IITC2 Final Thoughts

As the final lag of this journey comes to an end I reflect on what I have recently learned.

During the last six weeks have learned how to take a leadership role in technology in a school filled with technology experts. Creating a survey and conducting it at my school has shown me though we have many technical experts we still have a lot to do to improve the use of technology in the classroom. It surprised me that with all the technically inclined teachers at my school that colleagues in my course are still integrating technology into their lessons in ways creative ways well beyond what I see happening on a daily bases.

I may not be the expert in technology in my school but my skills as a leader may help bring all members of our staff technical experts into mentoring positions. Many of the assignments in learning experience 3 & 4 have involved me taking a closer look at how to improve my schools use of technology on a daily bases. Having completed the survey, a professional development calendar, a three year technology integration plan and completing a WebQuest (for a highly skilled technical staff) I believe I can lead by example.

I have many ideas from colleagues in the course that I would like to implement into my daily routine. By using a variety of technology devices already in use at my school with the new skills I have acquired I can slowly implement change. I would have to agree with Todd and say that our colleagues in this course have really embraced our experience and shared their ideas, taking a leadership role in not only the IICT2 courses learning community but in their schools learning community as well.

Reflection #3

Reflecting on the first three parts of the course.
Wow, what a busy, stressful time. It is apparent we need more hours in the day, and I need more hours in the night to catch up on sleep. No, daylight savings time did not get me the extra sleep I need. 
I am still amazed at the professional learning going on in our discussions. Everyone has something meaningful and helpful to improve our learning. 
I have been using Google Drive in my school for the last few years. It was only during this course when it was so obviously pointed out that our students have accounts to work in and collaborate as well. For the most part throughout my school students are still using email to send their work home to their home computer. The time and effort that could be saved if they just used Google Drive they wouldn't have the headache of files not converting or not converting properly.

As I reflect on the activities in the course I realize how many workshops have been attended and the content lost as time has past. I'm not just talking about PD workshops that I myself have attended and not had the time to implement into my classroom but in general. In this course I have had to leave my comfort zone, from just the few programs I have been using for the last 10 years. As teachers we all stay current with our board practices and curriculum changes as a necessity. However, many teachers go to workshops, on new trends within the board, but they are never followed up on what they learned or asked if they actually implemented what they learned in their classroom. We mentioned this several times in our discussions and many of us believe that to succeed at implementing changes it needs to be done during class time and facilitated in the classroom right from the start.

What is the Chinese proverb trying to tell us... "Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand." That is how I feel about technology right now. I am involved in a course "doing" for learning purposes I am involving my students and staff. I will have learned and understood the programs I will continue to develop technology in my classroom.

Necessary for some, good for all

‘Necessary for some, good for all,’ how true this quote can be regarding assistive technology. How fitting that the last comment I read from one of my colleagues in my course included a statement of how useful the automatic saving tool in Google Docs is for everyone. Saving should come second nature to everyone that routinely uses electronics. However I myself when I am in a groove and accomplishing work may forget to take a moment to save my updated work during my working period. How many times have we seen students lose work as they are sitting at the computer working and the computer freezes up on them?

I can think of any software designed to change speech to text and understand how useful this feature can be for everyone. Especially thinking about young students partaking in creative writing or story writing where their ideas are coming far faster than they could possible type or write. As teachers we forget that some of the best writers in the world do not always use pen and paper to document all their ideas. Some famous writers have audio recorders to help them contain all their ideas before collaborating everything in writing. Ideas that are lost because of taking the time to write out everything are not recognized for our assessment. We need to remember that using assistive technology does not mean students without special needs have no purpose for these educational tools. These tools can assist and enrich any students’ education without taking away responsibility from the student completing their own work. I am confident that assistive technology has a place for all learners if applied correctly with the curriculum.

Reflecting IITC Part 2 Midpoint

In my last blog I discussed the idea of being able to use assistive technology with all students to improve their learning experience. However reading the discussion comments from my classmates technology in the classroom in our schools has to come a long way for this to be possible. I was shocked at the lack of computers in some schools let alone assistive technology and software, this is a significant issue that needs to be address for our education system.

Through this section of the course I have learned how to benefit from the resources on the internet. In the past I have tended to look to limited software and technology, colleagues, board resources and books for my educational needs. Now I have found the internet is also a rich educational resource. To name a few of the resources the internet has could include educational Blogs, online articles like the ones from TeacherTips.com, on-line mind mapping sites and YouTube videos covering many things such as how to use assistive technologies for both on-line resources and computer software. Just like doing any other research you need to double check the source and references to note the credibility of the site. The discussion in this section of the course have offered insight on how to use technology within the curriculum and colleagues offering specific websites and programs.

Contributing in the discussions during my course has been a learning experience. The ideas we are sharing truly addresses the concerns for all students to learn and experience success. We have many teachers across Ontario taking part in AQ courses to improve their professional knowledge and stay current. As I have already noted some teachers are doing this not having the appropriate resources in their schools (i.e. like computers, others may be just material like text books). I believe this experience has demonstrated that standards of practice for the teaching profession is alive and well.

I am not usually one to ask questions. Therefore at this time my thoughts are to farther develop my interest in using the internet as a source of assistive technology. I would like to explore story making programs either on-line or using software that would be appropriate for grade 8 students.   

I would like to take this time to reflect my learning so far in my technology course. It is early and I’m already thankful I only took part 1 in the summer. I’m getting my hands dirty already learning new things about technology I have been using in my classroom for years. Teaching grade 8’s for the first time I believe the web 2.0 assignment as well as the integrated technology lesson have been the most beneficial in this term.

 I think I will use Bitstrips comics for some health topics in the future so the students can have some fun and do some role playing. I have already had a request to use Skype in my classroom from some students. I have regularly used Skype in the last few months to see family members. Reading over the lessons my classmates shared I see great potential bringing the community into the class using this program.   

Blogging is a new learning experience for me, however what George Couros has taught me is that it may very well be worth the time to do. I am a believer in refection, posting online for the world to see is the wall I need to get over. I also found that writing an ALP for a two year plan is unique and I think I will attempt this from now on. It made me realize what I really can accomplish in a two year span rather than the regular one.

I wish more of my classmates were teaching grade 7 & 8’s as many of the lessons posted would have been perfect to use in the last eight years while I was a junior teacher.

In conclusion I have truly embraced this experience of using technology in my classroom that this course has encouraged. My students have enjoyed the apps, cameras and blogging we have already used and are looking forward to what comes next.

Reflection is part of your work

In response to George Couros' blog about reflection, I need to agree and disagree about certain ideals he discuses in his blog. I agree that as a teacher it is our duty to reflect upon our lessons and how the students succeed or don't succeed in class. We should also teach the children that reflection on their work is important and looking back at what they have done is can only help them achieve their short and long term goals. George has posted over 500 blogs on the Internet and has created a journal or diary online for everybody to see. I do not think that this is a good idea. I have written down a lot of things that has worked and a lot the things that hasn't worked for me. I don't think I need to share everything I have done with whomever would like to read it. I believe some things should be shared to the public, however writing for the sake of writing seems pointless to me.
I would expect blogging will give me insight on how I view certain aspects of using technology in the classroom. I will also be able to see other peoples styles of writing and possibly improve on writting my own blogs.