REFLECTION: FINAL BLOG POSTING

    As I reflect upon the pars seven weeks of my fourth course in graduate school, I have found that I have not only become more confident and skilled in my ability to effectively integrate technology into my lessons. These new skills have motivated me and empowered me to continuously seek out more new and exciting ways to teach my students using technology as much as possible. I have always been a dedicated teacher wanting to provide my students with the very best but did not always know how to do that. Prior to this course my technology skills were very week and my classroom technology use was the equivalent of using technology to do the same thing differently just faster, rather than the effective way to use technology which is to do different thing all together (laureate education, 2010). Throughout this course I learned and experienced effective and ineffective uses of technology. If I am to prepare my students for a global technology driven workforce I need to do better, and I will. Below I have listed some examples of the technologies and 21st century skills that I have learned and experienced. I know these tools and skills will positively change my students learning experience.
   
    I learned how to create a blog and customize it to meet my needs. I also learned how to post to various blogs and set up RSS feeds that will let me know when people are commenting on my post, when they reply to comments that I have posted on their page, and it informs me of any other post updates that may come up on the blogs in my RSS Feed. These last seven weeks have also taught me about Wikis and podcasts and how to upload them to my blog. While I was learning about the great educational benefits of using and integrating these blogs into my lessons, I also experienced the excitement and ease of using these blogs first hand. Prior to this course the extent of my experience with blogging was Facebook. I never knew how to create a podcast let alone create one then upload it to my blog, my experience with podcasting was watching YouTube. I now know how to create them and have explored various ways of using them in my lessons. Lastly, I experienced collaborating with peers by creating a group wiki for the first time and communicating and editing directly onto this wiki to complete a task. This experience along with all the others truly enlightened and empowered me to continue to find new and innovative ways to engage my students by integrating these new tools into my lessons. They definitely worked for me, I enjoy using them very much now and am confident that my students will continue to enjoy using them, as well. I quickly went from feeling intimidated by thought of integrating these tool to feeling confident, motivated, and empowered by the great possibilities the tools provide.

    Using web 2.0 tools are not the only aspect of applying 21st century skills. However, they are a major factor and they do contribute to the use of other 21st century skills like, differentiation, communication, collaboration, critical thinking skills, problem solving, worldwide communication, etc. Collaboration and communication amongst peers is a 21st century skill that I used regularly prior to this class. Another, major factor of21st century learning is the student-centered classroom as opposed to the teacher-centered classroom. I have always loved the students-centered approach and while I use this approach often I became frustrated at times because I had difficulty coming up with ways to make more of my lessons student-centered. Throughout this course I have gained great insight into the benefits of communicating my ideas with my students and discussing there ideas to find new ways of learning that they enjoy. I also plan time for reflection with my students after lessons whenever possible. Obtaining student feedback has been highly beneficial for me in creating engaging and motivating lessons and activities that the students enjoy. Another major change in my teaching since the first wee of this course has been the use of Skype. I have always wanted to use Skype in my classroom with my Italian students but was nervous about it not working and the security issues with students having pen pals and so on. Although, I have only used it as class rather than individually and the other class that we Skyped with was the other middle school in the same town, and a family member of mine living in Italy, it worked out really well. My students were engaged, motivated and excited by the activity. This was a great start and I look forward to continuing this activity more globally and hopefully starting a penpal program with my students and a class in Italy in the next few years. I would also like to start a blog where students can post comments about each others writing and upload podcasts of their skits that they perform in class. This blog can also be a resource that parents and students could use to find out current class related events, due dates, assignments, and useful websites. I hope to have my new classes beginning in September, with proper permission, blogging and actively using the blog.     

    Based on my new knowledge and experiences gained throughout this course I have developed the following long term goals that I hope to achieve over the next two years. First, within the next two years I plan to write a grant(s) for lap top computers so that my students can experience the great benefits of 1:1 computing. Second, over the next two years I will continue to use the great new web 2.0 tools that I have learned about and experienced throughout this course, along with the many others that I am sure to learn about throughout this graduate program. I also plan to seek out technology based professional development, and collaborate regularly with peers to brainstorm ideas for the integration of technology into my lesson. Third, I plan to survey my students regularly regarding the topics being studied and discuss how they like to learn and what they would like to see or do more of. I then plan to incorporate a new tool or lesson strategy once a month. Lastly, students often complain that they cannot get access to many of the sites that they would like to use such as the social networking sites. This frustrates them because sometimes students are using these sites for reports. I plan to advocate for my students by not only teaching them appropriate behavior when using the internet, but also teaching educators how to teach students about best practice on the internet and the consequences of their actions. Within the next two years my goal is to have built up my confidence and knowledge base of technology integration in the classroom and will be awarded the opportunity to teach the skills to my fellow peers through professional development workshops. 

