As I think about this summer and the places that this course has taken me I am so sorry that I didn't take it sooner. I think that I actually sold myself short by thinking that just because I still can't type doesn't mean that I am forever stuck in tech limbo. I found this course to challenge my thinking and open doors to countless opportunities. I am asked to discuss how my classroom teaching will change as a result of taking this class. One thing that immediately pops into my mind is that I am going to start utilizing the best resource that has been right in front of me for years....the kids. I don't want a classroom where I deliver my great wisdom to students who secretly giggle as I struggle to show them this really cool thing I stumbled across on the computer when in reality they have most likely mastered the technology behind it in elementary school. Instead I hope to tap their potential and challenge their skills to help bring my classroom into the 21st century. I want to learn with them!!!! My job has been tweaked to where I need to challenge them but at the same time give them the opportunity to complete a task in a variety of ways. I need them to experience the world and now that is a very real possibility through Skye, the Internet, and blogging.
On another level I am also thinking about ways that my department can grow by infusing technology and communicate together on a larger but simpler way. We do need however to be afforded the opportunity to have time to work together and grow. I would so love to have time with one another to gather the excitement from one another. I know that together is the way that we will truly grow and reach our potential
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4 comments:
You are right. It is time to first see what the kids know and can teach us as teachers before we try to teach them something technological that we know only on the surface. After learning the curriculum, there are a lot of ways to give kids choice, and seeing how they would implement the technology could really surprise us all.
Diane I agree with you in that I need to trust the kids with the technology and learn from them. I think we need to be comfortable to give up a little "control" in our classrooms and let them Wow us by what they can accomplish. It shifts our jobs to be more facilitators.
I think that all departments could benefit from using some of the tools we have learned about for communication. I definitely think it could help strengthen 7-12 relationships.
Well said Diane. I too have been feeling lacking in the technology/computer skills dept. Sometimes I feel like a dinosaur and our kids are lightyears head of us. We have a lot to learn from each other.
I love hearing from kids about what they know about technology. I agree that we can learn a lot from them. Perhaps we could even use technology to connect with teachers in other districts.
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