Education and Technology: The possibilities

     Thois semester has been interesting in a number of ways.  For starters, I quit my job after 8 years and returned to graduate school full time.  This was a needed change in my life, as I had grown to dislike my job and my ability to find hope in what I was doing.  I was a social worker for a local DHS and after 8 years was sick of the bureaucracy of the decision makers and a feeling that I was not making much if any difference in any ones live.  That is why I decided to go back to school to become a teacher.  I want to inspire and encourage young students to excel and make positive changes in their lives, and I feel that no one in the world other than a parent has more opportunity to do this other than a great teacher.  I plan on being a great teacher.  I think the world has plenty of average, good or poor teachers and I hope to be great and I hope to inspire and initiate change in my classroom, then in my school, then in my district and hopefully towards the education system as a whole in this country.  I think this first semester at school has given me a great number of tools to start my journey into becoming a teacher.  I learned how to write a cohesive and differentiated lesson plan.  I learned about special education and all of the amazing resources and collaboration that occurs within schools and with school personnel and communities and families.  I learned about the ideas and values that teachers provide to student and how those values often time are life long, so how and what you do or say to a student effects them for more than just your time with them as a teacher.  Lastly, I learned about a ton of technological tools that I can use as a teacher to enhance the learning experience of myself and my students. 

     The fact of the matter is that I learned the basics fundamentals of about 6 amazing technologies that I can utilize when I become a teacher.  I fear that many of the technologies will change within the next few years, so as a teacher and educator I will need to continue to inquire and learn about new and exciting technologies, so that I can incorporate them into my teaching.  Some of the technologies I know I will use will be a class website, for homework posting.  I will also use blogging as a tool to connect and communicate with other teaching professionals, but also a way to inspire my students to learn from others around the world and open their minds to new people, new ideas and new experiences.  I think I have learned how to utilize word, PowerPoint and kidspiration so that students are able to learn and express themselves in other ways than a typical worksheet or short answer. 

     I am excited for my next set of classes to start, because it means I will be getting closer to entering the classroom full time, and I will be able to utilize and test some of the technologies I plan to utilize in the classroom.  This technology class has also given me greater appreciation for why I as a teacher need to know about the technologies that are out there, because all of the younger generations are very aware and competent in many of the new technologies.

     I think I have learned that there is a need for teaching the fundamentals of reading and writing as we learned and practiced them, but for students in this day in age to grasp and understand many of the ideas or concepts behind the things they are learning, a teacher needs to be inventive in how they present the material and how the students show they have learned it.  I do not want to be a teacher that does alot of cool things with computers, yet has students that don’t learn, but I want to be able to find the happy medium of utilizing technology to enhance the learning process. 

      So, I leave this class and this semester with a greater appreciation for sleep, organization, my parents who both went back to school with 3 children, and all of my fellow students who are sacrificing time and money to educate themselves and prepare themselves to take on a job that will allow them to shape and create the future of this world.  I think all of us should look at one another or in the mirror and thank ourselves and our professors because if we all use the tools we have been given than we can help make this world a better place.  As I write these words I feel many emotions such as joy, fear, sadness and excitement for the opportunity to shape and change many lives for the better.  Good luck to us all and remember that we need to stay on top of our game and never settle for being that average teacher, and always strive to be the exceptional teacher that leads the students and the staff to learn and to experience life with a willingness to always want to know more.  Learning is a life journey, now we just have more tools to guide us and our students through parts of the journey.  Good luck to all of you and thank you.

 

Charlie