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How has your understanding and approach to technology integration evolved over time?

Key Insights:

Seeing ways my RT at my short term placement utilized Chromebooks to get students engaged with the material (fun and interactive anticipatory sets before a complex text, Google Classroom features, etc.) changed my perspective on incorporating tech in the classroom

Exploring a variety of online teacher resources opened me to an online educational community that I wasn't even aware existed! This has been so helpful in lesson planning and curriculum design

Challenges:

Device use in classes have been difficult in relation to classroom management. This was definitely more of a problem at the high school level but it was still hard navigating these procedures and policies while also trying to develop my understanding of the role of technology in the classroom and focusing on content and learning

Not just picking the easy route with lesson planning. Oftentimes, it's easy to just pick the traditional type of lesson as sometimes the digitally interactive lessons can be a hassle to coordinate and facilitate. I definitely want to continue to challenge myself to integrate more tech in my curriculum

Transformative moments that have influenced these changes:

While in my Methods class, we led lightning lessons on a book series we read. I brought in "Book Creator" which is an online tool for educators to use to help students create and read digital books. Getting to see my classmates engage with this tool and come up with a variety of ways to incorporate it in the classroom was really exciting. While it took more planning and learning on my part, I think incorporating tech that allows students to author and publish their work to share with each other creatively would be so much fun and engaging as a student.

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Table groups but all positioned in a way where students can easily see the board/front of the classroom (making the class conducive to group work but also accessible for students of varying abilities)

Teacher's desk in the corner of the classroom but I plan on being an active member of the class by roaming around the room and only sitting at the desk if I am actively taking attendance/responding to emails

Reading corner: regardless of my students being middle or high schoolers, I want a corner of my room dedicated to having book shelves that students can loan books from and a couch/sitting area of sorts. I want students to be able to sit comfortably during silent reading/independent work times and, as a student, I always loved my secondary teachers who created spaces like these for students.

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I think that at the secondary level, explaining the reasonings behind your policies and having a real conversation with students at the beginning of the year regarding the classroom expectations will make students more likely to respect them as they see the logical need for them, rather than just seeing you as an authority figure trying to enforce policies onto them as students.

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I think that at the secondary level, explaining the reasonings behind your policies and having a real conversation with students at the beginning of the year regarding the classroom expectations will make students more likely to respect them as they see the logical need for them, rather than just seeing you as an authority figure trying to enforce policies onto them as students.

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- Inclusivity
- Acceptance

- Creating a safe space

- Developing a learning environment where students are not afraid to make mistakes and where students feel empowered and challenged in their learning
- Encouraging reading & writing in a variety of forms (advocating for multiliteracies in the classroom)

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Come to Class Ready to Learn & Participate

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Come to Class Ready to Learn & Participate

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Take out your necessary materials as the bell rings and recognize that you bring a valuable perspective to the classroom!
Although I do not want to grade participation - as grading participation is often inequitable due to participation being so subjective and "when teachers grade students on…any interpreted behaviors, those judgments are often clouded by teachers’ background and biases toward a student’s race, class, or gender” (Feldman, 2018, p. 7) - I want to encourage participation of any form. I would like participation to come naturally to my students in class as it will ideally be based on what a student is comfortable with doing and also, once in a while, encourage students to step out of their comfort zone – for example, offering writing responses alongside verbal responses as a form of participation but also incorporating group work so students have the opportunity to communicate with others and grow as individuals/challenge themselves.

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How My Values Influence My Interactions With Students:

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How My Values Influence My Interactions With Students:

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I want to treat my students as autonomous individuals who are bringing in their own varieties of experiences that are valuable and uniquely add to the classroom. Since I value creating safe spaces, I would love to incorporate restorative justice practices within the classroom as Jennifer Gonzalez discusses the harm that zero-tolerance policies can have on students, specifically students of color (Gonzalez, 2018). As restorative justice heavily prioritizes relationship building alongside its practices, I believe building relationships with your students is incredibly vital when trying to create a safe, inclusive, and empowering learning space.

My passion for reading & writing will also influence my interactions with students as, while I do recognize not every student will love reading & writing, I hope to encourage students of any level to pursue at least some exploration in ELA and develop a deeper understanding of the power of literacy in the world.

