CEDO 525 Thoughts about Theory

I am excited to get this new class started because I think that any learning that can be achieved through the use of technology has merit. That being said, I am cautiously optimistic about how useful the strategies we learn can be when implemented in our classrooms. My students are a fascinating study in that many do not value their education. In their defense, many will be attending a technical college after high school in order to learn a trade. That fact alone makes it difficult to get students excited about language arts, being that once they leave high school, they will probably never again sit in a language arts classroom. The majority of my students want to do the least amount of work, and they really aren't motivated by grades. With that fact alone, making connections to literature is a difficult task, and one that I love. I want to implement strategies that will allow my students to take ownership in their work. Perhaps somewhere along the line, students never learned quality study habits, and that is something that I can teach to them. But the motivation factor is a slippery slope. How do we motivate the unmotivated, who could really care less about challenging themselves in the classroom? I am lucky to have twenty of my students, in classes of thirty, attend class on a regular basis. I need to find a way to motivate students to come to class, and then find ways to make their experiences rewarding. I think that the first article we read addresses some of my concerns. Nothing that I read was new, but I think it served as a good reminder of being clear with objectives and policies at the beginning of the year.
The second article was a challenge to read. I work in a district that is hungry for data, but the data in the reading was really outdated. That being said, finding any correlation between implementing technology and student achievement is encouraging. I would like to see, and there probably is, a study done in the last couple years concerning the same issues. With technology changing so rapidly, I would think that students in our graduate program would benefit more from more current results. But as I said, I am encouraged by the findings of the study, and hope to learn more about implementing technology in my classes with a measurable increase in learning.
Overall, I think the start of this class has been rewarding and has gotten me thinking more about changes I would like to make for next year. With whatever I change, I want to make sure that it benefits my students, and that improvements can be measured. I don't want to simply abandon what I have been doing, but I am always looking for ways to do it better. I will start with helping students with organization and study skills, and hopefully find some technological tools that will help them be more successful at the beginning of the year. At that point, I want to build on those skills by adding the motivation factor. Hopefully, this year will bring more positive results, and help students prepare for what is yet to come in their lives. :)