Shook_Kyle_SU2014

Personal Introduction: I remember vividly the first time I tried to use a Smartboard. I thank God that my students had a sense of humor and could laugh with me (not at me) that I was visibly afraid of using the thing. They walked me through it, laughing all the way. However, I left school that day with serious reservations about how well I could do my job as a teacher without mastering and using technology in the classroom.
 * [[image:IMG_0379.jpg width="278" height="210"]] ||  ||

Technology and I have enjoyed a love/hate relationship for as long as I could remember. I was raised in a low-tech house. Really, it was closer to Amish than the current levels of technology that I enjoy. We had a television and a Macintosh computer. That was it. DVD players didn't come until later. Cellphones were unheard of until at least eighth grade. I never blogged or used social media until high school. It is thus not surprising to me that I never really considered the role technology could play in the classroom until my second year as a teacher.

I must say straight away that I am currently quite ambivalent about the impact that technology can have on low-income education. On one hand, I see the enormous potential it has to introduce students to multimodal writing and diverse literacies. In my dream classroom, my students would use wikis and blogs to discuss ideas and textual analysis. They would write in a variety of genres using the internet and could thus expand their literacy to include the so-labeled "21-century skills" that students need to know. However, I am also fearful that the end result of this technology craze will be low-income students practicing test-taking strategies and simply working on expensive computer programs in the classroom instead of engaging in rigorous and relevant activities that will stimulate their mind and interests.

I hope to gain more insight into the future of technological literacy as the semester progresses.

Goals.

**1. Facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity** **Goal: Create a list of resources and potential assignments that incorporate digital literacy and meaningful technology usage in the classroom.** **2. Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments.** **Goal: Develop three unit assessments which incorporate technology and comply with the guidelines of the Universal Design for Learning.** **3. Model digital age work and learning** **Original Goal:** **Identify, experiment with and incorporate new technologies into my classroom** **Revised Goal:** **Create and maintain a class blog using** [|**wordpress.com**].

**4. Promote and model digital citizenship and responsibility** **Goal: Create a lesson plan that allows students to create a ratify a class constitution of cyber-ethics and responsible technology usage in the classroom.** **5. Engage in professional growth and leadership** **Goal: Research three new classroom resources and create a GoogleDoc of resources to share with my department** **Revised Goal: Create an annotated bibliography GoogleDoc to share with colleagues about technology usage in the classroom.** **Final Goal: Create a department blog that will serve as a dual location for posting discovered classroom resources and leading monthly cyber PD about a relevant Danielson teaching framework.** Copyright Clarity http://prezi.com/cmbadvffv-z2/write-is-right/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B2a0vfeSswtAUGF6MWcyTGZpUTg&usp=sharing
 * Portfolio and Reflection **