Sunday, February 19, 2012

Reflection

About 8 weeks ago, I wrote the following as a part of my personal learning theory:

Students learn in very unique ways; each student I have encountered in my teaching career has been very different and has had an exceptional learning style. In my personal theory of learning, I believe that student learning is a complex process and requires the use of many components of the brain (visual, audio, etc) as well as incorporating different instructional practices. Learning theories are complex ideas which require a lot of experience and personal knowledge of working with students; because my experience as a teacher is limited to my short year of teaching, I believe that my theory is simply based on my research of other theories which have been developed by others. As I continue to grow as a teacher, my personal theory on learning will also continue to grow and become more complex.

Today, after much further exploration of learning theories and technology tools, I believe that I still agree with what I believed then, except to a deeper extent. By that, I mean that I know understand what those theories that I referred to mean. Furthermore, my learning theory continues to add an incredible amount of technology into it because I am developing a better understanding of new ways to incorporate it into my lessons. I am also realizing, through assessments and observation that the technology keeps students engaged and creates deeper understanding of information.

Throughout this course I have continued to add more and more technology into my everyday lesson plans. Upon my return to the classroom from medical leave, I plan on implementing the use of wikis and blogs into my lessons for students to use as a reflection tool. I also plan on using my interactive white board more often as well as having students use it as a presentation tool. My technology and instructional strategies and tools are growing and I look forward to using them in the classroom.

Looking ahead, I plan on integrating student blogs to use as a reflective journal where they must respond to each other as a means of student growth. I also hope to begin using the student set of laptops and/or the computer lab to enhance student technology skills as well as interaction during lessons.
All in all, I have loved this course and growing on my learning theory, instructional strategies and technology tools. I look forward to continueing to grow as a teacher and enhance my students' learning ability through the use of technology.

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