This I Believe Podcast

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When I look back to my original “This I believe” video I see connections between my initial statements and my current beliefs regarding technology, pedagogy and content. My video pointed out that teachers need to be willing “to adjust their paths”. This is especially true when it comes to my feelings about TPACK. TPACK is a huge mindset shift for educators, but I really think all educators need to do is be willing to try to incorporate technology, and sooner than later they will see the benefits it has on their pedagogy and content. I believe it’s my personal responsibility to be an advocate of promoting this mindset shift so that more educators can benefit from the TPACK model.

Another statement in my video was to “create links to collaborate.” I still believe in this statement, but after this cohort I am seeing the value in collaboration when it comes to TPACK. With our SIG group project and our group leadership project, I was able to see how sharing ideas and giving support to one another with technology tools produced more well rounded products and presentations, compared to when I worked alone. I believe that teachers need to collaborate on all levels, but especially with technology. If teachers don’t support each other in this journey of change then we will be more likely to have failure and it will take longer to change our education system. Change is necessary if we want to keep up with the digital natives in our classroom and if we want to meet needs of 21st century learners and prepare them for the digital age we live in.

In my video I also made the statement that I believe we should challenge each student. This directly ties in with keeping up with our digital native students. If we don’t offer technology to our students, then we simply our not keeping them as engaged as we possibly can. If we aren’t engaging them to the fullest capability then we can’t be challenging each of our students. Technology resources meet the needs of so many learners, such as auditory, hands on and visual learners. Traditional lecture and textbooks are only meeting the needs of students who learn one way, and it’s leaving the rest of our students behind.

In the Scholarship of Learning and Teaching article we read, it discusses how teaching styles affects different learners in relation to gender. Being that I was trained in gender specific learning, I have the belief that boys and girls learn differently and that we need to accommodate these differences as educators. Studies show that boys learn better from movement and hands on opportunities. So, I believe that incorporating TPACK meets this challenge directly.

Technology offers creation opportunities, hands on opportunities and flexibility, which are all things boys can benefit from. Girls can also benefit from what technology offers. But I believe it’s especially important that we focus on re-structuring education for boys, considering the research shows that traditional schooling is designed for how girls learn and therefore is failing the needs of many boys. This belief of challenging each child correlates directly with our studies on the Universal Design for Learning. I believe that frameworks such as UDL, helps teachers to be aware of exactly what we can do to meet the needs of all learners.

A final statement within my video was “Discover your layers of talent.” I still believe that it is important that teachers push themselves to new boundaries in the classroom. All teachers would benefit from having a well-rounded Personal Learning Network. Continual professional development that relates to TPACK helps to create teachers that are informed and more successful in the classroom. This professional development can be achieved by small steps such as participating in online learning. In the last four weeks, I have grown in my skills and knowledge through online learning, so I believe that other teachers could to. Outside of online learning, I believe teachers need to continually strive to make connections through resources such as blogging and twitter. I believe that technology leadership is necessary in order to move forward in transforming our schools. Many individuals within education have the talent that it takes to be technology leaders. I believe that schools need to place more of an emphasis on technology committees and technology leadership in order to fully integrate TPACK across the nation.

I also have developed new beliefs that were not mentioned in my initial video. I believe we have so many wicked problems in education that need to be attended to. From reading struggles, to ELL students, to outdated textbooks—we clearly have our hands full. I believe that best way to address these wicked problems is by implementing the TPACK framework. We are not reaching all of our students needs with traditional approaches. I believe students learn best when they are provided with creative outlets. When we solve our problems with technology we give our students a chance to be creative while solving wicked problems within our educational system.

I believe that as teachers we need to make the time to be our personal best. What that means in the 21^st century is teaching with the TPACK framework in mind and collaborating with others in order to be the best we can be.