Part
I: Reflection on Educational Philosophy
Looking back at my first
post I feel that my educational philosophy has slightly changed, but for the
most part it still holds true. After taking this course and interacting with
technology in an educational setting more, I think there are several ways to
incorporate technology into our daily lives in the classroom than what I
originally knew about. I think that my mindset when developing my original
educational philosophy incorporating technology saw technology as more of a
“special occasion” type of thing. Now, I see that technology isn’t a special
occasion thing, but it is something that everyone uses daily and that our
students should know how to navigate and interact with without being
intimidated. I think my philosophy has only slightly changed in the way
technology is viewed. I will incorporate technology into the classroom daily
and ensure that my students have the tools necessary to navigate through
technology almost instinctively. With our world quickly becoming technology
driven, being a technologically literate person is crucial in reaching success.
Being a little more
specific, I will utilize technology in my classroom in several ways. I will
create a classroom blog where my students and their families can access a
virtual classroom having most of our in-class resources and tools available to
them any time they need it. This will also help my students’ families become
technologically literate, or maintain their already existing knowledge of
technology. I will also incorporate technology into lessons whenever possible,
having students create PowerPoints or graphs to effectively convey a message. I
will provide my students with several opportunities to utilize technology in an
academic setting, preparing them for their future educational needs.
Part
II: Reflection on Implementation of each ISTE NET Standard
Standard 1: Facilitate
and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity
·
Promote,
support and model creative and innovative thinking and inventiveness- These elements were addressed in
lessons I’ve created throughout the semester by having students create
different artifacts through the use of technology. This allows students to
express themselves creatively through the use of technology. In my lessons
specifically, students created and modeled bar graphs and created virtual posters
and power points to demonstrate their mastery of content being taught. I feel
that this was an appropriate way to approach these elements because it allowed
for students to meet the objectives of the lesson while using their
creativeness and familiarity with technology to do so.
·
Engage
students in exploring real-world issues and solving authentic problems using
digital tools and resources
– These items weren’t specifically addressed in any of my lessons this
semester, but I’d address these topics in the classroom by creating research
projects for students, allowing them to utilize the resources available to them
via technology to extend their knowledge outside of the classroom. With the
guide of the teacher, students will develop their research skills and be able
to explore real world issues through a variety of resources and learn to
differentiate reliable sources from commercial resources. This is an
appropriate and effective way to approach these items because it gives students
the tools necessary to learn to utilize the internet in a more mature and
effective manner than playing academic games or other review tools that can be
found on the internet.
·
Promote
student reflection using collaborative tools to reveal and clarify students’
conceptual understanding and thinking, planning and creative processes
– To implement these ideas in my classroom I would have students create and
keep a virtual journal that would also serve as a communication tool between
myself and the students. It could be saved onto the share drive and as the
teacher I can respond by inserting text boxes where appropriate. This would be
an effective way to approach this standard because it allows to students to reflect
while using tools available to them through technology.
·
Model
collaborative knowledge construction by engaging in learning with students,
colleagues, and others in face to face and virtual environments –
This was modeled in a lesson I did in having students make Glogs (virtual
posters) to describe and give examples of homonyms and homophones. The students
worked in partners and utilized technology to find three examples of each and
put them together to create a Glog. This is a good way to implement this part
of the standards because students are working collaboratively and working with
their peers face to face and through a virtual environment.
Standard 2: Design and
Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments
·
Design or adapt relevant learning experiences
that incorporate digital tools and resources to promote student learning and
creativity – These elements were incorporated in a math
lesson I did that had the students survey their peers and collect data and
create a virtual bar graph with the data they collected. This shows students
engaging in learning that is relevant to them and incorporates digital
resources. The students are also using creativity in creating their bar graphs
and designing them and putting them together.
·
Develop technology enriched learning
environments that enable all students to pursue their individual curiosities
and become active participants in setting their own educational goals, managing
their own learning, and assessing their own progress –
I would develop technology enriched learning environments for students by providing
them access to technology as often as possible. I would organize trips to the
computer lab to help students familiarize themselves with technology as well as
utilizing classroom sets of laptops whenever possible to have students complete
assignments online. I would also have a virtual classroom available online for
students and parents to access the resources available to them via online
resources. I think this would help students manage their own learning and
assess their own progress by having them utilize technology to monitor their
learning whenever possible.
