Final Reflection

As I reflect on this course, I have decided that it has opened a new world to me.  I have always used the internet and encouraged my students to use it also, but the worlds of the blog, wiki, and podcast made me realize that I have only been chipping away at the tip of an iceberg.  The technological world is huge and I need to devote as much time as possible to keep up with it.

            This course has developed new technological skills that I would have never known possible for me to do in my classroom.  I probably would have drifted along using the occasional Power Point, Research Paper or Image search that I had been doing all along.  With the skills that I have now learned, I can help my students discover more and learn more about the different areas of art, artists and themselves.  Helping students learn more about themselves through art will help increase my knowledge and theirs.

            I have learned that teachers should help guide the students in their learning and that teachers are not the “know all educators” that they thought they were.  Students can be just as much of an educator as a teacher by contributing their technological knowledge to their teacher and others.

            Student achievement has been the most controversial area in education today.  We are teaching to the test, and forgetting about helping our students develop into contributing members of the community or society.  Through the use of technology in my classroom, I hope to help my students become leaders in their chosen field, to work collaboratively and think critically.  Helping students to learn through technology is a positive way to achieve this

The two long term goals that I have for my classroom are one, to incorporate more technology in my curriculum which will be difficult because of the lack of computers and money in the budget to purchase them.  I would also like to become more of a paperless classroom.  I would like to publish more items on the net such as my syllabus, and communicate with my students and parents through e-mail or even a blog.

I checked “sometimes” on many of the items on the 21^st Century Skills checklist from Week 1.  I need to work at changing my practices to often especially in the areas of instructional activities requiring student collaboration, and using a variety of digital tools.  I know that research shows that these areas are important to a student’s success in learning and in the future.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills

The website, Partnership for 21st Century Skills is impressive.  I looked at some of the Guides and I was impressed with the 21st Century Skills Implementation Guide.  This Implementation Guide gives recommendations to our leaders on what is needed in our schools including core subject mastery.  In reading this I could see many of the trends that my school is implementing.  Looking at Summative Assessments, becoming Standards Based, Performance Based, Rubrics....  All of these terms have been used in our school to implement our 21st Century Grading Policy.
With the future in mind, I think that becoming a contemporary educator can only help advance our students to a higher level, to become more productive members of the school community and to become productive members of society and in the workplace.

How would I use a blog in my classroom?

With  the ever increasing pressure from our districts and from the government for better test scores, it has become imperative that we use any means possible to help our students close the gap in testing.  One way we can do this is to incorporate technology in the classroom.  Blogs can be an important form of technology. As an art educator on the high school level, I can showcase my student's artwork along with the skills they have acheived in writing critiques, their explanations about the meaning and importance of their work.  It can also be used to post state standards and the relationship of the artwork to other subjects such as math and reading.  Students can share ideas for improvement or kudos for excellence.  Students within the class or students who are taking the same course but at a different time can post responses and opinions of the work that is presented on the site.  One thing I would do also is not to force a student to post their artwork in the blog.  Sometimes art is a very personal thing and I would respect that with my student.

Posting on a blog is a good tool for students to learn about the larger picture beyond the school community especially if the blog is opened up to other sources.  The next Picasso may be discovered.