I have very much enjoyed the class that I am currently taking through Walden University.  Before this class I had known about some of the technologies out there, however, I had not had time (or taken time) to explore them.  Now that I have had a little instruction on these technology, I have already begun to use many of them in my classroom. 

I believe, however, that the most profound epiphany that I have had from this class is how different todays students learn.  Compared to the way I learned when I was in school, this new generation is completely different.  It was interesting to read the articles that indicated that the students of today may have brains that are hardwired differently than our own.  This presents an interesting challenge for teachers, but is also very exciting.  We get to explore a new frontier of education!

As a result of this new knowledge about the way students learn, I have tried to adjust my teaching.  Students are presented with a variety of work and we have music playing in our classroom.  As always, they are allowed to work in cooperative groups to create something, but now there is at least one technological element to the students’ assignement.  I also intend to create more projects that are ongoing and that encourage students to work through a number of steps that require a wider variety of technology.  Hopefully this will engage my students more in their own learning.

I intend to continue my graduate work in the field of integrating technology into educational settings.  I am also participating in a number of staff development opportunities provided by my district and have put in a request to go the the conference held by the Mississippi Educational Computing Association each year.

My long-term goals are constantly changing the more I learn about all the technology that is out there for educators.  However, I would like to further develop some of the projects that I have used in my classroom before.  For instance, we do an authors study.  This year, we added some WEB 2.0 aspects, such as having students write a biography that will be added to wikipedia and using a blog to talk about the books and author.  I would like to find a variety of ways to integrate technology into this project as well as others that I have been developing over the years.  This year, we are trying to create an electronic encyclopedia for our standardized test skills.  Students will be teaching these skills to students using PowerPoint, Jing, and Wikispaces.  My goal for the future is to get my students involved in educational web activities that they are excited to work on even outside of school. 

Unfortunately, there are always barriers to this progress that I would like to make in my classroom.  The curriculum that I currently teach requires students to produce a great deal of paper work in order to display that work in our school halls.  This curriculum is time cosuming and restricting.  Since I was in a new teaching situation, I complied with the curriculum exactly.  After teaching it for a year, I believe that I can find several ways to integrate technology into these lessons while still meeting all requirements.  I would also like to look into writing grants and getting donations so that my students have greater access to computers and other updated technology in my classroom.

Teaching has always been an adventure and now more than ever, we must stay focused on our goals.

The 21st Century website gives teachers a great resource for integrating the 21st century skills into their teaching.  The website explains how core currinulum and 21st century skills can be taught in conjunction through themes.  The resource section gives a description of a number of resources for a variety of core subjects and sklls that can be used to reinforce the skills students will need to succeed in a 21st Century work environment.

The only problem that I have seen, is that there are very few free resources available for teachers.  As we all know, teachers have very little money given to them for direct use in their classrooms (in my state next year, we are told there will be none).  Teachers cannot afford to purchase such programs as the “NeuronFarm 3-D Reader’s”.  After reviewing the program, it is seems like it would be a great program to enhance reading skills, however, a licence for just 30 students is $250.  This is $100 more than I am given to supply my classroom for an entire year.   It would be nice to find some free resources and lesson plans available for teachers to help them understand how to begin integrating the skills they are a required to teach for standardized tests and the 21st century skills that are necessary for students’ future success.

There are so many uses for Web 2.0 technology in the classroom.  Blogs are a simple way to allow students to experience online communication in a protected environment.  Though I have not yet used a blog in my class, I believe there are several uses for them. 

In my classroom, my students are required to participate in an author study.  Within that study, they are required review and reflect on a number of his books, study his biography, and write comparisons of his methods of writing.  This is supposed to be done in a “reader’s notebook” with a table of contents and entries throughout the study.  This could easily be done in a blog.  Students would not only be able to share their own ideas with their fellow classmates, but would be able to comment and participate in diolague and questioning to further their interest. 

Also, in our reading curriculum, students are required to read at least 25 chapter books for the year.  They are supposed to record their summaries and opinions of these books in a notebook.  Other students rarely look at these summaries and opinions and students are not very motivated to complete these entries.  However, a blog would not only encourage students to be more diligent in their entries, but would actually create a forum for students to discuss the books they are reading.  This would give a more authentic purpose to their entries and would, hopefully, get all students involved in reading a variety of books.

I do have a few questions about the practical management of blogging in the classroom, and I would love some input.  First, with limited number of classroom computers, how do you structure your students’ blogging time?  Are they allowed to blog during board work time, free time, or is it best set up as a required center?  Second, if you get a number of students blogging on a number of subjects, it seems like it would be difficult to manage all the posts and comments.  Does anyone have experience with this?  Is it easier and less time consuming than it seems?