Reflection #8

Corin Justa

Chapter Eight Reflection:

As teachers we are always looking for new ideas on how to keep our students engaged while learning and finding things that make their education fun. Some of the ways to build connections and branch out beyond classrooms include reaching out to and sharing the children’s work with a diverse range of audiences. As a tool to motivate students, we can seek family members, peers, local community members and even other teachers and students around the work to look at a students work and reflect on it. Some ways that we do that are through blogs and videos. We can even go further in benefiting our student’s educations by expanding our learning circles and providing our children the opportunity to speak to experts, as well as students in distant countries or continents who are working on the same topics.

            The Environmental and Spatial Technology Imitative Model (EAST) is a network of schools that demonstrates the benefits of using technology for its real purpose of solving problems and making improvement in communities. Using tools that are more commonly found in professional laboratories or design studios, students master the ability to use these technological tools and applications while solving problems that interest them in their community.

            When teaching, it is important to model and guide students to work independently to achieve their own successes. Letting students take the lead in a project allows them the ability to begin charting their own learning path. If teachers encourage their students to take the lead in their own projects, their students will develop a since of pride and accomplishment in the work they are doing and be eager to share the new information with their classmates, providing and engaging and rewarding learning experience for everyone.

            The concepts in this chapter relate to our topic/project by identifying the ways that outside sources can be beneficial to our students learning experience within the classroom. It focuses on the ability to motivate students to learn more and share their new discoveries with others. The chapter talks about how using technology devices such as blogs and videos can be useful in allowing students to publish the information they have learned and have it reflected on my peers and teacher throughout the community, as well as the world. As teachers in an ever growing technological world, it is important for us to be aware of these resources and use them appropriately to provide our students with the ultimate learning experience.