    After reviewing the self assessment checklist, I found that at the beginning of this course most of my responses were sometimes. I had very little experience with technology and therefore did not use it often. I was always strong in the areas of providing activities that incorporate communication and collaboration amongst peers and teachers throughout the learning process and to complete tasks. However, my weaknesses lie in my ability to provide learning experiences that integrate technology into their learning to meat their goals. I have been attending more professional development workshops on integrating technology, collaborating with peers at school and online, and consistently researching new ideas to change the way I teach by integrating technology and making my lesson more engaging while providing my studnets with the skills they need to success and thrive in life. I am now at the end of my course, and although I have too few checks in the often category of my list, I know I have made great improvements.  Although, I am too young to fit Prensky’s (2001) definition of a digital immigrant I still define myself as a digital immigrant with a strong accent that is fading little by little. Dr. Thornburg (2010), stated that we as the users of technology shape how it gets used (laureate education, n.d.). Technology use is no longer an option it is a necessity.
   
     I leave you with a quote from Richardson (2010),  “The coming years will be marked by a flood of new innovations and ideas in teaching, most born from the idea that we can now publish and interact in ways never before possible. In reality, we now have the Read/Reflect/ Write/Participate/Web, one that will continue to evolve and grow in ways not yet thought of, spurred by the efforts of creative teachers who recognize the potential to improve student learning (p 155)” I have a long way to go but as long as I continue my education, my confidence, dedication, and motivation will guide me in the right direction to get myself and my students to where they need to be. I look forward to continuing my education and building upon my 21st century skills.I aspire to always be a creative and innovative teacher like the one’s mentioned by Richardson (2010).

    Thank you for reading and supporting me through my blogging journey.  :-)


References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). The Emergence of Educational Technology. Baltimore: Author.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Podcast- Technology Interview of Today's Students

In the article Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants Part 1, Prensky (2001) stated that "today's average college grads have spent fewer than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, e-mail, the internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives (pg.3)."

As part of my graduate studies, this week I was required to survey how my students use technology, the types of technology they use, how often they use technology, and how they feel about technology use at home and at school. I conducted the survey with my eighth grade students. At the completion of the survey I chose four students to be interviewed. Their responses represented those of the class majority. This was my first ever podcast, in fact a student had to instruct me on how to us GarageBand on my personal computer. I was intrigued by the level of experience my students have with the various technology tools and embarrassed that it far exceeded my knowledge and experience. I was also bothered by the students frustration with the technology use at school and the lack thereof. I was surprised that sightly less then half of my students are either not allowed to use social media sites like Facebook and many of them who do use these sites were only recently permitted to do so. I was equally surprised that on average students spend one hour or less using the computer for school or to complete assignments. Many of my students stated that they have created their own Podcasts and blogs in their free time for fun yet never used these tools in school or for academic use.  My goal is to begin incorporating these tools more and more into my lessons. The more I practice using these tools the better I understand their benefits and the more confident I become with incorporating them.

This is my podcast interview of my four eighth grade students. These students as well as the majority of my students represent the school student body that is performing either at or above skill level. Two girls are White, one is Asian, and one is mixed race. These students are also from a middle to high income home, as are the majority of students in my class.  I apologize for the length of the interview and the technical difficulties, these students were so excited to share their thoughts. This and my lack of experience with the program made it very difficult for me to edit and delete without losing key responses.

Thank you for your time and patience in viewing my podcast. I am a newbie in training looking forward to becoming an expert at teaching with technology.

Podcast - Technology Interview: Today's Students 

Click here for the full interview:

Today's Students-Technology Interview

Reference: Prensky, M. (2001).(p.3) Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon, 9(5).)."

