Reflections

“The proliferation of social media and technology has changed the way educators teach, how students learn, and the way teachers and students communicate.” ( U.S.News & World Report LP, 2013).  I thought I had it all figured out when it came to technology and the classroom. Technology integration in my eyes was nothing more than buffing up current assignments with the different things that computers could do, such as Power Points and spread sheets, or slideshows. How I was wrong… Technology integration and how it works inside the classroom is so much more. By following my own game plan I have found there is a world full of resources and information, to help me improve and make my lessons connect to student’s everyday lives, before I was blind to this information. With this information that I have gathered from my game plan I now want to adjust my teaching practices to move away from group and class work with tests and answers to more questing project where student’s results may be very different.

 I realize some of the researching skills I want students to learn, and use everyday are not being retained because students aren’t really questing for information they are using Google as a one stop shopping center for a quick answer, they are not exploring all the different possibilities and ideas that are out there because of time limitations in the classroom. I also realize most students have to gear down for school vs how they are at home and that if I want students to learn and retain information I am going to have to let them explore and learn how to be good digital citizens. My game plan has really made me reflect how I am online and how I need to be aware of my own digital footprint just like I want to teach my students. “The purpose of explicit teacher modeling is to provide students with a clear, multi-sensory model of a skill or concept. The teacher is the person best equipped to provide such a model.” (http:/​/​fcit.usf.edu/​mathvids/​strategies/​em.html, January 01, 2013).  I need to remember this, and often remind myself about my world online, because students do know how to use Google and I wouldn’t want them to find anything I couldn’t back up.