My personal theory of learning of providing students a variety of instructional methods that encompasses many different learning styles to meet the needs of all students. I believe that if students are interested in the skill or knowledge than they are much more likely to master it. What this course has done is introduce me to several technology tools that will help me incorporate my personal theory of learning to my students. Technologies such as graphic organizers, VoiceThread, Wiki’s, and virtual field trips will help provide students with hands on learning experiences and motivate them to succeed.
I plan to use as many of these technologies as I can in my classroom. For our classes county project I plan to have students to create Wiki’s about their countries. The Wiki’s will contain basic information about their country such as foods, traditions, culture, landmarks, famous people, government, currency, etc. Having the project completed on Wiki’s will allow for students to work on the project at home as well as in the classroom. It will also make it a lot easier to be able to follow students’ progress because I can go to their site and see where they are at and who is doing what. I also plan to create and provide graphic organizers to help students enhance their note taking experience. They will point students in the right direction and help them focus on areas of importance. Having more in depth notes will help them understand the material more and earn better grades.
Two long-term goals I have for technology integration in my classroom is to try to stay abreast with upcoming technology that could be integrated into the classroom with positive results. To do this I will take technology classes where possible and stay in contact with the IT director of my school. I will advocate to fellow teachers and administration for new technologies to be used in the classroom. My other goal is to integrate at least one technology tool into my classroom each year. This will help me integrate technology into the classroom. I need to make sure that the technology is for hands on student learning instead of instructional technology.