My journey has definitely been a meaningful process that I continue to experience as we reach the end of this program. Throughout this process I have learned many things, some of these include changing my mindset about different aspects of teaching, considering how the things I do in class affect my students, and thinking about the personal factors that affect my teaching. My thoughts about how I should teach my students have steered even more to focusing on my students instead of what makes me comfortable, to consider technology and how it can benefit my students, even when I am not comfortable with a new tool. I now think about what tools I apply in my lessons will have a greater effect in my students instead of just helping me make a lesson fun. Overall, this program has made the process of thinking about my teaching more clear and purposeful. I know I still have much to learn, but I can definitely notice a difference from the time I started the program to now that I am at the end of this step in my own learning. Thinking back to different sessions and discussions, I’m reminded of the importance of taking care of my needs as a teacher. Learning, questioning and not being afraid of making mistakes are important for growth, but so is understanding what we need as teachers. I understand that I need to further my education in order to better serve my students, I need to take risks, and at the same time feel comfortable with being uncomfortable. I am at a place now where I feel motivated to continue exploring and in no way do I feel that I know all that there is to know, but I certainly want to continue to learn what I don’t yet know.
0 Comments
Before starting this program I tried to incorporate technology in my classroom in different ways. I would try different tools that were appealing but was not really implementing technology in the best way I could. Many times it would not add to the content we were working on but served more as a filler to have students simply practice on the computer. Students would type their essays and add images to their writing to make it more engaging. I didn’t realize I should have been exploring other strategies like peer editing on google classroom, creating informative posters or infographics, creating a different product and allowing the transfer of information to happen in a different way. Overall, I was not paying full attention to how I was implementing technology, my knowledge of the content I was teaching, or how my students learn best. In my journey through this course I have realized that there is a good and a not so great way to use technology in the classroom. The use of technology should go along with the content and the knowledge of how my students will learn best. Through this program I have been able to better identify which tools work best for the content I am teaching and how to deliver using technology. Most of all, I have learned to take a risk and try something new with a good plan in mind. Lasting Learning from the Innovative Learning program There are many valuable lessons I have learned through this program. My driving question led me through a process of reflection and learning as I implemented student-created video lessons in the classroom. At the start of the program, I wondered how I could use technology to engage my students. I had some previous knowledge using technology in the classroom, but the way I implemented technology was not always effective. Many times, using technology would actually affect my teaching time and student engagement would not get any better. Being able to understand how to implement technology and going through TPACK in this program has been very valuable as I am able to better plan and use technology tools with my students. I plan to continue implementing and practicing with different tools as I continue with my journey. I feel as if I have already shared this before but my Capstone project will allow me to share a way that we can incorporate technology and 21st Century skills in the classroom. It will allow me to communicate my findings with teachers that may have the same inquiry as I did. With my project and findings, I want to be able to motivate someone to look more into the research I explored, and hopefully utilize it in their own classroom. I have already started to share my learning with colleagues and principal, and plan on sharing with other teachers that are interested in pursuing their own inquiries. I hope that as I continue to use this is in my classroom, I will be able to learn and share more with new teachers as I have learned from my peers. Hopefully, I will be able to expand from this capstone to other areas in technology. Before starting this program I tried to incorporate technology in my classroom in different ways. I would try different tools that were appealing but was not really implementing technology in the best way I could. Many times it would not add to the content we were working on but served more as a filler to have students simply practice on the computer. I would have students type their essays and add images and other things to their writing to make it more engaging for them but I didn’t realize I should have been exploring other strategies like peer editing on google classroom, creating informative posters, or infographics with canva and other sites that would engage students with the same kind of work but creating a different product. Overall, I should have been paying more attention to how I was implementing technology, my knowledge of the content I was teaching, and how my students learn best. In my journey through this course I have realized that there is a better and a not so great way to use technology in the classroom. The use of technology should go along with the content and the knowledge of how my students will learn best. Through this program I have been able to better identify the best tools and how to apply them in the classroom, most of all, to take a risk and try something new. My capstone was my chance to wonder and try something new. I was able to reflect on how technology application through my study affected my students and see if it made a positive effect or if the technology simply served as a fun tool. I still feel like this is a learning process that takes time and trying over and over in different content areas and with different students. I definitely feel like I have made progress as I have found ways to use technology like I hadn’t before. As I continue to explore, I see that there is much more to learn and it is helpful to understand how to approach any new technology tool I plan to use with my students. The more I explored the different pages of each capstone, the more worried I became about gathering more content