Technology..What? How? When?

This course was definitely an eye opener for me. I was hoping that after this course I would be able to guide myself and my campus through policies and procedures of technology and learn how to bring the campus into the digital age. I feel that this course is a large stepping stone in that direction. This class helped me think out and plan out how to change my campus. It gave me the tools to decide where my campus is and where it can go. The only thing that I wanted to learn more about was how to incorporate the technology even if the equipment is limited. A few of the teachers on campus have a handful of computers in the classroom. I wish I had a better idea on how to incorporate the few computers they have into a useful lesson.

Everything that I learned in this course is very relevant to my job at school. I consider myself a leader on my campus. I try to incorporate technology all the time and I am frequently visited by other teachers because they are new. These teachers can see how great and useful student computers are and begin incorporating them into their lessons. I also learned a great deal about the students we are teaching today about how they are considered to be “digital natives”. To have a better understanding of my students will always be relevant to me as a teacher and a school leader. This is knowledge I can share with my teachers and administrators as we move towards the digital age and continue to find ways to relate to our students.

I was successful on some assignments more than others. To be honest, the hardest part about completing the assignments was time. Since this course was at the end of the semester, it was difficult juggling school and work. I had to administer and grade finals along with completing all my other grades and turning them in. I have longer school day then most teachers. My actual class time runs from 7:30 to 4:30, but I am on campus until about 6 after meetings and clubs are finished. Therefore I honestly just felt like there was not enough time in the day to complete my teacher duties and my student duties. For Week 3’s assignment I was completely at a loss. It took me most of the week to track down our District Improvement Plan and our IT personnel. It was an overwhelming week with circumstances I could not control.

The blogging phenomenon could be the new educational trend. Blogging allows students to easily continue learning. It brings the education out of the school and into the homes. Students can discuss with each other not only in the school building but also on the internet. Students that are too shy to speak in class can have a voice in the class on the internet. Teachers can easily post discussion topics and get a feel of how students are grasping concepts. Teachers can also see if students are falling behind and help catch them up.

The two main concerns that I believe blogging could bring about is widening the digital gap and cyber bullying. If blogging becomes mandatory in a class then all students will feel as though they need a computer and internet access to be successful in the class. As teachers, we all know that not all students are the same and not all students have easy access to a computer let alone the internet to blog. We need to make sure that if we require blogging, we also provide plenty of time that students can complete the blogging at school. With blogging, strict policies and procedures need to be put in place. We cannot have students shutting down others ideas and thoughts.

Blogs allow all stakeholders to be instantly connected to the school or classroom. Parents and guardians can see what it is that their students are discussing when looking at a classroom blog. If the school itself has a blog, a lot of announcements can be made and reviewed if needed. Schools can also use blogs to send out tips and useful information. Besides parents, teachers can get a feel of what other teachers are accomplishing in their classes. The community that is involved with the school is also able to get a feel of how successful the school is and know that the school is representing the community in a better light.