Good Bye to a Great Class

Currently, I am enrolled in a Master’s course entitled Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society. This is my last week of this class and I am honestly sad to be finished. I am a young teacher, just starting out my career and I am still scared. Trying to learn the ropes of the classroom, the building, and the district are overwhelming in itself, much less all the rules teachers have to follow. Then there is the ability to teach these 21^st century students of today. This course has helped me tremendously as an educator. I now have the ability to use technology with my students, even if I don’t have the technology tools and resources. Possible technology uses include weblogs, wikis, podcasts, and video chat, which are all concepts I had never used before this course. I am grateful for my professor and classmates I had during this class. They offered me amazing feedback, encouraging words, and support for my future career.

At the start of this class I was asked to fill out a checklist based on the International Society for Technology in Education NETS for Teachers. One skill was checked Often used with the other 14 skills checked either Sometimes and Rarely used my classroom. After this course I reexamined this checklist. I now can check Often use for seven of the fifteen skills. Obviously, there is room for improvement, but I was impressed! Just after a seven week course, I can already say I have enhanced my teaching capability.

Over the next few years, I plan on incorporated more technology into my classroom. My school building is waiting on a potential grant that will be used to provide me, along with six other teachers, with a SMART board, document camera, and projector inside my classroom. Good-bye to the overhead projector and blackboard and chalk (maybe, hopefully)! If this happens it will open up a whole new way for me to teach. Having the students speak more and offer their knowledge to the lesson will make for an exceptional learning environment. Teachers will step back and become more of a facilitator and the students will become the teacher. Ideally, I would like to start incorporating a blog for my high school students right away. I want to post lessons, assignments, and upcoming important dates for the students to be able to check on a regular basis. I am excited and open-minded and willing to learn, just as I did in this class.