Teacher: Which is worse? Ignorance or apathy?
Student: I don’t care.
That comment is not easy for a teacher to hear. So far, I have heard comments like “I’ve tried everything. This student doesn’t care about anything.” These students sometimes can be the most frustrating ones to teach. But, why would someone give up so easily? My experience in teaching has taught me one good lesson: Students fail not because of “stupidity or banality” but because of their “desire to protect themselves and to survive” (Palmer 2007, p. 46). With this in mind, I started Educational Technology Certificate Program at Michigan State University.
Before I started the certificate program, I had been integrating technology into my lessons since I first started teaching and I thought I was good at preparing interactive lessons that put my students at the center of their learning. To me, I was ahead of the curve. But, that was all before I took the first class and experienced an amazing transformation in both my learning and teaching. The Educational Technology Program I became immersed in with MAET brought a new awareness. For instance, each week I am expected to turn in some assignments and that helps me a lot because I find the opportunity to reflect on my experiences and to get feedback on my progress. My contention is that reflecting on my experiences and getting feedback on my progress greatly influence my teaching as well as my interactions with my colleagues and my students because my experiences are one of the most valuable resources to improve my own teaching. In addition, since I have started using what I have learnt so far in a productive way, reflecting on my experiences has allowed me to use my experiences as a point of learning not only for myself but also for others because I try to share what I learn with others and each time I share something new with them, I get impressed by the surprised look on their faces and this encourages me to share more!
When reflecting back on this course, I found myself achieving a great deal concerning technology because the course provided us with a wealth of useful readings. One thing that I learnt was that a teacher should be comfortable with the idea of harnessing in newer technologies to be able to have meaningful lessons based on technology and to be able to integrate 21st century skills into their lessons. Also, being familiar with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) led me to think about the importance of addressing individual differences and thus, I now know that presenting content by using multiple media and providing differentiated support, providing options for action and expression, and providing options for engagement are some ways to catch the attention of more students because if the content is presented in different ways and provides options for learners, then it can be guaranteed that information is accessible to learners with different learning styles and comprehension is also easier for many students in the class. Additionally, I learnt about how to blend content, pedagogy, and content through TPACK framework and in my opinion this framework is vital to students’ success in foreign language learning because students as digital natives are savvier than I am; therefore, I have to keep abreast of the latest technologies and try new ones in my classroom.
Apart from these, I worked on several face-to-face instructional resources during the course and created my “UDL Enhanced Lesson Plan”, “Paraphrasing or Summarizing?” StAIR, and my “How to Use Evidence” WebQuest. I have already implemented my lesson plan, StAIR, and WebQuest into my classroom. My StAIR and WebQuest focus on teaching students paraphrasing and summarizing and how to integrate evidence from multiple sources into a research paper, respectively. After my students used “Paraphrasing or Summarizing” StAIR, they have started working on their research paper by using my WebQuest. Now, they are really happy to be working on their research paper because the use of a WebQuest means employing a variety of teaching strategies such as team-based learning, cooperative and collaborative learning, and inquiry-based learning through a discovery process.
One of my goals is to continue to learn about various methods of incorporating technology into my teaching repertoire to enhance and increase my use of technology in education. To this end, I would like to learn to introduce using e-pals in the classroom and how to integrate podcasting into the curriculum and. One technology that I would like to use is interactive discussions with experts. This technology can cover a variety of content, but for my language learning students I would like to focus on speaking and listening. Throughout the next two months, I plan to continue my learning with CEP 812 in the Educational Technology Certificate Program at Michigan State University. After this course is over, as an educator, I plan to continue to increase my educational technology knowledge by harnessing in newer technologies and also engaging in knowledge-building activities.
Student: I don’t care.
That comment is not easy for a teacher to hear. So far, I have heard comments like “I’ve tried everything. This student doesn’t care about anything.” These students sometimes can be the most frustrating ones to teach. But, why would someone give up so easily? My experience in teaching has taught me one good lesson: Students fail not because of “stupidity or banality” but because of their “desire to protect themselves and to survive” (Palmer 2007, p. 46). With this in mind, I started Educational Technology Certificate Program at Michigan State University.
Before I started the certificate program, I had been integrating technology into my lessons since I first started teaching and I thought I was good at preparing interactive lessons that put my students at the center of their learning. To me, I was ahead of the curve. But, that was all before I took the first class and experienced an amazing transformation in both my learning and teaching. The Educational Technology Program I became immersed in with MAET brought a new awareness. For instance, each week I am expected to turn in some assignments and that helps me a lot because I find the opportunity to reflect on my experiences and to get feedback on my progress. My contention is that reflecting on my experiences and getting feedback on my progress greatly influence my teaching as well as my interactions with my colleagues and my students because my experiences are one of the most valuable resources to improve my own teaching. In addition, since I have started using what I have learnt so far in a productive way, reflecting on my experiences has allowed me to use my experiences as a point of learning not only for myself but also for others because I try to share what I learn with others and each time I share something new with them, I get impressed by the surprised look on their faces and this encourages me to share more!
When reflecting back on this course, I found myself achieving a great deal concerning technology because the course provided us with a wealth of useful readings. One thing that I learnt was that a teacher should be comfortable with the idea of harnessing in newer technologies to be able to have meaningful lessons based on technology and to be able to integrate 21st century skills into their lessons. Also, being familiar with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) led me to think about the importance of addressing individual differences and thus, I now know that presenting content by using multiple media and providing differentiated support, providing options for action and expression, and providing options for engagement are some ways to catch the attention of more students because if the content is presented in different ways and provides options for learners, then it can be guaranteed that information is accessible to learners with different learning styles and comprehension is also easier for many students in the class. Additionally, I learnt about how to blend content, pedagogy, and content through TPACK framework and in my opinion this framework is vital to students’ success in foreign language learning because students as digital natives are savvier than I am; therefore, I have to keep abreast of the latest technologies and try new ones in my classroom.
Apart from these, I worked on several face-to-face instructional resources during the course and created my “UDL Enhanced Lesson Plan”, “Paraphrasing or Summarizing?” StAIR, and my “How to Use Evidence” WebQuest. I have already implemented my lesson plan, StAIR, and WebQuest into my classroom. My StAIR and WebQuest focus on teaching students paraphrasing and summarizing and how to integrate evidence from multiple sources into a research paper, respectively. After my students used “Paraphrasing or Summarizing” StAIR, they have started working on their research paper by using my WebQuest. Now, they are really happy to be working on their research paper because the use of a WebQuest means employing a variety of teaching strategies such as team-based learning, cooperative and collaborative learning, and inquiry-based learning through a discovery process.
One of my goals is to continue to learn about various methods of incorporating technology into my teaching repertoire to enhance and increase my use of technology in education. To this end, I would like to learn to introduce using e-pals in the classroom and how to integrate podcasting into the curriculum and. One technology that I would like to use is interactive discussions with experts. This technology can cover a variety of content, but for my language learning students I would like to focus on speaking and listening. Throughout the next two months, I plan to continue my learning with CEP 812 in the Educational Technology Certificate Program at Michigan State University. After this course is over, as an educator, I plan to continue to increase my educational technology knowledge by harnessing in newer technologies and also engaging in knowledge-building activities.
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