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What I Believe About Teaching & Learning With Secondary Students:

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What I Believe About Teaching & Learning With Secondary Students:

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- Teachers are learning alongside their students

- Teachers should adapt their lessons to best support their students’ various needs and be willing to be flexible as teachers should want their students to succeed and should not view their students in a deficit perspective or as being “innately bad” as early learning theory depicted students in the 1800s (Kellough & Kellough, 2010, p. 105).

- As teachers, specifically ELA teachers, we should strive to provide culturally responsive and relevant material in class, recognizing that the canon is a mainly white male-centered collection and actively working to bring in more diverse authors and works in order to help students not only be exposed to a variety of materials, but to also feel represented in their own classrooms.

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How Will I Communicate These Beliefs & Understandings to My Students?

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How Will I Communicate These Beliefs & Understandings to My Students?

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- Establish classroom guidelines early in the year and allow students to contribute additional guidelines so they are active participants in the creation and upholding of these guidelines. This will also establish “a climate of mutual respect,” similar to the classroom climate depicted through a cooperative discipline model (Kellough & Kellough, 2010, p. 107).

- Set an example of what it looks like to be supportive in the classroom:

cheer on my students, inside and outside the classroom

take mistakes and turn them into teachable moments

be authentic and ask genuine questions about students

build connections through daily conversation so they feel valued in the classroom and, in turn, view me as a human as well, rather than just a robot who happens to be teaching them

- Include diverse materials alongside required texts throughout my curriculum and incorporate interactive and engaging activities that are relevant to students and also expose them to new ideas (for example: utilizing technology  and various forms of art in the classroom, coming up with fun assignments that correlate with my students' interests, including multiple forms of media within our curriculum)

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Students will receive a class material list at the beginning of the school year (with all materials available from me if students are unable to purchase these materials on their own for whatever reason) and students will be expected to bring these materials to class every day.

I want to incorporate a binder/notebook of sorts in my classroom in order to help students build their organizational skills. Students will utilize this binder/notebook in their note-taking, journal entries, and other class activities.

At the beginning of every class, time will be dedicated to going over the daily agenda and homework if applicable. Students will be expected to update their respective planners with this information - once again in hopes of developing and building onto positive organizational habits.

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Punctuality & Communication is Important

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Punctuality & Communication is Important

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While I will not enforce a strict tardy or late policy in my class unless required by the school campus, I want students to recognize the importance of showing up on time, respecting the time of those they are working with, and communicating honestly when they need a little extra time/support as middle/high school is a vital time to start recognizing and developing one's study/time management habits and having honest conversations about procrastination.

I hope to do this by greeting students daily at the door (thus, making students feel welcome in class), making class time engaging so students actually want to be in class/don't want to miss class, being consistent with the assigning of homework (how often, what type, etc.), chunking out assignments and allowing flexible deadlines so students don't feel overwhelmed by the workload, and being approachable when it comes to communicating a different deadline based on student needs.

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Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator | Tim Urban | TED

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Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help When You Need It

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Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help When You Need It

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This goes with any aspect of the classroom as well as outside the classroom, I don’t want to feel like a police officer within my classroom who students don’t want to come to for fear of getting in trouble with.
I think developing healthy forms of communication, being able to take responsibility, and having mature conversations with each other is so important at this age.

On another note, I want students to be able to recognize their needs and develop skills that will help them set healthy boundaries for themselves as young adults. That being said, when approaching policies regarding restroom use during class, I would like to treat my students as autonomous individuals who are independent while also be able to discuss these topics in a way that explains how I just want to promote safety and prioritize their learning. So while I will allow students to leave the classroom as often as they need to for their restroom needs - as the Kellough & Kellough (2010) anecdote on students having restroom accidents in classrooms is a major deterrent for me regarding strict restroom policies - I will also have an honest conversation with students regarding my policies.
Only one student out at a time, make sure to sign out so we know where you might be in case of an emergency, and come back to class once you’re done as you will be responsible for making up any missed work while you are out of the classroom.

All in all, I want students to feel recognized as human beings in the classroom. In my own schooling experiences, I often felt valued and supported only for my ability to produce good work - not just my being in the classroom. While I think there is a place for work recognition/rewards in the classroom, I also think a healthy classroom environment must include a layer of unconditional support in its foundation. A student's ability to ask for help and a teacher's ability to be receptive to these requests are vital to creating an environment where students feel supported and valued.