Reflection

As my first course in integrating technology into the classroom comes to an end, I reflect on all that I have learned and continue to learn in order to prepare my students to be successful in the 21^st Century.  I have not only learned how to use four different types of technology that I have never previously used before, but I also learned how to work them into my lessons frequently and easily! I have never been one that has been “scared” to use technology since I was in high school when most of the changes began to happen in society, but I can say that as a teacher, I have not used it as much as I should for my students.  

This course has taught me the importance of integrating these technologies into my classroom, as well as looking at the shift that technology has created in society, and that as educators, we need to be looking to change our curriculum to include the new skills that are needed in the 21^st Century.  With these new skills, I see how important it is for me to take a step back and allow my students to teach each other and collaborate on their knowledge that they have gained outside the classroom by using all of the technologies that are available to them. This quite possibly will be the hardest thing for me to do, but I do realize that it is crucial for my students to be able to do in such a changing world.  I have started to incorporate a classroom blog with my eighth grade students and have had them working on group projects relating to our novel and that we read in class. They have surprised me by taking off with this assignment and really working together to think deeper and make lasting connections.

I will continue to expand my knowledge of learning, teaching, and leading with technology by taking more courses that will keep me up to date with the latest technological and educational trends. This will not only benefit my students, and myself but we have share sessions at our school that allows me to teach my colleagues as well. Hopefully by collaborating and spreading the knowledge, we will see the necessary changes being made in districts around the world. My long-term future goals look to apply for grants that will help get iPads into my classroom for all of my students. With the help of a few other colleagues, we are looking into writing to different companies around our community to help us obtain a few to get us started and then building this with videos and reflections of students benefitting from using the iPads in the classroom. Since we are a private school, it is not always as easy to obtain grants so this may take a few years, but that’s why it is so important that we get started right away!

I have really enjoyed my first course in integrating technology into the classroom and am surprised at how much I have already learned in eight short weeks. I look forward to furthering my knowledge and continuing to grow as educator to help support my students in any way possible!

Technology in Education Podcast

Here is my first podcast ever! I can say that the perfectionist in me took way too much time editing and rearranged what I was trying to say and I didn't like that aspect of it. Hopefully with more time spent on it, I will become more comfortable using this. Enjoy!

http://kholley86.podbean.com//

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills

When I began browsing the website for The Partnership for the 21st Century skills, I was really impressed with their initiative to push technology integration in the classroom. I liked seeing that not only is the government involved in this project, but other businesses and the community as well. It's another way of showing our students that partnership and collaboration is key to thriving in today's society. I listened to an excerpt on the "About Us" page that highlights that there is a severe gap in what students are learning in the classrooms and what is actually being learned in the workforce. This just goes to show how important it is for technology integration into the classrooms.

I really loved their colorful skills framework model that highlights exactly what the student outcomes are and how we as educators can support them through the many different ripples at the bottom. These skills and outcomes need to be dispersed throughout all content areas and works to develop high order thinking skills within our students. When we do assessments at the middle and end of the year, the largest gap for our students is their ability to grasp the critical thinking skills. By fostering collaboration and community within the schools, students can begin to ask deeper thinking questions about the subject at hand and share their insights through the use of blogs and wikis. I downloaded the common core toolkit and briefly browsed the contents. I have printed it out to share with my school administrators so that we can hopefully begin to jump on board with this new initiative that is required for our students in the 21st Century.

One thing I was a bit disappointed in was seeing that there were only 16 states out of 50 listed as having these initiatives. We have all known that resources have been the big issue at hand when it comes to teachers wanting to integrate technology into their classrooms, but I never realized it was this bad. Sadly, my state was even listed, and I still feel like we are lacking in resources! I hope we see more states and districts adopting this plan and moving forward with technology integration. If not, we will see our students fall way behind other countries and struggle to find work in the future.

Blogging in the Classroom

As I mentioned before, I teach middle school reading and writing at a private school for students with disabilities. Blogs would be a wonderful tool for my students because many of them hate to write and find it very difficult to put their thoughts into words. I always get asked, "how many sentences does this need to be?" everytime that I ask them to respond to any type of writing prompt. I have found they do a much better job when they type, so blogging would be a great way for them to express more of their thoughts and ideas without getting hung up on the handwriting aspect of it. I would love to see them responding to one another and really developing their critical thinking that blogs foster. Blogs would be a great teaching tool for me to use with my students because many of them do not know how to write appropriately on the Internet. Unlike most students in middle school, my students do not know as much about technology and have not been as familiar with it, so this would be a great place to start so they are prepared for the 21st Century. I think I would just start them off with posting appropriately online and responding to each other for a while before I had them branching off and responding to others outside of our classroom. Blogging is such a valuable tool though and I can really see this taking off in all classrooms in the future!

Introduction

Hi! My name is Kori Holley. I am in my fifth year of teaching middle school reading and writing to students with disabilities. I am lucky to say that I have found my dream job so early on in my career. I work at a public school is Raleigh that is solely dedicated to students with special needs. I love how each and every day is different and that I am given the opportunity to teach without all of the paper work that I had to do in public school. I decided that now would be the best time to further my education and extend my masters degree and get a certificate in Integrating Technology into the Classroom. As the world is ever-changing, I want to be sure I am staying up to date with the latest technological trends and making sure my students are ready for the 21st Century. I look forward to working on my blog and learning more about technology integration!