Reflection

As I walk away from this course I realize that my learning has really just begun. Knowing that technology will continue to emerge and students will continue to enter my classroom with more diversity than ever before, it is essential that I do not stop my professional development simply because my Masters is completed. I am thankful that this course has provided me with more resources and clearer definitions of how to apply what I have learned.
My classroom learning community has already benefited from my learnings; students are more frequently using technology across all content areas. I am becoming more comfortable with the idea that not all of my students need to be doing the exact same thing at the exact same time. Wow, I sound very old school even admitting that my classroom tended to operate in this manner! Fortunately, while my students are learning and growing this year, as their teacher I am as well. I am very excited to continue to implement new instructional tools into my lessons and I am seeking out grants to help my school advance in our resources available.
While I have been exposed to many new resources from this class, I will need to continue to locate resources that are geared more towards second graders. Technology can be exciting and engaging, I always need to focus on the essential understandings to ensure that the end goal will be achieved by my students and that the tool is age level appropriate.
At times I get frustrated because I feel like I am on a solitaire ship traveling up river with my push to design more differentiated instruction and UDL into my lessons. I understand the importance of applying technology into my lessons to make DI and UDL possible. Yet as I collaborate with other members of our school technology committee, I am often told that our school is already doing well with technology and we should be thankful for what we have. With a student body of 654 students, I struggle appreciating the mere forty-five laptops we have to share. Our school needs more because our students deserve the best education possible.