This was another class and project that I was completely out of my element, but ended up being one of the most rewarding, frustrating, and interesting projects that I worked on during the degree program. Since I have never been an educator, this degree program has been difficult at times but never so much as this project. I have never had to create a lesson for students, had to align the lesson with state standards, or created a book of any kind, much less a digital book. One of the primary things that I took away from this class was a new found respect for the teachers and a better understanding of how hard their job is. Thankfully I had a great and understanding team that helped me through the project so that it was successful, but it was still difficult for me. I never understood the difficulty of creating assignments, making sure that they align with state standards, and making that assignment entertaining and engaging, all the while actually having a life outside of work. The first hurdle that I had to overcome was my ignorance about the standards, and again from someone who has never looked at these before it was a very daunting task. Having to go over the standards and gain some insight into what the teachers have to do with everything they teach and lesson plans that they create was a truly eye opening experience to me and something that I discussed with at great lengths to the technology director, who was a classroom teacher until about 5 years ago.
My approach to this assignment was twofold; first I had to understand the standards that applied to our chosen lesson plan. The second part of the equation was to use these standards to create a lesson plan and book for a classroom. Each of these in and of itself would have been a tough job, but combined it created a tough class that seemed daunting at first, but once broken down and with the help of my classmates was made a lot easier. Another thing that helped me during this assignment was to break everything down into groups, only focusing on one area at a time, so that I was not overwhelmed by the vast amount of information that I had to understand and use. Another thing that I used extensively in this project was human resources, or more precisely my classmates. All of my classmates were helpful and understanding and I could only think that this must kind of be what it would feel Iike to be a first year teacher surrounded by seasoned veterans helping the new teacher along. There is such a strong communal feeling that teachers have and it was a wonderful thing to be a part of and receive help from the group. In assessing my performance, I relied immensely on my fellow classmates and the few people at work that I shared the project with. Again this was something that I took great pride in and it was nice to see or hear the approvals of teachers when they reviewed my project and suggestions for the project.
The primary thing that I gained form this project was, as I stated earlier, a new founded respect for teachers and immense amount of hard work that they must go through to create assignments for their classroom. It took me five weeks to come up with a single week’s worth of a work for only one subject, I couldn’t even begin to fathom creating an entire years worth of lesson plans and projects. Having this knowledge and going forward I have already changed the way I approach technology in the classroom, and the more I understand how this technology can assist teachers with meeting their goals, the more effective I can be at my job of supporting them. Having been able to work with teachers on their turf and in their world was an enriching experience and something that I have since done several times and plan on doing more of in the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment