There's a Beginning and an End

Sometimes the timing is just off or for whatever reason everything comes down at once and that seemed to be the case for a couple of weeks of this class. The first two weeks, especially with Thanksgiving was a time when I seriously considered if I was going to be able to do everything that was required and though I got all work done I know that some of it was not my full effort. It simply came down to priorities and what I was willing to sacrifice, which happened to be homework in case you were wondering. I certainly enjoyed learning about technology and actually having to create a blog sparked the desire to have my own personal blog, but for the first time there really were not enough hours in the day. Much of that stemmed from extra duties at school and then unforeseen events in the home life, but though I may not have been able to give my full attention to every assignment I was able to weather the storms and still complete the class.
Before starting this class I hadn’t had many expectations other than learning what technology is being used and maybe how my school rates in technology use. What a surprise having to create a blog and post assignments. A little daunting at first but well worth it and I enjoyed putting what I was learning to practice. And what do you know, there’s this thing called the Long Range Plan that has to do with schools implementing technology into the curriculum. I had no idea until this class, but it has good information and guidance for campus leaders to use and refer to when guiding technology decisions. I am rather excited about what I have learned and excited about sharing it in professional developments. Already working on a technology driven professional development with our curriculum instructional specialist that’s how fired up I am.
The ease of creating a blog makes it a great resource for educators. Creating my own blog for the first time seemed a little daunting at first but it was so easy that any teacher no matter their technological level could use this in the classroom. The ability for students and teachers to communicate with one another and with others around the country and world opens up so many possibilities. However, that very advantage is also what makes it a scary prospect as well. You never really know who is on the other end of the communication, so as the teacher it makes me nervous. This doesn’t mean that teachers shouldn’t use blogs, it just means they will have to be vigilant about the communications students have. Blogs are also a great way for parents to keep up with what’s going on in the class too. Email is the way they communicate with the teacher but viewing the blog will help answer that “what did you do in class today” question.
So, as I look back over the weeks of this course I started with the feeling of being very overwhelmed by how little I was incorporating technology into the classroom. As I read through article after article of all the examples of how teachers were using blogging and creating websites and portfolios it made me feel very inadequate. And it’s not necessarily the technology itself. Most of the uses have become so easy to use, like the blog in the first two weeks, it was literally click this button, name this, click this button, done. It literally became I want to do all this and do it now but where to begin and how? It is the implementation into the classroom, creating the actual lessons and rubrics that overwhelms me the most, which is why professional development should focus on not only just showing what technology is out there but create lessons implementing the technology should be a focus. Along those lines it’s the principal that needs to take the lead on this as well. The campus leaders have to model technology use and set the expectations that every teacher should incorporate technology into the curriculum. So by now, the end of the course, I’m feeling more fired up and my initial idea for leading a professional development has changed to a technology focus. Cell phones aren’t the evil things that they used to be and instead of trying to do it all at once I’m taking small steps to implementing a more technology rich class.