Today was a Bad Day

A fight broke out during the last 15 minutes of my last class today. It was a bad day. My classroom management skills are not as great as they once were. I don't really know what it is that's changed between just last semester and this one but I'm determined to find out. Thankfully, my current grad class is on Comprehensive Classroom Management! lol I hope to apply what I learn ASAP!

Could the fight have been avoided? If I created a classroom environment where the students weren't free to play around, then yes. Supposedly, two students were playing around. They were in their seats but fooling around nonetheless. (They openly admitted to it.) If I didn't allow the students out of their seats in such a large number at a time (4), then maybe I would've seen the incident occur immediately and stopped it or I would've seen it about to occur and prevented it. If I had designated one student to managing the sink in place of me, I would've been able to walk around the room instead of being stuck at the sink. Not only would I have been more aware of what was occurring in the classroom, but the student at the sink would feel empowered, as he/she was in charge of helping each group with their laboratory investigation. If I had planned out the day better, I would've been able to foresee problems that may have arisen and prevented them. Well, we learn from our mistakes, no? Tomorrow's a new day!

Final Class Reflection Edited

I have truly enjoyed taking this course! I have always prided myself in being technologically savvy, I am known for my excitement and enthusiasm in sharing my gadgets and newfound tech knowledge in school, and I love finding ways to make my life easier. I have learned about ways blogs can be used other than simply sharing your journal entries with the world. Since learning more about blogs, I’ve been working with my collaborate team teacher via blogging in order to reflect upon and better improve our practice as we hardly have time during the school day to meet. I’ve learned about wikis and am now able to explain myself when I discuss Wikipedia and its reliability to students and other co-workers. I discovered that I have all the equipment necessary to create a podcast and hope to use them more in class. I want to start “lecturing” via podcast so that students can access the information at home. I want my students to learn content via the vast amount of information that is available through the Internet so that I can spend our time together in class discussing ideas that they are not sure of and experiencing the information through laboratory investigations and activities. In “Transforming the Classroom with Technology Part 3,” Dr. Chris Dede describes a classroom similar to the one I envision and plan on creating. He says:

I imagine … classrooms being places where the kids come in engaged and they come in curious, and they come in with common experiences that they’ve gotten from technology outside of school. And the role of the teacher is to lead them in interpretive discussions that help the kids as a group with the assistance of the teacher to construct knowledge together, just as in work places.

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This class strengthened and affirmed my belief that students learn best by doing and experiencing and I find that my job is to create lessons/activities that allow them to learn in this manner. They do not need me to be the source of information as they are being bombarded with information via the television, radio, the internet, cellular phones, etc. It is my job to help them discern which sources are accurate and reliable. I need to teach them the skills to do so, I need to teach them the skills to communicate, and I need to teach them the skills to be living and contributing to society in the 21^st century. I have always bought into the idea that my classroom should be more student-centered as opposed to teacher-centered, but I was not sure how to go about creating this environment. With the skills I’ve learned in this class, I think I am well on my way to creating a more student-centered classroom, one where I am seen as a facilitator instead of the all-knowing entity in the room. I admit that this is not the current situation in my classroom, but I hope to alter my lesson planning in the near future to work my way, slowly, to my ideal classroom.

The first way I would like to work towards transform my classroom environment into one that is more student-centered and one that obviously prepares the students to be 21^st century learners, is to be absolutely comfortable with using and knowledgeable in the skills that would be expected of them. I need to know how to create a Podcast that I would expect them to create. I would need to know how to use a wiki to collaborate with others. I need to actually use the resources available to me so that I can know how to teach the students. I’d need to know what skills they’d need to master in order to produce desired work. I need to experience any problems that may arise in order to anticipate where students may need more support, etc. I plan working with these resources in order to better collaborate with my co-workers. Not only would I be utilizing the skills I hope to master, but I would be doing so in a manner that is productive. I can apply what I have learned in a way that will make my life, and hopefully those lives of my co-workers, easier while fulfilling our responsibilities at work. Often times, teachers complain about the never-ending and always increasing responsibilities that are being expected of them. Learning how to use technology, let alone teach students how to use it, is one of these responsibilities that teachers are quick to say “I don’t have time for that.” If they realize how valuable this information is, if they understand how they can apply the knowledge, they will be more inclined to use it and ultimately teach it.

Secondly, I plan on creating more assignments and lessons that teach the students skills they’d need to be 21^st century learners. I want to include NETS standards when planning units/lessons, so that I can better prepare my students for life in the 21^st century.

I can remember a time when I didn’t have a cell phone let alone a computer. I can remember the time when you used a type-writer to write a paper, when you HAD to go to the library for information, a time when synchronizing your watches as vital during a group outing as designating an “I’m Lost” location, and a time when you had to use maps made out of paper in order to plan a road trip. I remember this time, but I am more familiar with the ease of texting, mapquesting, and E-mailing. I know how people teach themselves how to play the piano via YouTube, I know how to create a website to share my vacation pictures with my family in the Philippines, and I know how to plan a European vacation, booking the flight, reserving hotel stays, and planning a minute by minute itinerary. Technology has allowed us to do far more than we can possibly imagine and it will continue to do so. We must prepare our students for life in a time that technology surrounds us. November describes in “Web Literacy for Educators” (2008):

Blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts, and wikis are just some examples of powerful tools now available for teachers and students … These are technologies our young people are currently using and many will be expected to use once they enter the workplace.

p. 92

We need to teach our students how to use this technology. This is our responsibility.