·
Customize
and personalize learning activities to address student’s diverse learning
styles, working strategies, and abilities using digitals tools their own
progress – Learning activities can be personalized to address students’
diverse learning styles by having each child be held accountable for their own
learning by incorporating each of the previous mentioned strategies. If
students utilize technology appropriately and become active members of the
technological world, they can customize and personalize their learning
experiences and their diverse needs would be addressed.
·
Provide students with multiple and
varied formative and summative assessments aligned with content and technology
standards and use resulting data to inform learning and teaching –
These elements of the standard can be implemented by the teaching using data
collected through a variety of formative and summative assessments and keeping
the data via technology and utilizing that data to drive instruction. Depending
on the age of the students, students can also keep track of their own learning by
recording results from formative and summative assessments and keeping a
personal log using an online tool.
Standard 3: Model Digital
– Age Work and Learning
·
Demonstrate fluency in technology
systems and transfer of current knowledge to new technologies and situations –
This can be adapted into the classroom with students taking previous knowledge
of technology and the basic use of computers and utilizing that knowledge to
further their learning in technology. This can be done especially well with
students in older grades that can effectively demonstrate fluency in technology
systems and transfer that knowledge to new technologies and current situations
by taking their previous basic computer skills and using that as a foundation
to further their learning.
·
Collaborate with students, peers, and
parents and community members using digital tools and resources to support
student success and innovation – I feel that having a
classroom blog is a great way to implement this standard because it has the
teacher collaborate with students and peer and parents. If appropriate the blog
can be open to the community as well. I think this is an effective way to
implement this standard because it meets every piece of criteria mentioned in
the standard.
·
Communicate relevant information and
ideas effectively to students, parents and peers using a variety of digital age
media and formats – I think the classroom blog also meets
this standard because it will communicate relevant information and ideas
effectively to students, peers and parents using a variety of digital age
formats. Within the blog there can be multimedia videos, pictures, articles or
any form of communication needed to effectively meet this standard.
·
Model and facilitate effective use of
current and emerging digital tools to locate, analyze, evaluate, and use
information resources to support research and learning – A
great way to encompass this standard is to create a research project and have
students use technology to gather information. This will allow students to meet
every part of the standards by effectively using current and emerging digital
tools to locate, analyze and evaluate information resources to support their research
and learning.
Standard 4: Promote and Model
Digital Citizenship and Responsibility
·
Advocate, model and teach safe,
legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology, including respect
for copyright, intellectual property, and the appropriate documentation of
sources – I think using the above example of having students create
an interactive research project would be a good way to implement this strategy because
it would be a great way to teach students about copyright and the appropriate documentation
of sources among many other things. Teaching students how to filter out
unreliable sources and appropriately site those sources.
·
Address the diverse needs of all
learners by using learner – centered strategies providing equitable access to
appropriate digital tools and resources – This standard can be
met by having students work on individualized projects that have strategies targeting
each students specific needs and allowing them to work on those needs by utilizing
the digital tools and resources available to them. This is appropriate because giving
students the opportunity to learn to navigate technology independently can be
very beneficial and meets the criteria in this standard.
·
Promote and model digital etiquette
and responsible social interactions related to the use of technology and
information – I think this standard can be incorporated
into everything we do in the classroom. I feel that this is appropriate for
this standard because in everything we do in the classroom we need to always promote
and model digital etiquette and responsible social interactions related to the
use of technology. As teachers, we should model appropriate behavior for our
students and lead by example what students should be doing
·
Develop and model cultural
understanding and global awareness by engaging with colleagues and students of
other cultures using digital-age communication and collaboration tools –
One way to incorporate this standard into the classroom is having students
choose a holiday they would like to research and then having them present it.
This will have students model a cultural understanding and global awareness by researching
and learning
about different cultures.
