered learning in my classroom and the other is to model that practice as I mentor my peers. This will require a big shift in thinking and preparation on my part to gather the resources I need to create this transfer. Richardson (2010) states that teachers need to see themselves as “connectors of not only content, but of people” (p. 154). I will need to research what kinds of sources are out there to connect my students to expert knowledge and with peers. Once I have that information, I will need to decide which tools are going to facilitate the use of those resources and connect my students with a larger audience. I will also need to become a “content creator” (Richardson, 2010) by continuing my use of the social tools that connect me with others in the field (p. 154). One of the biggest shifts in thinking will be to consider myself on a more level playing field with my students as we collaborate and build knowledge together. I have already begun to do this through the use of the discussion tool on Edmodo and have had some interesting conversations with students as they process what they are learning about child development theory. It takes practice to be able to ask the right questions as my students discuss their thoughts and make connections to their lives and their learning. Richardson (2010) makes two more recommendations for redefining what it means to teach in the 21st century and that is that teachers need to think of themselves as coaches and change agents (p. 155). I will not only be coaching my students as I model the skills that they need to take charge of their own learning, but I will also be modeling to my peers as I connect with them in their classrooms and discuss and model strategies that they can use to engage their students. The biggest challenge will be implementing change as some teachers will not readily want to do something new or different. Not everyone likes change and it will require finesse and patience as we begin to transform our thinking and make the changes necessary to engage our students. The district administration is very interested in supporting our efforts to engage students and mentor each other. Professional Learning Communities will be formed next year and we will be coaching and helping each other make changes in how we do things. I know it will require baby steps as we begin the discussions. One of the ideas I am taking with me into this new adventure is to include the voices of our students as we make decisions for change. Prensky (2005) stresses the importance of including students in the discussion and that teachers should get their input in terms of how they would like to be taught (p. 10).

As I finish up this class and look back at the Practices to Support 21st Century Skills checklist, I find that how I approach my students and my colleagues has changed. I am more confident and willing to share the resources that I use to improve student learning and engagement. I am more willing to take the time to listen to my students and what they think and using Edmodo for this has facilitated that process. I know that by next year, I will be checking most boxes as sometimes or often, while many of them were checked off as rarely at the beginning of this course, particularly in the section about my teaching practice such as enabling the students to take charge of their own learning and collaborating with students to explore new and emerging technologies. It is an exciting time to be a teacher.


Cramer, S. (2007). Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first century skills. Clearing House, 80(3), 126–132.
International Society of Technology in Education. (2007). Profiles for technology (ICT) literate students. Retrieved from
http://www.iste.org/Libraries/PDFs/NETS-S_2007_Student_Profiles_EN.sflb.ash

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Program one. The emergence of educational technology [Webcast]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010b). Program fourteen. Debate: Digital natives vs. digital immigrants? [Webcast]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010c). Program nineteen. Transforming the classroom with technology: Part 2 [Webcast]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010d). Program three. The third wave [Webcast]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010e). Program nine. The changing work environment: Part 2 [Webcast]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010f). Program eighteen. Transforming the classroom with technology: Part 1 [Webcast]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Author.
November, A. (2007). Banning student “containers.” Technology & Learning. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/banning-student--containers-/44387
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Prensky, M. (2008, March). Turning on the lights. Educational Leadership, 65(6), 40–45.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.