Final Reflection

Nathan Jacobs

12/7/14

ETC-447

                                                                  Final Reflection

            For the first standard: Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, I believe I have done this by offering alternate forms of assessment/presentation. For the final lesson the students were to demonstrate their knowledge on the topic through PowerPoint presentations. I could have easily made the assessment a quiz and or worksheet that needed filling in. In the same lesson that used PowerPoint, the students were given the chance to research whatever volcano they desired, this gives them options, and options inspire creativity. For the second lesson we used Pixie to illustrate cells and all their organelles. I think that letting the students express their knowledge in an artistic manner facilitates creativity.

            I believe the easiest way, and most recurring way I have developed Digital-Age learning experiences was by presenting my content to the students via PowerPoint presentation. It is the spiritual successor to the overhead projector, and is a material/program that the students have access to. It may be kind of silly to call this “Digital-Age”, but for most of my public education I was taught with chalkboards and overhead projectors.

            One thing however that I may not have achieved was modeling fluency in technology systems. My very first lesson that I did this semester used a Smart board. However I did not use this Smart board effectively or even properly. It was kind of a catastrophe; it took most of the lesson to figure out what I had to do to make the Smart board work. On the bright side, the set back slowed things down and gave me a second to think/breath, and I ended up feeling more comfortable through the rest of the lesson. It was kind of like a “you can only go up from here” feeling, but it also took some of the seriousness out of it.

            Standard 4 is a little tricky to answer. I don’t think I really promoted and modeled digital citizenship and responsibility in any of my lessons. Aside from the very first assignment we received as a class, which dealt specifically with standard 4, I didn’t think about. Even though I was not actively pursuing this standard I wasn’t modeling irresponsibility and unethical digital citizenship. The only questionable thing I did was not request a work cited on the projects that were turned in. This could be seen as allowing plagiarism or something of the sort, but the presentations were brief, and didn’t hold anything that wasn’t publicley known. Also I felt that bibliographies are usually a thing that students learn in high school (my lessons were for middle school), and I didn’t want to make a chore out of my lessons. Also the most notable thing in all of my lessons was the general lack of prepared modifications for students with disabilities. I would have been more beneficial if I had tried to model some sort of all inclusive lesson, but with the students I had there was no reason to really try. It could have been a valuable challenge, but laziness got the better of me.

            I think this was an important class form me to take because it pointed out the rising presence and benefit of technology in the classroom. In the class we looked over a number of resources that were designed for use in the classroom, and I feel like there will only be more to come in the future. This increase in education specific technologies will come in handy when trying to make schooling dynamic and enjoyable, it will also give teachers a plethora of ways to educate and assess students.