Module 1 Reflection

This module has made me think about my role as an instructional designer in the following ways:

 Before reading module 1, I thought I was doing an okay job with student-centered activities.  It seems that I am just scratching the surface.  My activities may seem student-centered, but they do not allow the students to have a choice in their assessment options.  I need to research options for different types of assessments so that my students have a choice.  Also, my activities do not always require higher-level thinking.  Instead of me asking and making the questions maybe, I should get the students to make up their own questions.

As a sixth grade Reading and Language Arts teacher in an elementary school setting, I find it difficult to use technology effectively in my classroom.  I feel like Mrs. Richardson in room 72 before her classroom became a 1:1 classroom.  We have iPads at our school, but you must check them out,  and they are not always available (we have sixty iPads and twenty-one teachers).  I tried using WebQuest in my classroom one week, and the students enjoyed it but did not finish.  It was a week later before we were able to continue and the students could not remember where they were or what they were doing.  This is an example of me trying to use technology to engage the students and feeling it was not effective.  So, this makes me ask myself, “Are the students really engaged and learning when we use technology, and it is not a complete lesson?”    As I reflect back on my lesson, I would say no.  I know there are ways that I can incorporate and use technology effectively in my classroom, I just have to research and modify lessons to make them work in my classroom.

I do not feel like my students are taking ownership of their work because they cannot relate the lesson and activities to the real world.  I need to come up with activities that relate and are relevant to a sixth grader’s life.  I also need to provide my students with more opportunities to self-reflect, self-assess, and to be able to choose or make decisions about their learning.