that I can share in order to make my capstone look as complete and useful as the examples. I know the audience of my capstone will be teachers that are interested in learning more about having students create their own lessons for engagement. I am still struggling in how this will all look in each part of the capstone but looking at the different capstone examples has given me ideas. As I think about my Learn More pages, I know I have to make sure I update my resources and search for more media and other ways to present my content. As I was looking through the pages I felt engaged by the different visuals that were used (infographics, videos, images) and I feel like adding that to my capstone will be essential to teach my audience about my research. My next steps from here are to continue adding to my resources and think about how to best organize them so that they can be helpful when someone else goes in to see them. I am starting to see where I need to go with my capstone but am still a bit overwhelmed by the amount of items that I don’t have in place yet. Capstone preview and critique
All of these pages gave me ideas on how to organize, add, or rethink of what I wanted to include in my capstone site. I feel like all of them focused on reaching teachers, with a specific interest in mind. Avrukin In this site the audience are teachers whose interest is to reach all students through lessons that reach multiple needs. Also, for any teachers looking to reduce the amount of time spent creating different lessons for different needs when one lesson can reach all students. Many of the pages show different resources for teachers to explore further. I feel like the pages do a good job providing these resources that could lead to the purpose of the page in helping teachers create lessons that help all students. Saelee In this site the audience is also the classroom teacher that is trying to find a way to reach a diverse group of students. The site offers information about how we can reach students with personalized learning. The lessons section and how-to section definitely continue to present this idea effectively by providing many resources that can be used to engage students in learning. There are many lessons, links to other pages to explore, and resources that can come in handy. Gottfried Gottfried’s audience are also teachers, but teachers interested in bringing blogging into the classroom. This question of the power of blogging in the classroom is effectively presented, I especially like the video tutorials showing the audience how to get started. Ellison The audience for this page are teachers that are looking into gamification in the classroom. Again, I feel like this page does a great job at providing resources for teachers interested in gamification. The links, recommended readings, media, and tools under the reference page allow the user to explore more about gamification in the classroom. The other pages provide more information for anyone that is interested in learning about gamification. When I decided to join this program, my goals were to expand my knowledge in the use of technology in the classroom. I wanted to stay up to date and learn about ways I could provide better access to learning for my students. My goal now is to continue expanding and practicing what I have learned so far as I create a product that can be used by others. I intend to continue implementing what I had practiced in the first and second semester and also looking into other capstone projects from the cohort.
One way that my cohort has supported me has been by giving me feedback during class. As we shared, especially while writing our paper, I was able to use the feedback I received to clarify different questions I had. Constructive feedback has always been helpful, and when the opportunity comes up with the capstone I will try to do the same. What is important to you in terms of group norms? Just like I share with my students, if we are respectful and listen to each other it all works out. We are just like our students, we think and act differently. I’m fortunate to be part of a cohort of teachers that understand how important different opinions are. Although my driving question changed in wording, the idea of technology used by students to create lessons remained throughout the research process. My initial question was: How do student created video lessons affect student engagement? In the second semester of the program it was modified to: What impact do student-created media lessons have on student engagement in the classroom? I wanted to know if and how student-created media lessons could impact student engagement in the class. My audience are students and teachers. Targeting students in the classroom and sharing the findings with teachers that may be able to use and expand on what was done in this research.
As an English language learner, starting at a new school at age 14 in a different country without speaking the language was a completely changing experience. I remember adapting well to the change, but insecurity and fear of failure was always something I worried about. It was the support I received from my teachers back then and the approach they took in teaching me that allowed me to achieve the goals I didn’t realize were achievable. The teachers I had took risks and were not afraid of making mistakes when trying something new. I remember art and technology as the two subjects that kept me interested and engaged in my learning. My art and technology teacher guided me in a process where I was able to use my interests to enhance my language learning. They motivated me to create using art and technology and challenge myself in a way I had not experienced before.
Once in college, I was able to experience working with students going through the same experience I had as a student. Throughout college, I tutored migrant students and tried to do what my teachers had modeled. I attempted to know my students first, and use that knowledge to better help them connect with content. My experience as a student and knowing the impact I could make in others through education lead me to become a teacher. As I continue to learn as a teacher, I realize that it is an ongoing process and there will always be room to grow. For that reason, I decided to join the Innovative Learning Program. By joining this program, I hoped to continue challenging myself to learn new concepts and finding new and innovative ways to motivate my students to explore in their learning. I am grateful for the opportunity to grow through the Innovative Learning Program and look forward to using what I have learned in the next steps of my learning. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2018
Categories |