My Visit to the The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Website (www.p21.org)

My Visit to the The Partnership for 21st Century Skills Website

    The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has emerged as the leading advocacy organization focused on infusing 21st-century skills into education. The organization brings together the business community, education leaders, and policy makers to define a powerful vision for 21st-century education to ensure every child’s success as citizens and workers in the 21st century. The     Partnership encourages schools, districts and states to advocate for the infusion of 21st-century skills into education and provides tools and resources to help facilitate and drive change.

                                                                                                       —Partnership for 21st Century Skills

 (Course Home Page (2012), http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com)

Prior to visiting the Partnership for 21st Century Skills for a graduate course  assignment I had never heard of the and I must say I am very excited about my new found resource.I found the website for The Partnership for 21st Century Skills to be highly impressive and informative. I am very surprised by such a wide array of large successful businesses that have partnered with education leaders to create a wonderful site filled with excellent resources trying educators incorporating 21st century skills. Who better to help facilitate and drive change in the types technologies used and ways it is used to ensure that the necessary 21st century skills needed to be successful in today’s workforce are incorporated into the classroom, than the business leaders of the companies that educators are seeking to prepare our students for. The mission of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills is “To serve as a catalyst to position 21st century readiness at the center of US K12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders.” They believe that “Every child in the U.S. needs 21st century knowledge and skills to succeed as effective citizens, workers and leaders. This can be accomplished by fusing the 3Rs and 4Cs.” They also acknowledge that there is “There is a profound gap between the knowledge and skills most students learn in school and the knowledge and skills they need in typical 21st century communities and workplaces (http://www.p21.org/about-us/our-mission). In my opinion these statements could not be more accurate. As I surfed through the website it was visible that the members of this site were dedicated to the cause, which is preparing the future society of America with the skills needed for a successful future.

The website does an excellent job of reinforcing the necessity for the incorporation of the skills in the classroom in order for students to succeed and thrive in the workforce.I especially liked that the website offers things like professional development opportunities and specific resources and lessons organized by subject are that not only explain the best ways to incorporate 21st century skills but also provide examples and suggestions for educators. The Framework for 21st Century Learning is a very well written and easy to follow guide of knowledge and expertise that students must master in order to succeed and thrive in the workforce. The site also has a great blog which is updated weekly where an educator is chosen weekly to reply to comments. I also found the above and beyond section of the site to be very informative and intriguing. This section contains a video which was created to raise awareness of the 3R’s and the 4C’s of education. Although we may have heard of the 3R’s, according to the P21 website, “In an increasingly complex, demanding and competitive 21st century, students need to learn more than the 3R’s they are tested on in school. It’s time to help them go “above & beyond”, by embracing the 4Cs – communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity (http://www.p21.org/tools-and-resources/above-aamp-beyond-animation).” Lastly, I was impressed to see that world languages was included as one of the subject areas in the partnership’s description of the 3R’s or Core subjects. It is very rare to see this since as of late there has been very limited emphasis on world language education and the resources seem to be limited.

I found all the aspects of this site very useful and necessary in successfully teaching my students. This site was overloaded with so much useful information that it became a little overwhelming to take it all in, this can be seen as a pro or a con to the site depending on the viewer. I will definitely be revisiting this site regularly and using many of the resources provided as a guide when planning my lessons. I also look forward to sharing this site with my colleagues so that they can reap the benefits of it as well.

One major challenge in integrating technology in the classroom is the wide gap that exists not only between education and technology but there is also a gap in resources provided amongst the schools in our country. While it was very impressive to see so many states on board with the P21, the state of New Jersey being one of them, my first concern was if all of these successful companies are active members of this Partnership for 21st Century skills, then why aren’t more states involved as well? Another concern is   although this site is wonderful and addresses many of the questions educators have about the successful integration of technology in the classroom, through its framework, subject area resources, blog, P21 FAQ, etc. what else is being put in place to possibly help provide more schools that are lacking the necessary tools and equipment to put these great ideas to use? Are these companies going to help fund a technology initiative for the schools that are lacking in technology. Hopefully, yes and hopefully they will help to provide my uniformity amongst the schools in our nation in terms of educational resources such as, technology. In order to, provide all students in the country an equal opportunity to obtain these 21st century skills and build their success and competitive edge for the future of our nations society.


