Stephanie Feeman Education 776 Blog

photo courtesy of learninginhand.com As I look back on the last eight weeks of this class, I feel like I can totally rearrange the way I teach in my classroom. Before this class, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on how to use technology in the classroom and what kind of resources I had available to me. I was pleasantly surprised by how much was out there that I didn't know about. This class allowed me to explore different resources I had never heard of, resources I had heard of but didn't have time to explore, and old resources that had been reborn.  Technology is incredibly important in a 21st Century Classroom. Students in classrooms today have grown up with technology as a 6th sense. Traditional classroom strategies have become outdated and unnecessary. I took this class because I felt that I could learn something about how to use technology in my classroom differently. I had some resources that I used in the classroom that were effective, but the internet is so big...

This week I had the opportunity to rate myself as a 21st Century classroom teacher. I always enjoy an experience where I get to take the time to find areas of growth and reflect on my abilities as an educator. It is so important that as much as we expect our students to reflect and grow, it is equally important that we as teachers constantly change and grow! As you may know, I am a third grade teacher in a rather large rural school. I also have my ESL certification, so I often work with students who speak English as their non-dominant language. Technology resources are so incredible when it comes to working with both of these groups. There are apps, websites, search engines, and resources around today that were not even thought of when I was growing up. Students have the opportunity to learn so much more than was previously possible. I wanted to take the time to do a self evaluation to make sure that I was giving students all the resources possible to them! I decided to self assess...