My ideal classroom is going to be somewhere in an urban area but it's going to have lots of diversity. I want to have a class of about 20 students or less. I wouldn't mind teaching in a large school district. I think the more children the more challenging it is going to be. But I like to take on challenges because it makes things more interesting and worthwhile. I think that I will be able to work well with my coworkers because I am a free spirited and outgoing person. I like to get involved in many things and always doing something. I think that I will be able to coach the track or if they have a field hockey program that would be neat to do.
I am majoring in elementary education and I have a minor in special education and so I think that I will do well with all kinds of kids that might come into my classroom. I hope that my students will be accessible to a variety of technology tools such as the entire Microsoft Office and SmartBoard. I will a SmartBoard as one of my major instructional tools. I will have my students learn collaboratively and independently. I want my students to be successful in everything that they do. I like to incorporate multiple technologies to engage all of my students. I am pretty familiar with the multiple intelligences and I think that is important to know. Having my students working and learning in a variety of ways will help them grow and develop into successful learners. Technology is one of the fastest and greatest ways to increase the interest in education. From Instructional Media I am able to learn how to collaborate with my coworkers, my students, and their parents. Communication is a vital part for the teacher to be successful in the classroom and for developing relationships with the student body.
When I become a teacher I will have a classroom that is student oriented. From a philosophical view I am a progressivist. My main concern for my students is for them to learn by making their own decisions from their real world experiences. I hope to help my students develop meaningful questions that will be answered through these experiences. I personally grew up relating to this philosophy because I use life’s lessons and mistakes and learn from them. I think that this approach has helped me become an overall well-rounded person. I agree with John Dewey that people learn best through social interactions in the real world. Every day we as humans are being challenged and questioned and we need to ask ourselves questions to come up with solutions that will be the best for us and for others.
Another philosophical view I believe in is the student-centered philosophy known as existentialism. This philosophy places the highest degree of importance on student perceptions, decisions, and actions. I am very independent and the teachers that I enjoyed the most growing up with were the ones that had multiple teaching strategies. I was better at essays because I could express my thoughts and opinions to explain the meaning of something. Existentialists believe that it’s up to the student to make all relevant educational decisions and to evaluate these decisions. As an athlete I like field hockey because I develop social groups and learn from my teammates like the progressivist. I enjoy track as well because its up to me how hard I’m going to work to improve and determine my own destinations like the existentialist.
When you walk into my classroom you will not see me sitting at my desk or standing in front of the classroom. You will have to look a little harder at the groups of students that are working on their projects. It may appear that my classroom is distraught and out of order but I know that I am in complete control of my students and they are what I believe learning the most they are able to through these social interactions. I think that communication is the most vital part to success with my students and that interaction has to occur between the teacher with their students and most importantly their parents. I want to be a teacher that is socially active as well as developing interpersonal relationships with my students and their parents.
The progressive philosophy relates to my ethical view. I agree with Aristotle’s rational that humans are born with equality and dignity because we are all rational human beings. This fairness or justice approach is a strong belief with how I feel every one of my students will be treated in my classroom. In order for me to gain any respect and honesty out of my students I will demand that we treat each other as equals. Students feel more positive and motivated in a classroom where they are able to feel equality along with their peers and teacher. This is only fair because it creates a safe playing field and there are no pointing fingers or putting more pressure on students than there should be. Along with the fairness and justice approach I also agree with the rights approach. My students should feel that their ability to make decisions to do what they want to do with their lives freely is up to them. I want all my students to be successful and in order for that to happen my students have to understand that it is up to their efforts and decisions that they will learn from life that will ultimately make them a stronger individual.
My goal as a teacher is to have successful students. I want my curriculum to be based on experiences, interests, and abilities of the students. I want my students to experiment with different types of experiences whether it is joining an athletic team or a club. I know that it is from my social experiences and trying new things that I normally wouldn’t do has made me a well-rounded individual and it has helped me relate better with people. Through all the different activities that I have been involved in I have been able to find my strengths and weaknesses. This is what I want my students to establish.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Reflection
Final Reflection Paper
Instructional Media was a very important and beneficial class as a college student and as a preprofessional elementary education teacher. I can see how this course has been very beneficial to me and has shown me how to create connections with my students and with their parents. I will be able to have my students more engaged and increase learning on concepts that I might not be able to teach them without the use of the web. I feel much more prepared to enter the workforce and use technology as I teach my students.
