I thought chapter one was pretty accurate with the pros and cons of different types of technology in the school systems. My school uses Go Guardian to monitor student behaviors online, and this tool is extremely helpful. Teachers can set up Chromebooks to only access the websites that they want students to be on during their class period. This system really helps students stay on task.

My long term goal would be reaching the highest step in the TECH model. I feel as though this simply can not be accomplished. In a perfect world “student’s interest would drive the learning experience” (Neebe&Roberts, 2015, pg. 18). However, we teach in a world were P.S.S.A. scores and school rankings rule the world, therefore, I can not truly comprehend “landing on the moon.”

One concern that still affects my thoughts has to do with the communication that is now set up in my class. I’m concerned that the constant communication causes a lack of responsibility on my middle school students. For instance, this is my first year using the Remind App in my classroom, and I now find that when I tell my students to take a note about an upcoming quiz, they do not do it. I feel as though because I am sending out reminders the students now depend on me to keep their lives organized. One hope that I have is that by using Google Classroom, parents will feel more in touch with how their students are performing in class. I also hope that parents will look at what assignments are coming up and help their children with time management.     

Out of the five strategies for engagement I am most excited to try educational games. I can recall how excited I use to get as a student when my teacher created a PowerPoint Jeopardy review game. The entire class was involved and every student became very competitive. My students love to try and access blocked games on their Chromebooks, so if we could join the two worlds of gaming and education, I feel as though everyone would win. Quizlet sounds like it would be perfect for a vocabulary lesson.    

Google Drive has really encouraged all of our 7th ELA teachers to be on the same page about what we are teaching and how we are teaching it. We have a shared Google Drive that everyone uploads lessons and material to. Our rule is that you must make your own copy before editing the original document. This year my mentor and grade partner have completely different schedules, we never see each other. However, thanks to Google Drive we are able to pace our classes together and cover the same material. I would simply be lost without our 7th grade ELA shared drive.

My school also has a private school community page on MeWepro, where teachers are allowed to take pictures of their students and students work, and freely posted it onto the community page. Family members are given a password to the private community on the first day of the school year. This allows parents and guardians to see what is taking place in their children’s school. This website group was created after Google Plus was shut down. The only steps teachers have to take is letting parents know that their child’s pictures and work will be posted online throughout the school year. If the parent finds anything wrong with this policy they are allowed to sign a paper that prohibits their child from being involved. 

As Neebe and Roberts states, “ technology in our classrooms makes differentiation much more manageable” (Neebe&Roberts, 2015, pg. 106). Websites such as Noredink, CommonLit, and ActivelyLearn, all help differentiate the content that is being learned. All three sites help meet students at their own current reading level. However, even with this amazing technology there are still many challenges that we as teachers face. This is the first year of my teaching career that I have a co teacher. Half of my class this year has I.E.P.s and 504 plans, I find it impossible to meet the needs of all students on all goals every single day. Out of my 30 students it is impossible for 16 of them to have preferred sitting, my room simply is not big enough. Another challenge that teachers face when trying to reach all learners is how they demonstrate their learning. When we assign a summative project we try to have options that would suit all learners, however, sometimes the material itself is not interesting to all students. Giving student choice is a challenge within itself at times.      

I find myself trying to give my students personal and meaningful feedback on all of their work, but because of this it always takes me a longer time to actually get the feedback to them. I believe that the audio feedback strategy would help my workload and solve my issue of getting personal feedback to my students in a timely matter. As stated, “written comments lack that conversational feeling and serve only to distances the teacher from the student” (Neebe& Roberts, 2015, pg.135). I believe that when I have mini conferences with my students, they improve their work at a greater rate. Audio feedback would have the same affect on my students because they would be able to hear my tone and listen to a more in depth analysis of their work.   

I would teach my students more about world issues and problems. I would show them that with the use of technology they have the power to start a movement and create change in this world. As the book states,  I would “dig into deeper discussions in class” (Neebe & Roberts, 2015, pg.184). I would not have to focus on wrapping up a topic by the bell or by the end of the week. Instead the topic and discussion could natural come to an end, once the issue had been fully explored. The thought of having a blended classroom sounds amazing, however, the students in my building students can not be trusted to complete assignments outside of the classroom. My district has an “unwritten rule” of no additional work outside of the classroom, making this ideology almost impossible.

The creation or ideate stage also plays a major role in the design modeling system. This stage is extremely important because students have to find solutions to their problem in many forms and ways. If students were to brainstorm only one or two options they would be limiting their chance of success. The ability to produce several solutions from different viewpoints is a key component in the design thinking model. 

The final stage that I believe is essential in the process is the test and reflect stage. Seeing students’ creations come to life and watching the impact it has on the problem is amazing. The students that worked on our parking lot installed a gate that would be closed during school hours. They held a town meeting and even work with the township to fundraise for the gate. Witnessing the positive affects the gate had on the community was incredible. Reflection is also key because without it students and teachers can not grow from the process. This is true with almost everything in life.  Reflection gives us the ability to really evaluate what worked and what did not. Reflection also helps us define what our strengths and weaknesses are not only as students and teachers, but as people.

Multiple road blocks occurred for the is group of students. However, they trusted in the process and kept pushing through. Our administration was very supportive of this class and their project. One major roadblock that I feel like I would personal run into is time. The group that was allowed to work on this project was the 8th grade humanities class. I currently teach co taught 7th grade ELA. I feel as though my class would not be supported to be apart of a design thinking project (that was this massive). The reason for this is because my student normal perform low on standardized tests, and my administration has put a lot of pressure on me to make sure that these students show growth.  It's a sad but very real fact that the test is sometimes viewed as the most important thing in the eyes of those outside of the classroom. 

One concern I do have when using Twitter is the fact that my boss is following me on Twitter and I get nervous that I’m not speaking formally like I would in an email. I will be casually answering in a Twitter chat and think ,”Oh man did I say that right?” “Did I spell everything correctly?” It is like big brother is always watching. 

Another concern I have is the privacy of my life and my students. I refuse to let my students, parents, or players follow me on social media (except Twitter). I need space from being a teacher in the social world so some platforms are just off limits to them. I also worry for my students and the world around them on social media. For instance, last spring I had them make Instagram accounts for characters from a novel that we were reading They loved the project but afterwards we spoke about burn accounts and how email are tied to accounts. I asked them that after they received their grade to please delete the account that was created for the project.    

As chapter 10 states, “The professional learning we have gained from the generous teachers on social media networks helped us innovate in our own classrooms… (Noble&Roberts, pg202).  This network that exists outside of our buildings will greatly improve us as teachers. Therefore I would challenge my coworkers to take a simple step. I would challenge them to reach out to other teachers in the district that are teaching the same subjects as them in different buildings. I would challenge them to do this just to see how our sisters schools teach and handle the same content and behavioral issues.