Stay Calm and (Attempt to) Use Technology!
My goals for this program are heavily linked to my initial year teaching overseas. Schweinfurt had a one-to-one laptop program, and I was determined to use it to the best of my ability. I developed StAIRs for students to use, and tried using blogs to enable students to publish work in a more public forum. Technology is everywhere. For me, it is singularly the most important part of my teaching in Germany. Why is that? Because it has helped me stay connected to people from home while I have embarked on this journey to a place which is on another continent. I have looked at how my students use technology to keep in touch with friends from all over the United States as well as other bases overseas, and I realize how important technology is for staying connected.
My original goals for wanting to complete the MSU MAET program are both superficial and deep. At first, I wanted to complete a program overseas, so that I could learn and live in another country during the summer. That would be the superficial goal. I love to travel and I love to learn, so this program was going to allow me to combine the two. Then I got a job in Germany, so I ended up not only living in another country, but I also worked in another country and still got to learn in Ireland during the summer. As the program progressed, and I was teaching at a school which was piloting a one-to-one laptop program, I took what I learned in my classes and applied it to my classroom. I suppose I could call this my "deep" goal. I wanted to improve my use of technology as a teacher. I knew that students were becoming very accustomed to technology, and instead of fighting it as a teacher, I wanted to embrace it. We used blogs in my first few courses at MSU, so I decided to try using blogs in my classroom. First, I used Gaggle blogs for my students to blog summaries of a book we were reading in class. Gaggle was a difficult platform, and I learned that as the semester progressed. I revamped and did some research and learned that Edublogs was developed for the education, so I decided to try this platform instead.
As I read through my original technology goals in my first MAET class, I realize that I have accomplished a few of them. I am trying to give my students access to as much as possible through Internet-based technology. It is difficult when students have to have certain applications or programs on a computer, so using technology that is available through an Internet browser is great. I also wanted to find a way to have my students blog in class, and I actually accomplished that goal by using Edublogs. My students were able to research topics of interest for them and blog their write ups on a class blog.
As a teacher, I sometimes feel that I do not have enough time to apply all the technology and knowledge I've learned throughout my classes in the MAET program. So much of teaching is trial and error; what works for one class may not work for another. There are still so many questions I have, and many have been raised from this program. Is technology always necessary? Does it really help students or am I doing it just for the sake of saying I've used technology? How and when should technology be used? Is there such a thing as too much technology? These are some of the questions that I reflect on daily when I'm lesson planning for my classes. When I reflect on my original goals, I realize that, although I have accomplished a lot, I still have a long way to go!
My original goals for wanting to complete the MSU MAET program are both superficial and deep. At first, I wanted to complete a program overseas, so that I could learn and live in another country during the summer. That would be the superficial goal. I love to travel and I love to learn, so this program was going to allow me to combine the two. Then I got a job in Germany, so I ended up not only living in another country, but I also worked in another country and still got to learn in Ireland during the summer. As the program progressed, and I was teaching at a school which was piloting a one-to-one laptop program, I took what I learned in my classes and applied it to my classroom. I suppose I could call this my "deep" goal. I wanted to improve my use of technology as a teacher. I knew that students were becoming very accustomed to technology, and instead of fighting it as a teacher, I wanted to embrace it. We used blogs in my first few courses at MSU, so I decided to try using blogs in my classroom. First, I used Gaggle blogs for my students to blog summaries of a book we were reading in class. Gaggle was a difficult platform, and I learned that as the semester progressed. I revamped and did some research and learned that Edublogs was developed for the education, so I decided to try this platform instead.
As I read through my original technology goals in my first MAET class, I realize that I have accomplished a few of them. I am trying to give my students access to as much as possible through Internet-based technology. It is difficult when students have to have certain applications or programs on a computer, so using technology that is available through an Internet browser is great. I also wanted to find a way to have my students blog in class, and I actually accomplished that goal by using Edublogs. My students were able to research topics of interest for them and blog their write ups on a class blog.
As a teacher, I sometimes feel that I do not have enough time to apply all the technology and knowledge I've learned throughout my classes in the MAET program. So much of teaching is trial and error; what works for one class may not work for another. There are still so many questions I have, and many have been raised from this program. Is technology always necessary? Does it really help students or am I doing it just for the sake of saying I've used technology? How and when should technology be used? Is there such a thing as too much technology? These are some of the questions that I reflect on daily when I'm lesson planning for my classes. When I reflect on my original goals, I realize that, although I have accomplished a lot, I still have a long way to go!