Reflection: Final Blog Posting

The course “Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society” at Walden University has helped me to develop my own technology skills as a professional teacher in many ways. I have become familiar with several types of technology that I did not understand prior to the course. Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts were all things that I had never used before, or at least I thought. I have used Wikipedia before this course, but did not truly understand its potential. I have not yet implemented Podcasts into my teaching, but I have used Blogs. I now have a better understanding of tools that students are using on a daily basis.

I have had the opportunity to rethink my methods of teaching and continue to try and find ways to make learning student centered. Technology provides many tools that allow students to be a more active part in their learning. It can also put ideas into a framework that is easier for some students to understand.

I have always thought that it is more productive for students to solve problems and learn things on their own than it is for them to “sit and get.” My knowledge of new technologies has given me the opportunity to act upon this belief.

I continue to learn more about technology and teaching. I do not expect that this will ever change. As new technology emerges it will provide even greater potential to provide learning opportunities for students. Student achievement is directly correlated with the amount of productive effort they put into learning. Motivating students can be challenging, but many of the new technologies get some of the hardest to motivate excited about learning.

Within two years I plan to have a website where students can go to find class materials and links to technologies that we will use in the class. I also plan on having each student create a blog. These blogs can be used for simple things such as simple class discussions and can also be a way in which to discuss highly debated issues in science. One of the biggest obstacles that I see with achieving these goals is a lack of quality computers in the school. It is difficult to find computers for the kids to work on a regular basis. One of the ways that I plan to overcome this obstacle is to push one-to-one computing in our school.

Podcast Assignment

Please click here for my Podcast assignment.

Valuable Website

As I was responding to a blog for this week's assignment, I made reference to a speaker that those in our district saw during our inservice. I thought it would be a valuable and interesting reference to post on the blog. Go to www.davidwarlick.com and check out what he has to say. If you would like to see the specifics on that which he presented to our district visit http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?p=385 It is all very interesting stuff and very relevant to our discussions.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

I found the website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ to be a quality website with great resources. One of the things that surprised me was that the state in which I teach, Wisconsin, is one of 13 states currently involved in the initiative. The information presented on this site is consistent with that which we have learned in Walden University's "Integrating Technology in the Classroom" program. It shares many of the goals that we are trying to accomplish at the high school where I teach. I am excited that all of these things include emphasizing deep understanding rather than shallow knowledge and actively engaging students in solving meaningful problems. As a science teacher I am also excited that they support the STEM movement. The world that we live in is rapidly changing as technology advances and I think it is a bit overwhelming but also very exciting. I was surprised to see that the website promotes the government's plan of No Child Left Behind. While I agree that we should do everything possible so that every student receives a quality education, I think there are serious flaws with the plan. Simply mandating that students reach a certain level of proficiency on standardized tests does not improve education. Funding and modification of schools is what is needed. I agree with the ideas of NCLB and the push to add 21st century skills to schools and hope to see funding support these initiatives so that they can become reality. Students and our society will benefit from the goals of learning 21st century skills.

Thank you for the ideas!

Thank you to everyone who has given suggestions and ideas about the article review and blogging. I really like the idea of kids posting an online article that they find, giving a summary, and then having disscussions through the blog.

Using Blogs in the Science Classroom

I have been trying to come up with a way that I could use a blog effectively in my science classes. I frequently have students find articles in newspapers that deal with science. The kids are then required to write a short review of the article and relate it to things that we have or will do in class. Instead of having the kids do their article reviews on paper and follow it with a classroom discussion, the kids could do their review as a posting and then the other students in the class could comment.

Learning to use blogs can be confusing

Last year I helped a colleague find the power button on his new Dell computer and found the situation hilarious. As I attempt to create a blog, I feel like I am the guy trying to find the power button. It is my goal that I can create a blog that will help me to become a better science teacher by learning about different technologies that can help me teach.