Wk. 8 Reflective Essay

Describe the most striking revelation you had about the teaching of new literacy skills to your students as a result of this course.

The most striking revelation that I had would be that students need these new literacy skills to be successful, in school, the workplace, and in everyday life. Students need to think critically about a subject, develop good questioning skills, then be able to search for the answers on the Internet. They need to evaluate and be critical of the information that they discover on the web and be able to synthesize that information and communicate that information to others in a meaningful way. As Dr. Warlick stated, "We are preparing students for an unpredictable future, where students need to become self-learners, who resourcefully use resources and use situations and experiences to accomplish goals" (Skills for the Future-dvd).

Describe how the knowledge and experience gained in this course will influence your teaching practices going forward.

I will do more inquiry-based projects with my students in the future. I will focus more on questioning skills, thinking critically about a subject, and searching for the answers. I will teach my students the importance of evaluating what they read on the web, how to navigate a site, and how to determine which information is valid and credible. I want my students to become good self-learners, who can learn about a subject they enjoy, and communicate what they learn in a meaningful way to others. S. Armstrong states, "It is important to tie in projects to real world work and apply what they learn to areas of life, having an authentic experience" (Inquiry-Based Projects-dvd).

I would like to give my students more choices for the final product and how they present what they learn to the class. For the final product, students could use blogs, podcasts, VoiceThread, powerpoint, digital storytelling, and posters. I would like to give my students more opportunities to use voice, music, images, and text together to communicate content. Also, I like the idea of connecting with other classrooms and schools in different areas to make learning fun and more meaningful. Also, bringing art museums and exhibits into the classroom through podcasts and other interactive online experiences would make learning fun.

Identify at least one professional development goal you would like to pursue that builds upon your learning in this course and develops your own information literacy or technology skills. Describe the steps you will take to accomplish this goal.

I often check the Tri-County Educational Service Center, which services our school district, for professional development opportunities connecting to art and technology. I am going to continue to check for more professional development opportunities and take advantage of as many courses that they offer as I can fit into my schedule. They often have short courses on Powerpoint, Virtual Field Trips, Digital Storytelling, among others. I would like to find a class that focuses on VoiceThread and Digital Photography use in the classroom.

Final Reflection: It is very important to embed technology into your everyday teaching to students. D. Warlick discusses technology in the classroom as successful when there are "connections and conversations, a type of connected connectivism, where students are connecting and communicating with the teacher and other students about the content" (It's Not About the Technology-dvd). Technology makes learning fun and exciting! Before this class I was unaware of the new literacy skills of questioning, searching, evaluating, synthesizing, and communicating. I practice these skills in my classroom on occasion, but was unaware of just how important they are to teach. I will definitely try my best to incorporate these skills more into my teaching. Students will need these skills for their future.