Reflective Blog #3
Where to begin?
I think this class gave me some great information and opened my eyes to several, invaluable resources. I am fascinated with technology and plan to use it to the fullest potential in my classes, in conjunction with other strategies. I hope to be able to continue with the iPads in my classroom, and hopefully will be able to with the grant I will be writing for my final project. The grant process seems very intimidating to me, but hopefully when I'm finished with this one, it will give me the motivation to put in for more in the future.
Along with the iPad usage, I would like to continue with using the flipped classroom components with my students. I realize due to the demographics of students I teach, I will never really get to implement a complete flipped classroom experience with them, but this only motivates me to find other ways to do it. I would also like to keep using the gamification piece in my class. This, however, has been a lot trickier to do than I anticipated. I think if I were teaching one content area this would be a lot easier. While I still continue to update my makeshift leaderboard, I need to work on being consistent with other gamification pieces, which is very hard to do when I'm struggling to balance the students' IEP goals and objectives along with catching up on content area material. I will continue to blog on my own time, reflecting what I'm doing in my classroom, as well as with my students in class.
I was surprised by Hattie's article, specifically where he talks about learning styles. We, as teachers, have always been told to be sensitive to all types and modify teaching to that. If I understood correctly, Hattie thinks that it's better to get to know our students better, but at the same time expose them to different types of teaching/learning, even if it's not their "style". I get it. If we want our students to be able to think critically and apply learned skills in other situations, we have to give them the opportunities to do that. I'm not perfect; I've tended to "baby" my students from time to time. Again, not trying to throw our district under the bus, but our schools want results. How they get there isn't of any concern. It's a very, "out of sight, out of mind" theme here. I know I've stated in the past that students are capable of way more than we give them credit for. Us teachers just need to be consistent and follow through with what we say we'll do rather than what's easier.
I was surprised by Hattie's article, specifically where he talks about learning styles. We, as teachers, have always been told to be sensitive to all types and modify teaching to that. If I understood correctly, Hattie thinks that it's better to get to know our students better, but at the same time expose them to different types of teaching/learning, even if it's not their "style". I get it. If we want our students to be able to think critically and apply learned skills in other situations, we have to give them the opportunities to do that. I'm not perfect; I've tended to "baby" my students from time to time. Again, not trying to throw our district under the bus, but our schools want results. How they get there isn't of any concern. It's a very, "out of sight, out of mind" theme here. I know I've stated in the past that students are capable of way more than we give them credit for. Us teachers just need to be consistent and follow through with what we say we'll do rather than what's easier.
Unfortunately, my district is very much behind in keeping up with the latest technological trends. I create my own "PD" by following my Edmodo forums and Twitter threads religiously. As I've stated before, these two tools alone have given me more beneficial "PD" than all the ones I've had thus far combined. I've been to a few tech conferences here in Grand Rapids and will continue to attend these, since I've enjoyed them very much. I would like to attend my first MACUL conference in March and was suggested by my supervisors to possibly present at it (don't know if that's possible, but I took it as a compliment).
The biggest obstacle for me right now is trying to implement new ideas and sharing them with others who have no interest in it whatsoever. I work with teachers who hate their jobs. It's like hitting a brick wall every time, and I alone cannot make the change we need in our school. People have to want it and *gasp* even do some work outside of the school day to make these changes. I know for a fact I will not be able to stay with my district because of this. This is unfortunate because our students are the ones that need this the most, but without any support, I often feel as if I'm beating a dead horse, and at the expense of my time with my family. In the meantime, I will continue to do what I do with my students and keep suggesting ideas to my co-workers. Whether they take my advice or not is another thing, but at least I know I'm doing my part.
