Was it all worth it?...Of Course!

At the beginning of this course, I set goals to strengthen my confidence and proficiency in two National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS-T) set forth by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) (ISTE, 2007). I felt that I needed to become more proficient at presenting technology-enriched lessons that allowed students to pursue their individual curiosities while modeling fluency in technology to my students. Though these goals sounded simple enough, I soon realized that implementing them would require a little more planning, preparation, and patience than I was initially giving.

After reflecting on my progress the first two weeks, I decided that success would not come naturally – I had to make a conscious effort to progress forward. That is when I decided to turn a new class I was forming into my own opportunity for learning. I arranged for us to meet in a computer lab every day for approximately thirty minutes, no pen and paper would be required, and these students would become “experts” right along beside me. We set our own goals as I outlined the plans I had for them, and though some of them looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language, I promised them that blogs, wikis, and digital storytelling would soon be things they would become comfortable with and enjoy doing. By setting these goals with my students, it made me accountable for my own progress. I accepted the fact that I did not have to be an expert before I introduced my students to these activities, I could learn alongside them. In fact, my students showed me how understanding and forgiving they were when obstacles came up and I had no solutions. They really seemed to enjoy helping me help them! I now realize that I don’t have to be an expert before I try to teach my students a new activity, I only have to have an understanding and a willingness to jump in and explore right along with them.

Because of the experiences garnered from setting goals and monitoring my progress, I no longer will hesitate to implement technology into my classroom practice. I don’t want to use technology just for the sake of technology (Cennamo, Ross & Ertmer, 2009), but I do want to use it as a way to enhance learning in the language arts classroom (Cennamo et al., 2009). While I realized before this experience that I could take any writing assignment and move it into the computer lab as a way to “integrate technology,” I know realize the learning that comes from responding to online text, writing for an authentic audience, and responding to real problems and projects in an effort to find solutions and enhance the world in which our students live (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). When I can create learning experiences that include these certain criteria, I can enhance the learning that my students achieve. But, before I could do this for my students, I had to realize that my own learning could parallel theirs; it didn’t necessarily have to supersede it. My progress does not have to have a specific target; it is an on-going process that will reach certain peaks, and then continue in a new direction. But most of all, I learned that my students do not expect me to be an expert on everything; they are comfortable just knowing that I am learning along with them and together we can find answers, solutions, and pathways toward our goals.

References

Cennamo, K., Ross, J., & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach (1 ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2007). NETS for students 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010a). Ertmer, P. (Speaker). Spotlight on technology: Problem-based learning, Part 1. [DVD]. Integrating technology across the content areas. Baltimore, MD.