 Needless to say, the incorporation of 21st century skills in education is integral in providing our students with an opportunity to succeed and thrive in the future. In this global market our children are faced with greater challenges when competing for their careers in the future. Now, more and more companies in the United States are hiring people from various parts of the world as well as in America. This brings a new meaning to the term “competitive job market (laureate education, 2010).” Educators need to be motivated and committed to doing whatever it takes to make the necessary changes in their lessons and educate themselves with the skills needed to provide our students, the future of America, with the tools they need to be successful competitors. In this ever changing, 21st century, global economy we owe it to our students to provide them with the very best of ourselves and all that education has to offer!   

I strongly encourage everyone to visit this site www.p21.org. Please stop by my blog after you do and let me know what you think!



References:

EDUC-6710I-2 Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society Course Home Page (2012).  Walden University. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com.

Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (2010).  The changing work environment, part 2. [DVD] Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD:  Chris Dede Ed.D. and David Thornburg Ed.D.  Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Retrieved March 20, 2012, from http://www.p21.org/overview

Signorina Petruzzella's Italian Blog

Hello again fellow bloggers!

As I continue to embark on this new (for me) blogging journey, through extensive research, thinking, and collaboration I have developed the following goals for my blog. Any comments or suggestions are highly welcomed.

• Since I am still very new to blogging I would like to continue to use this blog as a place where educators can share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences with classroom blogging.  One of my  goals is to create a classroom blog and teach my students how to use it. Currently I have a few eighth graders who tell me that they enjoy blogging with each other on Facebook in Italian. This knowledge has me very eager to begin implementing this at the classroom level.

• I would also like to use my blog to enhance my students’ learning experience by encouraging, and  motivating them to think and learn on a global level. Knowing that the world can see their thoughts and work will inspire them to try harder and write better.

• Additionally, I would like for it to be a place where I can display students’ work. One example would be our video conversations. I would like to display the top three video conversations and have the student maybe vote for their favorite video and post (appropriate) comments on why they chose that video, in the target language.

• It should also be a place were students can go to and catch up on current events in the classroom, assignments missed when they are absent, and visit Italian practice websites to help them study and build their Italian vocabulary.

• Moreover, I would like to create a section where students can share their best studying strategies for remembering vocabulary, phrases, and grammar rules. They can also share the favorite words and phrases on this page. It can be considered their let loose page.

• Lastly, I would like to have a culture page where students and teachers can post about their experiences with Italy and the Italian culture. For example, this summer I will be spending a month traveling through Italy, therefore, I will have many new experiences to share and realia to post from my trip. My students are aware of my trip, so I would like to post pictures and videos as I travel through Italy. Current and previous students will be encouraged to comment and share their thoughts, knowledge, and experiences, as well. I can use it as a journaling page that encourages continued learning with the use of realia. I cannot bring the students to Italy so this is a great opportunity for me to bring Italy to them virtually.

If anyone has ever tried blogging in their classroom and has any experiences, suggestions, or thoughts they would like to share on what works or does not and why or why not, or maybe an idea that they have been dabbling with, please do I am all ears!

I look forward to our conversations. Happy blogging! :-)

BENVENUTI!

This blog is meant to enhance my teaching through the incorporation of various 21st Century tools and strategies.

I have been a middle school Italian teacher for seven years and am always seeking new and innovative ways to promote second language learning, as well as, enhance my lessons. I am currently enrolled in a masters program on Integrating Technology in the Classroom and am hoping that my course work and peer collaboration will provide me with great new ideas that will help me to better engage my technologically advanced students. After all technology is the way of the world!

I am very excited and intrigued by all the advances in technology and ways to incorporate them, however, due to lack of proper equipment and knowledge I have not had much experience with many programs and tools. I would like to start incorporating more lessons using podcasts, Skype, web quests, blogs and various other tools that encourage students to collaborate and converse with other students around the world. 

I am well aware that the old fashioned approach to learning that I grew up with is no longer affective, students need and deserve a new and improved way of learning that prepares them for our global technologically savvy society. They are begging for a change and I am looking to provide that. With a society that advances daily, it is my duty as an educator and life long learner to advance with it.

I am very new to blogging and welcome any communication. I firmly believe that the greatest lessons are created through peer collaboration. If anyone has any suggestions for me of ways to enhance and improve my lessons through technology they are greatly appreciated. I look forward to our discussions. :)


Ciao!

Signorina Petruzzella