Reflection on Implementation

When I plan my lessons and activities in my classroom I try to remember what it was like to be a student. When I think back to school, I remember a lot of sitting, listening, and taking notes. The classes that only included these aspects were always the hardest for me because I found myself not interested in the topic and counting the minutes until I was able to leave. On the other hand, the classes that I remember being excited about were the ones that involved hands on learning and getting to work with others. These are the classes that seemed to fly by and the ones that I would remember the material from. I feel in today's classroom technology is the key to making my classroom that exciting room that students do not dread coming to. Incorporating technology gives me a chance to give students meaningful experiences and gets them involved in their learning. Technology allows teachers to easily differentiate instruction based on student needs and make the classroom a dynamic learning environment (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007).

The technology I decided to use in this lesson is search engines, MindMeister, and VoiceThread. I selected these tools because they will help my students be organized and collaborate with each other. Search engines are a major tool that students need to know how to use in life. Endless amounts of information are available to us by just doing a simple search. I feel that it is important to teach students that just because the computer says it does not mean the information is valid. Students need to know how to pick trustworthy sites and be safe. Concept maps allow students to organize and visualize distinct characteristics and see the connections (Laureate Education, 2010). In 6th grade organization is one of our biggest battles. If students take notes, they struggle to find information and make connections between other information. Concept maps allow students to organize data in a visual manner. They are able to quickly look at the map and recall information. I feel that concept maps are going to be a great tool for my students and will be used in many different projects and lessons. The last piece of technology I decided to use is VoiceThread. This was my favorite tool we learned about during this class. This is the easiest podcasting tool I have ever used and offers students the ability to present their ideas. My favorite part is that after they make the podcast other students can go in and leave comments or ideas for the presenter. Collaboration is going to be a key element in my classroom this year, and this is an amazing tool for this process.

My lesson answers crucial questions students have in any subject area. It answers the question why are we learning this. The lesson gives an example a real-world display of data and an example of a job that involves data keeping and math. Students are involved in researching and finding credible information. In the real-world, people are constantly using the internet to investigate and learn new information. It is important for students to learn at an early age that not everything online is true.

The lesson also involves students in multiple forms of learning styles. The lesson contains two major learning styles, auditory and visual (Lever-Duffy, McDonald, 2008). Putting different forms of technology into my lesson helped reach numerous students. The students that learn by listening had many opportunities to listen to fellow students and myself and then discuss their feelings. Students that learn visually were able to watch a podcast showing the proper research methods and create a visual to organize their data. In my experience technology always gets the students more engaged in lessons and makes them meaningful. Every time we teach students how to use technology we are teaching them life skills they may use in the real-world. Students come into my room with diverse learning needs. Technology gives me the ability to quickly differentiate to each individual students needs. With technology, I can present my lessons in many different formats. I can create podcasts that explain lessons both auditory and visually. If a student needs extra practice, I can put them on a practice website that gives them immediate feedback. Technology gives students the ability to collaborate with each other and even myself in the classroom and outside of the classroom. If a student has a question while working on homework at home, they can get on the classroom blog and talk with each other or send me a message. Technology brings the communication level between students and student to the teacher to an all new level. My classroom also has a high ENL population and technology allows me to connect the lessons to their native language. Using search engines, I have been able to find videos and other class material in their native language and then connect it to what we are doing in the classroom.

Technology can transform teaching and learning. If used correctly, technology can move you from a good teacher to a great teacher and give you the positive influence on student learning you have always hoped for (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, Malenoski, 2007). This statement sums up the integration of technology perfectly. If technology is used in the classroom and used in meaningful ways, students will reach levels they never thought were possible. They will leave our classrooms with real-world knowledge and ready to be a productive citizen.

References

Indiana Department of Education, (2012). Indiana Standards Materials. Retrieved on August 12, 2012 from http://www.doe.in.gov/achievement/standards.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Cognitive Learning Theories [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Lever-Duffy J. and McDonald J. (2008). Theoretical Foundations. Boston, MA. Allyn and Bacon

Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom

instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Schacter J. and Fagano C. (1999). Does computer technology improve student learning and achievement? Journal of Educational Computing Reasearch, 20 (4), 329-343