Week+4+Reflection

= EDLD Week 4 Reflection =

==== Our 4th week in Teaching with Technology is certainly my favorite component of all our assignments. Now that our planning, collaborations, research, and hard work have been accomplished, the enjoyment can begin. Personally, I enjoy creating and designing student-centered learning activities with technology. That is the very reason I am in this course and have chosen to pursue technology as my career. Working with my group has been fantastic throughout this course. For instance, we were able to respond quickly to the different types of activities we felt confident to create. Our ideas flowed and we gave and received suggestions as needed. Once we started posting the activities on our Google site and our wiki, the unit came together as we envisioned. It was incredible how different the activities were and how well they fit into our Action Plan. I am proud that through our hard work, struggles, and collaborations we were able to persevere and accomplish our goal. With one week left in this course, I am excited to have experienced 21st century learning in action! ==== ==== The week’s videos were encouraging and I agreed with Linda Darling-Hammond’s message from Stanford University. She explained how educators today must not only teach academic learning, but make sure that we reach the emotional intelligence in students, which is perhaps more vital. Countless students are coming from challenging environments today, which means we need to teach the whole child. We should help them understand themselves, how to get along with others, and develop their relationships in and out of school. Furthermore, the video on the future design of schools excites me, knowing that my grandchildren in all likelihood will be educated in such a school. I welcome this transformation and pray I am around to witness it firsthand. I want my grandchildren to benefit from project-based learning, demonstrating their learning through performance on projects of their choosing. ==== ==== Finally, one statement I recall from a video this week was the proposition to design a school that would give up curriculum. After contemplating this, I imagine that more learning may well be accomplished from this one change. Especially, if the focus is removed from what we have to teach and aimed at what the student wants to learn more about. It is an interesting concept to explore! As they say, students should be producing, not consuming when they are learning! ====