I believe the educational environment needs to be a positive atmosphere, not just in my classroom but the school and community as a whole. Building concrete relationships with my students and understanding them is my number one priority. I want to build working relationships with students where I know their family dynamics, how best to communicate them, and how to engage and incorporate their learning style into my everyday class. By using multiple teaching methods no student will be left behind or feel excluded.

 

I believe it’s extremely important to incorporate regular feedback into the classroom. It provides a sincere 1:1 conversation that may not happen during class every day. I am able to learn from students as well by asking them for feedback and how to better educate them within the classroom setting. There needs to be mutual respect that happens within the classroom between the educator and the students, even if there are differing opinions. In the end, we all are on the same team and should encourage one another to keep performing, striving to be better, accept and help those who are struggling around us. 

 

In my classroom students will be given a leadership role with their education and expected to take responsibilities of their assignment, attitude and overall success. I am a proponent of allowing students to experiment and explore ways in which they learn best while following the outlined guidelines. I will help my students understand the art standards as well as the technological ones. The standards specifically focused on in middle school are outlined on the Common Sense Education website. Specifically, we will focus on finding credible information, the power of digital footprints, fair use rights, social media usage and hate speech. I will also incorporate the following ISTE standards into my classroom which are: Empowered Learner, Innovative Designer, Creative Communicator. Students need to be able to leverage technology to demonstrate their learning goals, be able to curate a variety of resources using digital tools to produce creative artifacts, and design processes to identify and solve problems by crafting new, useful or imaginative solutions. 

 

Teaching with technology in the classroom will provide new challenges to students. Students will need to be able to put on their critical thinking caps and embrace what is being taught. I will strive to plan my lessons around the best use of incorporating technology into the activities and learnings without overwhelming the students. The TPACK model is a strategy I will implement in my teachings. As a teacher I will begin with the content knowledge I already know and implement my pedagogical philosophies and then begin to incorporate the technological pieces into my curriculum. I believe enhanced student learning and course delivery should be the goal when using technology in education.

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Technology can insight curiosity, instruction, communication, and construction. Students should use technology to foster their inquisitiveness and quest for knowledge in this digital era. Only by utilizing technology can I find ways to differentiate instruction for every student in my classroom. The ISTE standards will guide me, my blended classroom will empower me, and my PLN will help inspire me. Teaching with technology will lead to success for myself as an educator, and for my students as global digital citizens and lifelong learners. As educators, it is critical that we teach that technology in the classroom should not replace hands-on learning but enhance it. By leveraging technology thoughtfully and strategically, educators can redefine how students are learning. In my classroom, I do not plan to replace real world experiences or hands on projects and prototypes with technology. I will focus on learning by extracting students creativity while leveraging technology to redefine student learning. I will plan to teach students the critical skills they need in their future and help them to become responsible digital citizens and lifelong learners.