Reflection

In looking back on this course, I think I have moved to a new continent on the map of English. Part of where I originated was where I think a lot of people in this class are coming from - a love of reading and writing. The other part, was a real sense of disappointment in my experiences as a student in English classrooms. Why couldn't my teachers lead me to appreciate To Kill A Mockingbird or Jane Eyre for example? Why did what I wrote outside of the classroom never seem to have a place in the classroom? I have always wanted to create a classroom where students were interested and challenged.

That goal has stayed the same, but I feel like I am leaving this class with a gigantic tool belt of new ways to help my students find meaning in their work. Many of the tools in my belt came from the work of other people in the class. The range of projects we saw over this semester really impressed upon me the versatility of the applications we were working with. I think the most exciting thing happened when people started trying out different applications. We didn't all work with iMovie, but we were able to hear from people who worked with Window Movie Maker, digital cameras, video cameras, microphones, etc. Sharing these experiences just made for a more informed perspective. Thanks to our professors for being flexible and our classmates for testing things out.

I've said this before, but this class has really been an amazing experience for me. It has challenged my beliefs about how we teach English in such a way that allows for constant careful thought and analysis of my teaching practices. As I said to Alex on Tuesday, "This class just totally twisted my ideas." I love that. The issues that we discussed in class, through the readings, on the blogs, with guest speakers permeated my life on more than a technology level.

Some of the things I'm taking away are the importance of meaning and the value of audience. We've talked about these in a technological context, but I think that regardless of application, good teachers should be asking themselves if these are truly aspects of their classrooms. This class affected my philosophy of teaching as well as my teaching practices.

The articles reiterate a lot of what we've discussed. Two points of particular interest to me were the discussion of access and the need to help students shift their own paradigm of the English classroom. Access is an issue that frequently came up in our class discussions, and is also the point that friends of mine kept coming back to when I brought up this class in our conversations. I think I've moved on this point. I have seen how incredibly limiting lack of computer skills can be, and while a teacher can be "understanding" by making allowances, the bottom line is that these are required skills for success in our flat world. Is it unethical to allow students to benefit from the access they have? Does it widen the gap? I guess my philosophy is to try to close the gap whenever possible. I did this when I taught in Brooklyn by inviting students to work on the computers in my home to search for scholarships, work on college applications and write personal statements. Did I make a huge difference? Well, to three young women I did. I guess my idealism shines through once again.

Clearly, most (if not all) of us in this class have adjusted or change the way we see technology and the way we see English classrooms. Reflecting back on where many of us originally stood on the map, we've come a long way. But we've gotten to this point with a lot of patience and gentle reminders. Students need to be encouraged to and supported in making this paradigm shift. Chris' student's post about English class is really a valuable resource. We can see how ingrained the system is and even though they may hate it, they are also comfortable with it. In general, they complained about how English has been the same every year, but also complained that the "new stuff" was harder, but more interesting. I'm curious to see how they would respond to some of those posts as the year comes to a close.

My final project, I think, shows some of the growth that I've experienced. My unit plan for Fences showed how vibrant even an imaginary classroom could be with the integration of the technology applications and the philosophy behind using them. As I've said many times, an exceptional learning experience. Thank you.