Painting a Picture of the Future

It is difficult to put into words how far I have developed professionally over the length of my master's program. The experience has made me grow into a true leader and catalyst for change. This is reflected in my final project for this course. It shows that I am not only up-to-date with educational technologies but that I feel comfortable exploring the potentials there are on the horizon. This is the result of piecing together all the elements built upon throughout my program.

I believe that I have now formed an effective network of professional support and resources through joining Ning groups, receiving RSS feeds from blogs I have identified, following professionals using technology in the classroom on Twitter, and even identifying potential networking locations within Second Life, that will continue to inspire me towards improvement in my teaching practices. Most importantly they can also help me keep a finger on the pulse of those emerging technologies to come. Through my efforts to integrate technology in my classroom, I have moved into a leadership position at my school. As the Technology Teacher Leader, I have a greater influence over the application and adoption of new and emerging technologies at my school. I plan to continue my efforts in training my fellow faculty members in the use of technology to reach all learners and keep improving my leadership skills in this area.


I have become confident enough in my abilities to push my influence to another level. I recently became part of a group of nine teachers who volunteered to develop online courses for our school district to offer as professional development. Participating in this venture allows me to influence change in two ways; one, to use technology to provide learning on-demand for busy educators who need alternatives means for professional development, and two, to develop on-line courses to instruct teachers beyond the walls of my school building about how they can use technology in the classroom to teach content standards and support 21st century skills.


My hope is that by taking this three tiered approach to sharing what I have learned and what I continue to learn about teaching 21st century learners and emerging technologies, will insure that my efforts will make a difference in some child's life.

Using Moodle for Elementary Instruction

As the Technology Teacher leader at my school, my task is to provide professional learning classes on any technology programs we have at school. This year, one of my focuses was our district's version of Moodle, called E-Learn. At first, the district wanted every teacher to have an E-Learn site up and running by the end of the school year. As we got further into the year and bogged down with implementing a new student data system and web-based grade book, that goal changed. The TTL's were asked to offer training in E-Learn for motivated and interested teachers only. This was a much better approach, in my opinion, because these teachers are now wonderful peer tutors for when I will have to do mandatory training.


When I read our assignment for this week, to create a presentation to convince my staff of the benefits to using a course management system, I immediately thought of how I could use this to prepare my staff for the inevitable. Attached is the final product, please let me know if I can improve upon this before I do present it to the teachers who are going to need support and encouragement to accomplish this transformation.

Supporting the Implementation of Differentiation

During an earlier course in this graduate program, I was introduced to blogging and most importantly social networking. I realized quickly that I had missing out on a whole world of resources and support that had been available to me with just a simple key stroke. The Ning group that I set up for this class has become, and will remain, an invaluable resource as I continue my journey towards differentiated instruction and Universal Design for Learning. Because of our group effort, we each have doubled the amount of resources now cataloged on our site. As we move forward beyond this course, and even beyond our advanced degree, this information will still exist in cyberspace for us to access. We can continue to share resources and use each other as a support group as we move forward integrating technology to diversify our classrooms. I find it much easier to look through a Ning site for information I need, then to flip back through mountains of hand written notes. The site keeps it organized and accessible.,

From this course I have learned that what I considered differentiation in my classroom was not fulfilling the needs of my students. Even though my implementation of Choice-based art education differentiated instruction for product, interest, and learning profile, I have continued to see some students still struggling with grasping the standards in class. I knew I had a gap somewhere to fill but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. This course has allowed me to analyze my situation and locate where my instruction has been not meeting the needs of these students. I plan to immediately make modifications to how I deliver my instruction by using more technology to provide alternative access to the information and practice that is matched to readiness, and intelligence preferences. Of course this is going to take some leg work on my part to gain more computers in my classroom, but this time of year (post-testing) will provide a more open schedule for me to do this. As I practice my new lessons along with my students, I hope to begin to establish some new routines and procedures so that we can start out next year hitting the ground running. I have always viewed technology as a alternative production tool but now I view it as an invaluable instructional tool as well. I am very glad my eyes have been opened.