Week 16: Hold Fast to Dreams

When you awake, you will have had this dream where you learned that it is not only easy to integrate technology into an educational curriculum, but fun too.  It will feel like you have been asleep for almost four months.  The things that you did in the dream seem so real: blogs, websites, html code (okay, that one might have been a nightmare), Prezi, Diigo, Symbaloo, iMovie, Excel, Google Docs, ISTE, L&L, PLN, emerging technology, adaptive technology, and more. You will yearn to be back in the world where technology is abundant and joyful, where people blog about their thoughts and have tangible proof of their learning, where the fear of technology is non-existant and standardized tests are a thing of the past. . . .SNAP!  Here we are at the last day of class.  It wasn't a dream after all.  You do have all of these skills and you fear of technology is gone! Now all you have to do it to hold on to the dream.  

Okay, maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration, but I do hope that you all will take a minute to reflect on all that you have accomplished in 16 short weeks.  The most rewarding part of teaching this class for me is to visit your blogs at the end of the semester.  I see 27 unique examples of learning and 27 different paths to demonstrating fluency in technology.  They are really impressive!  I want to thank you for all of your hard work and persistence this semester.  I know that for most of you this wasn't easy, that you cringed when I asked you to fix something as minor as custom bullets on your newsletter or colors on your mind maps.  I am very mindful of what I want you to accomplish and how I want you to experience this course.  If I can in some way take the fear of grades off the table by allowing you to fix any error penalty-free, then I can get you closer to fixating on your learning, which is intrinsic.  Learning, and education, should be something deeply personal and rewarding.  Learning should be the desired outcome of a class, not a grade.  Often times, when all you focus on is a grade, learning takes a back seat and while, in a perfect world, learning and grades will correlate, this is rarely the case.  My hope for each of you is that you see each child you teach as an individual with individual strengths and weaknesses.  Get to know you kids and do your best to facilitate their learning, their growth.  And most of all, make learning fun!

Tonight, we will ensure that your blogs are the best representation of your technological savvy self.  You need to bring a printed copy of the Emerging Technology Checklist to class.  You will go through the checklist yourself, ensure all of your artifacts have a description and a connection to a NETS-T standard, and everything else on the checklist is complete.  Then, you will have at least one peer review your blog and go through the checklist.  We'll discuss your Symbaloo webmix and ensure it's embedded on your blog and in TaskStream.  I'll answer any questions about any assignment you still need to revise.  If you are finished with everything, you can work on your TaskStream narratives.  My goal is to complete all of my grading and your revisions, to include TaskStream, by Friday.  Let me repeat. . .I will complete all grading, including TaskStream, by Friday!!  Lastly, we will do course evaluations.   

I may not be in class very early today as I have another class today at 4:30.  I will do my best to be in the lab 15 minutes before class starts.

Final Question:  What is the best thing you will take away from this class?