August 16, 2010: Summer Institute

What have you learned from your inquiry over the past 4 semesters?

I have learned that I should expect the unexpected in terms of my field studies. When I started to investigate Dragon Naturally speaking and how it would help my students I found that there were an immense amount of skills that my student had to have in order to use that software (with all of its limitations) successfully. One of the skills that he seemed to have an abundant amount of patience with the program…a quality that I always thought I had plenty of until I started to try to set up DNS. However, my student patiently waited through every fumble commenting how much better the program was this year than in previous years. It made me reflect on how difficult it must be for students who have learning differences. How would I react in their situation..clearly I didn’t have the same amount of patience. Perhaps I would be upset like many of students who I see. Therefore, as I have reflected before, the importance of scaffolding learning in order to support my students through various educational activities is never to be undervalued.

How have you supported your inquiry with research?

For each inquiry I have read copious amounts of articles. I have always found it useful to frame my thoughts around others opinions and research around each topic I was curious about.
I have also conducted my own research within each inquiry attempting to answer my own big questions.

What additional research would help to inform your practice?

The times where I find that I have made the most gains in knowledge within the program have been where I have been interested in acquiring knowledge about a specific topic and have spent an enormous amount of time reading about my topic. The other times I have learned a lot in a shorter amount of time has been through the collaboration with others. I have learned a lot about new software and also how to manage the software I am already aware of. Therefore, I would appreciate more collaborative learning, especially if the groups were organized randomly thereby giving us more opportunity to learn from all others within the group.

How has your use of technology evolved over the program?

When I came into the program I had a limited knowledge of technology. I was able to use my email, access the district web server, and I had some understanding of social media in that I had my own Facebook account. I would usually open a window at a time. I did not know how to navigate tabs nor manage multi-windows. Needless to say I have learned how to manage these tools. I have also set up a blog, learned to use various tools such as Shutterfly (to create photo albums), learned the basics of rss feeds, how to use youtube and jing more in-depth, discovered the benefits of yelp, investigated collaborative tools such as wikis, delicious, webspirtation etc.
However, I was deathly afraid to use technology within my classroom, always preferring to give hands on or pencil and paper tasks. However, when I started the program I was eager to incorporate all new kinds of technology into my teaching practice because I was being exposed to it through the program within mini-lessons. I was able to borrow a smart board and used it for a semester within my class. The kids were all very excited to use it and sad to see it leave. I learned to use Dragon Naturally Speaking with one of my students, explored Inspiration, investigated using spell checkers with my ESL students to help improve spelling and comprehension of written work, and looked into

What are you still curious about?

I am curious how I will be able to keep up my connections to learning about new technology after this program is over. I would like to find ways to connect to educators in a way that I can handle (i.e. to not be over whelmed at the amount of technology or the level at which it is presented). I like having my peers at my school to bounce ideas off of but now I will have to make those connections beyond my personal reach.