EDTC 6433- Tech Integration Reflection

I believe I was successful in achieving my goals. I have taught students the importance of being a good digital citizen in regards to 2nd grade technology. We have learned how to handle equipment properly. When they are unsure, they help one another in succeeding, which has been a huge growth area for them compared to what they were able to do the year prior. They also learned about the importance of being safe online, how to create unique passwords, and why it is important not to share passwords with others (outside of getting assistance from their family or teacher). I feel that I was able to achieve more than what I thought I would, which was an important learning for me throughout this course.

With the age I teach, it is really important that students watch their teacher model exactly how to be appropriate with technology tools and create ownership and responsibility within the classroom. I was able to model (more than once) how to handle equipment, including carrying it to and from the cart, logging on, getting to where they need to go, shutting down, and putting away login cards and headphones properly. There were some re-teaching moments along the way where I had to show them again, but I used these moments to have student role models act out and show their peers how to handle the equipment, which I think was really powerful for my students. I also showed my students some BrainPop videos (they LOVE BrainPop). It was fun to watch them be really protective of their computer login cards in class. When helping one another, they were very respectful when teaching and showing their peers how to get to places online, but would back away to let their peer type in their username and password on their own before continuing to help. It made me realize how much of leaders they really can be at such a young age!

I plan to be a leader by continuing to be open when trying new things. Currently I am having my students try out new keyboarding programs, and being a part of learning new technology is something I plan to continue. I believe it helps to keep engagement high in class when students learn new things and feel a special ownership when they have to provide feedback. I think it will be important for me to believe that my students can do great things in regards to technology, even if I have to adjust accordingly so that it is more appropriate for primary students.

In my school's community, I am someone that teachers from older generations come to with questions regarding technology usage. I am the youngest teacher on my grade level team by 20 years, so they always look to me to provide support and new findings. I also help teachers outside of my grade level team, as I feel very comfortable with the technology platforms we use to teach, such as ActivInspire. I love to teach, even if it seems easy to me. When my students try new technology tools, they are excited, which excites and intrigues their parents. After emailing my 2nd grade parents about field testing new keyboarding programs this year, I received a lot of positive feedback. My students have been logging in daily at home to work on the new program and are excited to grow. My role in the classroom is to teach and encourage students in an engaging way, which I think can be easily done when trying out new technology!