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Digital-Age Teaching Professionals
Posted by: Thomas Kritikos | June 10, 2009 | Comments Off on Digital-Age Teaching Professionals
Step 1:
1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity.
I have always enjoyed searching for ways to enhance student learning by employing novel technology tools within the classroom that are exciting and motivating for students. Typically, in my classroom, students work collaboratively by using technology to foster greater knowledge creation across all subject areas. In the past, I have been successful in linking literature circles with technology by having students create authentic “songs” by using “Garage Band “ to explore novels, through song. Students become engrossed with the activity and make new connections to the novel by actively constructing their knowledge. I make it clear to all my students that they are on a personal journey to learn how to learn, and to make knowledge construction meaningful to them. Even though they are in grade 6, and still young, I feel it necessary to begin to create an environment, which permits each student to explore content using technology in ways that allows them to be as creative as possible.
2. Design and develop digital-age learning experiences and assessments.
I not only view technology as a vehicle for knowledge expansion for all students, but also as a means to assist struggling students by adapting educational content in stimulating ways. By developing a classroom environment that is rich in choice with respect to different technology tools, students can construct their knowledge in a manner that takes into account their choice of learning tool. Giving students the ability to choose the tools that will help them with their learning journey, I believe is crucial in fostering a love of learning that is personal and relevant to them.
3. Model digital-age work and learning.
Some of the digital strategies that I have used in the past to support student learning have been;
-i) building a school web-site, and having School newsletters in Word and in PDF formats attached to the site to assist the community with viewing weekly school news/events
-having students use a communication tool called ‘First Class’ where they communicate with me and with each other as well as with their parents
-using First Class to communicate with Astronauts and Scientists to help with an intermediate Science project called “The Marsville Project”
-using Wireless Macbooks to help student’s research and present knowledge with programs such as Kidspiration, Inspiration and PowerPoint.
-using Garage Band to create music that is tied to the curriculum
4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility.
On several occasions my students have asked me if I navigate to “Limewire” to download musical songs. I always say to them that I prefer to purchase music from retail and online vendors such as the Apple itunes store. They always seem bewildered that I would choose to pay for the music instead of downloading it for free from this peer-to-peer sharing service. I normally state to them that I do not agree with the service where music is taken without reimbursing the artist. It is my impression that students of today have little, if any sense, that intellectual property is a serious matter that needs to be respected at all times. Perhaps, as educators we need to re-double our efforts to make the concept of intellectual property more tangible and comprehendible by our students. I use a communication (email) tool to interact with my students and am always reminding them not to use “slang’ or acronyms when sending me mail. I tell them that even though I understand this is what most students do when talking to each other, it is not the most efficient way to send information back and forth between peers. I do model all the conventions when I send my students messages. Although, at times, I admit that I would like to type some words in ‘short form’ just to be able to shorten the time that it takes me to communicate with my entire class.
5. Engage in professional growth and leadership?
My passion for using technology with my students also extends to helping teachers fully benefit from the school’s technology tools. I have been a district technology trainer for the past 3 years, providing teachers with workshops that help them integrate technology across different content areas. I find that it can be a challenge to bring teachers together to develop a shared plan on how to best serve the school community with technology integration. At times I have come up against teachers that just want “the computers to work”, not wanting to participate in a broader plan for all to benefit from. It is my sense that an educator’s hectic schedule leaves them very little time to plan for school wide initiatives, thereby keeping most of the planning and vision for their classroom alone.
Step 2:
1. How can ETEC 565 help you to become a digital-age teaching professional?
For me, it has always been the rich breadth and depth of discourse that has been prevalent in my previous MET courses which has helped my see a problem or an idea from multiple perspectives. This broad range of information has helped me unpack various scenarios in ways that ultimately led me to new understandings.
One of my goals is to be able to utilize a framework or matrix that will assist me in deciding which technology tools/applications will best serve students. I admit that I have been one of those teachers that has always enjoyed obtaining the latest in tech tools to invigorate my curriculum planning. While I believe that my rationale for obtaining technology for my schools has been based on sound educational principles, there have been times when I thought that the only reason I was purchasing technology was because it was “the latest thing”. Having a matrix where I could highlight cells of information that would signal applications/technology usefulness would be beneficial when deciding how to allocate scarce technology dollars within my school.
I have never had a problem with learning new technologies and/or applications that would benefit student learning within my classroom. I would however, like to be able to organize my staff in a manner that excites them about the many benefits of technology integration. Sometimes my efforts seem like a celestial “black hole” is gobbling them up. I still feel that school wide adoption of information technology is a worthwhile goal to purse with staff. Perhaps it is more the process of how technology integration is adopted by a school as opposed to some kind of culminating event, or specific lessons one must comprehend.