Reflective Essay- Educ 6710

Prior to taking this course, I felt pretty confident in the use of technology in my teaching. I was really adept at using my technology tools to present my information and bringing content to the students (Tarbutton, 2018). Since starting this class, the material in the readings and videos have opened my eyes to the collaborative nature of available technology and that there are other ways for students to learn. The thought that I could facilitate Co-learning and inquiry with my students was foreign to me (Richardson, 2015).  I have used Twitter, Youtube, and other mediums to promote one way communication to stakeholders (Willett, 2019). But, this course has introduced me to blogging, wikis, and more uses for Twitter. Because of our discussion posts, I was able to learn and apply new applications that I learned from classmates. I then implemented that application into an assignment that I used with my current students. With my experience in Garage Band, I was able to utilize my skills with it to enhance my podcasting assignment.

My knowledge of integrating technology as part of the learning process has definitely increased because of the course. 21st century skills was a term I was not familiar with. Yet, now I realize how important it is for students to learn skills in the classroom like Collaboration, Communication, Information Literacy, and Social Skills (Stauffer, 2020) to be prepared for college and career readiness (Laureate Education, 2015b). Classrooms should now be student centered (Tarbutton, 2018) where collaboration is a focus as they may be working with others in their career, even across the globe (Richardson, 2010).

One of the ways I would implement change would be to integrate more collaborative technology into all of my courses to help facilitate students preparing for their post secondary experience (Tucker, 2014). Another way to facilitate change in my classroom is to continue to familiarize myself with and implement standards like the ISTE (2016b) standards for teachers. This is new to me information that is important not only for myself, but for my students as well. I can also use the RWRCOEL 1b. standard to use technology to manage learning opportunities for all students.

The Web 2.0 tool I look forward to trying in my classrooms is blogging. I look to use it to increase engagement and problem solving (Velasco, 2018) in my History of Rock class. Reflecting on this class, it is set up to be the least interactive with students. The potential roadblock is taking the time to set up the assignments before the next trimester begins. I don’t have a fear of doing it, it’s taking time to think through the process of what and how you want students to do the assignment. The ISTE Standard for Students (2016a) that blogging meets would be the Empowered Learner 1c. This would be met by students blogging their thoughts on a topic from class and responding to other's posts. The ISTE Standard for Educators (2016b) that blogging meets for me is Learner 1a set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness.

Setting goals is important for all teachers. One of my SMART goals is that by the Third Trimester of this school year, I will have a minimum of four assignments using blogging with students in my History of Rock class. I will start to accomplish this goal by including two assignments during this second trimester to see how it works and make necessary adjustments to make it ready for third trimester. My second SMART goal is that by the beginning of next school year, I will include a minimum of two blogging assignments per Trimester for each choir I direct. I intend to use one ensemble to work on blogging as my test group because they are high flyers and willing to try new things with me.

I am disappointed that this kind of educational thinking of technology is new to me. I feel that this should have been addressed at some point during any one of my professional development workshops in my district, especially as we moved to 1:1 eight years ago. This is my first course at Walden and it has opened my view of how I could be using technology in the classroom. The challenge I would like to take on is starting a dialogue amongst district technology staff and high school staff. This dialogue would include discussions of what technology are we using, how are we using it, what is similar amongst teachers, what can be used cross curricular, where do we need more instruction to prepare students for the post high school experiences? We should be doing better in our district and school for our students. That starts with educators being on the same page.

Resources

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016a).

ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-students

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016b).

ISTE standards for educators. Retrieved from https://www.iste.org/standards/for-educators

Laureate Education (Producer). (2015b). Skills for the 21st Century [Video file].

Baltimore, MD: Author.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.   

Richardson, W. (2015). From master teacher to master learner. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

Stauffer, B. (2020, March). What are 21st century skills? Applied Educational Systems. https://www.aeseducation.com/blog/what-are-21st-century-skills

Tarbutton, T. (2018). Leveraging 21st century learning & technology to create caring diverse classroom cultures. Multicultural Education, 25(2), 4–6.

TUCKER, S. Y. (2014). TRANSFORMING PEDAGOGIES: Integrating 21ST Century Skills and Web 2.0 Technology.

Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education (TOJDE), 15(1), 166–173.

https://doi-org.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/10.17718/tojde.32300

K. Bret Staudt Willet (2019) Revisiting How and Why Educators Use Twitter: Tweet Types and Purposes in #Edchat, Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 51:3, 273-289, DOI: 10.1080/15391523.2019.1611507

Velasco, R. C. L. (2018). infusing classrooms with web 2.0 technologies: The idea of using Web 2.0 technologies in educational settings should be embraced. Technology & Engineering Teacher, 77(6), 36–39.

Walden University. (2015a). RWRCOEL technology proficiencies. Walden University Blackboard. https://class.waldenu.edu

Plan for using a blog in my music classrooms

 The purpose that a blog would serve in my classroom could go a few different directions. 

As a teacher, I still see my blogging would mostly be one direction, pushing information out to those interested stakeholders (parents, grandparents). I feel there would be very little back and forth.

If I took a more formal, educative direction, I could see blogging as a way to inform other educators of what I'm doing in the classroom, especially with technology. Doing so, could spur more dialogue with other music educators in which to build relationships, gathering resources from one another, and staying current with what others might be doing in the classroom (Haesler, 2014). 

Blogging for my students could be advantageous for both my choir and History of Rock classes. For choirs, students could collaborate research on composers to be used for program notes for each song. We could also use blogging as part of a concert reflection about what went well and what could be improved with the overall process of putting together a concert. My History of Rock class could use blogging as a starting point to discuss what they know about some of the decades we would be discussing and as also as we go learn more about each decade.

At my school, I teach students in grades 9-12. I have three choirs- Varsity- 9th grade only, STORM- 10-12 NON-Auditioned Choir, Concert Choir- 10-12 Auditioned Choir. I also instruct two sections of History of Rock and one section of Piano Class. Both of those classes have students 9-12, most with very little music experience.

Students blogging in my classroom would meet the ISTE student standards Empowered Learner 1c and Knowledge Constructor 3a (2016a). Empowered Learner 1c states students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways (2016a). This standard would be met by students blogging their thoughts on a topic from class and responding to other's posts. Knowledge Constructor 3a states students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits (2016a). This standard would be met by students researching composers whose music is being performed and presenting their findings as part of the program notes for the performance.

Using blogging in the classroom would also meet ISTE educator standards Learner 1a and Leader 2c (2016b). Learner 1a states set professional learning goals to explore and apply pedagogical approaches made possible by technology and reflect on their effectiveness (2016b). Blogging is one of those pedagogical approaches that is new to me. I look forward to using it in my classroom and being able to improve its effectiveness with my students. Leader 2c states model for colleagues the identification, exploration, evaluation, curation and adoption of new digital resources and tools for learning (2016b). I can see blogging as a professional and sharing my journey of exploring and implementing new technology tools for others to learn from.

References

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016a). ISTE standards for students. Retrieved from https://iste.org/standards/for-students

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). (2016b). ISTE standards for educators. Retrieved from https://iste.org/standards/for-educators

Haesler, D. (2014). Why Blog. Australian Journal of Middle Schooling, 14(2), 24–27.