Final Reflection

Through this class I have been exposed to some new technology tools that I had not considered using in the classroom. It has been a fruitful experience in this class. I cannot wait to go deeper with this stuff in my classroom. While not forgetting that students need to know the basics. If we ignore the teaching of typing and other entry-level skills the students will never be able to keep up.

Teaching has never been about me. I would much rather stand around and watch the kids do some hands-on projects that will allow them to explore and learn at their own pace and in their own way, but until the basics are learned, teaching must be somewhat more teacher directed.

As a change agent, I have to not only make the lab more open to use when there is not a class, but even go to the point of encouraging it. At the same time, I need to convince teachers and administration that an elective exploratory is a need concept, cannot be expected to achieve students learning technology when they come either once a week assuming the day is not cancelled. Three times a week will not help either when students can choose their class and I only see maybe 20% of the class because they choose it. So in short, I need to make the lab more accessible and have students in it a lot more than they have in the past.

21st Century Review

I am not impressed by the site. First it is a political site. While I am not trusting of PACs or SIGs. They are usually self serving. The site mainly has that kind of junk. There was not to much that surprised me. I found what I expected from that site. It is horrible that only groups like this mess up the lives of the masses serving the minority. There were any number of disasterous national conferences and initiatives that do not help out the people who need it. Students and educators are going to drastically effected by them if they are not stopped. Education is a local event. It does not help to have everything organized b y a centralized office. Problems like hi stakes testing, uneven funding and inclusion are just a few that get pushed beyond the point of acceptability just becaue the decisions are not made at a local level. I may be abnormal, but all schools are local. Tests are not the end all be all, and funding should be based on individual need, not lunches or test scores. I welcome any and all feedback.