When my students get frustrated about the things they are learning and I start to hear words like, “This is confusing; it’s too hard,” I remind them that they would not be LEARNING if they already knew how to do it. During this course in technology, I found myself getting frustrated. I thought the work was hard and that the deadlines for assignments were always looming right around the corner. Luckily, I remembered my own words. I actually LEARNED a lot from this course.

Before this class, I had very limited experience with blogs, wikis, and podcasts (not to mention social networking, aggregators, and a whole slew of other innovations that were discussed throughout the course). I had never participated in creating any of those things for myself. I had to quickly learn what each thing was, how to build one of my own, and then think about how it may be useful in my classroom. The work paid off. Although I still have some things to learn about these applications, I have had the opportunity to put quite a bit of thought into each of them and have also read really great ideas from my fellow classmates (many of which are already using this technology with their students).

I know my learning will continue. I am lucky to be part of a team of teachers that is dedicated to integrating technology into our classrooms. At my school, there is a small technology committee on which I will continue to serve. I am very excited for our next steps as I can share my experiences from this course with my colleagues. To my knowledge, none of us are using blogs, wikis, or podcasts currently, so those will be the ideas that I can help to facilitate. I want to research the possibilities and barriers (district policies, etc.) that those types of technologies could offer our teachers and students. As these things are developed, I will continue to share my knowledge with my students and also be open to learning from them. For instance, my district currently blocks many podcasting sites. We can still record our projects, however, and save them to our local network to share with other groups. So, even though we may be limited in our resources, we can still apply all of the 21st century skills, such as collaboration, the use of information technology, and communication skills, but in a more “low tech” way. (Laureate, Inc., 2008) I strongly agree with 5th grade teacher, Randy Kolset, when he states, “Technology is a nice thing, but you still have to have a foundation.” (Laureate, Inc., 2008). So it is not so much that I want to teach my students about computers or even specific programs; I want to build my students' knowledge of content on a foundation of 21st century skills. Technology will be one tool that will make this process more efficient, manageable, interesting, and relevant.

I have developed some goals to integrate technology into my classroom that I will pursue over the next few years. First, I plan to use more assistive technology to differentiate my lessons for students with special needs. Specifically, I want to make a plan to use scanning programs, graphic organizing software, and voice recording to help my students that have difficulty reading and/or writing to take-in, organize, and share information. Currently, I have some knowledge of these programs, but have used them on a very limited basis. I will work closely with our special education resource teachers to see how we can plan for more specific use of these tools. For instance, if our class is researching explorers, a student could use a scanner to scan and listen to a book or article read aloud, or they could use a program that would read information from a website to them as they followed along. Then, they could take information from their research and map it onto a graphic organizer program. To synthesize their learning, they could then record their thoughts onto a voice recorder and present it for their final project. My plan is to start with a specific unit or project in mind and develop the activities and technology that would help the students to learn according to their needs.

Another goal I have is to be an advocate for my students regarding technology at a district level. As mentioned earlier, I serve on our school’s technology committee, but we are often very limited by district decisions. Few classroom teachers are given the opportunity to voice their opinions to the district administrators and, to be sure, even fewer students have a voice when it comes to decisions regarding their education. I would like to put together a more comprehensive survey regarding the types of technology that teachers and students would like to utilize to better their teaching and learning. I believe that many teachers and students are ready to move beyond our current “two desktop computers per classroom” and “a lab of 30 computers to be shared by 700 students” model toward a focus on technology availability for all of our students. In this day and age, technology in our schools should not just exist on a first-come-first served basis, but rather should be available to each student as an imperative tool in building their knowledge of the world around them.

I have learned a great deal in the last few weeks, and though my experience with some of these new technology applications is limited, my experience with students has had quite a while to develop. I know that there will be trends and fads that come and go and that change is constant. I believe, however that the basic skills that our students will need to know in order to be successful in their lives both in and out of school have and will remain steady. The “21st century skills” really can apply to any era of humankind; but where we get our information, how we communicate, who we collaborate with –those are the things that are changing. I hope to teach my students how to apply these timeless skills in an ever-changing world.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society [Motion Picture].Skills for the 21st century. Baltimore.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society [Motion Picture]. Bringing the fun into teaching with technology. Baltimore.