-So many emotions, thoughts, ideas..etc as I begin not only my first year as a teacher in a wonderful district, but also as I begin challenging myself with technology. I feel very lucky to have an awesome PLC group to work with and I learned SOOOO much over the two prof. dev. days. I left our meetings feeling excited about learning and ready to expand my horizons... after all, we are "teaching for towmorrow."
The one thought I had that stuck with me over the past week is... "WOW, what is education going to be like when my daughter gets to fourth grade?!" At eleven months old now it is amazing to me that she already knows how to pound on computer keys, hold/talk on a cell phone, etc... that brings me to the thought that life/education is changing and we as educators must keep learning and moving forward or we will let our students/our own children down. With that said, I am planning to push myself to keep up with the "way of learning now" and explore new ways to incorp. technology into the fourth grade curriculum! I LOVE the goal of our PLC and I cannot wait to meet in 6 weeks and see how far each one of us has come.... esp. ME. :)
My personal goal for the next 6 weeks is to become familiar with all the available technology out and about. I made a twitter account.. I am going to try and get in touch with other educators... Mark Carls is going to be helping me set up my snowglobe and webcam.. and also giving ideas on how to use them in my classroom. I am planning to incorp. skype into my classroom and also glogster. I am very excited to teach in a 21st centry style!
I am writing this blog with a smile because I am very excited about the educational journey I am about to embark on... not only at an individual level, but with a wonderful team of teachers from R.C.S and a journey with a group of amazing fourth grade students! I am having fun learning/teaching and I am very exited to put the technology into my students hands and see where it takes us.
Wish me luck as I challenge myself to be the best teacher I can be using unfamiliar technology. :)
When I introduce Web 2.0 technologies to the teachers I serve, I encourage them to reflect on the potential uses of that technology for personal, professional, or pedagogical purposes. It's perfectly OK to start out using the tech for personal reasons, because eventually you'll naturally migrate to classroom uses.
ReplyDeleteA prime example of that would be online photo albums and photo editing, such as Flickr. After one has become familiar with how to upload, edit, and organize the photos, and to share them with family and friends, the next logical step becomes "How could I use this in my classroom?" So rather than having to take a giant step, you can instead take baby steps.
Likewise with Google Docs, or social bookmarking, or any of the myriad of other Web 2.0 sites.
Keep that excitement! And share your love of learning with your students. It's important for them to realize that learning is for a lifetime.
I love that you're setting this goal for yourself! What a wonderful one! I hope that you'll share some more blog posts here about what you do as you continue on this journey.
ReplyDeleteHave a great year!
Aviva