Reflecting on blogging as an occasional teacher versus a full time teacher. I Agree with Couros’ first statement on wanting to do various experiences with students, but as an OT having a limited direction to go in when not in one standard place makes using some of what I learn a bit difficult. Blogging and sharing ideas allows for me to keep all of the activities and learning experiences in one location to use as a library as well as a tool to share resources and ideas with fellow teachers. I feel that creating a blog that is just for self reflection whether I’m an OT or in a long term position will allow for me to organize my thoughts and reflect on experiences I participate in the many schools I work in. Blogging will allow for a clearing of the mind, by putting the thoughts down it also helps me to see what went well, what didn’t work well and what amendments can be made when doing the activity again. I have not considered blogging (journaling) as a way to keep and categorize what I’ve learned. Couros speaks on continuously googling his own works. I’ve been bookmarking things in Symbaloo and some times can’t remember why or what the links do. By blogging how I’ve used these links with examples gives a new approach I had not considered before and this will allow for more organization as well implementing the lessons, activities and the like that work and also being able to share these works with other teachers is a great benefit. I can definitely see the benefit and importance to reflecting and can also appreciate the time constraints we have in our daily lives. But as Couros states ‘If we do not take time to look back, how will we ever be able to move forward?’ this may definitely become my new motto. I hope to take away from this experience of blogging how to better organize the many resources I use as well as be able to reflect on what I’ve learned and how I’ve grown as a teacher.
IICT Personal Reflection - LE 1
One significant issue for myself in ‘Learning Experience 1’ was creating a ‘Professional Learning plan’. I found this difficult because for one I had not done one before, so I was uncertain on how to focus my goals. Secondly, not being a permanent teacher in a school makes it difficult to think about what goals I had for myself, especially when trying to focus on how it will affect my career as well as future students.
Many of the resources and ideas have been beneficial for two reasons; one because some things I was already familiar with like using ‘Blogger’ for example, while others where new to me like ‘Mindmeister’. Using ‘Blogger’ will definitely be beneficial to my learning in general, because it will allow me to organize my resources and share them with others. Learning about ‘Mindmeister’ was great because I have been experimenting with mind mapping tools to see which is the best and most user-friendly tool for my ELL students. These resources have been beneficial to my learning because they have reminded me about tools I’ve used in the past and things I can use in the future to enrich student learning as well as my own.
Participating in the forum is beneficial because it allows for not only sharing knowledge and experiences but it helps to see what other teachers are doing with their students. I was able to see that not only I have experienced certain situations, but also gained insight on how to handle these situations should they arise again. This speaks to the inspiring of a shared vision for the teaching profession in the standards of practice. As well, hearing about and sharing our personal learning experiences in teaching shows that we have many dedicated professionals who care about their students and are committed to providing an enriched program for their students. This personally made me feel good about being a teacher, especially when there are still stories being shared of teachers who do not uphold the standards or are not in the profession for the students.
I didn't have any outstanding questions, but I do have some steps towards understanding and developing a professional learning plan I feel that I need to explore this further as a part of my learning in this course so that I am meeting what I need to gain from this experience, as well continuing after this course is complete.
IICT Personal Reflection - LE 2
I feel that I am still in the same place with the learning plan. Doing another assignment in this LE was just as confusing as the first. I feel that not being a permanent teacher is making some of the task difficult to complete and a little on the complicated side because I do not have the experience with creating or participating in any type of teacher evaluation or long term plans. This LE was filled with so many resources and ideas it’s hard to pinpoint just one or two. I’d have to say the lesson plans were great and I have been using the mind meister with my students for the past 2 weeks. As well, the brochures on software were valuable to add to my tools organizer (symbaloo) for future use. After the teachers, I hope I have been more communicative in the forum. But I have noticed that participating in the forum puts the ideas and information that is being shared more into focus. I feel that being more involved with the discussions with my colleagues lends to the standard leadership in learning communities. Everyone is very polite and has great netiquette skills which allows for us to share and learn with each other, promoting a safe and supportive learning community.
IICT Personal Reflection - LE 3
Keeping up with assignments and posts was my main issue as I was in the hospital had a minor surgery and had little to barely any use of my arm, plus dealing with 12 hour work days in between the physical issue. I feel that my biggest issue was not specifically any one assignment but my lack of energy at the end of the day to be able to come online, and not complete assignments but also ensure I was communicating with my colleagues. The resources in LE 3 was phenomenal, from doing the staff surveys to workshop plan and seeing the common thread of what is the underlying issues in many schools when it comes to technology integration. Then looking at what effective staff development really is and how its not fully student centered was new to me. Lastly, the group task and organizing and sharing the technology resources and learning to use Wikispace. This LE was stuffed full of information and great learning experiences. I feel that the main focal point for me in this LE was ongoing professional learning. Many of our e-tivities were about staff development and resources; where to find them and how to share and keep your list up to date, organizational tools and how to use them effectively. I personally have always participated in and will continue to engage in as many workshops or courses to continue my professional learning.
IICT Final Reflection - LE 4
Wow, I can’t believe we are at the end of the course and the school
year. This course has definitely been an
eye-opener for me in relations to; technology tools, new and current,
availability to staff and students, and school board policies and
regulations.
I found that there were
quite a lot of task to do in each LE (learning experience) and some of them
were outside of my realm of understanding as I am not currently a permanent
teacher and was not aware of some of the experiences that happen in schools and
school boards in relation to the integration of technology. I think the biggest factor with the full
integration of technology is funding. Not all schools or school boards have the
funding to provide up to date technology tools for every student enrolled or
teacher.
There has been so many resources in this course, a great many more I
feel than in part 1. Learning how to use the Google platform more efficiently,
making my first screen cast, using the SAMR model to define what type of
classroom I have or would like to have, as well as the article on leadership
skills have all been very beneficial to my learning in this course and my
current role as an ESL teacher.
The discussion forums have also been a great place to learn new
information and share ideas on how to implement these new experiences. I
recently learned about ‘Marker Spaces’ and am hopeful that this will become
something we start to see in more school spaces.
This has been a great
experience and I hope that I have a class in September so that I can use some
of the new skills I have learned and the skills that I didn’t even know I had.
I truly enjoy using technology to enhance student learning, but also as way to
use old lessons or ideas in a new way to engage students and encourage them to
be proactive and use initiative in their learning.
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