Tech goals

Student Goals:

I took a look at the GSE standards for ELA because I thought there were some standards for the use of technology in the classroom and there are. So, I wanted to create goals that would be applicable in the classroom to meet the standards. I’ll start there then add some of my own.

Be able to analyze and construct meaning from various presentations of a text, such as audio recordings, videos, live preformance, and written text. The student should be able to see how low technology and higher technology changes the text. ELAGSE11-12RL7 and RI7
Use technology to produce, publish, and update individual and shared writing. ELAGSE11-12W6
Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance unserstanding and add interest. ELAGSE11-12SL5
Now my own: I really want students to practice safe, responsible, and legal use of technology.
Design and develop a multi-media digital presentation of an individual and group project.
Use technology to further enhance understanding of texts and be able to research using credible and quality web sites.

My Goals:

In addition to these goals for my students, I have also set a few for myself. To learn what they are, click HERE.

Reflecting on my goals:

It was interesting to observe myself throughout the blog building process. Technology does not come easy to me, so the thought of building and maintaining a blog felt overwhelming. But, once I got started, I was having fun and started geeking out!

I had to put a lot of thought into my tech goals for both my students and me. I think it’s ok that teachers do not know everything – we can’t! So, I like that Dr. Dail is learning about Makerspace along with the rest of us and is honest that it can feel uncomfortable as we progress in the course. That helps me feel that I can share some of my insecurities about new technology, but also emphasize its importance in the changing twenty-first century.

I started my goals for my students with what I remembered from the Georgia Standards of Excellence. That turned out to provide language to create meaningful goals for my students. In addition to the academic goals, I also want my students to understand the power and consequences of using technology, especially social media. In my experience, adolescents catch on quickly to new technology and seem to be able to navigate it without much trouble. Then, what do they do with it? I want to be able to provide structure and form to allow them to explore their creativity and strengthen their skills.

When it came to my goals, I created a Prezi presentation instead of a boring PowerPoint. Prezi is much more dynamic and so easy to use. This is just one example of the wide world of technology tools for the classroom! That when I started geeking out about all the new things I could try with my students. I started googling tech tools for the classroom and found geoguessr.com. I tutor a Human Geography class, and this would be a fabulous game the students could play that entertains and instructs. Hypothesis is also a tool I want to explore because students spend so much time annotating and teachers spend so much time making copies of text for them to annotate.

One of the best outcomes of setting up my blog is how it has mitigated my anxiety about technology. If I can be fearless in the face of change, I hope it will inspire my students to be fearless in their classroom performance when we use new technology tools.