Katie is a wonderful student. She has an outstanding work ethic and is driven to succeed, but on the day when I was trying to teach a format for conclusions for my students’ research papers it became obvious that my teaching style and Katie’s learning style were not matching up. She was becoming frustrated because she wanted to write a quality conclusion, but my explanations weren’t helping. I was getting frustrated because I had a student who wanted to not only do her work, but do it well, and I couldn’t seem to help her. Eventually the class ended and I told her we would continue working on it the next day. I came to class the next day with some fresh ideas, but Katie came to class with a complete and extremely well written conclusion. When I asked her how she did it, she told me she just went to Google and typed in, “How do you write a conclusion?” This incident provided a good illustration of what my most recent class at Walden University has taught me; the role of the teacher is drastically changing. I don’t have to have all the answers or even all the questions for that matter. In the student-centered classroom I simply need to be a guide who helps my students come up with the questions, knows where to find the answers, and shares that skill with my students. Will Richardson refers to this as “Big Shift 5: Know “Where” Learning” (Richardson, 2010).
A personal big shift my studies have created is that I have been forced well beyond my comfort zone. At times I was quite frustrated and may have even been heard saying such things as, “If I knew how to create a blog I wouldn’t be taking this class!” Obviously, my efforts to complete my assignments did not always go smoothly. Although at times I wanted more instruction on how to complete blogs, podcasts, and wikis, in retrospect I’m glad I was forced to master these skills on my own. We learn by doing. If I had someone telling me what to do every step of the way I wouldn’t feel as comfortable with these resources as I do now. This has also served as a reminder that I am not the only one who learns best by finding the solutions on my own; my students do also. I need to be more prepared to step out of my comfort zone and let students discover their own solutions rather than guide them through every step.
Giving students more input in my classroom is the first of my goals that I am leaving this class with. It sounds somewhat simple, but my colleagues and I have worked quite hard redeveloping our curriculum. We are finally reaching a stage where we have everything mapped out. In other words, it feels like I have everything under control. It will not be easy to relinquish that control and allow students to help decide the direction of the class. Although it will be difficult, it is important if I am going to help my students develop 21st century skills. “As 21st century educators we can no longer decide for our students, we must decide with them. (Prensky, 2005). I need to learn how to share the standards or goals with my students and then work with them to decide how we might best achieve those goals. Once again, to others it may sound easy, but to me, it is a big step beyond my comfort zone.
Susan Cramer asked the question, “How are you using technology to support student learning?” (Cramer, 2007). I am not the least bit comfortable with my answer; I barely use it because it is barely available at my school. This brings me to my second goal: quit complaining about my school’s limited technology and do something about it. I have never had much patience for people who complain about a problem but offer no solutions, and I have done plenty of complaining. The simple truth is my school will not have funds anytime soon to purchase more technology tools. My district’s administration would love to purchase smartboards, or more computers, but the money simply isn’t there and probably won’t be anytime soon. If the money isn’t there I simply have to look somewhere else. I have never applied for any grants, so to be honest, I’m not even sure how to go about it, but this is my goal; seeking out technology grants. Obviously the entire school isn’t going to have new computers, or suddenly every teacher will have a smartboard, but I should be able to get something and every little bit helps. It has been exciting to learn about incorporating technology not only as a source of knowledge for students, but also as a venue for students to display, share, and discuss their own knowledge. Unfortunately, it has also been frustrating because my school simply doesn’t have the capabilities needed. I may not be able to transform my entire school through grants, but at least I can work on transforming my classroom into a 21st century classroom and myself into a 21st century teacher.
As for me some of the transformation has already begun. Earlier this term we were asked to complete a checklist about 21st century skills. From the beginning of the class until now there are several responses on the checklist that I would have to change, but three stand out the most. First, while before this class I rarely included activities that required collaboration to complete a joint task, I have been attempting to include these projects more often. At times it has been messy and chaotic, but that was due more to the fact that some of my attempts need more polishing than anything else. For the most part, my eighth graders have surprised me with the effort they have put into the projects where they have more of a say in how they will get things done rather than me telling them what to do. One change that is a direct result of my current class is I am now providing more opportunities for my students to share and present information in multiple ways. Previously in my classroom there was either a paper, an oral presentation, or rarely, a PowerPoint presentation. Currently I am working with our honors teacher to help the honors students create the first Hawkins Middle School blog. We have also looked at creating a Hawkins Wiki. So far, student engagement has taken a dramatic leap and it has all been much less intimidating than I originally thought. The biggest surprise is the final transformation. I do not see myself as a leader. I see myself as a good team member who will work very hard to support the team, but I won’t create the vision. The only reason I checked “Rarely” in response to the question about participating in the development of technology integration was because “Never” wasn’t one of the options. Now I suddenly find myself fielding questions about integrating technology not only in my own subject area but others as well. What is almost amusing to me is that the entire reason I chose integrating technology into the classroom as the specialization for my major is because I have never considered myself as proficient when it came to technology. Perhaps it is time to change this perception.
The next time Katie, or any of my students, asks me a question I want her to be answering one of her own essential questions, not mine. I need to remember that I am not necessarily there to provide the answer, but rather to assist her in finding her own answers. She will need room to find solutions, not me telling her what to do every step of the way. She will need to work with her classmates to find these solutions. Finally, I hope she and her classmates will have the technology tools they need at their disposal to find, as well as present, information. If I can transform my classroom to this model, I will feel far more comfortable in the knowledge that I truly am assisting my students in their quest to acquire 21st century skills.
References
Cramer, S.R. (2007). Update Your Classroom with Learning Objects and Twenty-First-Century Skills. Clearing House. 80(3), 126-132. Retrieved February 1, 2011 from EBSCOhost.
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the Natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8-13. Retrieved February 15, 2011 from EBSCOhost.
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