I have developed much more general technology skills with computers, networks, web 2.0 and other devices that are changing the way we deal with information. In today’s world students are becoming more familiar with computers at a very young age. I think that I will correlate my assignments in class with the ability of the students as they progress working with computers and other networks. The activities I chose should help increase the students’ learning and understanding with technology. Their skills both academically and technologically should improve and help them advance further in education.
When I first started using a computer the main purpose was to play games. I got really good at Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, and Mind Sweeper. Then I learned more about the internet and Google games. I played Frozen Bubble and Sudoku online for weeks during my senior year in high school. That was the only technology experience I really had. Now from this course I am able to go anywhere in the technology world. I know how to use the World Wide Web to search and gather information for research. I am able to work collaboratively with other people from my Blog and email address. I am able to keep in touch with my friends using AIM. I use PowerPoint a lot to create useful information when I am teaching because it makes my lessons more interesting. I now know how to create a movie and watch it at home or right on the web. The biggest accomplishment to me in using technology was learning how to make my very own Web Page. I feel like I am not just an observer of the internet but a contributor.
As I had mentioned before as my learners get a better understanding how to work with technology tools I will be able to work with them and have them create more of their creative ideas become a reality. For example during Reading time students usually always have to write a book review. In my classroom I will now be able to create an assignment where the students may read their book and write a summary about it. Then maybe I will have them learn how to use a camera and create their very own digital story about their reflection on the book that they read. Another interesting thing I would be able to do is help my students learn about Math by using excel. As my students learn how to collect data and create charts and graphs I will be able to show them how they can expand and make a variety of graphs and nice neat charts to read by using excel. Students may have to do research on a city or a historic person in Social Studies. I could have my students work in the library using the books as resources as well as have the students work on the World Wide Web and find useful educational sites from the internet. They will be able to learn how to search and find useful information as well as learn how to give credit to the person that posted the information on the internet. All of these different ideas I have been able to generate from my readings in our Technology Integration book.
I have already taught lessons using Power Point. However, since I have taken this class I have been able to further my interest into Power Point. I can now create a Power Point Presentation with videos from the web. I can add music and my own voice using a microphone. These small details create an even more attractive Power Point then what I was use to making before. The website was a fascinating experience to do in class. I feel so much more connected to the world. I always thought how the internet was a huge communication system and I was on the outside staring in. It was Santa Claus looking at his crystal ball at all the boys and girls and not being able to give them any presents. Now I feel like I don’t have to be Santa and I can go from house to house with my website being out there. I can connect and collaborate with people. They may help give me ideas and I can give them ideas about being a school teacher and creating lessons. Creating a movie is a fun activity that I did in about two hours working with three other girls. This is was a bit challenging at first because I was so unfamiliar with the different things you can do with Movie Maker but once we were done our production was a great success. It was a feeling of accomplishment. I want my students to feel the same way when they are in my classroom. This would be good for students to work collaboratively and come up with ideas about a certain topic that they wish to talk about. They would be very connected with each other and their topic of interest. I think it would be a very useful and engaging activity that I would want my students to experience.
As a developing teacher I plan to continue working with technology. I will keep on working with technology that I am still not completely comfortable with to help ensure that I am doing projects correctly and most importantly I will continue working with the technology that I already feel comfortable with so I don’t forget how to use it. I know that every day new teachers are getting more and more objectives thrown at them. Today’s society wants teachers to never stop learning and never stop helping others learn. I think society is becoming more involved with technology and that is why it is so important that teachers keep up to date on the newest technological advances. I feel that the new National Education Technology Standards are appropriate for teachers to keep understanding how to use technology in their classroom.
