Kate+M

= = = Incorporate the technology into your lesson = = Not = = Your lessons into the technology = // by Kate M // media type="custom" key="16925154" align="center"

My last three courses on integrating technology into the classroom have become the most rewarding experiences I have had throughout my professional careers. My journey of learning how to take technology and incorporate it into the students learning has evoked a passion even I never thought it existed. My whole life I have told myself that I just want to find that one thing, besides my family, that I can be passionate about. The career that will allow me to feel like I have a purpose, I have a focus, and I want to continue to learn from it. But most of all, a career that I can help others become successful. Well, I have to say, at this point in my life, I have found it. And I thought it would take my whole life to try to uncover it.

My last career in the media field involved me working with technology. I loved it. I loved the problem solving aspect of technology. I loved the ease of technology. I loved the outcome of technology. I loved the integration technology brings. But I did not enjoy the atmosphere that I was experience this love in. I knew there was another place for me. I stepped away from the media field to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher. And even as I began my academics, I did not feel that passion, until I took Computers in the Classroom. This is when my passion began. I was able to take the two strong interests in my life and pair them together; teaching and technology. Yahoo!

The three technology course each created a different layer of learning technology. When I first started I didn’t even know what Web 2.O meant. I thought it was a software program. I also had no clue what I was doing. I learned in Computers in the Classroom the difference between a digital native and a digital immigrant. Boy was I an immigrant. I sat in that class listening to several of the younger students, the digital natives, speaking a language I knew nothing about; web 2.0 tools, wikispaces, weebly, prezi, the cloud, digital citizenship. Wow, talk about feeling like you are from a different place. I was overwhelmed but determined. I was not determined to prove something to myself, like I wasn’t that old was I? But I thought, I need to learn as much as I can because my students I will be teaching are digital natives. And I want to provide them with the best education that I can possible give them. In order to do this I need to learn their “digital native world.” As I progressed I realized that I was not so far behind because of my previous background in the media field. It was not so much the technology I had to learn, but the tools that were out there and how to find them.

Once I became comfortable with the tools, a whole new world opened up. With each new tool I was introduced to in the courses, my mind began to twist and turn on how I could implement them into my classroom. Except at the beginning I was looking at it all wrong. I was looking at the technology and how I could put it into my curriculum. The technology was fascinating me on how creative the tools were and how the students would love to work with them. I would look at a tool, for example a website, and say I want this in my classroom. Once I did that I started to panic. How am I going to get a website in my curriculum? I need to get technology in the classroom or I am going to be behind. The students need this technology. I have to create a lesson for me to integrate the website into the curriculum. Talk about crazy thoughts. This time was very stressful for me until I was involved with a Skype call from Aviva. Aviva is a elementary teacher that integrates technology into her 1st and 2nd grade classroom. After listening to her speak about how she using technology, it wasn’t about what she said, but it was through her passion and her explanations that I came to my own understanding of technology in the classroom; incorporate the technology into the lessons, not the lessons into the technology.

This statement will stay with me for the rest of my teaching career. As teachers we already have our lessons in place. We know what we want to teach our students and what we want them to get out of the lesson. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. With technology we just need to incorporate technology into the existing lesson to tweak it or to “kick it up a notch.” For instance, I have a lesson where the students have to perform a skit to demonstrate the dos and don’ts of positive parenting. The skit is used as an assessment tool for their understanding of positive parenting. Well, why not use a tool like GoAnimate.com or Bitstrip.com to have the student create comic strips to demonstrate their understanding. The lesson is still the same; the activity is just performed by use of technology. In some senses using technology allows for extra learning that the students may not even know they are involved in. With the skits, students would work in groups, discuss what they will say and then perform their skits in front of the class. With using the Web 2.0 tools such as GoAnimate.com, students had to write up their skits first (literacy skills), work on them and discuss with their partners (collaboration), create their comics by choosing characters, setting, etc. (collaboration and decision making), and then play their comic strip to make sure it fits the expectations of the assignment (evaluation). I did not change the lesson; I just change the assessment tool. Once I had the understanding of incorporating the technology into the lessons, my ideas became endless. Now when I am beginning a lesson I think, “is there a technology I can use in place of what activity is planned?” But don’t get me wrong, I still have students do skits and create posters with markers. I feel these are just as important tools to use in the classroom and don’t feel that they should be removed.

Armed with this understanding I am able to look at technology in the classroom in a completely different way. I am not intimidated by it like I felt I was. I have the understanding that I don’t have to use every technology out there. I don’t have to overload on technology in the classroom. I also have learned that what technology may work well for one class, may not work well with another class. Each class and each level of learners in your class will determine the technology you should use. And if you think, like I did, that it will take too much time to teach your students the technology, think again. We are teaching digital natives. My experience is that they know how to use most technology before you even show them. I spend very little time on how to use the technology as opposed to the time I have to spend on explaining the lesson. This works out exactly as it should.

The courses I have taken have provided me with an understanding how to accommodate technology to the different level learners. Implementing technology for literacy skills was a connection I had not made prior to taking the course Integrating Technology and Literacy. I was able to obtain the knowledge of how technology can be used to continue to help develop literacy skills for students. Students utilizing a blog in the classroom aids in all aspects of their development of reading and writing skills. Creating a digital story allows students to decipher and comprehend a topic. Creating a wiki space provides a playing field for students to collaborate while enhancing literacy skills. A Voki lets students hear what they are saying so they can decipher what and where they need improvements. These tools help students read, write, organize their thoughts, hear the outcome, and many other aspects associated with enhancing their literacy skills. Technology becomes another tool that helps create the strategies for students to learn.

One of my most rewarding experiences with my courses was when I learned about assistive technology in Technology for Learners. The course opened up my eyes to the many tools available to aid ALL students. Students are able to be on the same playing field for learning. What assistive technology reiterated for me is that all students have the ability to learn, some students may need a different aid or tool to achieve this, just like I depend on spell check when I write my papers. Just like for me, assistive technology does not enable students to learn, assistive technology empowers students to learn. For me, if I do not know how to spell a word, spell check will help me. After several times of being corrected and noticing how I am spelling it wrong, I eventually spell it right. This is what assistive technology can do for those students that need the tools to succeed. The impact that assistive technology has on student learning is their ability to be part of the class. Programs such as text to read, talking word processors, graphic organizers along with numerous applications for tablets, provide students with the connection to classroom learning.

I cannot skip over the importance the role teachers have in educating students about digital citizenship. Digital Citizenship plays an important part in incorporating technology into the curriculum. Students need to know their role they play while participating on-line. As teachers we cannot assume that students understand the importance of being polite, using appropriate language, not using their full names, and being empathetic towards those that are not acting like positive role models on-line. The process of becoming a digital citizen is not a one-shot-deal. This process should be on-going and incorporated into all lessons. We, as teachers, are the students’ connection toward on-line participation therefore we are connected to developing positive digital citizens.

There was a time that I was intimidated about using technology in the classroom. I also was panicked as to how I could create lessons for particular technology. Well, as I had stated earlier, it is incorporating the technology into the learning, not the learning into the technology. Understanding the use of technology in this manner will allow teachers to succeed in the integration of technology into the classroom and therefore provide students with another tool to empower their learning.