Worst Fears/ Best Hopes

Worst Fears

• Lack of resources
• lack of knowledge
• lack of support
• technological problems
• no teacher buy in
• students not doing what they are supposed to
• students fluent in technology and critical thinking but not able to pass taks test due to lack of paper work/test taking skills
• no communication between staff
• students using technology maliciously

Best hopes

• engaged students
• students that can think on higher levels
• students that are able to take skills to the working world and apply
• increased student creativity
• increased student learning
• parent involvement
• community involvement
• better communication between school staff, students, community, country and world.
• real life problems
• personalized learning
• reaching all student

I think for me the best way to get over a fear is to just do it. I need to continue to learn, empower and encourage my students, encourage and assist my coworkers, and provide my district with a successful program.

This class helped me realize that no matter how hard you try you will fail at some point, and that is ok. Technology is great, but it comes with a lot of complications. I can recall the beginning of this school year and being extrememly frustrated because people at my school were giving up on technology due to "technical"issues. In this class, there have been several times that I just wanted to give up because I could not get a program to act right or figure out how to operate some aspect of it. I persevered, but reflected on how frustrating it must have been for others that were seeking my aid with new technologies at the first of the year. This spring in this class, I have come to realize that I know very little compared to the vast array of technologies available to us. As someone who plans on being in some type of administrative position, I must be as patient with adults as I am with my students. I must also continue to learn new technologies every day to keep up with our evolving technological world.

I think we are all leary of giving students complete control because we have this desire to ensure our students are learning the guidelines the state has set forth for us (TEKS). However, it is extremely important to prepare our students for the "real world" not just the TAKS test. Therefore, we should take every step possible in our classrooms to cover both. I personally plan on continuously growing as a teacher and integrating technologies that support the TEKS. I hope that my web site will do just that and possibly be used as a resource by other teachers that are in pursuit of the same objective.