Week 5 - Reflections

I have put this assignment off all week.  I have had time to sit down and work on it, but I was not ready to really get into what I have learned, how to incorporate what I have learned into my classroom practices, and how to continue to challenge myself to continue to learn and reflect.  Really, I just was not ready to critically reflect.

In her blog entry, “Where is reflection in the learning process?” Jackie Gerstein, Ed. D. quotes Stephen Brookfield from his book Becoming a Critically Reflective Practitioner.   In talking about being critically reflective, Brookfield says, “A critically reflective teacher is much better placed to communicate to colleagues and students (as well as to herself) the rationale behind her practice.  She works from a position of informed commitment.  She knows why she does and thinks, what she does and thinks.”  It is my responsibility to teach my students the art of reflection so that they want to continue to learn.  I start each school year going over my classroom rules and expectations.  However, I stress the following each year as well.   “I want you to learn the material.  However, I know that you won’t all get it or you won’t all try.  More than learning the material, I want you to leave my class knowing that you know how to learn.  Learn to learn!”  I realize that to help my student s develop this skill and the desire, I need to teach them how to critically reflect on their learning, as well as model that behavior and practice for them.

Throughout this course, I have been challenged, but I have also felt validated by some of the concepts we covered.  I am not an artist, and have never felt like graphic design was anything I was good at or interested in doing.  However, when we started the first assignment about C.R.A.P., I realized that this was something I did every time I designed a worksheet, spreadsheet, test, flyer, and anything else I create for my students/school.  It was nice to know that what I had always done was right, and there was actually research and an acronym for it!  Teachers love acronyms!  Contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity – according to Robin Williams in her book The Non-Designer’s Design Book, are the “basic principles of design that appear in every well-designed piece of work.” (Williams, 2008)

I thought designing my personal logo was going to be easy.  It was probably the most challenging assignment for me for a couple of reasons.  First, I had no idea what to use to design it.  I have a mental block when it comes to using Photoshop, and I do not have Photoshop on my laptop.  Thanks to collaboration and social media, one of my group members suggested I use Pixlr.  Once I got the hang of how to use it, I enjoyed it.  It is a tool I will be using with my students this year.  (I just hope Pixlr does not decide to start charging for their services!)  The second reason (and what made this assignment so challenging for me) I struggled with this assignment was figuring out how to brand myself as a teacher and person.  I really liked my final logo, but it took all week to get there.  I always tell my students that they need to make sure they represent their best selves in whatever they do – social media, behavior at school events, and even their email addresses, but I never thought about it as branding.  Between Lea Alcantara’s blog and the other readings, I really had to dig deep to think about my brand and logo.  I don’t think anyone actually likes thinking about what others think of them.  I did not want to ask my friends to describe me in three words.  Much like this reflection, the logo assignment did not let me skim across the surface to complete the assignment.  I actually had to face some unpleasantness about myself.  However, according to Dan Schawbel on his Personal Branding 101 blog, you first have to discover your brand.  “Brand discovery is about figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life, setting goals, writing down a mission, vision and personal brand statement (what you do and who you serve), as well as creating a development plan.” (Schawbel, 2009)  I am teaching a new class this year, Career Prep, and our first project will be all about branding.  I am looking forward to helping my students develop their own brand and logo as I continue to improve upon my own.

As I go through this program and this course, I continue to learn more about myself.  I have always considered myself intelligent, but after years of not really having to challenge myself, I was not sure that I would be able to complete the work at the level I expect from myself.  I may not always give 100%, but I have surprised myself somewhat with what I have been able to accomplish so far.  A lot of my success in this program though is due to the collaboration with colleagues from across Texas and the country.  In EDLD 5363 and in this class, I worked with an amazing group on our video project on the group website.  The members of my group have all encouraged one another, been a critical friend throughout each assignment, and answered numerous questions in order to clarify or explain aspects of each assignment.  We have used the web conferences, social media (Facebook), and Google docs, hangout, and sites to get to know one another and collaborate on our different projects.  We each have different strengths and weaknesses and have used those to our advantage.   I have not always played nice with others, but getting to know the members of my group (Scott, Joseph, Lindsay, and James) and working with them has helped me want to be a better team player upon returning to work on Monday.  If you would like to look at our collaborative website, here is the link:  THE FRACTIONEERS.

When I collaborate or am part of a team, I usually try to observe to see which role I should take for that particular group.  This practice will not change.  I think by doing this, I let others see that my first goal is the success of the project/team.   Throughout my years of teaching, I have used “group projects” for several reasons, but not until the last couple of classes, did I realize there is so much more for my students to gain from learning to collaborate.  It will be a slow process, but I will help my students learn how to work together towards a common goal and why this is so important as they continue their education and begin their careers.

I will continue to research best practices in classroom collaboration as well as Web 2.0 tools that can help in classroom collaboration.  I have learned so much and have a lot of great ideas for this next school year.  I just hope I can use these tools effectively. 

I have a lab and a classroom, so I use the web consistently in my classes.  My students use the Internet for projects or career research.  I encourage my students to investigate college information, financial aid information, and other data related to their life after high school.  With some of my classes, I require them to complete “Current Event” assignments, so we look at news sites for current news stories on a variety of issues.  I use the website www.alfatyping.com to help my BIM students with their typing skills.  These are all great uses of my lab.  Earlier in the EdTech program, I decided I was going to use Edmodo for my classes this year.  However, our new technology director has purchased My Big Campus (www.mybigcampus.com) for our district, and I will be using this educational social media-ish site for my classes.  I am excited to use it and hope to be able to make a smooth transition from a paper-filled class to a paperless class this year.

Sources:

Gerstein, J. (2011, August 16). User generated education:  Where is reflection in the learning process? [Web log comment].  Retrieved from:  http://usergeneratededucation.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/where-is-reflection-in-the-learning-process/

Schawbel, D. (2009). Personal branding 101: How to discover and create your brand. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2009/02/05/personal-branding-101/

Williams, R. (2008). The non-designer’s design book, 3rd edition. San Francisco, CA:  Peachpit Press. 

Web Conference Reflection:

During this course we were supposed to attend three web conferences.  I attempted to attend three, but I was only able to make it through the one on July 20th.  For some technology reason, I cannot stay connected on a web conference or Google Hangout.  This was a problem with our group collaboration meetings as well.  I have called my Internet provider and they have run tests on my connection, but we cannot seem to figure out what the problem is.  Once I return to school next week, attending web conferences should work better through the connection at school.  Same laptop - different connection.  That being said, I do go back and watch the recordings when Dr. A posts them and I read through the chat logs.  If there is something I didn't understand or didn't get, I will text or a call a group member who did attend or I will ask a question on Facebook.  Scott January has been great about setting up group pages for our EdTech classes, and it seems we have all benefited from these as well as the web conferences.

I attend the conferences for clarification on assignments and also to get to know the other members of the class.  I have formed some great friendships from first attending the web conferences and then geting to know my colleagues through Facebook.  During the July 20th conference, we discussed what classes we would be teaching this upcoming school year.  I think it's interesting to learn about all the different backgrounds of the people in this program.  Since staying on a conference has not worked for me, I have gone back and learned several things.  Our group got some much needed clarification on the specifics for the group site. During week one, the conference helped me figure out how to look at the ancient manuscripts for the assignment.

I hope AT&T Uverse can get my Internet issues resolved so I can better benefit from the web conferences.