Building a Learning Community

Overall, I would say that I am a competent new-comer to technology, and, thus, a tech immigrant.  I have made some attempts to step into this new technological age in my classroom, but my default is old-school pen and paper.  I like to tell myself that this is due to the subject that I teach, but this is a cop-out.  I simply am not completely comfortable with how new technology can work its way into my classroom effectively and efficiently. 

The article “The New Literacy” advocates for teachers to keep in mind that students need to be able to evaluate information that is presented to them through a variety of methods.  Students cannot simply be asked to evaluate written products when so much of their lives and future professions will be asked to glean meaning from such a diverse landscape that they face today.  I am happy to say that I have used other forms of presentation other than just the basic PowerPoint and essay.  However, I think it would be more beneficial for the students to be able to work on more advanced projects.  We have a great news program and production staff at my school.  I think it would be beneficial to all to work together on a cross-curricular project in the future.

The other three sources seem to fit together quite nicely for me and fit right in-line with Common Core State Standards for literacy, as well as the old call for “problem-based learning”.   In addition to these sources, I also watched Wagner’s “The Finland Phenomenon” on You-Tube and realized that the resources that students have at their disposal at this point in time rectify all of the issues we have ever had with problem-based learning in the past.  The tools for research, collaboration, community involvement, and publication all exist, to some extent, online.  Therefore, it would be very easy to push the teacher/student dynamic from a “sage on stage” relationship to one of guide and mentor, as suggested in the course materials.  This, in turn, allows the students to grow in their knowledge base organically and in a manner that is meaningful for the student.  Thus, the students can retain more and gain the ability to think better for themselves, problem-solve, and evaluate information regardless of the method of presentation, as is advocated in the CCSS.

As you can tell, I am very excited about the prospect of using more technology in the classroom and hope to have it become a foundation for me to build our future units upon.