Reading Reflection 8

1.) As teachers it is very important that we take the learning experience that we are providing our students with and manipulate it beyond its usual boundaries so that we can ensure they are receiving more extensive ideas and lessons. We want to branch outside of the regular classroom setting so that our students will have access to more unique and individualized work. To do this we need to incorporate many of our newly found 21st century skills into their projects, such as allowing them to utilize digital tools. Our students will feel more connected to their work if we allow them to feel that they are reaching an authentic audience, and because of this we will notice that many teachers nowadays are making the transition by allowing their students to make blogs, power points, digital stories, etc. Not only will this help our students feel that have a voice, it can also be very helpful for allowing them to reach out and gain access to all of the amazing people in this world. We can use digital tools to help our students reach out to experts on particular subjects that reside in Australia, or simply we can allow them to be used when reaching out to the school district down the road. We want our students to ultimately understand that technology is a tool that can be used to assist them in any way they see fit.
2.) EAST Initiative is a network of schools that demonstrates the benefits of using technology for real life purposes by solving problems and making improvements to their communities. The students of EAST learn how to master a variety of technological tools that are commonly found in professional settings. The purpose of EAST is to contribute to student-driven learning, authentic project based learning, to understand that technology is a tool, and to teach students collaboration. EAST is a school program for professional development that allows kids to get more out of their education.
3.)It's important that teachers understand that it is very beneficial for students to "lead" their own projects. If we allow our students to work for themselves we are in turn allowing them to learn for themselves. We want our students to feel connected to their projects and by allowing them to lead they feel like they have the control over their own learning experiences. It also teaches our students how to collaborate with other people to combine their knowledge into one.
4.) This chapter is directly related to our class, so much so that I am partaking in a lot of the information that was written in this chapter right now as I write this. Much like was mentioned near the beginning of the chapter we want to open our students up to a bigger audience and one of the ways this is made possible is through the use of blogs. Because we record our thoughts on our blogs, and because we are constantly working as a team by contributing to each other we are directly mimicking what was mentioned in this reflection.