I believe my actions thus far; have been effective in meeting my goals. I have researched all of the ideas my colleagues have given me and applied several to help meet my goals. I have not reached my goals completely, but I am much further then I would have been in the past. I now realize the importance of constant collaboration, reflection, research, and modification in reaching goals. I believe that these things can be carried into any classroom environment to help students become successful with their learning and different projects they complete.
I still have a lot to learn about different technology that can be used in the classroom in all content areas. I still struggle with ideas for math incorporation. I have new suggestions and tools to research that my colleagues recommended last week. Garage band and fiverr.com are two resources that we recommended that I have never seen or used before. Excel was mentioned by many colleagues and though I have used excel I kind of have a love/hate relationship with this program. I either have great results or get frustrated by the complexity of the program. I think I will check out the “Excel for Dummies” book from my local library and try to familiarize myself with this software a bit more before I use it with my students. Brainpop was another recommendation and I have used a few times, but did not realize the many tools that it offered; I had only used some of the videos so far.
My needs at this point are that I need to choose some of my options and try them out. I often get to a point where there are so many options, they all sound great, but what I can use and what works best for my students is my biggest question right now. I need to make some decisions and experiment with my class. Right now, my experimentation will be problem-based projects with my students involving environmental problems. This will relate to Earth Day and my stewardship curriculum. Therefore, students will be learning content through “Problem Based Learning”.
I look forward to your comments and suggestions!
Thanks,
Tiffany
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Christina to Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteWith an abundance of information, it is so easy to become overwhelmed! Trust me, I know!!! I've also realized that what comes easy and naturally to me, may be a struggle for my students. In order to help ease the learning curve, I do my homework and put time into preparing a very easy and basic step by step set of directions for the new technology that I am introducing. Not only does it force me to slow down and think about every step, but it gives the students something to look back on and work at their own pace. They can revisit steps and move forward if they have easy directions in front of them. While it is more work, if I do it right, I only have to do it once and then it becomes a resource for years to come - with great rewards. Hang in there!
Christina
Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteI must agree with both you and Christina that technology can completely consume one. I have spent several hours trying out new technologies and researching avenues that look appealing. I have also noticed that I usually chase routes that will engage students rather than worrying more about the connection to content and making sure it is meeting the needs that I am wanting met. I am sure that you are better at dissecting technological resources better than I am, but if you find yourself getting too overwhelmed always remind yourself of what need the information is meeting.
I also can empathize with your need for time to try each new idea that is introduced to you. I usually like to get a brief description of the usefulness of the program from the person that suggested it. For example, I am not very knowledgeable on the program Brainpop. I have heard of it before but have never used it. Is there anyway that you could give me a brief recount of what you did when playing around with it? Is there anything that would be worthwhile for a reading class?
I believe that you have done a great job of reflecting here. It is always nice to see how far you have come even if there are still a few steps that need to be taken in the journey.
Good luck!
Lacey