Instructional Media was a very important and beneficial class as a college student and as a preprofessional elementary education teacher. I can see how this course has been very beneficial to me and has shown me how to create connections with my students and with their parents. I will be able to have my students more engaged and increase learning on concepts that I might not be able to teach them without the use of the web. I feel much more prepared to enter the workforce and use technology as I teach my students.
I have developed much more general technology skills with computers, networks, web 2.0 and other devices that are changing the way we deal with information. In today’s world students are becoming more familiar with computers at a very young age. I think that I will correlate my assignments in class with the ability of the students as they progress working with computers and other networks. The activities I chose should help increase the students’ learning and understanding with technology. Their skills both academically and technologically should improve and help them advance further in education.
When I first started using a computer the main purpose was to play games. I got really good at Solitaire, Spider Solitaire, and Mind Sweeper. Then I learned more about the internet and Google games. I played Frozen Bubble and Sudoku online for weeks during my senior year in high school. That was the only technology experience I really had. Now from this course I am able to go anywhere in the technology world. I know how to use the World Wide Web to search and gather information for research. I am able to work collaboratively with other people from my Blog and email address. I am able to keep in touch with my friends using AIM. I use PowerPoint a lot to create useful information when I am teaching because it makes my lessons more interesting. I now know how to create a movie and watch it at home or right on the web. The biggest accomplishment to me in using technology was learning how to make my very own Web Page. I feel like I am not just an observer of the internet but a contributor.
As I had mentioned before as my learners get a better understanding how to work with technology tools I will be able to work with them and have them create more of their creative ideas become a reality. For example during Reading time students usually always have to write a book review. In my classroom I will now be able to create an assignment where the students may read their book and write a summary about it. Then maybe I will have them learn how to use a camera and create their very own digital story about their reflection on the book that they read. Another interesting thing I would be able to do is help my students learn about Math by using excel. As my students learn how to collect data and create charts and graphs I will be able to show them how they can expand and make a variety of graphs and nice neat charts to read by using excel. Students may have to do research on a city or a historic person in Social Studies. I could have my students work in the library using the books as resources as well as have the students work on the World Wide Web and find useful educational sites from the internet. They will be able to learn how to search and find useful information as well as learn how to give credit to the person that posted the information on the internet. All of these different ideas I have been able to generate from my readings in our Technology Integration book.
I have already taught lessons using Power Point. However, since I have taken this class I have been able to further my interest into Power Point. I can now create a Power Point Presentation with videos from the web. I can add music and my own voice using a microphone. These small details create an even more attractive Power Point then what I was use to making before. The website was a fascinating experience to do in class. I feel so much more connected to the world. I always thought how the internet was a huge communication system and I was on the outside staring in. It was Santa Claus looking at his crystal ball at all the boys and girls and not being able to give them any presents. Now I feel like I don’t have to be Santa and I can go from house to house with my website being out there. I can connect and collaborate with people. They may help give me ideas and I can give them ideas about being a school teacher and creating lessons. Creating a movie is a fun activity that I did in about two hours working with three other girls. This is was a bit challenging at first because I was so unfamiliar with the different things you can do with Movie Maker but once we were done our production was a great success. It was a feeling of accomplishment. I want my students to feel the same way when they are in my classroom. This would be good for students to work collaboratively and come up with ideas about a certain topic that they wish to talk about. They would be very connected with each other and their topic of interest. I think it would be a very useful and engaging activity that I would want my students to experience.
As a developing teacher I plan to continue working with technology. I will keep on working with technology that I am still not completely comfortable with to help ensure that I am doing projects correctly and most importantly I will continue working with the technology that I already feel comfortable with so I don’t forget how to use it. I know that every day new teachers are getting more and more objectives thrown at them. Today’s society wants teachers to never stop learning and never stop helping others learn. I think society is becoming more involved with technology and that is why it is so important that teachers keep up to date on the newest technological advances. I feel that the new National Education Technology Standards are appropriate for teachers to keep understanding how to use technology in their classroom.
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