A Successful Change Agent - Reflection

As my final class at Walden University (New and Emerging Technologies) comes to an end I feel confident that my quest to implement technology in the classroom will not. I feel that it is not only my duty to continue my efforts to use technology in my classroom, but that I need to advocate for other teachers to change as well. During week 6 and 7 of this course, I was able to create a lesson that used gaming to teach an ecology unit and explored options that would allow my school to receive a grant. I was amazed at how much is offered online and how inexpensive it can be. In fact, the lesson that I designed uses a free program offered through jason.org. The program is funded by donations and grants received from scientific organizations and is able to offer free resources to science teachers. This assignment is just one of many lessons that I will create that use technology instead of traditional teaching methods. The technology allows for more effective teaching and also provides differentiaton to the curriculum that I teach. It allows for students to learn at their own pace and accommodates for many problems that they might have. It will take time, persistence, and the help of others, but I am confident that I will be able to improve my classes and I hope that I will be able to influence other teachers to do the same. People in general, and especially teachers, are resistant to change. I believe that the best way to get others to change is to lead by example. Once kids start going into other classes and talking about how cool mine was, I think that other teachers will be more receptive to change. If not, I will just have to keep trying and bring along as many as I can.

Assessing for Learning - Reflection

As I took the Walden University Course "Reaching and Engaging All Learners Through Technology" I learned some very valuable lessons and continued to change some of my mindsets about technology in the classroom. The first things that I gained was information about how technology could allow me to learn the interests, learning styles, intelligence preferences, and learning profiles of my students. I still love to have casual conversations with students to get to know them, but often times I miss shy students with this method. Different surveys that we explored will help me to better know and understand the students in my classes. Through discussions and postings on a Google Group, I was able to learn about a ton of different online resources that I would have never known existed. It was great to practice using this type of social networking and in the process find these great resources. Probably the most important thing that I learned from this class is that classes should be designed using the universal design for learning, or UDL. There is no reason why we should not be creating our lessons in a manner that will reach students with diverse needs. It will provide better learning opportunities for all learners and save time because less modifications will be needed in order to meet students' IEP's. Differentiating instruction by using technology helps accommodate the universal design. By using technology as an integral part of the education process, and not as an exception, many more options are available to students and teachers. As a result, many different learners will be given the best opportunity to succeed.