As I continue to progress through this course and those courses that are a part of my masters I am constantly finding myself reflecting on my teaching style. The following is a reflection on how I think that I have changed during this course. I am looking at how I have changed when it comes to my teaching and use of technology. This course has taught me a lot and has given me a new sense of confidence.
Through this course I have learned to be more confident when it comes to using technology in the classroom. Prior to this course I knew about concepts and programs such as podcasting and wikis but was afraid to use them. I was worrier that I would mess something up or that my students wouldn’t understand what I was trying to say. As the course went on I learned that the most important thing about using these programs is that the students are discovering and working on their own. It is not so much about making them do a specific task, it is more about giving them the tools and the information to process those tools. Since the beginning of the class I have become more daring when it comes to using technology. Although I am currently starting out small, I know that in the next year or so I will be utilizing most if not all of technological advances that I have used during this course. I will also work to ensure that my students are working inside and outside the school because “Media based learning styles parallel what society will need for education. We can only take advantage of this if we let students take advantage of these tools that they use outside the classroom setting” (Dede, 2010).
I have learned so much about the teaching and learning process as I have progressed through this course. The first and most important thing that I have learned is that it is so important to let the students learn things on their own. It is better for the students to come to their own conclusions with help from the teacher, rather than have everything handed to them in a neat little lesson. I have also learned that my teaching style needs to change because “The stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones. It ended because we developed better tools” (Thornburg, 2010). I need to make sure that I am changing things to work with the students. I do not want to keep the students stuck in an age where they are learning from books and powerpoints. I want to make the learning fun and exciting for them now and in the future. Essentially I have transitioned from being a teacher-centered teacher to a learner-centered teacher. I feel that students need to be placed in an environment where they are challenged and questioned in order to help them learn.
In order to ensure that I continue to work towards becoming a more learner centered teacher I have created two goals that I would like to pursue in the next two years. The first is that I would like to incorporate at least one technology based assignment in each of my units in my math class. This means that during each chapter I will work to incorporating one of the technologies that we discussed in this class. The second goal that I would like to complete in the next two years is to have my students working on mathematics Wiki. I want to have a site that my students can post and work on. Somewhere that they can ask questions and work with each other in a collaborative environment.
During the first week of this technology course I was asked to fill out a checklist about what types of technology that I use in the classroom and how often I use it. In that first week it was easy for me to see how much I needed to pursue this degree. I did not have many of the technologies checked and many of them I have heard of but have never worked with before. Now that I have completed this course I find that I have many of the technologies check and I feel much more prepared to use them in my classroom. This course has given me confidence in my abilities to try new things and has given me many ideas on how to use them.
This course has taught me a lot and has made me confident in my teaching with technology. Through this class I was able to experiment with various tools and activities. I am thankful that I was given the chance to learn with my colleagues and professor during these past eight weeks.
Dede, C. (2010). “Millennial Learning Styles.” [Video file]. Laureate Education. Unkown.
Thornburg, D. (2010). “Bringing the fun into teaching with technology”. Laureate Education.
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