Final Reflection

Looking back upon my personal theory of learning that I wrote seven weeks ago, I realize that the foundations that I believe upon have not changed significantly.  However, throughout the resources, discussions, and applications I have been a part of the past two months, the way I am going about my personal theory is a little bit different.  It is easy to get caught up in doing things the same way, especially with the pressures of limited time and needing to get everything covered.  As a result of this course though, I have accepted the mantra that if it’s worth teaching, it’s worth teaching well.  Instead of getting caught up on getting everything covered, I am slowing down, involving students more, and making sure they get a deep understanding of the concepts being taught. 

 

Additionally, as a result of this course, I am slowly learning to let go of the responsibility in terms of technology and allow students to use the technology as a learning tool (rather than an instructional tool).  As Dr. Orey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011b) states, all the learning theories covered in this course encourage integrating technology as a learning tool and emphasize what students do with technology.  This is hard to do, but every time I am daring enough to try, my students meet and most of the times even exceed my expectations.  There are tons of great technology tools students can use to deepen their understanding, but I would like to focus on two of them:  Prezi and VoiceThread.  Prezi is very easy to use both in presenting information to students, but then it also provides the opportunity to build graphic representations with students, and then eventually allow them to create a graphic representation on their own (http://prezi.com/).  If this process is started at the beginning of the year, I believe even my young 1^st-3^rd graders would be able to create a graphic representation. 

Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski (2007) emphasize the value of using multimedia as an advance organizer for students.  They state, “For many students, multimedia is very effective because it helps them both activate prior knowledge and develop a mental model to help them understand new information” (p. 82). Additonally, VoiceThread also provides a great collaborative tool where students can make an initial post, and students, teachers, parents, and other members of the community can comment back either in text, voice, or video (http://voicethread.com/).  Mr. Jarrett (Laureate Education, Inc., 2007a) explains all the benefits of using VoiceThread and in the end, the options help you meet all the needs of very diverse learners.

 

In order to increase the use of technology integration into my classroom I have two goals:

(1) Teach students some of the technology tools from the beginning of the year (as a part of routines)

(2) Involve parents more and share with them ways they can be using technology to help their students at home

 

In order to achieve my first goal, I am going to focus on the two technology tools outlined above (Prezi and VoiceThread).  During the reading block, students have some time to work independently (or collaboratively in groups) and I would like to allow them to use some of the time to create nonlinguistic representations of the vocabulary words and concepts that we are reading about.  By making this part of the routine, it would be neat to see how students evolve and grow as they create different products throughout the year.  If students use VoiceThread, I will be sure to leave feedback for them to reinforce their efforts.  Pitler, et al. state, “Audio messages can be an unexpected and exciting way for students to receive recognition.  Hearing the congratulatory tone and enthusiasm in a teacher’s voice often leaves a lasting impression” (p. 66). 

My second goal has been inspired by discussions with a few parents who have shared that they have internet access at home but that they do not allow their child to use it.  I want to share with them some of the great resources that they can use to help them with homework, to review on tests, and even share with them the VoiceThread presentations and Prezi presentations that are being created.  In order to do this, I am going to add a “Student Work” part to my web-page and make sure parents are aware to keep checking this to see if their child’s work is being featured.  Additionally, with each new unit, I am going to send home recommended resources for practice at home.  I started doing this with a few parents to help with mathematics homework (i.e. virtual manipulatives  from http://www.glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/mathematics/ebook_assets/vmf/VMF-Interface.html since most students do not have access to things like base-10 blocks or pattern blocks at home). 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011a). Program ten: Spotlight on technology: VoiceThread [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011b). Program thirteen: Technology: Instructional tool vs. learning tool [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom

instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.